The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: Kiwi on August 14, 2012, 12:40:26 PM
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Do you remember what you were doing 9 years ago today? At approximately 4:10 August 14th 2003 across eastern North America there was a complete blackout. The power outage affected an estimated 10 million people in Ontario and 45 million people in eight U.S. states. So do you remember what you were doing when the blackout hit?
This post on Facebook caught my eye. I haven't thought about this event for a while, but I do remember it. Had no idea it was 9 years ago today.
I remember I was at work, and the whole store went dark (thankfully we had a good number of windows). There was still about an hour before we closed, but we stayed open. The cash register was off, the internal phone system was down. Also the cooler and freezer were off. :( Before we left for the night we put whatever we could from the cooler into the freezer, hoping it would be enough to keep stuff good.
I remember I was supposed to have my last in-class driving school lesson, but they called the house to say if power wasn't back on in time, class was postponed. :P It got rescheduled for a week or so later. Dinner was BBQ by candle light.
The next day we opened the store still.... had all of 2 customers. We ended up closing at lunch since there was no one around, and no one could call to find out we were open. And we lost most of the stuff we had tried to save from the cooler (cheese, yogurts, etc).
I think we got power back later that day sometime. That was definitely an experience of a lifetime.
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Idk, I partied hard back in the day ^^;
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I was in Whitehorse. I had a 3 year old girl who had finally just been potty trained. I also had a toddler boy, and was pregnant with my third child. Probably was starting to be bummed out that summer was over.
No power outage in the Yukon, thank goodness. I vaguely remember the outages as my MIL lives in London.
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I would've been on summer vacation in high school. Oh, how I miss summer break. :sheepish:
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Uh, I think I would have still been in primary school or maybe my first year of secondary school. XD
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I was probably working and just returned from a long trip to the UK. :)
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I was beginning my junior year of college ... don't recall the blackout for some reason, though.
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I had just graduated college and was job hunting.
Ironically, I'm job hunting now too!
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I don't remember any blackout, but seeing as I lived in Florida, blackouts happened alot anyway so I wouldn't remember it as anything special.
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I was getting ready to head back to college for my sophomore year. I actually was in Toronto that summer, but not during the blackout ;)
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Wow thats scary!! But no I dont remember because 9 years ago I was a toddler lol so sleeping or playing or something?!? Lol
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I was working in the return center and we had to close the store because of no power. All the customers were not happy and the rest of the staff were scurrying around frozen foods with flashlights trying to keep the coolers cold.
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I was on a plane, flying from Korea to Hawaii, looking at a photo on the front page of the newspaper with the newyork skyline, and not a single light on, laughing at my friends who were stuck in the dark. Joke was on me though, because everyone just partied for several days.
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I was living in Alabama at the time, so it didn't afect me, but it did hit my parents in Michigan. It was especially difficult for them because my step-dad is handicapped and his very elderly mother was living with them, too. They didn't have water either for a while as I recall. They were very fortunate that the next door neighbor had a generator and let them plug a few things in when they really needed them.
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We didn't get the blackout lol So I was probably doing my normal stuff.
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I was on my third year in university (turned 21 just a month prior), being one of the first pioneers to be constantly connected to the internets via cellular link :P
On the sad side tho, I believe both my computers died for the first time sometime on this month 9 years ago due to the "Capacitor plague". I was rushing around sourcing for the necessary parts to repair them, and well, was sad that I had to retire my SoundBlaster AWE64 since no motherboards released at that time supported the old ISA slot anymore :(
Should note that the power cut did not affect us, we're halfway around the world.
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My first thought was 'playing Soul Calibur II', but that didn't come out till August 27th 2003. This was before Final Fantasy XI came out, so it's very likely I was playing a lot of Phantasy Star Online and working. That's what I did after I dropped out of high school. I worked and played online RPGs.
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I'd just turned 21! Mm, still making my way through community college. I remember I went with a date to the Disney Store and a few other places in Destin, Florida. Weirdness. What a 21st.
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I was a newlywed, having only been married for a little over 2 months! My husband and I were just chilling in our apartment. But it didn't affect us since we lived on the West Coast (still do), and the blackout occurred on the East Coast. But my husband had a sister living in New York at the time (and I had some good friends living there), so we tried calling to make sure they were okay.
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I don't know exactly what I did that day, but I do remember being home when the lights dimmed out for a few seconds. Then we saw on the news that everything east of us, including NYC, was dead.
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I was helping out a friend at her dog grooming shop. Least we had the dog clipped at that point so we didn't have to send the customer home with a half-groomed dog :P
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I don't remember any blackout. I was 13 and just getting ready to enter the 8th grade.
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I think I would have been at band camp? Either that, or cross country practice.
