No blackout

Teiden nashi

WTF? There are people actually complaining that there wasn't a blackout in most parts of the country? Am I missing something?

I called the Pumpkin Granny this morning to ask her what she wanted to do about the Pumpkin Prince and Princess. Our "turn" for the blackout was scheduled for 3:20 pm to 7:00 pm, and she usually picked them up from day care at 3:30. This would mean driving on streets without traffic lights.

Not only did the Pumpkin Granny not know what time the blackout would be, she had not thought about the whole traffic lights issue.

A short discussion brought us to the conclusion that it would be best if the Pumpkin Granny went to pick them up at 2:00 pm or thereabouts.

So I packed up the Pumpkin Royalty and headed in the direction of work. I dropped the kids off at day care, and headed to work...where the entrance was dark. Only about half of the hall lights were on. They were doing their part to save electricity, I guess. My department had the heat turned off, and everyone was working with their coats on. We have backup generators for times like this, and though the blackout didn't happen as scheduled (in fact, it didn't happen at all in our part of the country), they cut the power we were getting from TEPCO and switched over to the backup power source at 3:20 or thereabouts. Then, at around 5, they cut off all power to "non-essential" departments (including ours...could have sworn we were "essential"...) leaving us no choice but to go home.

The Pumpkin Daddy's work sent everyone home after lunch. I got home to find him vacuuming.

Tomorrow's blackout is scheduled from lunch to 4 pm. I'm hoping that doesn't mean they will keep us until 8 pm to make up for lost time.

The night after the big quake, my friend the Tomato Daddy got a Skype call from a co-worker currently based in the American East Coast. "Hey, you guys OK? That's good to hear. Like I said the other day, they're going to be in stores today. Want one?" And the Tomato Daddy said yes.

Which of the following things do you find most interesting/ amusing?

1. That even when the usual land line and cell phone lines are down, you can get through to your friends if you use Skype

2. That someone would call the evening of the biggest natural disaster in this country's history to ask if you wanted them to buy something for you that was going to hit the stores that day

3. That said person could refer to the object in question in third person pronouns and you would know exactly what they were talking about

4. That the object in question was an iPad

Planned Blackout

Keikaku teiden

Actual info on scheduled blackouts here.

We're getting one tomorrow. My main concerns are

1) The blackout falls on commuting hours. How many of the traffic lights in my commute have a back up power system?

2) What will become of the contents of my fridge?

I am thankful my concerns are this trivial, but the first has potential to become tricky. Apologies to people who have Googled "planned blackout" or something and found no helpful information on this blog.

My accomplishment for today is having peeled myself away from the TV and internet quake and meltdown coverage long enough to buy diapers and cook dinner, and also not having lost my temper at my kids.

Sometimes, I have really low expectations for myself. Today is one of those days, and I'd say it's allowed.

Neither parent had the emotional resources to play with or pay any sort of attention to the kids, so we just let them watch DVRed programs and rental DVDs. Apparently, the Pumpkin Princess likes Dora the Explorer. She watches it in English, and loves it, which is strange because she doesn't understand English or Spanish.

Why bread?

Naze pan?

I went to the store to get diapers. I had no problem finding them, and there were plenty left after I took my usual 2 packs. There were plenty of other things on the shelves, but two sections were completely empty: bottled water and bread. The water is not hard to understand, but bread seems a strange choice. I doubt people are mailing it to friends and family in the Tohoku area, since transport is essentially gone in that area. Bracing for a power outage by stocking up on food that doesn't require heating or other preparation, I guess...

Maybe I'll start cooking rice early today while there's power.

I hate having the TV on. The Pumpkin Daddy keeps turning it on, but the TV is like a dysfunctional vacuum. I keep getting sucked in and am not getting stuff done like housework and cooking. So I turn it off, but then I get sucked into the internet. I keep reloading news sites like Yahoo! and the big dailies (Asahi, Yomiuri, Mainichi) and checking on my friends on Facebook. Maybe writing about this dysfunction will be the motivation I need to get going.

I won't watch TV.

Terebi ha minai.

I do not understand why the Pumpkin Daddy insists upon having the TV on all day. There is nothing but quake related news. We are confused enough as it is, there is no point in adding to the confusion. If watching TV would get food and water to those hit hard, or will save someone still buried alive under wreckage, I would watch all day. But it won't, so I won't.

I also fail to see the need to cancel children's programming. The Pumpkin Prince and Princess have been watching DVRed cartoons all day. Their parents lack the emotional resources to play with them...

Thank you to everyone who has shown concern (and relief) for my well-being.

I'm OK.

Buji desu

A very short post to let people who check on me here but not Facebook that I and my immediate family are all safe. My house, my parents' house, my sister's apartment, and my brother's house all have electricity, water, gas, and internet. My house is well away from the coast and also the worst of the quake damage.

The devastation, particularly from the tsunamis, is, well, devastating. The TV footage of cars and homes being washed away look like something that I might see if I caught the Pumpkin Prince and Princess playing Legos and Cars in the shower. But it's not, it's real, and there were people in those homes.

Your local Red Cross is probably a good place to start if you want to help out financially.

I was thinking of making a lighthearted post about the nice things my co-workers got me in Vienna. I might later on, but for now, I am thankful for them, my family, and their safety.

Focus today, too

Kyou mo chuumoku

A half dozen of my co-workers are gone for a conference in Vienna. Bastards.

This weekend, I managed to:

Cook dinner both nights (lasagna on Saturday, nikujaga on Sunday)

Purchase and plant flowers in the pots outside the front door

Put away the Hinamatsuri dolls

Change the filter in the goldfish tank

Get the Pumpkin Princess to practice the piano and do her piano homework (I never said she did it well, I just said it got done)

Get 7 hours of sleep both nights

Write a blog entry containing an image



I managed not to:

Eat potato chips or snack food along those lines after 9 pm on Saturday (but not Friday)

Bring on the workweek! And my co-workers come back on Wednesday. I think they should bring me something nice, don't you?