Peanut Butter Sandwiches [composed on a dying Powerbook]

7.21.06

Oh where to begin. First and foremost, ConEdison is the biggest pile of **** in this entire universe.

Ok, now that’s out of my system, I will start of by saying that it is now Friday, and I have not had full-functional power since Monday. I also had my apartment flooded this morning. Jolly good week, eh?

On Monday it was close to 100 degrees in New York City, and boy was it hot. In my brief time outside, I must say that the streets were pretty barren. It was so hot that the heat managed to cause 9 of the 22 feeder power lines that supply Astoria to catch fire, rendering them useless, and stranding and initial estimate of 2400 New Yorkers powerless. I was fortunate enough to have very limited power, so my TV and one light worked, while my refrigerator and air conditioning did not. While this sucked, it was livable because the outside temperatures dropped significantly from Monday and my apartment is a sublevel so it was insulated by the thermal mass of the earth.

As the week has progressed, I have become more and more irritated at the power company, ConEdison. Power was still off, and there was no estimated of when it was going to be back on. All of the storefronts were locked up and people were interviewed on local news stations, and most were none-too-pleased at the situation. Elderly people were having trouble keeping their medications cool, businesses were throwing out spoiled food, and the everyday man was sweating like a pig and looking for answers and finding only questions.

As for me, I was doing ok, I had a very small amount of food in my fridge that spoiled and I haven’t been able to cook or use the internet, but that’s about the extent of my inconvenience. It has been a little warm at night but nothing intolerable.

Well, that was until this morning when I woke up to the sound of a severe thunderstorm and water flooding from underneath the outside door and onto the floor of my apartment. I had just put my IKEA bed together last night so my mattress was safe, so I took all of the books, clothes, DVD’s and other effects and got them onto my bed as quickly as possible. After realizing what was going on I grabbed my largest cooking pot and ran outside and started to bail water out of the concrete drain that was backed up [there was a pump out there, but it was not working because why…IT HAD NO POWER!!!!] and threw it as far as possible.

When the rain let up, I was beside myself. What do I do? There is an inch of water on my floor and I have no idea of how to remove it. Pot? Broom? Hands? Help!!! I went to go and ask the guy who lives above me but ran into my neighbor instead who graciously lent me her wet/dry vacuum to suck up the water with. Upon looking down the street I saw that the bottom was flooded with water, the sewer system obviously unable to contain the vast amount of water that had attacked it. After my several seconds of shock wore off, I ran back to my apartment and proceeded to suck up over 40 gallons of water that had come to rest on my hardwood floors.

So, here I now sit in my humid, dark, cavernous apartment, with nothing but peanut butter sandwiches to keep me satisfied. According to recent television updates, there are now a suspected 25,000+ without power, a far, far, far cry from the pathetic underestimation of 2400. How they could be so wrong, only time will tell. ConEdison has stated that most power will be back by today [still negative here], and the rest taking through the weekend, but with the amount of lies already vomited at the citizens of Queens, most believe that it will be Sunday or Monday before power is finally restored.

I have been here less than a month and in the past week I have found a job, had a relationship encounter lots of heartbreak, lost power and had my apartment flooded. I feel like I have experienced a years worth of action in one week. However, things can only go up from here: I start work on Monday, I am recovering from my heartbreak, the power has to come back on eventually, and the water has receded from my floor. I feel that this is the beginning of something new and exciting and I am ready for what is in store for me.