So what did you do on "Dark Thursday"?

Were you one of the 5 millionpeople who were unwilling participants in "dark Thursday"?

I was driving on Balboa avenue at 340 pm yesterday afternoon when I noticed that all of the traffic lights went out....then I noticed all of the lights everywhere were out. It was a bit chaotic getting home; the usual 15 - 20 minute drive took twice as long and I know folks whose drive home took 3-4 times as long as usual.

We had made tentative plans for dinner, but didn't think it would be a great idea to go out and decided to just stay home as we sent text messages (for some reason voice calls wouldn't go through, but texts worked just fine) to our friends to make sure everyone was ok. So it ended up being Spam and Egg sandwiches for us......

I later went to the nearby strip mall to see what was going on........ the supermarket, Rite Aid, and all other businesses were closed...except for the liquor store where a line stretched all the way across the strip mall:

 

Funny thing was, it looked like folks were buying a whole lotta beer...and not much anything else! Strange priorities....and like one of my co-workers told me: "If last night was the zombie apocalypse, we'd have been dinner....."

Man, without all that white noise it sure did seen quiet, but the moon sure did look beautiful, though my photo didn't.....

 

And in the end I joined all the folks who would have become zombie fodder......heck, I couldn't let those two cans of Tecate go to waste, could I?

 

Like they say...."when you have clamato...you make Micheladas". The overall vibe was not nearly as crazy as the last time we had anyrhing close to this and I was glad for that.

Today, I'm sorta feeling...well, outta-synch might be the best description, so we ate at home again.

 

 

So what did you do during Dark Thursday???

Comments

[caninecologne]

hah, it was definitely an unforgettable bday for my husband!

[kat]

heard about the outage and wondered about you, glad you guys were okay.

[Dennis]

Hi Kirk, I had a great grilled dinner at friends under candle and moonlight. (perishables must be eaten!) The evening it was also refreshing to see all the neighborhood kids outside playing.

[Loren]

Pretty much noshed with whatever was left in the house at the time then read some, enjoy the stars, listen to the radio. Pretty mellow night

[caroline]

Spam was a great idea! We hung out with the neighbors on the street. It was almost like a block party - everyone brought out whatever random snacks they had to share. It was quite friendly.

[Faye]

It was definitely a crazy night! But honestly quite memorable. Lit some candles and had wine w/ a friend in the backyard and listened to all the neighbors chatting away about what a crazy night ppl were all having!

[Jason]

Fortunately i walk to work, so walking home i saw the lines of cars trying to make it to the freeway and to home. Apparently it took some folks 3hrs to make it home. Other than watching the traffic, we chatted with neighbors, took a walk, and ate random leftover food in the fridge.

[James]

Grilled some brats and burgers, made guacamole, and finished off the Ciao Bella vanilla gelato and Starbucks Mocha Frap ice cream. As I was daydreaming about how I was going to grill the contents of my refrigerator, the power came back on.

[Liz]

My drive home took a little under 2hrs. Normally 25 mins :/. Grilled some salmon, chicken and sugar snap peas. Actually brought out all the neighbors in my condo complex... the outage actually caused some neighborly bonding.

[Sandy]

I think the traffic jams were on the local streets. It took me 30 minutes to get on the freeway (vs. 5 minutes), but there was no traffic on the I-15 north where I was.

Thank goodness we have a gas stove, so we heated up leftovers. If the power was out for another day, we were going to have a neighborhood grill party with our defrosted freezer meat!

It was almost a fun evening to socialize with the neighbors with the kids running around, waving their flashlights in our faces. Thank goodness the weather had cooled off.

[Kirk]

Hi CC - Yep, I'm sure it's one he won't easily forget.

Thanks Kat, we did fine.

Hi Dennis - That moon was quite beautiful, wasn't it?

Hi Loren - It turned out to be a very mellow evening.

Hi Caroline - I guess the outage really forced us to reconnect with our neighborhood.

Hi Faye - That sounds like a wonderful evening....

Hi Jason - I think the outage really made us slow down a little. In spite of the inconvenience that might not have been a bad thing.

LOL James! Just when it was smorgasborg time....divine intervention! ;o)

Hi Liz - It did force us to kinda reconnect in a way.

Hi Sandy - You could be right.....I stayed clear of the freeways, and perhaps many did. Luckily we have gas stoves as well, but it seemed so nice to cook outside. Had it been Tuesday, the heat would have been pretty nasty, so I guess that's another silver lining.

[Janfrederick]

I was already planning to make Manhattan Style clam chowder, so we invited friends over and chowed down. Would have been nice to have a working dishwasher though.

[Kirk]

Hey Jan - LOL on the dishwasher....ours is sorta like more storage since we hardly ever use it!