Last night I was making the final changes on a software module needed at my day job from the comfort of my den.  My granddaughter was chasing something called webkin dollars from her computer.  My daughter, the math teacher, was perusing her internet based gradebook and my wife was virtually linked to her work email, both wirelessy.  The TV was also on providing some mindless escape in the form of the Amazing Race.  Suddenly, the entire house was plunged into darkness.  By the light of our battery powered laptops, we realized we had lost connectivity to the world of external information.  This was a widespread outage our entire block was without power.  I grabbed the cordless phone only to find it too had lost connectivity with its base station.

A cell phone call connected us to a recorded message from the power company, confirming what we already knew. 

With the onset of Arizona heat the inside of our house quickly became hotter than the outside.  We grabbed flashlights and ventured out into the darkness.  One neighbor, just around the corner not only had power but every light in his house seemed to be on.  Was this an episode of Twilight Zone’s “Monsters of Maple Street”? 

We returned home after about 20 minutes of visiting with faceless neighbors who had also fled into the limited “cool” of the evening.  When we returned my very nervous granddaughter had relectantly gone to bed after asking “How can I sleep if we don’t have electricity?”  We laughed about that and then I postulated to my wife and daughter as we sat dimly illuminatd by a lone flashlight, “What if this becomes a regular thing?  We lose power AND connectivity for 2 or 3 hours a night?”

Would that be so bad?  Could we survive?  And if we could find ways to remain productive and/or entertained without power, why don’t we just start doing it voluntarily?  I mean tomorrow is earth day.  What would we lose by shutting down the e-fed barrage for a few hours of moonlit face to face interaction?…

Hmmmm…might be a good way to re-charge, being powerless on a regular basis.