I was planning an early turn-in this morning and had basically left the office to do some reading before finally turning off the lights. It was 4:03 AM when I reached for the lamp to turn it off and call it a night. Before I could turn the light switch, the light went off. And so did everything else in the house. The power was off. And the UPS's around the house were beeping up a storm.
All eight of them.
I have two in my room, one for a computer, the other for the TV and video playback systems. There are four in the office, with each computer getting its own, plus the video recording systems. And there are two downstairs, one on the TV and video system and the other with the main telephone answering system. All beep, all on different schedules. It gets noisy. And, although I've been known to nod off in the middle of a raucous party next door, I can't do it with those infernal beeps.
After waiting a minute or two for the power to come back on, I roused myself to make the grand tour. I deep-sixed the UPS's in my room. But I couldn't touch the ones in the office next door, since the main computer and the DVD recorder were both doing some work, and the second computer was backing up to the third computer. No touching allowed. Down the stairs I stumbled. The phone UPS was already dead at this point, holding up for barely five minutes. It is a cheap battery box, basically designed to get past brownouts and quickie power outages. I turned off the video systems UPS and considered my options. I can't sleep with beeps, and the office beeps would drive me to extraction. I was sleepy. The couch in the living room beckoned. So I went to sleep there. For about three hours.
It was also the coldest night of the year, probably being the reason I was sans power. I got cold on the couch. Back to my bed, I went, hoping for some residual heat to be congregating up there on the second floor. The beeping in the office had stopped hours ago. But it was cold. So, I reached for the thin baby blanket I keep in the closet for this kind of emergency.
I normally can't sleep with any sheets or blankets on the bed. Stacks of books, piles of clothes? Yes. But anything to wrap myself up in? No. Can't handle it. Feels like I'm strangling. And perish the thought if my feet slip out and into the cold. Drives me crazy to have different parts of my body with different temperatures. But it was too cold to go sans SOME sort of blanket. At least the baby blanket is about as thin as a regular sheet. It's the closest to a passable cocoon as I can take. I managed to get a couple more hours of sleep in before the power finally came back on around 10 AM.
So, what have I learned? I'm thinking of buying a power generator. Something under a grand. Just to power me through these mini-ice ages. Somebody will have to help me, since this is one of those mechanical things. I don't think it will be "plug in and play" technology. I'm also going to find UPS that allow you to disengage the beep either permanently or with the push of a button.
Otherwise, I'll have to get cranky again some day. Beep, Beep, Beep!
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