What I did when the power went out in San Diego…

Sitting at work, just finished teaching class, and around 330 everything went dark. Figured it was a temporary thing, or just pertained to our building. So I hung out doing some non-computer related work when we heard that the ENTIRE city, from Oceanside to Chula Vista was out of power. I will admit that for some reason I thought that was kinda cool at 1st. I can’t imagine this has ever happened before. Then I realized that all of the traffic lights would be out for my 15 mile ride home – uh oh. Time to get outta the office and onto the road!
I walk out to the parking garage and see one of my coworkers coming BACK to the office. He said he isn’t even going to try to get out of here right now and that by 410, things were already crazy on the road. Apparently sitting around his dark office seemed more fun than being stuck in traffic (don’t ask me what he was doing in there).
So I brave the roads. Simply getting off campus takes me about 25 minutes, but I figured once I hit the freeway it should be a lil easier. However I am quickly corrected when I see the traffic at a dead halt on the 15 North, which is the way I drive home. Scrap that, let’s do something else. I call Basham to see if he can check his Ipad for internet service and let me know what’s up with traffic. At this point there is no radio available so I am really struggling for some information about what is going on.
I get on the 805 North and it is smooth sailing! Literally no delays whatsoever and I am flying home. Hooray for me …until I realize that I don’t know how to get home this “back” way so I call Basham for assistance again. Now the phone lines are starting to get jammed and we can only communicate via text. And what is this beeping sound on my phone….battery is dying?! AHHH! My only saving grace is that I have at least ½ a tank of gas in my car. Otherwise the next 2 hours I am about to spend in the car could’ve easily been even more hellish.
Ok so I know I DON’T want the Mira Mesa Blvd exit because there are so many businesses around there and about 4000 traffic lights before I get home. If this power outage had happened at noon, I think we wouldn’t have had this perfect storm of chaos. But when the power goes out close to 4pm, EVERYONE is going to leave work at the exact same time.
Instead I take the next exit up for Sorrento Valley Rd. Still a major cluster dump but it HAS to be better than Mira Mesa Blvd. I want to text Basham to make sure I am going the right way, but my phone has died. I continue on my path until…what’s this?….detour due to traffic collision?….where are you directing me to go Mr. Police Offic….NOOOOO.
Mira Mesa Blvd it is.
At this point I have been on the road for almost 90 minutes. My typical commute is between 15 and 20. And even though I am still about 3-4 miles away from my house, I am seriously considering parking my car and walking. Or hiking my skirt up and getting someone on a motorcycle to steer us through all of this traffic. Basham can bring me back later to get my car.
I say to myself, “If I get through this next intersection within 5 minutes, I am going for it.” I am able to pass through unscathed and finally make it to a more residential area, with much less traffic lights.
On a positive note, I did see some cool things during this trek. An old white dude in his pickup truck gave a bottle of water to a young black female police officer as she was directing traffic (racism solved!). I didn’t notice anyone losing their patience or honking their cars unnecessarily while stuck in this shit storm. And the sense of community I felt from seeing all of the punk ass kids drinking 30 packs of beer in front of their yards really warmed my heart.
I get home to see that Basham has saved the day. Not only has he gone to the store and gotten batteries, matches, ice and an extra cooler, but a big ol’ jug of red wine. Normally we wouldn’t drink something that would be such an affront to our overly mature palettes, but if the world isn’t actually ending tonight then we need to save some money for this weekend.
Husband says he lucked out with his timing at the grocery store. The staff had all of the goods outside and were only selling limited items. He had 7 people in front of him when he arrived and by the time he left there were almost 100 people in line (again mostly young men with armloads of beer).
So he ends up cooking this amazing meal by candlelight – what? Go ‘head husband. We have a gas stove and outdoor grill so we were good to go! Grilled asparagus, salad and sautéed shrimp. And although I wouldn’t normally have champagne with dinner, the contents of our fridge aren’t gonna last much longer so might as well.
We eat outside with candles and wine (and champagne) and it was delicious and romantic. I am a lucky girl.
Around 9pm we take the dogs out for a long walk and check out the neighborhood. Relatively quiet considering all that’s happening, and that is alright with me.
Get back home and sit down. Best cure for power outage? Chianti and Percocet – now we are talking! So we begin to settle for the evening and Basham uses his Ipad for internet. “Let me see what’s going on….yeah, looks like the Packers are gonna win and Drew Brees has thrown 3 touchdowns.”
Really? That’s not the update I was expecting, but thanks for entertaining me.
1st world problems start to set in – we are all out of the “good” wine and only have the Ipad charged to about 60%. Man I hope we can watch an episode of Game of Thrones before it goes dead! How do people live like this???
We watch our show, start drinking the jug wine, and then hear something outside. Somehow Peanut has managed to open the screen door in the back yard, run out there, get into a fight with a possum, and get his dumb ass sprayed right in the face. Stupid dog – don’t you realize we are in the middle of a major catastrophe? We can’t have you getting into fights with skunks and possums and bears and bringing the stank into our house- the nerve!
Next time I am just gonna lock him outside with the creature until they make up and become friends.
So our night ends with us hosing the dogs down in the dark, me crashing on the couch and Basham in the bed because it’s just too damn hot for us both to get in there together.
Power comes on at some point, but I don’t know exactly what time bc all the clocks read 12:00.
I plug my phone in to charge and sleep in. No alarms go off bc, well, we haven’t reset them, and so I just magically wake up at 8am. Turn on my phone and see 2 voicemails and 10 text messages.
3 of them are from my boss telling me to report to work at 9am – WTF?! Are you serious? Did a syphilis bomb go off? Bc as the Sexual Health Educator, unless there is a Chlamydia leak on campus, I really don’t know why I am considered an essential employee.
Therefore I have been at work for the last 3 hours and the only thing I have accomplished is writing this blog. It is a ghost town around here since classes were cancelled but for some reason, the health center remains open. But I am going to stop complaining – if someone thinks I am essential then I will be here. Job stability! And who knows….someone might rush in here at any minute to discuss a very urgent birth control matter.