Downtown Power Outage 8/11-8/12

Navigation

User login

Online users

rolandovich
FRESH
Rick
emmettoconnell
The Original Yoda
Logarithm
Guglielmo
Anamaria
jusbytheclown
Berd

Support OlyBlog

OlyBlog is run by volunteers who care about Olympia. If you like what we're doing, make a donation:

OlyBlog is powered by:

Who's new

Sara Ballard
GooseKaler
LongRider
non illegitimi ...
acreatureapart

Downtown Power Outage 8/11-8/12

Submitted by theunabonger on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 1:21am.

Most of Olympia’s Eastside was without power from approximately 10:00 PM until 1:30 AM on Friday Night (Aug 11th). I arrived on the Eastside to find the whole neighboorhood eerie and creepily dark. After seeing a power repair truck drive by, I sped off after him, and caught up with him at the Olympia Avenue and Franklin Steet distribution substation (located next to the LOTT wastewater treatment plant). I asked him if he had found the cause of the problem, and he said, “no, I just got here

theunabonger's blog
Login or register to post comments

Very Nice Unabonger

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 8:15am.

Let's see the Olympian beat that up to the minute coverage.

Victory is the Unabonger's.

Submitted by Chris H. on Thu, 08/17/2006 - 7:20pm.

Victory is the Unabonger's. We were sort of still making sure we'd get a dead-tree product out at that point, what with the on-deadline outage, malfunctioning generator and subsequent power surge severely frying several machines and delaying presstime by an hour-and-a-half. Did have a note on the site by 5 a.m.

Phil and I were, of course,

Submitted by Meta Hogan on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 8:48pm.

Phil and I were, of course, blogging relentlessly when the lights went out. We wandered outside bewildered, expecting I-don't-know-what. I had the presence of mind to bring a candle. We walked over to the Time gas station, and chatted with the folks there. It was unearthly quiet and dark, and you could see a lot of stars and a big beautiful gibbous moon. The guy on duty at the Time gave me the remnants of his hot water from the coffee machine, and I wandered home with friend Matt in tow and made a cup of tea in the candlelight. Phil went to bed, and Matt and I sat up in the kitchen for an hour or so talking about life in the dim flicker. Eventually, he biked home, and I crawled into bed after unplugging everything but the fans. As I was drifting off, I heard the power click back on, and the ambient noise and light kicked in and the spell was broken. It made me think about living in the country (for those who don't know me, NOTHING makes me think about living in the country). It was a fun reminder of the tenuousness of our shared cultural and economic expectations. The streetlights will always burn, right, Grampa?

I was outside in front of

Submitted by kiki on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 10:31pm.

I was outside in front of Jake's on 4th when this happened. Jake's didn't lose power but everything on the other side of the street did and all the streetlights were out. Hundreds of seagulls started freaking out and flying everywhere squawking, it was actually a little eerie like a horror movie. I think it's a testament to my state of mind last night that my first thought was, "what if it's Godzilla?!".

Yeah, but...

Submitted by Meta Hogan on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 11:13pm.

...what if it IS Godzilla?

Last night I watched the

Submitted by stevenl on Sat, 09/16/2006 - 4:09am.

burr Last night I watched the really bad 1998 version of Godzilla. Well, to be fair, there were parts I found quite humorous, but it still didn't come close to the 1956 Godzilla, King of the Monsters! starring Raymond Burr.

Burr, now there's someone I have not thought about since they wheeled in a TV with an instructional video hosted by the old Perry Mason actor at the Grays Harbor County Superior Court as part of an orientation for us jury selection candidates. Never mind Burr had been dead for over a decade. And while I'm on this topic, I just recalled I drew an 8-page minicomic a couple years ago called Serena (probably still available at Danger Room, along with other titles. Plug. Plug.) It is a very short story narrated by a teenage girl. I think I can reproduce the text of the story without the illustrations and still get the point across. Here we go:

Serena

A slight rectangular depression began to appear in the lawn
of my boyfriend’s back yard. His parents thought it might
have been caused by an old septic tank caving in on itself.
Some neighbors guessed it was the former spot of an old
flower bed. But I knew what it really was.

It was the burial site of a cryogenic chamber-- a chamber
containing the frozen (yet living) body of Raymond Burr.
He was being stored there until they found a cure for
over-acting.

And as I listened to his parents discuss how to handle this
anomaly, I started to foresee my boyfriend’s future. The
discovery of Mr. Burr slumbering under this suburban lawn
would no doubt bring widespread media attention to my
boyfriend and his family.

And then my boyfriend would become a national celebrity.
He would become a guest on late night talk shows. He’d be
picked up by Madison Avenue and made a spokesperson for
some product aimed at young people. He’d probably be
escorting starlets to movie premieres. And become regular
fodder for the tabloid press.

So, late one night I dug up Mr. Burr, pounded a stake
through his heart, and reburied the chamber but padded the
soil a bit so the depression didn’t show. His parents forgot
all about digging up the spot to investigate. But a month later
my boyfriend and I broke up anyway, so I learned a valuable
lesson.

Once I figure out what that lesson was, I’ll let you know.

That was quite a detour. Back to the 1998 film. There were a couple aspects of the newer Godzilla story worth mentioning in OlyBlog. First, the hero of the story finds himself faced with the prospect of NYC being overrun by a small army of baby Godzillas as they hatch in Madison Square Garden. Watching the human characters fight off this horde of big reptiles gave me a preview of what could be in store for you Olympians if you don't wake up. Meanwhile, as the baby Godzillas prepare to take over New York, a TV newscaster (played by Harry Shearer) is telling the evacuated residents of the Big Apple everything is just fine and it is OK to return. The name of this newscaster character who sends out faulty information and plays into the "hands" of the reptiles? "Charles Caiman." I'm not kidding. Makes you kind of wonder, don't it?

Godzilla (1998)I actually

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Sat, 09/16/2006 - 8:29am.

Godzilla (1998)

I actually enjoyed that movie a lot more than you did. Obviously it wasn't the greatest (or even good, if we're judging by Is this movie going to be remembered after opening weekend?), but for what it was trying to achieve (cheap entertainment via a lot of stuff blowing up and a monster wrecking a major city), I thought it was fine.

That's crazy his name was "Charles Caiman," though. Both writers, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, wrote Little Monsters (which was a badass movie). I'm sure if you looked, you'd be able to find further Caiman Connections.

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

OlyBlog.net

OlyBlog is devoted to citizen journalism, including hyperlocal news and discussion specifically about Olympia, Washington. If you care about this community and are tired of corporate media, then this is the place for you.

If you'd like to contribute, please register for an account. Here is a list of local news beats that need to be covered. You can post your news as a personal blog entry, and it will be reviewed (and possibly edited) for promotion to the front page. Once you've established a record of responsible blogging, you can become an autonomous user. You can also send news via email. All members of OlyBlog agree to abide by our comment and fair use policies. If you are frustrated about something said in a comment thread, go here.

Now playing at: