Tales of the Blackout
Posted by erin at August 22, 2003 02:10 PM…because you’re all so curious about what happened to me.
So I’m at my internship at about 4:30 when the lights in the lab get a little brighter. Then they go back to normal. Then, all the computers power down, but somehow, the lightbulbs flicker on and off in some kind of brownout for about 15 minutes.
My fellow employees proceed with the design meeting, where the director stamps his approval and/or makes suggestion to the designer’s designs. Meanwhile, some guy with a walkman is filling us in about how the power’s going out everywhere, including Detroit. After the meeting work is cancelled and we all part ways.
ALONG WITH EVERYONE ELSE IN NEW YORK. I’ve never seen the streets so crowded, not even after September 11th. I had 108 blocks to walk and I wasn’t really looking forward to walking it with everyone else in the city, so I took a route through Central Park.
I walked up 4th Ave., then veered over to 5th Avenue and followed it up to the park on 57th street. It took longer than it should have, due to the massive crowding. It’s one thing to pass people on the streets on a normal day, but with the power out it’s kind of crazy. I had no real patience for people talking on their cell phones, or tourists walking really slow talking to each other, or the flocks of people with Mr. Softy ice cream. (I hate you so much Mr. Softy!! Change your frigging songs!! I’m soooo sick of Barnacle Bill the goddamn sailor!!!)
I bought a bottle of water a few cents cheaper than marked (no tax!) sold out of the doorway of a deli on Union Square and stopped by a couple of temping hot dog stands. The last hot dog sold to the customer in front of me at the first two stands – but at the third one I triumphed, and consumed some kind of sausage!! I got the last one! Then I ate some of the Otakon cookies I had been planning to take to Sam’s.
At that point, though, I was in the park. I cannot stress enough how pleasant the park was. For the most part, it was an ordinary day in Central Park, with people jogging and roller-blading and taking their kids out and seeing a show at Summer Stage. Apparently it’s the park’s 150th anniversary this year.
I passed most of the park’s major landmarks, including some I’d never been to before. I walked through the Zoo, which was closed, and past the boat pond and the lake and the Alice in Wonderland statue, and the Bow Bridge – did you know there are decent public restrooms near the fountain? I didn’t – and then I walked behind the Metropolitan Museum and around the Reservoir as the sun began to set. By then I felt downright pleasant. My feet didn’t hurt like I thought they might. It was a really nice day.
When I got far enough north I made a mistake and hit some kind of maintenance area. Then I had to take a main road, which I had hoped to avoid. When I finally got into Harlem, the mood on the streets was jubilant. People were outdoors and having fun. There were barbeques – it was like a big block party.
I wanted to join in… but less so after I climbed 10 flights of unlighted stairs. Then I didn’t really leave the apartment, for fear of facing the stairs again. No one was home except the cat, so I found my two candles and lit them, then sat in the window listening to the radio on my walkman and eating cereal to try and use up the milk until N. and J. got home.
Out the window I could see tiny lights from other people’s candles in their windows. I also watched a guy with a flashlight guard a store. Some cops set up red flares around the intersection to guide cars, since it’s a pretty heavy traffic area. Busses kept running, still massively crowded at 9pm.
There were lights on Columbia’s campus, as the hospital has it’s own generator and there are some experiments going on that require containment or else they explode. Not all of the campus was powered though, and apparently J. did something amazing that involved a bunch of guys holding flashlights huddled around a laptop with only two hours left on its battery. They had to read something from some schematics that were only on a CD-ROM which some guy had taped to the top of his desk drawer in case of an emergency. I think what they were doing involved third party routers and getting Columbia's website back online, despite a distinct lack of the internet at the time.
I couldn’t sleep much during the night. Our apartment was just too hot and stuffy. It’s not terribly well ventilated. Since you can’t control the heat in the winter, the bedrooms become hot and stuffy then as well. I tossed and turned a lot.
That was about it. I ate some ice cream, which held up OK overnight. Our power came back on at 6:30am, and people outside clapped and cheered.
N. went to work on Friday, taking a cab. I called the studio, but the phone beeped funny after a few rings. I don’t think anyone showed up. N. regretted going in to his office when none of his lawyers bothered to show up, and, as the only secretary around, he had to help dozens of other, meaner lawyers. I pointed out to him that his lawyers were all absent on 9-11-2002 as well, and he’d gone in then, too, but he had forgotten that incident entirely.
J. was also called into work, despite his attempts to take the day off. So I was home alone, again. I watched some anime. Then, I cooked a curry dip for cauliflower that was neither spectacular nor spicy and attempted to make Naan. The Naan came out in dense biscuits that tasted like Naan. It was odd.
And that was it.
Comments Individual Archive Index
August 22, 2003 04:59 PM, N. said:
I don't think the other attorneys would be meaner under, you know, normal circumstances, but some of them had (allegedly) walked twelve floors(!) without finding a secretary (we possess the mystical and esoteric knowledge of "Document Editing" and are therefore, at times, necessary). They still had deadlines, despite the blackout! I'd be grumpy too.
There is some justice in this world, however. My cab fare was reimbursed, plus I received an additional day of vacation (which I probably won't use, but it's the thought that counts) while those slugabed employees who were within walking distance but didn't make it in to work got some kind of talking-to. Ha!
Also, the Naan was very delicious and Naan-like, but had the consistency of an english muffin. Odd indeed.
August 22, 2003 05:22 PM, Erin said:
Did you hear the the city's cancelling all blackout parking ticket fees and re-embersing anyone who's already paid those tickets? Awesome.
August 25, 2003 12:24 PM, anthony said:
Did you use self-rising flour for the naan? Plus naan is traditionally made in a clay oven (along with all other kinds of tandoori foodstuffs), and various issues with normal ovens would make them cook a bit unevenly. You could something crazy like Alton Brown and use a rounded ceramic flower pot in your oven. I usually just stick to making chapatis, which are somewhat messy but much easier to make.
I "lost" a vacation day to the blackout, as I had already taken Friday off, and all the rest of the schlubs got the day off. As to the walking, once you got past 59th street, it wasn't so bad, besides the stifling mugginess.
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