Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore . . .

Well, due to some horrific storms today, we are without power, and without phone service!! We had hurricane force winds today (and we're not even on the coast), and received nearly 2" of rain! We've been without power since about 7am. Bill and I both went to work, but he got sent home mid-morning because the power was out at his work. He was on call, but at home. The power was on at WTC all day, but we did close all our programs and sent our clients home and closed all our programs. I was amazed that our admin office retained power all day!

The winds were horrific all day, blowing down trees, branches, power poles -- it was crazy. And it rained cats and dogs. The worst thing was when it was pouring rain and the wind was blowing really hard. The rain was almost going sideways!! I went out to eat lunch at Carl's Jr. today, and the power went out after I'd gotten my food. I thought that was really good timing!

When I got home from work, the power was still out, and it was really cold in the apartment. We have electric everything, so we couldn't cook. The heater is gas, but it has an electronic ignition and fan. So we called around trying to get a hotel, which was difficult because probably 3/4ths of the hotels and motels in town had no power! It was weird how there were little pockets of areas with power. We finally found a vacancy at the hotel on the south end of town, not too far from where I work. There is another little pocket of places with power over by the movie theater, which included some restaurants and a pizza place. We ordered a pizza from the pizza place, went home and ate it, then packed our stuff and headed for the hotel! Woohoo! We have heat, and electricity, and TV -- nice!! They say our power may be out for another 24 hours, so we may stay tomorrow night, too.

I realize we're not like in Chicago or something, where it would REALLY be cold. It's probably in the 30s here, which compared to the Midwest is pretty wimpy of us. But what the heck -- it's a mini-vacation! And we were lucky to get the room; I just hope it's available tomorrow night, too, just in case. We'll have to call down to the front desk.

So that's our eventful day. The free high speed internet service allowed me to post this blog tonight, so I can keep up with Blog 365. Well, I'm going to get off here and relax. Have a great weekend!!