First Power Outage as a New Flashaholic!

[fishhead]

Well, since discovering the joys of good flashlights a few months ago I've been busy collecting a "few" (*cough**cough*) and making sure that I always have at least one on or right near me, with plenty of spare batteries. Oh yes, I'm prepared....

And today there was a power outage at work! Oh joy to be a flashaholic!...

in an office with a big bright window letting in all the sunny sky.

Hmmmm.

Oh, the emergency power has kicked in too, and I can't even call the hallways dim.

I went and grabbed some lunch - the cafeteria didn't lose power - and all the lights were on when I came back.

:sigh:

Back to using my lights to find lost cat toys, I suppose.

 

[wyager]

Haha, just wait, some day you'll need it. Maybe. Possibly.

 

[PCC]

I'm in the same boat. I joined these forums about three years ago and in those three years have not experienced a single power outage. The closest was the day I was supposed to start a new job. That day the power went out in the entire city but I was at home reading about it in the news because my paperwork got delayed. The next closest was when I noticed that there was arcing on the power pole behind my house one evening a few weeks ago and called PG&E. They cut the power the next afternoon to fix it. I'm waiting for one of those times when I can pull out the flashlights in front of my wife and say, "see, all these flashlights really are useful!"

 

[wyager]

I'm in the same boat. I joined these forums about three years ago and in those three years have not experienced a single power outage. The closest was the day I was supposed to start a new job. That day the power went out in the entire city but I was at home reading about it in the news because my paperwork got delayed. The next closest was when I noticed that there was arcing on the power pole behind my house one evening a few weeks ago and called PG&E. They cut the power the next afternoon to fix it. I'm waiting for one of those times when I can pull out the flashlights in front of my wife and say, "see, all these flashlights really are useful!"

Last christmas, there was a power outage that lasted for two nights and hit like 40,000 people.... After all the AAAs were drained by crappy unregulated lights, my LD20 was a hot commodity. As was propane. If we hadn't gotten the igniter on our fireplace replaced the week before, we would have been in real danger. Sub-zero temperatures every night.

 

[Flying Turtle]

A dedicated flashaholic will simply manufacture their own outage, as I have done. Well, I don't really cut the power, just won't use anything but flashlights and lanterns. Great fun.

I don't try it until my wife has gone to sleep, or is out of town.

Geoff

 

[wyager]

I would feel like kind of an idiot doing that lol...

 

[Locoboy5150]

A dedicated flashaholic will simply manufacture their own outage, as I have done. Well, I don't really cut the power, just won't use anything but flashlights and lanterns. Great fun.

I don't try it until my wife has gone to sleep, or is out of town.

Geoff

Whew, I thought that I was the only one that did that! I survived for a whole week not turning on any lights in the house and just using my flashlights and lanterns.

Yeah yeah...I need professional help. It sure was a lot of fun though!

 

[fabienne]

Sometimes you need to create your own situation to force using your flashlight. hehehe.... try cycling before the sun rises or maybe go warehouse/factory at night.

 

[vudoo]

A dedicated flashaholic will simply manufacture their own outage, as I have done. Well, I don't really cut the power, just won't use anything but flashlights and lanterns. Great fun.

I don't try it until my wife has gone to sleep, or is out of town.

Geoff

That cracked me up!

 

[broadgage]

I would feel like kind of an idiot doing that lol...

I think that it is a good idea.
I even have a practice power cut at work a few times a year ! not for the whole building that I maintain, but my basement office, workshop, and plant rooms.
Carry out basic day to day tasks useing only the emergency lighting and flashlights/lanterns.
Use the PC Etc only on the UPS and see how good the batteries are.

 

[Tomcat!]

