Andrew's View of the Week

And Then The Power Went Out

Posted on 02/09/2020 by Andrew Reynolds

I think this would be a great title for a post apocalyptic novel story. It’s also been the kind of afternoon we’ve had here at the house. Luckily for you, the power came back on just in time for me to write this inspiring post. Maybe I shouldn’t over promise …

It’s been a cold and windy day here and while on our way back from church I suggested to Heather that it seemed like a stay-indoors-kind-of-afternoon. I had visions of getting some tea, and doing some writing.

My heart sank as I opened the front door and noticed the clock on the stove was dark. I like to think that we’re well prepared for any emergency, but I having that cup of tea wasn’t going to be that easy.

Oh, I could have gone to the camping shed and pulled out a stove to boil some water out on the patio, but the 25 mile per hour winds were a bit demotivating. Then I thought, “well I’ll just get the laptop out and check with the power company on how long we might be out of power.”

At this point I should note that I have four UPS (uninterruptible power supply) in the office that keep things alive – including the internet/router/wifi/telephone thing. There were only two things still beeping at this point and yes the battery unit for the internet/router/wifi/telephone thing had died. We were now cut off from the world. Fortunately my cellphone was still 70% charged and I use it to check PG&E’s website.

I’m so glad I was able to get to PG&E to find out how many power outages there were in the area and to discover that the repair crew was en route to ours. In fact the crew was still listed as en route for an hour after they restored power. Amazing – they fixed it without arriving …

At this point in the blog post it would be natural to slip into a lecture/sermon/morality lesson about how easy our lives are with all this technology and how fragile it all is. Then there would be the whole how you should be prepared for all that – flashlights, coats, emergency food supplies, a wind proof stove, etc …

But, being a writer, while I was waiting for the power to return I started thinking how this would be a great start to a post apocalyptic story. A couple returns home from church to find the power is out. It never comes back as they struggle to survive the aftermath of …

And that’s when the power came back on and I got my cup of tea then started writing this post.

You’re going to have to wait for the next power outage for me to finish that story – sorry.

Posted in General | Tagged power outage, writing, writing process | 25 Comments

Friday Wisdom – Trees

Posted on 02/07/2020 by Andrew Reynolds

Don’t trees get tired standing up all the time?

Posted in wisdom | Tagged humor, wisdom | 18 Comments

Blogging Inertia

Posted on 02/02/2020 by Andrew Reynolds

This will be my 861st post since I started this blog.

There have been 126,160 views with 15,335 comments.

Okay, half of those comments are me replying, so it’s really only about 7,500 reader comments.

During the last few months I’ve noticed a few blogs that I’ve followed have decided to stop blogging, while a couple have greatly changed their format or subjects.

I have thought about that. I get that some people lose interest or energy in their blog or need to make a change. Often we start doing something without knowing where it will lead.

From time to time, we need to step outside of what we’re doing and ask ourselves if this is a path we should continue down. Does it still fulfill us or serve a purpose? I’ve always believed in living life intentionally. The things we do should be done for a purpose.

I’m not perfect and often do things because my life has a certain amount of inertia. I always do somethings: morning tea, checking email, writing a blog on Sunday …

Even this post I’m writing feels a bit like a variation of one of the 860 that have been done before. Should I give up this post and try for something completely new and different? Just how many posts like this will my 3,226 followers want to read?

Inertia – Newton’s law. Things at rest stay at rest. Things in motion stay in motion, unless acted on by a force.

There are many forces in our lives: family, friends, health, jobs, and our own wants and desires. Sometimes the course of our life is changed by an outside force. Sometimes we decide to change or just stop and rest.

As a young man, I often had Sunday lunch with my father where we would talk about stuff. One time, while I was discussing the possibility of a major career change, he asked me the question, “So this is a time for an agonizing reappraisal?”

Just before I sat down to write this post I asked myself, “Self, is this a time for an agonizing reappraisal of my blogging and writing habits?”

And the answer came to me: “Nah, I like doing this and now is not the time for change.”

So stop by next Sunday when I might write about our adventures with car shopping or perhaps a rewrite of one of those other 861 posts.