June 1, 2002
Y'know what? It's difficult to update your Web site when you don't have electricity. We had a good-sized thunderstorm system pass through here yesterday evening, and it really tore stuff up.
The pavilion for one of the Kennywood rides collapsed. The Greenfield Giant Eagle was running on its generators (cash registers were up, but not the freezers). When I went to feed Rob & Allison's cats I had to remove two good-sized chunks of tree from Beechwood Blvd. About half of Greenfield, Squirrel Hill and South Oakland were blacked out. So I sat out on the porch reading a book until it got too dark to see well. Then I went out drinking.
I pass six traffic lights to get from my place to Denny's Bar. None of those lights were working. You'd be amazed how many people don't know that a non-functioning traffic light is equivalent to an all-way stop sign. Judging by the people who were out at 10:00 last night, I'd say about two thirds of Pittsburgh residents don't know that.
Power still wasn't on when I got back at about 1:30 so I had to eat my Big Mac (what can I say, I had the beer-munchies) by the light of a flashlight. Fun fun fun.
But at least I got an update out of it.
Update: As of 11:30 Saturday night, there were still a few neighborhoods without power, and there was still a cop directing traffic at the intersection of the Bloomfield Bridge and Liberty Avenue (by the BBT). I may take a quick spin around town on my way to feeding the fuzzballs today and see if everybody's up and running yet.
Update II: Sometime during the afternoon the cable came back on. And when I went out at about 7:00, there was only one traffic light that didn't work. It seems like 48 hours was enough to get just about everything back online.
