Power: A Big Wind Storm

2006 Dec 15

Last night there was a storm that may surpass the big one from Jan 1993. Our power was out this time for a couple of hours. That previous storm, our power was out for a week!

I had thought about getting a generator. Instead when I added on to our house, I put in a furnace-quality gas fireplace that works without electricity. The fireplace was hundreds of dollars more expensive than the cheapest ones. Maybe even the price of a generator! However, we have it used every year with enjoyment, and the money was better spent.

So we were prepared. In fact, we were a little disappointed when the power came back so soon. We were comfortable, could cook, shower and could read by candle light. I even had a few hours of time still in my laptop computer!

(Also see later Off-Grid Solar Project)

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I have a late-model Macintosh computer at work that I have been using to host a web page of documents. It has been very reliable. In fact, it has been running for over 600 days without a re-boot. I had wondered if it would loose power over night. My Dell PC had re-started when I went into work this morning, but the Mac was still up! That is a long time running continuously - I wonder how long it can go!?