Posted by Jeff from d14-69-22-254.try.wideopenwest.com (69.14.254.22) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 11:28AM :
Hi everyone. The power went out Thursday and it took me hours to get home because nobody in Michigan knows what a 4 way stop is. All of the intersections were treated as such since the power was out... everywhere.
I finally got home and we received word that the water was no longer safe. At about midnight we went to Meijer to see if they were opened (we are young, after all) and it was insane. There were more people at mejier than I have ever seen, and I've been going there for years. People were stocking up like it was the end of the world, and the lines were very very very long.
Oh, and by the way, nobody could buy gas because none of the gas pumps work without electricity. This really freaked people out.
Another thing that scared people was the shortage of ice. Nobody had ice anywhere... which is crucial if your fridge and freezer doesn't work.
We ended up just getting a few bottles of water and some food that could be cooked on our gas stove, and then leaving.
The next day we just hung out with our neighbors and bonded over candlelight, alcohol, and conversation. Often I heard the comment "How nice it is when there's no TV and no Internet and we are forced to talk to each other"...
On Friday we ran out of water so I went to the store with 2 friends. First we went to Meijer. It was twice as busy as it was on Thursday, and not only were all the water shelves bare, but a huge portion of the food shelves were bare. People were really just buying as much food as they could... We left meijer and went to the water store. Yes, there is actually a store in Michigan that specializes in filtered, purified, blah blah water. They had a sign that said "no water" on the door. Then we went to a CVS and we stood at the door and asked the workers (we weren't allowed in --smart move on their part) for some water. We got the last 12 back of bottled water for $8. Then we went to a grocery store... no water. This made us nervous, but thanks Gatt (Gods Willis?) that I'm a member of Sam's club. We went to sam's and it was the only business that wasn't busy. Also, they had water stacked to the ceiling and they weren't price gouging... so we finally got our water.
It was very interesting to see what having no water, power, or gasoline will do to otherwise "normal" people. Mass hysteria.
Farid once said that the American economy is like a house of cards... I think he said that after September 11? 2 billion people live in this world without access to electricidad and water.... and everyone here was so on edge for 2 days that I can imagine there may have been riots if power wasn't restored.
See you all at the convention.
-- Jeff
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