OT: Snowed Under!

[Renegade 13]

Though I doubt many have noticed my absence for the past few days, I thought I'd fill you all in on the interesting story behind the absence http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Last Friday night it began to snow. It snowed for the next 36 hours, depositing 20 inches of heavy, wet snow all over the place. Of course, all over the place includes on the power and phone lines. And so, Saturday morning at about 8:30 AM about 15,000 people began losing power. To most, the power has now been restored. Unfortunately, I am not one of those. We've been without power for about the past 80 hours now. To put this into perspective somewhat, for those of you who live in a city and have never had a power outage of more than a few hours, this means that we have no water, no light, no heat. Nothing. What we do have (including this computer) are running on a generator, and have been doing so for the past 3 and a half days. For heat, we bought a propane-burning heater, and have stuck it in the house. This isn't exactly recommended, but hey, it's better than freezing to death which it damn near was before we got the heat back up to tolerable levels.

In short, I now hate with a burning passion the local utilities company (BC Hydro). I certainly hope we have power soon, before I have to spend another frigid night trying to sleep when the ambient temperature is about 10 degrees above freezing...

Thus ends my *****ing and complaining rant http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Hope you guys had a better weekend than I've been having!

[Atrocities]

Its cold here too but we seldom get snow. You need to get yourself a QUAD and go play in the snow Ren. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif I know if I had that much snow I would be out riding my fat a$$ off. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

My definite sympathies. We've never had a power outage last more than about twelve hours.

[Caduceus]

We don't get much snow here, but a good ice storm will knock out power for 4-5 days. Hopefully power gets restored soon.

[RonGianti]

Wow, sorry about that.

Just remember not to leave the power generator IN the house where the exhaust fumes can kill you... I'm always surprised how many people die from that each year.

[Renegade 13]

Thanks everyone for your sympathies http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Update: 103 hours now, with no power. Phone service is spotty at best, it comes and goes, so the internet comes and goes along with it.

Atrocities, believe me, I love the snow as much as anyone, and I've been having a lot of fun playing in it with our snowmobiles. Though we do have quads, they can't make it through the amount of snow we have http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

RonGianti, we've been running the generator outside; don't really want to die from carbon monoxide poisoning as we sleep http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Latest estimates put power restoration at 11:00 PM tonight...then again, that's what they said yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that as well!

[AgentZero]

And here I was getting all cranky because we lost power for 2-3 hours & I had a delay in getting my Penny Arcade fix. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
I've been hearing about the power outages in BC and was wondering if any of my 'neighbours' had been affected. And now I know. Here's hoping BC Hydro get their asses & gear and get your power back.

[Fyron]

Renegade 13 said:
To put this into perspective somewhat, for those of you who live in a city and have never had a power outage of more than a few hours, this means that we have no water, no light, no heat.

Just because one lives in a city doesn't mean one can't experience long blackouts. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Injured.gif

[Atrocities]

The longest BO we ever had was about six days. I was very young then. It was during winter and it got very cold. My dad being the man that he is, made it all ok for us. He is truly a gifted individual who thrives on challenge. I wish there were more people like him in the world today.

Ren your a trooper. If you loose power I will bet that you will find a way to McGiver (Sp) a power source to keep your PC up and running. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Renegade 13]

Imperator Fyron said:
Just because one lives in a city doesn't mean one can't experience long blackouts. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Injured.gif

However, people who live in cities are much less likely to suffer days long blackouts. Usually, they last only a few hours. Also, most cities don't get nearly so cold as it does here in the winter, so heat isn't really an issue, and water is, if I'm correct, not interrupted by a power outage...meaning you can still flush your toilet when you need to, rather than having to bare your arse to the cold wind outside http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Final tally is 106.5 hours. We finally had power restored last night at around 7:00 PM. Phone service is still spotty however, meaning internet is as well. From what I've heard, some of the more remote areas will still be a couple of weeks before power is restored...

[Possum]

Ren

Your problem is, you live in CANADA! And it's COLD up there, dude! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Move to Southern California, and you'll never see snow again, unless you drive to the mountains to visit it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[kerensky]

Dude, I remember back during hurricane Isabelle (sp?), our whole neighborhood lost power for two weeks straight. The neighbors ate over alot because we had one of the few gas ovens in the neighborhood. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Fyron]

Possum said:
Move to Southern California, and you'll never see snow again, unless you drive to the mountains to visit it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I whole-heartedly agree with this suggestion! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif

[Renegade 13]

Possum said:
Ren

Your problem is, you live in CANADA! And it's COLD up there, dude! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Move to Southern California, and you'll never see snow again, unless you drive to the mountains to visit it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

This would be a great suggestion, if I didn't love snow and the cold most of the time. Only time I don't like it is when it kills my power http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I like the cold. It doesn't make me sweat, it doesn't make me sneeze and it rarely blinds me.

[NullAshton]

Um... the water would still work because of water pressure? Wouldn't it?

[Renegade 13]

NullAshton said:
Um... the water would still work because of water pressure? Wouldn't it?

What water pressure? We have a 320 foot deep well that our water comes from. Need power to pump it out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Caduceus]

What supplies the water pressure? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Water heater won't. Mmm.. Cold shower.

[Suicide Junkie]

Most places have a water tower.
That will last a fair while since people will tend to stop watering lawns and taking long showers during the crisis.

Especially if its cold http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif