Powerless

Our power is finally back on after 76 hours without electricity. It feels good to be sitting at home in the light at my computer, typing on a full-sized keyboard instead of a tiny little touch screen. The refrigerator is humming along, the water is running, my phones are working, and I don't have to worry about the state of batteries in the flashlights, for the time being.

Although it was inconvenient, and a bit expensive (although the food in the refrigerator survived because of both the quality of the appliance and the foresight we showed in placing frozen gallon bottles of water inside), we got off easy. To the north, roads in the White Mountains were completely washed out, as was the railroad bridge that connects Conway to Crawford Notch. We just got a lot of rain and wind, and trees hitting our power lines in various places.

We didn't even get much leaking, something I was expecting more of. And knowing that the storm was coming, we filled a bathtub and a trash can with water so that we could flush the toilets and brush our teeth. And we charged all of the electronics so that we could entertain the kids after dark and use our cell phones to reach the outside world. Karen found some wonderful glow sticks that last about 12 hours and give off an amazing amount of light. We hung one in front of the bathroom and one in our stairwell.

Of course, we weren't expecting the power outage to last three days, but we managed to charge the phones while we were driving so that they had enough juice to get us by.

Karen's birthday came right in the middle of the whole mess, but we made quite a day of it, traveling to North Conway to poke around the many fun shops there, and then picking up Thomas for dinner at The Lobster Trap, our favorite restaurant in that area, and one that Karen has been visiting since she was about 12.

Every night we were a little less enthusiastic, the water in the bathtub shallower, the glow sticks and the battery-powered night lights a little dimmer. But we stuck it out and now everything is back to its normal state of insanity.

A little side note: we have been gradually making changes to save ourselves some money. One of these involves the phone. Now that we are able to use our cell phones at home, we are eliminating our land line, and so giving up our Wolfeboro-exchange number of the last 14 years. Those of you who have our cell numbers can continue to use them (we've ported them to a new carrier). Those that need the number can email me at gordon at thebrooksbunch.com (spelled out to cut down on my already overwhelming volume of unsolicited messages).

I'll let you know how that works out.

New Me

Actually, I'm just the old me with a lot less hair. I was due for a haircut, and Karen wanted to see what I'd look like with a buzz cut. And that's what she got!

I'm still getting used to the look; I'm a bit shocked whenever I catch my reflection in the mirror. It actually doesn't feel as short as it looks.And, of course, the thinning patch in the front is all the more obvious. But at 54, who was I fooling anyway?

And I'm going to save a bundle on shampoo.

Smart Move?

I'm starting this entry from my new smart phone. It was Karen who was originally pushing for a phone with a data plan; I thought it would be too expensive. But my old phone stopped working, and our old plan was past its contract date, so she did some shopping and found us a plan that may actually save us some money.

The plan itself is more expensive, of course, but it allows us to use our Internet connection at home to make cell calls, and so we may finally be able to get rid of our expensive and less than satisfying land line.

Which means we say good-bye to our Wolfeboro phone number of over 14 years, but we gain a few bucks a month, maybe a higher-speed Internet connection, and all the cool stuff our phones can do.

Like blog from the palm of my hand. Not as fast as typing on a full-sized keyboard, but handy for adding thoughts to an entry while I go about my business at home, or anywhere where there's a wireless connection open (I started this entry at the library and am continuing it at home going back and forth between the computer and the phone).

There are other greet little features, too, that I've only begun to explore. I can do email and eBay and ebooks (egad), check job listings, watch Netflix streaming (not necessary but really fun), take high-definition video and still pictures, set alarms and reminders, maintain a shopping list, check my bank accounts, follow the weather, get directions (yes, the phone has GPS), play music, and edit text. And I even found an application that helps you find planets and constellations in the night sky (which I only knew about because I saw a friend use it on the Fourth of July).

But enough about the phone; it's time to do a little catching up. Directing "Almost, Maine" was an amazing but exhausting experience. Now that it's done, we've had time to spend together as a family. And as luck would have it, the end of the play coincided nicely with the beginning of one of Karen's vacation weeks. So we managed to get to the planetarium, spend some time at the beach, see a couple of movies (Cars 2 and the last Harry Potter installment, both winners), and even visit Thomas, all too briefly.

No more directing for me for a while. "Little Shop of Horrors" is the next play coming up, and I'm just playing one of the skid row bums. Then I'll probably lay out of theater for awhile until I've figured out how I'm making a living. My recent job hunting has convinced me that it probably won't be through regular employment, and I'm going to need all the time I can find to develop some other ideas that I have.

Meanwhile, we'll keep plugging along, holding it together and trying to finish the house. Which reminds me: I have some deck plans to work on.