Nearly a week has passed since Rainwindpocalypse ‘06 struck the Puget Sound area, and I, along with thousands of people in the area, am still without power. It’s been 5 days now, and I have no idea when my power will be restored. It hasn’t really bothered me too much, though, since I’ve been working late nights to finish up some tasks for a deadline this week. However, it is kind of annoying to not be able to do much at home other than play with my cat, sleep, and get a change of clothes. I’ve been using the showers at work, eating out every meal, and purposely staying at work extra late to keep myself from getting bored and frozen (the weather has dropped below freezing for a couple of nights now).
According to Puget Sound Energy, I might not get power back until later this week. I do hope it’s sooner, but I’m not holding my breath. I understand that the PSE crews are doing their best to deal with the massive damage to the region and can only be thankful that they are actually working on it. Still, it would be nice to have power at home again.
A nasty storm hit most of the Pacific Northwest on Thursday night and left a path of devastation. Extreme rain caused floods and landslides. High winds downed trees and power lines. Bridges were closed. Homes were flooded. Power was lost.
All of that meant that I pretty much had a free day on Friday. With no power at my apartment and at work, I spent most of the day wandering around downtown Bellevue and enjoying the surprisingly nice weather. This particular shot was taken from the top floor of the parking lot at Bellevue Square. Gotta love the sky after a storm.
Despite the fact that 80% of the east side is presently without power, people are in surprisingly good spirits. There are long lines at the handful of open gas stations and coffee shops, but people are pretty much going about their lives as if nothing happened. There’s plenty of joking and and more generosity and courtesy than usual. I know I’m not stressing too much about this. Although I have no power at my apartment, I can still go to QFC to get groceries, Tully’s for coffee and free wi-fi, and I just filled up my gas tank, so I don’t have to deal with the insanely long lines at the gas station.
As of the time of this posting (around 1 PM on Saturday), I’m still without power at my apartment. The electric company said it would be 2-3 days until we get power back at my part of the complex (a good portion of the rest of the complex has power now). I’m not too bothered by it. It’s the weekend, so I’m going to be out and about anyway. Plus, there’s free wi-fi at many places, and I have generous friends should I need a place to crash. :)
Just when we thought we wouldn’t get a holiday party at work, a surprise bowling party was sprung upon us on Wednesday afternoon. Everyone in the KnowWonder group migrated over to Tech City Bowl in Kirkland for a couple of hours of drunken mayhem. Beer, munchies, and big heavy balls. Aw yeah.
Check out some pics in my Flickr photostream.
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