last night as mrs w and i were watching a video the power went out. after sitting patiently for about 7.5 minutes mrs w got some candles out. so we talked a bit and i decided to read a bit by candlelight to see how it was for abraham lincoln.

i was working on muhammad ali's autobiograhpy "the greatest" for the second time.

it was very pleasant. the house was completely silent. a very rare thing. so i read for maybe 45 minutes and went to bed. then i got up and turned off all the lights so that when the power came back on it wouldn't wake us up.

finished the book this morning. he beat george foreman. again.

and the power was on again. and i woke up at the usual time. without the alarm.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

isn't it bad for your eyes to read like that? I mean, candle light constantly shifts and sort of moves around.

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Audi TT

After I moved to Cahl-ee-FOR-nya in '94, I didn't manage to make it back to OlyWA for Christmas until '96 or '97, I forget. I stayed with my parents and that was the year we had one of the worst ice storms in years. Power was out for folks out in the sticks for days. It was one of the best times I'd spent with my folks. There was no TV to distract and we had the fireplace going and candles and lanterns for light.

We played pictionary and cards by lamplight. A good time.

My one and only year at WSU (Washington, not Wisconsin) the weekend before finals week, most of campus had a power outage. I was living in Rogers Hall, a 12 story dormitory. The place was a zoo, normally, and with the power out, it was eerily quiet. The stairway was pitch black til someone lit a match. I'd been stumbling blind and when that match came on, I was running up the stairs. I got to the seventh floor where some of my friends lived. One guy was an outstanding guitar player and singer. He started up and people were drawn to the sound from all over. My best night in that dorm, kind of a weird place in many ways.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

maybe. but it seemed ok as long as i did it.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Ever seen the movie "Ice Storm?" Your description reminded me of it (though the family in that movie is copletely disfunctional, while I'm sure yours is decidedly not!). If you haven't seen it, check it out.

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

One of my favorite movies to be honest. A couple of years ago the power went out for around 3 days after a bitter ice storm. (Big deal in the suburbs). On the second day I hooked a 7500 watt generator right to the main circuit panel in my house. I had heat, tv, microwave and lights. I left the outside lights on all night on accident.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

I heard of it -- never saw it. I'll look for it.

This storm broke trees for miles around. Just loaded up the branches with ice til they broke, taking power lines with them, not just here and there but for miles. I think they were more than a week w/o power -- I went back south before power came on.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K