The Apocalypse came to Seattle...

...and everyone was still Christmas shopping.

As most people in the US know, the Pacific Northwest was hit with 100MPH winds. My power went out Thursday night; I awoke late on Friday to find not only no power, but no cell service. 700,000 households were without power in four counties. I ended up staying with friends in Shoreline (and not being able to work on my book - sigh), as they were lucky enough to have power and heat. In fact, one of their neighbors had the gaudiest Christmas displays I've ever seen - all this while gas stations are running out of gas and grocery stores are running out of canned goods and batteries.

We went to the Alderwood Mall area on Saturday for lunch and it was packed. People were Chrismas shopping. Amazing.

I checked my apartment on Saturday, still no power. It was incredibly eerie to be standing in Bellevue and see no lights and hear no sounds. Like something out of a zombie movie. The stars were gorgeous, though. The smell of wood smoke was irritating my throat (some people stayed in their houses through the aftermath, hunkered around fireplaces or wood stoves). It made me think about how bad the air quality must have been when burning wood was the primary heat source. Though I'm sure they got used to it, just as we're used to exhaust fumes from cars.

I came home Monday morning before going to work, to find that Prometheus had once again blessed my abode with power. (I'm sure Prometheus would have given men the gift of electricity, but early man had no plasma TVs, so he gave them fire instead). My Xbox 360, however, didn't survive the surge, and now I have to ship it to Texas for repair. Alas. Sad thing to happen right around Christmas.