Just A Little While Longer…
We lost power around 7:25 pm on Thursday and were heading past 72 hours. I heard from Puget Sound Energy this afternoon that Fall City, Snoqualmie and North Bend will be without power until after Christmas and possibly New Year's. That sucks but it's not all bad. As I mentioned yesterday, we have a gas fireplace in our bedroom and downstairs in addition to a gas water tank. So we pack all the kids into the bedroom, shut the door and crank up the heat. Kinda funny though, that furnace is so hot that it's either 85 degrees in there or 60. But it's better than nothing. We can also use our gas stove to cook stuff. Everything in the refrigerator is gone except the stuff we placed out on the deck (milk, eggs and other perishables). At night, the temps dip below 32 so everything is nice and cool.
One of the best things have been the headlamps I purchased for night hiking earlier this year. The super bright LED's are provide superior light compared to flashlights and since they're on your head, your hands are free for whatever. They also run on AAA batteries which is good since the entire city has no D cell batteries left.
For electricity, I used my APC DC to AC inverter hooked up to my Saturn. This allowed me to charge the really important things like my Apple Powerbook, I-Pod and cell phone.
Structurally, my house is fine. I was worried about the 85 foot evergreen in my backyard but that thing is well over 100 years old and ain't going anywhere for a while. Carolyn and Tony's house was hit much harder with trees taking out their roof and windows. None of my neighbors' houses appear to have any damage which is good.
Most of Redmond has been brought back online (I'm writing this from work) but the big problem now is gasoline. Most of the stations in the area are still in the dark and those that aren't are out of gas. I heard a report on the radio this morning that all stations between Seattle and Yakima on I-90 are out of gas. I've got about an 1/8 of a tank left (I gave away the gas in my cans like an idiot) and am banking on the stations getting refilled during the day tomorrow. I might just stay here and work all through the night.
Updates to follow as I'm able.
Restless
I woke up at 3:30 this morning and realized that my project is ending in less than two weeks and I haven't done squat to look for another job. That thought led to another and then I wondered if I want to stay in Seattle. I get calls and/or e-mails from recruiters all the time with job opportunities in cool sounding places and sometimes I wonder if I should move. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Seattle but I've already been here six years and I'm feeling pretty restless. To give you an idea of how restless, I actually entertained the idea of moving back to Columbus for an engineering job that pays six figures plus per diem (that goes pretty far in Ohio) before realizing it was pretty much in the same building I used to work in at Qwest. That was ok and all, but I'd get bored there in six months. And I'm pretty sure all of my friends have married and moved on.
So that leaves Colorado, Northern California and Alaska. There are lots of opportunities in Southern Cal, and Arizona (what's up with that!?) but I'd get sick of the constantly warm and sunny climate after a single week so the pay would have to be astronomical (READ: $250k +) for me to even think about it. And that ain't gonna happen. The Denver/Boulder market has just imploded since my days at Level 3 so that's pretty unlikely. Northern Cal is so outrageously expensive that I actually turned something down that paid $68 an hour + per diem! Alaska sounds really cool until I think about all the air travel I'd have to endure to get anywhere else. I've sworn I'd not take a traveling job after the Level 3 gig.
So maybe I'll stay in Seattle. The climate is perfect when it's not summer and the job market is pretty good for my skillset. Why am I always so afraid to stay in one place?
Lightning Strikes
The conspirators win again. In the 18 months I worked in Downtown Seattle, there were half a dozen thunderstorms. On the Eastside. And now that I am in Redmond, there was this today:
We got a few rumbles but nothing like my former coworkers saw down on the waterfront. I long for Ohio's fall storm season...
(Image via Eclecticism and Komo 4 News)
The Bellevue Crane Accident
6 years ago on that day, I was living in the very apartment that a crane fell on and took the life of 31 year-old Microsoft Attorney, Matthew Ammon. I stayed in this top floor apartment courtesy of AT&T Wireless as part of a relocation package when I moved here from Columbus, OH. During the six months I lived there, I never forgot about that damn crane that stood high in the abandoned lot just across the street but never imagined it would come down like this.
(Photos from King 5 News)
[EDIT: I found a collection of photos of this tragedy on Flickr HERE.]
2006 Deck The Hall Ball
KNDD 107.7 The End's annual Deck The Hall Ball has got to be one of the best shows since the early and mid 90's:
Date: 12/7
Place: Key Arena Seattle, Washington
Tickets: $37.50
Lineup:
Snow Patrol
My Chemical Romance
The Shins
Pete Yorn
Gnarls Barkley
Jet
Angels and Airwaves
I bought tickets today, see you there.
