What am I doing with my life? Is everything for money so I can afford technology? Or am I just scared to change? Reading the Signs you’ve stayed too long in your job commentary didn’t help to subdue my growing depression here in C-Ville. I’m still wondering if there is one happy single person here in this village.
The heat index is hanging out in the lovely 120 degree F range. Even the body can only make it up to 98.6. Oh my. This record summer across the globe is crushing all. I know I am crushed.
Lights across the village have been blinking through much of the day. Every AC is turned on. If the power grid fails I would predict riots to get in to any building that still had AC.
I want out. Calgon, take me away!
A sad day for anyone that likes sci-fi.
James Doohan
1920-2005
At some point the powers that beat developed a term called the heat index. It uses a formula to calculate the misery factor due to the outdoor temperature and humidity.
Here in the village the misery factor is very high. It has been unbearable since I returned from Missouri. Combine the heat and humidity and you find that our heat index hit 100 by noon. The long range forecast has no change for the next ten days (actually a bit worse in the middle of the week). Should I be happy that they only predict weather for ten days, or sad?
I have absolutely no desire to leave my air conditioning. Stepping outside is miserable. Locals will be out and about enjoying the indexable misery, eating a sandwich covered in mayo, pushing kids around, chatting about the lovely village of Charlottesville, and wondering how many petty crimes will happen this weekend (last week an anti-gay group tried to burn down a church).
Was the heat index designed purely to demonstrate the misery of the south? My dear, you can enjoy the south and the burning misery, but frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn..
I’ve been gone for a bit, but now I’m back in the sickly sweet humidity of the village. The past three days were spent in northwest Missouri where rural Americana reigns supreme. Friendly people, big meals, and a lot of corn. Population: 11,000. I also spent a bit of time in Filmore. Population: 127.
Story will continue….
It is hot. It is humid. It is miserable. It is the village.
Radar images via the web are one of the greatest things since sliced bread. At work we can keep an eye on storms as they develop and then move towards the village. As 4pm approached I took a peek and saw that a very small, but red, storm was heading straight towards us. I headed home from work to beat the storm. I made it about halfway back before rain started pouring down on my biking body.
I got home and watched the storm as it increased. Rain pounded at the windows on side of the house. Lightning was flickering all about. The rain suddenly switched and was hammering the other side of the house. At this point the lights were doing quite a bit of flickering. I was sending email in my wireless world. I hit send, and suddenly a bolt of lightning strikes the telephone pole next to my house. The internet died. I figured things were down in the city, so I relaxed for a bit and then headed out for a run when the rain ended.
Things were wet, and it was a warm and humid evening. The run started as usual. A half a mile later things got odd. I ran past the Omni (the “high class” hotel here in town), and suddenly there was no power anywhere. All traffic lights were out. No buildings had power. Nothing was on. Rush hour was still going on.
The run continued. As I was heading down main street there were more and more branches scattered across the sidewalks and roads. I ran past another hotel, and it had no power at all. People were milling about. There were more people on the sidewalks than I had ever noticed in the past. The entire village seemed to be out and about. As I got closer to UVA the size of the downed branches continued to grow. Traffic wasn’t moving since there were no lights. Cops were all about. I noticed that people were getting out of their cars to pull trees and metal newspaper carts out of the road. The cop that had been driving next to me for the past two miles fell behind after a few more lights.
I got to UVA and saw NBC29 broadcasting live from the heart of TJ’s U. Large chunks of trees were everywhere. No power on the campus, other than the buildings that had large generators (such as the hospital). I was waiting for the looting to begin. Not a single store on the corner was open due to lack of power. The sun was becoming a large orange sphere as the sky cleared out and humidity kicked in.
There was no evidence of power anywhere. Banks were darkened. McDonald’s wasn’t serving. Oil changes weren’t happening. The first sign of power I saw was at the major intersection of Ivy and Emmit. The traffic light was running. I kept running. I made it to the UVA practice track and ran a 100m run (for an upcoming bet…another story). At this point I was getting very warm. I was dripping. Very humid.
Five miles in to my run. Barrack’s Road Mall. Where all the rich people shop. Everything was dark. Parking lots were empty. Employees were all out smoking in front of the stores. Empty. Devoid of shopping. I kept running and was getting close to my half mile long uphill stretch.
I made it up the hill. No houses had power. People were pushing their babies around in carriages. Others were running around trying to clear branches off their cars. No one had any power. One more long hill and I was almost home. I got back to the historic downtown mall where power was just fine. I finally made it home. Dripping with sweat. Excited by the blacked out city. I had power. I had air conditioning. Fun.
I showered and then started chatting with tech support to look in to my internet (or lack thereof) issue. At one point I switched to the connection to my modern computer. I could see the web, but the connection was brutal. It seemed as if the ethernet port of the server had been fried. After a bit more investigation I figured out the DSL modem was partial toast. I switched back to my six year old DSL modem, from a time before DSL was around. It is a true antique/beta device. However, it has never failed, and is now powering outskirts. A new one is on the way.
I survived the storm.
The remains of Cindy rolled in last night. We only ended up with about 2.5 inches of rain, but it did help the drought, and perked up the mosquito population. It is now Friday evening. Crickets. Relatively cool. Perfect sunset. I’m sitting here at La Taza typing away after a few happy hour martinis. Relaxing. The week was only four days long, but seemed closer to nine. It is time to kick back and sleep.
Just days after the total blackout of the village due to the pseudo-tornado, Cindy is now pounding us. Four to six inches of rain. The rain has been pouring down since work ended. The wind is starting to pick up. My electricity just popped off for a few moments. Will the village go through another blackout?
At least our drought is over.
Wow, do I have a story to tell about this one! Here is the link. I’ll write more later this week (so much to do). Outskirts was down for a bit due to lightning hitting my block. I believe my DSL modem got partially fried, and am now running on one from six years ago that my DSL guy said was a beta version for DSL back when it started back in 1999 here in town. It takes a lickin, but keeps on tickin.
The puny village. Nothing new. Me and another guy went out to grab a drink since it was only moderately miserable weather tonite. The service at Rapture is renowned for being miserable, and nothing has changed. We waited about 40 minutes for our bill, and when it hadn’t yet arrived (and no sign of the waitron) we left enough cash to cover the bill, tax, and about a nickel in tip. At least we did that. Leaving nothing would have worked just as well.
Very few locals were out and about on a Sunday evening. Lots of tourists, and the “Klingon crew” of youth that hang out smoking on the mall. Lots of smokers. Nothing new. The village. The Klingon crew is a group of youth that need a bit of mental help. The clothes are straight out of a Star Trek show, they are covered with tattoos and body piercings, and wear various metal attachments. They hang out in a small group and do a lot of smoking. Straight out of a Star Trek episode.
Last night I couldn’t sleep at all. I just lay there wondering how I managed to waste my life away in this remote location where nothing ever changes. Once you get here, your life is constant. Nothing changes, but just like all the property in the village, everything is vacant with big sign on it that declares emptiness. Everything is for lease.
I hope I can sleep tonite.
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