Stormageddon/Hellastorm 2014 Journal, Day One:

Wednesday night, the theater show I went to (may just have to post it later, other drama will be occupying me allllllllllll day) got out at 9:35. It took me till nearly 10 to get out of the parking lot, so I just sat in my car making notes about the show. It had slightly rained while we were in the theater, but was dry when we got out. I drove around my neighborhood a few times trying to find a parking spot that wasn't next to a tree or power pole, and managed to find one, huzzah. Then I went into my house and started looking around for things, such as the iGo battery phone recharger I got after getting my license. I finally found where I put it--in the car--and am now carrying that thing around Just In Case. I was pretty wound up after getting home and finished off a container of cream cheese before going to bed...just in case. Went to bed sometime after 11:30.

Thursday, 5:50 a.m.: I wake up and it's totally dark and the nightlight's not on. Fuck, I think, and go check on the laptop, which is still on with 91% of power. Hm, must have just turned off, then. Which is weird because normally when it rains my bedroom is very noisy (it's right by the drainpipe) and I haven't heard wind or rain.And the power's out ALREADY? I turn off the laptop, find the big flashlight and get into bed to read a book. (Found later: newspaper article on it. Power all better later.)

6:05 a.m. Hey, wait a minute, the heater just turned on! Yup, the power's back on. I turn on the laptop, start charging every device Just In Case, and check the weather, bus schedule, see if school is canceled here (HAH NO) and the PG&E outages. There's only three on there!

7:03 a.m. I am taking the first (early) bus today because the bus company put a notice on the website saying to take the bus early if you want to actually be able to GET on the bus. I don't even bother to open my umbrella, but it's not actually THAT bad out. Sure, it's dark and wet, but not horrendous. I put my hair in a bun and am wearing my Indiana Jones hat from Disneyland (good in rainy weather) with my coat hood on over that. This actually works really well for keeping the hat on and keeping the hood from utterly blinding me. Three other girls are at the bus stop this hour. One of them says she has a midterm and another says she's heard of various stories of individual professors canceling classes. We get on and the bus might be a little fuller than its usual (okay, I don't take the 7 a.m. bus much so this is a guess) but we can all get seats, so it's not too crazy.

7:13 a.m. I get to work. Nobody else is there. Usually some of my other coworkers (i.e. Those Who Are Staying Home Today) are here this early, but now it's just me. I settle down to listen to Serial and The 10 Best Punk Christmas Songs before everyone gets here and won't shut up or leave me alone. And start writing this, of course.

7:57 a.m. Aw crap, people are showing up now. The noise begins.

8:10 a.m.. Someone brought cookies, is the good news. I will have to do three hours of counter and two hours of phone answering. I seriously asked for six hours of counter to avoid the phones, but no. I hope the power goes out around 2. Of course the coworkers who are supposed to "work from home" "can't get in." And those forwarding their calls home can't do that either. Seriously, this is not a profession that can be done from home, folks. Emergency planning does not work.

8:15: Brief light flicker, but everything doesn't go off, my computer included.
9:16: One coworker has managed to successfully log on from home. Which is good, because nobody can cover for her on any of her stuff. I am doing the load for my group, but happily there�s not much. I have completed everything there is to currently do around here before the onslaught of humans starts. Surfing the net now.
Things like this make me angry. Factually true, I'm sure, but still. And then there's this.
9:43: Who brought a baby? The married programmers seem to have brought a small child.

I count statistics: about half of the career staff are out today. Thank god the non-career employees have come in and seem just fine with working, thanks. (Of course, they�re all probably local.) For the record; 15 people in, 11 people out. Unfortunately, in my area that has to deal with humans, it's 5 people in and 4 out...)

9:54: Only one power outage in town, affecting one customer? Wow. Time to go start my day's public servitude.

12 p.m. go off for lunch: nine people came in all morning. About five of those really had to come in, the others didn�t so much and we were all, wow, you left in the rain for THAT? It was very nice and quiet. I wrote up my review of the Mike Birbiglia show to post for later and wrote a Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality chapter review after I was out of stuff. I was told that the phones were quiet and �everyone seems to be lying low today.� Also I don�t have to answer phones because enough non-career staff people came in. HUZZAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Only had one problem child, who was eventually handled. The Big Boss came in and I was amazed he was in the office. He lives here. He hung out and chatted for a while. My office is ordering pizza for all.
People are coming in wet and saying that the rain is falling diagonally. I�m indoors and don�t have to care, la la la.

I check the weather reports: Only a few blackouts in my town, no major damage. Amazing!

12:45: Pizza arrives! Cenario�s Pizza, half of them being �square specials.� All of it is DELICIOUS.

1 p.m.: Back on front counter for another hour while someone else has lunch.

2 p.m. Seven people came in: maybe half of those were urgent. Had a couple of problem children which eventually boiled down to �some other office has to fix that.� Woot.

2 p.m. NO PHONES! Go off to do other work
3:19: am out of work to do, I do a weather check and there are NO blackouts in my town, and only one blackout in my boss�s town, not at her house (I checked for her). Supposedly no major damage has happened here either. WOOT for us. My boss is all �what�s all this hype about?� and I said I think our location is doing fine, but according to the Internet there�s a shit ton of flooding in the Bay Area. Hoo boy, the pics of that.

4 p.m. You know what? It's been a pleasant day. Few people around, all things considered. Nobody made me answer phones. No power outages. It's been nice. And since I came into work so early, my boss said I can leave early. Woot. As Jenipurr pointed out, here has been fine, though the Bay Area has a shit ton of flooding pics that I've seen online--drowned cars in Berkeley. So I dunno on this "go to the Bay Area" thing this weekend still.

4:45 p.m. I left early :)

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