My family and I, who live in San Diego, experienced the Great Blackout of 2011 yesterday and night which impacted a wide swath of the U.S. Southwest and began at about 3:45 pm. Up to 5 million were cut off completely from the power grid -- and, that means technology - until some time early morning today.
All of us in the San Diego office of Sorenson Media were deeply in the midst of collective flo -- we had just launched our new significant Squeeze Server 1.5 enterprise product, after all -- when the blackout hit. No power, no A/C (was a hot day), no real ability to productively work (although many tried and stayed as I left the office about 30 minutes later). None of our office phones worked, and the mobile phone networks were congested -- I could text, but I couldn't make or receive calls. I headed straight to the ocean beaches of Del Mar where I had intended to go in any event to watch my kids' surf lessons (they were awesome). It was a strange scene as I headed over there -- no stoplights, nothing -- but drivers were all incredibly polite. And, at the beach, it was an incredibly magical scene -- one of the most beautiful sunsets you can imagine -- as the day turned into night. No lights twinkled on around us -- just serenity and beauty engulfed us. The image above is the picture of last night's Del Mar sunset I took with my iPhone. Wow!
Some friends met us at sunset. What to do from here with no power? Enjoy the experience of course! They came over to our home -- we lit candles -- my little girl played DJ and spun tunes from her iTune library. We BBQ'd. And, we talked and enjoyed! My usual routine of working after kids' bedtime was nixed, as was today's school day for the kids. We slept completely in the dark (a bit unsettling for the kids initially, but they handled). In the middle of the night -- about 2 am I guess -- I noticed that the clock was back (wrong, of course, but back). The Great Blackout of 2011 was over. And here we are.
For my family and I, this blackout was fun. An experience. A day (and night) largely without power and technology. Of course, this was not the case for thousands of others -- the sick, the elderly. And, this experience was a potent reminder of how dependent we are on things we take for granted each day -- and of the need to be prepared (which we were only to a limited extent). Had this blackout lasted much longer than the 15 hours it took to restore full power, then things would have gotten dicey fast.
And, at the risk of waxing doom and gloom, I have little doubt that this type of event will not be isolated as demands on our aging power grid only escalate ... unless it gets smart ....
