CrazedPhotoMom

A Little Electronics Lesson

For those of you who don't know, Joe was sent to Las Vegas yesterday for work. He'll be gone for a week. Blech. But you ladies know how it goes...when the hubby is away, something is going to happen.

Joe's been away a little more than 24 hours and we've already had something happen.

I was settling in about 6:30 having just put the girls to bed and thinking "only one more hour to the opening ceremony of the Olympics" when the power went out. I cannot repeat what went through my mind next...this IS a family friendly website, after all. I heard this horrific screeching sound and followed it and found this:

Since I had no clue how to shut it off, I hit the only button I could find on it. Low and behold, it shut up.

Then the weirdness started. The tv came back on, the rest of the electronics in our cabinet started powering on. But yet, the fans hadn't come back on...the kitchen was still without power. I thought to myself "no problem, I don't need Joey here to fix it for me. It MUST be a blown breaker! OH! I know how to fix that!!"

Then I realized that the basement is pretty dark without power...so I went off in search of a flashlight. I grabbed the one that's been plugged into the outlet since we moved into the house and flipped it on. Uh, the light went about 2mm and was worthless. No problem, we have this gigantic monster of a flashlight under the sink. I grabbed that and before I could turn it on, I heard crying from the girls bedroom. Irked already because I didn't want to miss a second of the opening ceremonies, I hustled my butt back to their room. Step, thump, step, thump, step, thump. You get the picture. The problem you ask? Their nitelite wasn't on. Um, ya think? I try to explain to 2 - 3 year olds that the power is out. Not an easy task.

So I finally calm them down and make my trek to the bottom of the basement stairs. I flick on this enormous, stupidly heavy flashlight and ta-da - LIGHT! And then 2.3 seconds later it fades to black. Oh the words that actually flew out of my mouth...I'll end up on that bus to hell for sure. And then I heard a voice call from the top of the stairs "aw shucks momma" (what we've instructed Nate to say instead of $hit). Sorry bud...aw shucks.

But wait - victory! At the bottom of the stairs, a flashlight - THIS flashlight...

Yep, that's a bear flashlight. And it was right there waiting for me. So I picked it up and headed into the abyss - aka, the closet area in the basement where we have tons of stuff (ie JUNK) stored and where the electrical panel is. I turn it on and began removing things so I can get to the panel. I got one thing halfway out and the bear roared and shut off.

CRAP!

So I stop what I'm doing, pick up the flashlight and hit the button again. I finish moving whatever it was I was moving and again...ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR. And the light goes out. I hit the button again. Lather, rinse, repeat for about 10 minutes. I mumble some more profanities under my breath so my precious, innocent 5 year old won't correct me.

I finally make it to the panel and notice that not one breaker is out of place. So what the heck, I start one by one, flicking them off and then back on. I do this to EVERY SINGLE ONE. Still no power.

More profanities.

Thankfully I brought my cell phone downstairs with me. I call Joe in Las Vegas.

More profanities.

I give him a brief synapis of what has happened so far (leaving out the profanities, of course - his virgin ears cannot handle that).

What does he say to me? Um, are you sure the power is on?

McFly! Hello! Of course I'm sure the power is on - the TV is on upstairs and so is the DVR and the stereo receiver. It's getting electricity from somewhere. He couldn't see me, but I'm sure he felt the eye roll I gave him.

I start rattling off some more profanities and how much I want to see the opening ceremony. He cuts me off mid-sentence and says he really doesn't think the power is on. I ask the almighty why he thinks that.

It seems that box that was making that horrific screeching noise that I shut off and then turned back on is an APC BACKUP. It's a freaking battery backup. And when I turned it back on after I got it to quit screeching, it powered everything back on that was plugged into it...the tv, the DVR, the stereo receiver. Apparently, it's so I could properly shut everything down. Hmph.

Guess the power wasn't really back on.

I did suck it up and tell him he was right because....well, he was. Boy does that hurt to type out. The man does NOT need any encouragement thinking he's right all the time. Love ya Joey! ;) You know I'm kidding...kind of. :)

So, power was out for 30 minutes and back on in plenty of time for the opening ceremony, which has been awesome btw!

I'm going to get a beer and finish watching the opening ceremony. Peace out...but NOT the electricity.