As I live in a well maintained capital city, I've yet to experience a proper power cut since becoming a flashaholic. The nearest I've come is on two strange occasions when the underground train I take to work every day arrived at the platform with no internal lights. The commuters had their noses buried in their newspapers, lit by their mobile phones. When I got on board it didn't really occur to me that the lights were off until I stood in a corner facing the direction of travel. No one reported the problem to the driver in case the train was pulled from service, which would be a disaster for the frustrated traveller. So in true British fashion, the public were happy to sit in the pitch dark, 90ft underground rather than miss a train. :candle: As the train sped towards the tunnel, I suddenly realised it was about to get awful dark in the carriage, but of course I didn't panic because I knew I was well prepared. I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my P1D CE Rebel (as it was then) but didn't turn it on straight away. I wanted to see the ever present Nite Glowring trits on my EDC rucksack do their thing. It was geek heaven to see that my pack stood out in the darkness. Feeling righteous and justified, I fired up the P1D in medium while pointing it at the low carriage ceiling which lit up like a film set. Everyone turned to stare. I was grinning from ear to ear. :twothumbs I caught one or two looking at my hand expecting to see some huge torch or lamp, but all they could see was my closed fist somehow producing a ton of light as if by magic. All to soon the fun was over as my stop came up and I made for the doors. I turned around and said to the people nearest me "Sorry folks, I have to get off now." and actually heard a couple of groans. Priceless. Bizarrely, the following week the same thing happened on the same line. I've never experienced a train with no lights before or since, but I use the incidents to impress on my friends why it's crazy to voluntarily travel so far under the earth's surface without even a small torch.

 

[Roger999]

Prior to joining, I had blackouts once or twice a year, from the year I joined to the present time I have not experienced one blackout, it's good and bad at the same time .

 

[the.Mtn.Man]

A dedicated flashaholic will simply manufacture their own outage, as I have done. Well, I don't really cut the power, just won't use anything but flashlights and lanterns. Great fun.

I've not gone to that extreme, but I don't bother turning on room lights once the sun has gone down. I tell myself that pulling a flashlight out of my pocket is more convenient than walking across the room to find the light switch in the dark (more so when I'm moving through several rooms in succession). Plus I don't spend the 30-seconds or so painfully squinting my eyes because the 60-watt bulb is more light than my eyes want or need at the moment.

 

[RAGE CAGE]

Geoff is a riot......I do the same thing- no light play until the wife is away. Don't worry- the grid will start falling apart real soon, or another solar tsunami in 2012 will help you out.

 

[fishhead]

I'm glad I'm not the only flashlight nut who hasn't been able to use a flashlight in an outage. Reading this board it sometimes seemed I was totally alone

I don't think I'm ready to make my own outages yet, but I can see the appeal. I'll just have to contain my sorrow over this (non)incident and vow to be ready "next time". And buy a couple more lights, yes, that will help me get over the sadness :naughty:

Tomcat - that's a great story. I'll bet you inspired some folks on those trains to see the light...

 

[SuperTrouper]

You're certainly not alone, seems like I'm living in an area that has a very reliable power grid.

It's the summer right now and it's light from the time we get up to the time we go to sleep though so it's not like I'd be able to have much fun with torches even if the power were to go out. It'd just be an inconvenience to lose other power driven things.

Maybe by the time winter comes around things will change on the grid and we'll have more outages.....you never know....

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Power outages are fun if they don't last too long and are not during temperature extremes where you need heat or AC and don't have it. They get boring after awhile if you don't have any battery powered entertainment on hand. It is nice to have lights but having fans and battery powered stereos (instead of just mediocre radios) and battery tv and dvd players can make longer power outages tolerable.
During a 4.5 day power outage in 2007 (ice storm) the only thing we had to do here was play darts and that got old after 2 days. I had a radio, listening to talk radio was ok, and a stereo boom box that I was running off a 6v SLA in my room at night to sleep. We had to heat by the kitchen gas burners as the old gas furnace didn't work and the bathroom heater barely kept the chill off in it with the door closed.
Another power outage we had was 12 hours in the spring and it was muggy indoors without AC. I have been considering a generator because of that, enough to run a fridge and AC. I could do fine with battery lighting but having to empty your fridge after 2 day outages is no fun at all. Since 2007 we haven't had an outage last more than about 15 minutes here.

 

[Canuke]

Don't worry- the grid will start falling apart real soon, or another solar tsunami in 2012 will help you out.

Power outages skyrocketing

 

[Lynx_Arc]

they were telling smaller towns around here fed by rural electric cooperatives to conserve power as their grids are hitting maximum. luckily I live in the big city no such warnings here.... yet. the 100+ temps have been taxing AC's everywhere.

 

[ruriimasu]

i rarely get any power outrage where i stay..
people from my country will think im nuts if i pull out a light anywhere under the open sky! but that didnt stop me from being a flashaholic! lovecpf