Friday, July 21, 2006

God Bless the Person That Invented Air Conditioning. Seriously - There's a Special Place in Heaven for Him. Or Her.

The heat index is 109 and I still have no power. St. Louis is like a ghost town - you drive down streets and the only light comes from your headlights.

The cafe at my work was without power, so I tried to go out to lunch - and finally, the third place that we thought to go was open. The first bar my group tried to go to for happy hour was sans power, so we had to go somewhere else. And for dinner (I know this sounds like a lot of going out - but I can't spend more than 5 minutes in my apartment without the fear of dying from heat exhaustion, and um, I certainly can't cook there. Did I mention I don't have power yet?), the first four places we tried to eat at were closed, and the "Pizza Haus" we ended up at was seeing more business tonight than they'd seen in the past six months.

I wasn't all that worried about the power outage - it's not like we're in Katrina situations here. Only a half million customers are without power, and it's obvious that people are working to restore power. But then they called in the National Guard. I started to wonder then if I should be looting. Or at least more worried about the state of affairs.

Matt called me at 5, telling me he'd gone home and no, the power was not on yet. I stopped by the house at 7, and found similar results. I thought that maybe the house was livable, but within 5 minutes of walking in, I was drenched in sweat. And, honestly, the fact that I can't take a step without my flashlight is getting a little old.

It's 11:10, and I was just by the apartment again. For the purpose of picking up supplies for the night - but secretly I was hoping that the power would have reared to life. When the top of my apartment building came into sight, a dark black hole behind the bright aura of the Chase Park Plaza, I almost burst into tears.

We're only at about 30 hours without power, and already it's unbearable. I feel like such a wimp, because it's "unbearable" even though I spent 8 hours today in my air conditioned work, and I'm currently sitting in the high tech computer lab at Matt's school.

BUT. Tomorrow is my last day at work. And also: The day that the power will return to the Tramore Castle. I'm off to sleep at my friend's house.

(And everyone in St. Louis, and the rest of the country that's under a heat advisory? Stay cool. I was going to say, "Stay classy," but I thought that might be too much.)

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, WOW . . . I had no idea it had gotten so bad! And I thought it was nasty-hot here. It just smells like icky horse butt and makes you stick when you walk.

Lena said...

That really sucks, kitten.

I made the mistake of opening all of our windows today while it was 106 degrees. Apparently, that LET all the hot air in as sweat is STILL dripping down my back.

But, did I mention my $400 electric bill? At least, you'll have that money you saved to spend. I smell new shoes! (Plus the ones you looted. You know you did.)

Angela said...

Jeff and I looted at the house across the street last night. Since we don't have flashlights, we didn't know what we were grabbing. (That added to the excitement!) We ended up with a box of Ritz crackers, a purple button, and a Tony Orlando and Dawn album.

In other words, S to the C to the O-R-E.

Anonymous said...

Cara and I were going to loot Walgreen's since they were making my husband work even though they HAD NO POWER. We decided to go see the Devil Wears Prada instead.
Seriously, I need my air conditioning back.

Kiki said...

Honey, white people don't loot. They 'find supplies in an otherwise locked and secure location."

I hope you're doing ok in the heat. When I see stuff on the news about St. Lou I think of you. Stay cool, have and have a fabu last day of work!

Unknown said...

Kiki said...
Honey, white people don't loot. They 'find supplies in an otherwise locked and secure location."


HAHAHAH that's funny. Umm yeah that is what we do..

I still dont know why you dont have power? It's 109 here in Austin, and we have power. I'll be damned if we do not not have power. People would go crazy

Peggasus said...

There is nothing like St. Louis humidity. I say this from experience, as my mother grew up there, and I spent one weekend every month for the first 14 years of of my life visiting my grandparents there. I feel the heat just reading this.

Anonymous said...

30 hours is a LONG time to go without a/c. I know you probably have thought of this, but in case you haven't, you can always sit in your car & turn on the a/c. It's been really hot here too & I'm just hoping we don't have a power outage. Sweety, I hope they get it fixed for the weekend.

Dustin said...

i win

we are at 111

Gabs said...

no....i win, im in HELL, not even Africa hot...but hell hot

hope you get it back soon (fingers crossed!)

doggerelblogger said...

Yeah - I have got to watch the news a little more often.

And you know what? God attacked Busch stadium because he hates crap beer.

goirishkj said...

LOL at doggerlblogger. Though I'm glad no one in my mom's family will see this because they'd shoot me as they all absolutely love STL. Hopefully it cooled down for you guys today--it dropped 30 degrees at the other end of the state.

Virenda said...

That is so awful. I was only without power for 13 hours and I wanted to die. I couldn't imagine being without power for so long.

I sure hope you get your power back and you can go back home to a nice cool apartment.

Bobealia... said...

I lived through a hurricane, a it doesn't take much for people to break down and act totally uncivilized and dangerous. I feel for ya. I am glad there are places to escape to (work and friends).
Congrats on your last day tomorrow!

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v said...

Wow. Dinna know it was so bad in your neck of the woods. Hope yall get power asap. And I hope your last day of work went well, though I'm sure it was a bit sad.

But cheer up! It's 'Kron time now! Woot!

PS -- it's only 101 in Northern Cali ... yes, you all are jealous.

Anonymous said...

It is 115 in Phoenix, 106 in T-town. It blows ass, but at least I can come home and have air.

Miss you!! You should see my tan..killer!