The Plight of Power

Well, I called it: yesterday morning, I referenced thoughts about power grids and in the evening of that same day, bam, a storm came and flipped the switch off for everybody.

Yesterday around noon after I heard the forecast of a storm in context to the 120℉ heat index, I knew to charge up my ol' MacBook. Just had a feeling that would come into play. And thus, I write, though who knows when I will post this.

Growing up in Bartlett, I don't recall any substantive power outages. A few hours here or there, but nothing particularly memorable or couldn't be resolved by a family ride out to Covington to eat at the Four Seasons restaurant.

As for Memphis, it has a deplorable power network. I do remember going without electricity for a week here, a week there. Hurricane Elvis had a formative impact on how I approached life in 2003. I still recall walking up to my truck in my apartment's parking lot: a tree atop the car to the right of me, a tree atop the car to the left of me and just a dangling light fixture swaying in the wind above me.

The great takeaway from going without power is that it lends itself to some great introspection. The world is silenced. Honestly, once I get over the initial inconveniences, I like living life without power. I start to become intuned to reality. What would like be without power or gasoline? No cars, no jets? What if I walked like my forefathers walked? As it is, I like getting settled into bed at 7:30 PM. I suppose I could punt the whole construct and just use the Sun as my wristwatch.

I'd totally have to up my salted meat game! Incidentally, that is exactly what I was eating when the power went off: prosciutto. As for today, I dare not risk opening the fridge, which is...well...rather limiting on my diet! I did drink coffee this morning. I ground coffee beans with a meat tenderizer, achieved a ~190℉ temperature via a water kettle on a gas stove and used my old IngenuiTea device as I don't have a French press on hand. And it made a superior cup of coffee compared to that gasping Mr. Coffee!

We give up a lot of quality for convenience. It doesn't matter if it's coffee or bread—or CDs. Now, the one drawback of CDs is a near-perfect reproduction of the material. That's just the drawback of digital media. But, you'll find CDs by the crateful at yard sales these days. What do folks want? Streaming convenience with a sound dropoff that is noticeable. But, I get it: we gotta hurry so get back to that dystopian, 1984 screen.

That said, I probably got a little more jollies than I should have as I watched a malfunctioning railroad crossguard up and down all night on traffic.

Fitness

My dutiful watch tapped me on my wrist to get things started at 3 AM. Admittedly, it took me a bit to be acclimated to the heat to be able to sleep. I have been a big proponent of a direct fan since 2002. While I had my workout plan ready to pull, I wasn't sure if it was possible I could refuel afterward. And more critical, I could not bake bread! My gas stove is managed by electricity. There would be no DM playlist for listening.

And that's about as far as my thinking ran until I fell asleep again...only to awake to sharp, shooting pain, the kind that makes me writhe around in bed. Yep, I did it again. For some reason since '22, there will be times when I am in bed when I just want to flex one of my legs. And flex HARD. Well, something gives way and it's intense. My only comfort is to know I've been through this before and I'll get through it now. Hellava alarm clock. Who needs power?