Ryan Pode
Sep 2nd, 2006, 01:24:37 AM
So its 4 AM EST and I am located inside my fourth floor apartment. The power goes out. This about when I realize maybe Hurricane Ernesto or tropical storm Ernesto means business. Not only is the wind and rain beating at my window, but my roommate in the room next door apparently has a huge snoring problem I've never heard before. I swear to god it was the T-Rex coming to eat me.
Anyways, fast forward its 8 AM. Someone pulled the fire alarm in the freshman dorm right next to us so 500 freshmen are out in the tropical storm, many of which are playing in the sewer runoff acting like its an awesome pool. In fact, I even spoke to two building janitors who were egging on the students to go jump in and asked them "Isn't that the sewer run off?" to which one responded "Ya know, it is." We all had a good laugh. By 8:47 I had climbed four flights of stairs numerous times trying to figure out what the situation is. Power seems to be out in most of Newport News and apparently stretches as far as Norfolk (pretty far away, six hundred thousand people between us).
It's about 12:25 PM now and still people continue to play in the sewer runoff and while I could careless about what they hop around in, the fact that they are screaming while I am trying to sleep annoys me. But I manage to tough out a few more minutes of sleep before finally getting up. It's around this time I'm told to look out the back windows of the building to look at the practice fields.
Behind my building are two soccer fields side by side, with plenty of sideline space around them. Well, supposedly there are two soccer fields side by side because all I see is a giant lake that has people knee boarding in. Actually it looks pretty neat but I don't want to get wet, well other than the soaked I get walking less than a hundred yards to get food (one dining hall had a generator, thank god).
It's about 5 PM and the RA's (resident assistants, people with power) are coming by and telling people its recommended to leave since they estimate power will be back up by 4 PM Sunday. At this point it is brought to my attention about 85% of the freshman population is gone.
By 6:30 we were on the road heading to get dinner and some ice. We find a packed Wendy's (30 people in line, drive through line wraped around the building). When we finally make it back to campus a great deal of sophomores are gone. We figure we have ice to cool beer, why not have a hurricane party? Literally as soon as we put the ice into the freezer the power comes back alive. It is 8 PM.
10:30 PM, now midway through our "Hurricane Survival" party we see a bright flash followed by a BOOM. Then the power dies. Apparently the transformer blew. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Thus we continue the party though aptly renamed "Blackout party." Somewhere along the lines I manage to wander into the hall to find some random people I've never met before playing a game called "Settlers of Catan."
After acquanting myself with them I tag along to watch a movie "The Italian Job" and now find myself sitting here around approximately 3:25 AM, nearly 24 hours after the initial blackout. Talk about a long friggin' day.
Anyways, fast forward its 8 AM. Someone pulled the fire alarm in the freshman dorm right next to us so 500 freshmen are out in the tropical storm, many of which are playing in the sewer runoff acting like its an awesome pool. In fact, I even spoke to two building janitors who were egging on the students to go jump in and asked them "Isn't that the sewer run off?" to which one responded "Ya know, it is." We all had a good laugh. By 8:47 I had climbed four flights of stairs numerous times trying to figure out what the situation is. Power seems to be out in most of Newport News and apparently stretches as far as Norfolk (pretty far away, six hundred thousand people between us).
It's about 12:25 PM now and still people continue to play in the sewer runoff and while I could careless about what they hop around in, the fact that they are screaming while I am trying to sleep annoys me. But I manage to tough out a few more minutes of sleep before finally getting up. It's around this time I'm told to look out the back windows of the building to look at the practice fields.
Behind my building are two soccer fields side by side, with plenty of sideline space around them. Well, supposedly there are two soccer fields side by side because all I see is a giant lake that has people knee boarding in. Actually it looks pretty neat but I don't want to get wet, well other than the soaked I get walking less than a hundred yards to get food (one dining hall had a generator, thank god).
It's about 5 PM and the RA's (resident assistants, people with power) are coming by and telling people its recommended to leave since they estimate power will be back up by 4 PM Sunday. At this point it is brought to my attention about 85% of the freshman population is gone.
By 6:30 we were on the road heading to get dinner and some ice. We find a packed Wendy's (30 people in line, drive through line wraped around the building). When we finally make it back to campus a great deal of sophomores are gone. We figure we have ice to cool beer, why not have a hurricane party? Literally as soon as we put the ice into the freezer the power comes back alive. It is 8 PM.
10:30 PM, now midway through our "Hurricane Survival" party we see a bright flash followed by a BOOM. Then the power dies. Apparently the transformer blew. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Thus we continue the party though aptly renamed "Blackout party." Somewhere along the lines I manage to wander into the hall to find some random people I've never met before playing a game called "Settlers of Catan."
After acquanting myself with them I tag along to watch a movie "The Italian Job" and now find myself sitting here around approximately 3:25 AM, nearly 24 hours after the initial blackout. Talk about a long friggin' day.