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Hmmmm... I think that was a bit of a standard year for me. I was living with my husband but we weren't married. We were trying to get pregnant, but not having any luck. I had started studying at University, and I was also working at the local zoo and doing wildlife caring for the RSPCA.
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Here in Bulgaria,we see a blackouts once at three years,plus,I was only 6,so how can I remember :P
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i can't remember there ever being a black out. but i was living in california missing my home in iowa. i was 11 so i was in school and it was rough. i remember thinking "oh god please get me out of here!!!!!!!" i didn't fit in at ALL.
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Oh man, I feel old now, but I definitely remember this. I was still in high school, and I was visiting my dad's house, doing some random stuff. I had just gotten Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, so I ended up reading almost the entire book during the black out. :)
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August 2003 I had a four-month old and two-year old, contemplating studying at University (plus the logistics of moving 6 hours away to attend Uni), all the while trying to sort life out after the loss of my husband and my parent's separation/eventual divorce.
But no, I don't remember the blackout even being mentioned on the news... actually I don't think I watched much news back then, so I probably missed it anyways! :huh:
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I was at work and it didn't affect my town. However my parents basement flooded because not only was the power out but the backup for the sump pump failed. So they were treated to a swimming hole and buckets of fun (carrying the water out in buckets).
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Oh gosh yes! I remember I was baking cookies when the power went out. That night we ended up stargazing..our house, then ones next to us, and the other one next to our next door neighbour.
I remember the gas stations were soo busy it wasnt even funny..and they actually found a mc.donnalds that was open at like 3 int he morning.
Was also the first time we actually used candles.
Has it been 9 years already?
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I don't remember hearing anything about the blackout, but then again, I was only five at the time, so I didn't pay much attention to the news. ^^; Anyways, I was likely either doing school or playing with my G3s. ^.^
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I was going to a summer camp for acting in plays and other things this time 9 years ago.
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I remember the gas stations were soo busy it wasnt even funny.
Oh gosh, yes! I had forgot that, we had 1 station in the entire city that was functioning. The traffic line was about 3 blocks long. I remember thinking that if they weren't smart and left their cars running that whole time, they'd waste more then they would be getting. ;)
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Oh we ended up taking showers outside and sitting out and enjoying the stars.
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I don't remember the blackout. I had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder the year before and was being switched on different meds and was a bit off my rocker ;) I don't remember a lot of it, but what I do remember I wish I could forget :P Those were some crazy times for me 9-10 years ago :drunk:
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I really don't remember a blackout at all. I was fourteen and about ready to start the 8th grade. I was horribly depressed from bullying at that time so I really don't remember anything about that.
(That summer though I was in a couple of church skits that we did for VBS... I don't know if it would have been on that exact date though.)
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hmm well in nz we didn't get the black out obviously.. hmm what was I doing at 18.. I would hazard a guess I was working at the swimming pools or at tec
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I had just broken up with a boyfriend and decided to have a week holiday with my best friend, in which we lived on vodka and eggy bread. I dont remember much of it, but thankfully we documented the hilarity. I couldnt do that these days... I'd die! And probably lose my job!
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Listening to mainstream music, trying to be a rebel teenager. Trying to start some social revolution against my parents in my mind ._.
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Hm. I'm in the Cleveland/Akron area and I remember being GLUED to the TV watching the events-- almost near the start of it. Odd enough, despite the fact I live in that area, my specific suburb didn't experience much. Our area was pretty much to blame, thank you FirstEnergy.
At the time, I didn't care what was happening beyond my own community. :( Looking at it, NYC must of been kinda crazy at the time.
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I would've been 7 years old, so frankly I don't have a clue. :silly:
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Lesse. I would have been fifteen about to be sixteen and it would have been summer, so chances are I would have been tromping around in my trenchcoat angsting about something. Or possibly reading a stack of comicbooks in-between angst.
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Hulalei's birthday is August 24 so I'd say I was preparing for her first birthday party. All I remember is that we had banana cupcakes and there were 15 people there.
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don't remember the day exactly (thankfully... for years I thought I can't ever forget that), but 9 years ago in August I broke up with my that time fiance. he happened to have another girlfriend for some months, and I only learned it after we broke up. he wasn't even man enough to tell me why he wants to break up with me - well, he didn't even tell me he wants to, he just suddenly started to behave awkward, and one day somewhere in mid-August he said he needs some time apart. I said OK, though I simply didn't understand and couldn't be more hurt. only some weeks later (trying to contact him in the meanwhile was kind of unsuccessful), when going to a mutual friend's concert, did I learn he's with someone else, from the was they behaved. ugh... that was probably one of my worst summers...
thankfully I am not affected by it anymore, but it still makes me sick even to think about how he behaved (during the few upcoming years it turned out this wasn't the only case he kept something secret or lied to me), not only because it happened to me, but in general. and he dares to call himself a man...