Monday, July 18, 2005
Stuck in my Car Hole
One benefit of living in an apartment building, as opposed to renting a flat, is that I have the option of reserving a spot in the building's underground garage. And believe me, during the winter it is a wonderful thing not to have to scrape off the ice from the windshield or worry about digging out a parking spot on the street. I have never had a reason to complain about my parking accommodations since I moved in here about a year ago.
But then yesterday, the thunderstorms came. They didn't seem particularly serious, but wouldn't you know it? One of those lightning bolts strikes a transformer, and bam all power is down. Now, moving beyond the obvious convenience of having access to television, a computer, and so forth, on a rainy day, this meant air conditioning was no longer an option. Or, you know, lights. All in all, it made sense to leave until things were going to be fixed. And fortunately enough, it being Sunday, I had pub trivia already planned.
So, I walk from the 18th floor down to the basement, and am pleasantly surprised to see that the underground hallway to the garage has lighting. Emergency generators! And hey, look, there are lights in the garage. Well...half of the garage. The half farther away from the garage door.
Yes, wouldn't you know it? They have emergency generators powering the laundry room, but not the garage doors. So, if I needed to do laundry during a blackout, I'd have somewhere to go. But in the event of a medical emergency that required driving to the hospital...no luck. And no one in maintenance seemed to know a way around the problem either, which is rather disheartening.
I basically resigned myself not to attending the game, but then a phone call from a team mate meant that I could catch a ride. Just so that I could show up and discover that due to the bad weather, pub trivia was canceled. And when I got home? Still no power for a few hours.
But at least now I can blog about it, so there we are.
One benefit of living in an apartment building, as opposed to renting a flat, is that I have the option of reserving a spot in the building's underground garage. And believe me, during the winter it is a wonderful thing not to have to scrape off the ice from the windshield or worry about digging out a parking spot on the street. I have never had a reason to complain about my parking accommodations since I moved in here about a year ago.
But then yesterday, the thunderstorms came. They didn't seem particularly serious, but wouldn't you know it? One of those lightning bolts strikes a transformer, and bam all power is down. Now, moving beyond the obvious convenience of having access to television, a computer, and so forth, on a rainy day, this meant air conditioning was no longer an option. Or, you know, lights. All in all, it made sense to leave until things were going to be fixed. And fortunately enough, it being Sunday, I had pub trivia already planned.
So, I walk from the 18th floor down to the basement, and am pleasantly surprised to see that the underground hallway to the garage has lighting. Emergency generators! And hey, look, there are lights in the garage. Well...half of the garage. The half farther away from the garage door.
Yes, wouldn't you know it? They have emergency generators powering the laundry room, but not the garage doors. So, if I needed to do laundry during a blackout, I'd have somewhere to go. But in the event of a medical emergency that required driving to the hospital...no luck. And no one in maintenance seemed to know a way around the problem either, which is rather disheartening.
I basically resigned myself not to attending the game, but then a phone call from a team mate meant that I could catch a ride. Just so that I could show up and discover that due to the bad weather, pub trivia was canceled. And when I got home? Still no power for a few hours.
But at least now I can blog about it, so there we are.
