Holy *@$%&;@#^!! I’m finally back with running water, power, gas in my car, and one dead fridge. The north east black out of 2003 was a major pain in the ass. Press MORE to read more link about my long and painful journey in the last 72 hours…

Thursday, August 14th, 2003. Time - 3:30 PM. I’m on the phone with Caroline about going to OUR NAME IS MUD for painting ceramics after I get home from work. We agree to meet there at 6.

Time: 4:00 PM. I’m in the lab at work on my laptop, when BAM, the lights go out. Seems like the power fail-safes kick in, keeping all the computers on and only 1 in every 4 lights on since it’s being powered by a generator. I think it’s just the new MS-Blaster worm doing some havoc on the computers and eventually hit one that controls the power. I contiue working in the dark.

Time: 4:20 PM. A coworker in the lab goes, hey man you might want to go home now. The whole north east including Canada is out of power. No one knows whats going on. I check ABC News’ website and confirm that it’s true.

Time 4:30 PM. I pack up and haul ass. Knowing it’s gonna be a mess at the Holland Tunnel and that it’ll be a matter of time before they shut it down and lock the city up. I figure that since cops have no power too, they won’t be able to do plate check on my plates, so I haul ass back at 90-100 mph.

Time 5:00 PM. I manage to get to the start of the waiting line for the Holland Tunnel. From the location seems like it should only be a 1 hour wait. I wait… and wait… and wait…

Time: 6:15 PM. I managed to get to the entrance of the Holland Tunnel. I realize @#$! I only have 1/4 tank left! Cops only leave one lane inbound to the city in the Holland Tunnel. I’m eavesdropping police radio on my BCT-12, and find out that the Lincoln Tunnel, GWB, Brooklyn bridge have all been closed. They’re locking down the city… NOW.

Time: 6:45 PM. Driving through the Holland tunnel without those lights is eerie as hell. All I see is a red glow that bounces from car tail lights on the walls of the tunnel. It’s like I’m driving down a mineshaft to hell or something and I’m just another car on a train before I hit the inferno. Man I wish I had my camera mount to capture this.

Time: 7:15 PM. I’m in New York now, but the war has just started. Gridlock city, no working signal lights. It takes my GPS and some damn creative driving to get through this. I note some mild looting going on, cops too busy dealing with traffic. Everyone is irate and I witnessed 2 people get out of their cars and beat the crap outta each other because one wouldn’t let the other pass 2 feet in front of each other.

Time: 7:45 PM. A cop spots my PBA medallion and I signal that I want to cut across the street since I’m not part of the gridlock line that’s for the Holland Tunnel back to Jersey. He flags me through and I cut over to west broadway. I drive down the street honking the horn like a madman trying to get pedestrians out of the way so I can get 10 blocks to my apt.

Time: 8:15 PM. I finally get home. Pissed, exhausted, sweaty, and really low on gas. Just as I get out of the car the police scanner blares of a cop who has to abandon his car. He’s out of gas, and the gas station has no power to pump the gas.

Time: 8:45 PM. I realize despite what Bloomberg says about the power coming back at midnight, I know that it’s BS. Gathering the supplies in my apt, I find 4 flashlighs and 12 tea lights. I have a box from CostCo of 60 AA batteries. Sweet. I decide to go out and find some ice. Was able to find them for $2 a bag before stores start price gouging. 2 of Caroline’s friends are at my apt. Stranded. They’re from Brooklyn. Caroline’s brother is due to come down too, since he’s from CT. Oh boy. This is gonna be a tight fit. Phone line is down, and I think about the idea of leeching the 5V’s that’s sent through cable to power some lightbulbs. Only problem. Cable is dead too.

Time: 9PM. Caroline’s 2 friends decide to try to go to Brooklyn. I give them a flashlight and spare batteries, and wish them luck. Later I found out that a cab gouged them $50 to get back to Brooklyn. They considered it a bargain given the situation. I think to myself, had it been me, I’d get the medallion #, complain to the Taxi & Limo Commission, and get my damn money back. I tell them this, they said they don’t care.

Time 10PM. Caroline’s brother arrives. Sweaty as anything. I quickly realize that water to the building’s water tower is electric and start loading pots and pitchers with water. I tell him that he should take a shower while there’s water. He does, and after he’s done, I soon follow. Feels nice to take an ice cold shower in 95 degree sweltering heat with high humidity and no wind. I notice that the tea candle has been going on strong for the last 2 hours. Seems like these things will last 4 hours.

Time 11PM. The water in the tower has lost all water and there’s not enough water to even flush. The bathroom smells worse than a porta-potty sitting in the sun on a hot day. Worst part, I later realize I have to take a crap. How to do this without making a bigger stink. Do it camping style! I take a bin for recycling, and put a kitchen garbage bag over it. Bombs away. Just like camping! Ew the bag is warm. Throw it into the trash chute. I’m sure they’re used to crap in a bag with all the dogs in the building!

Time: Midnight: I get bored and decide to go driving around the city to look for gas, but to see how messed up the city is. The police scanner is going and I hear calls for fire from candles, occassional calls for backup for random looting, and calls for ambulences for pedestrians hit by cars. The city is eerie and dark. It’s like some apocolyptic movie. Everyone is looking for stuff to eat and drink. Those who have no cash (since it’s end of the week) are begging for money. No working gas station in sight. Less police cars on the street too. I guess everyone needs gas. I head back home and decide to conserve what gas I have for tomorrow to search for gas again.

Time 6AM Friday: no power nothing. I scavenge for food in my apartment. Mmmm… chili in a can. Yay its room temperature… Ugh! Listening to the news, no traffic is allowed into the city, and the wait for the Hudson river crossings exceed 3 hours. No subways are running. Buses are on 1 per every other hour schedule. NJ Transit no service. Path, no service, Metro North, no service. Ferries running on an after hours schedule (1 per hour). There’s no way in hell I can get to work this morning. In vain I try to do some work on my laptop’s batteries. 2 hours later, it’s dead.

Time 11AM: still no power, nothing. Mayor Bloomberg is the biggest ***** liar. He says power and subway service will be up by noon. It never does. The heat overcomes me and I fall asleep on the couch.

Time 3:30 PM: Pop pop! My industrial strength surge protectors trip off. Caroline wakes up and shakes me. The power is back! We wake up to find a pool of water by the fridge. Shit. I open the fridge, and see that the frost has fallen in huge 5 lb. chunks and is dribbling down to the floor. I remove 3 of these chunks and toss them in the tub. Caroilne suggests I remove the ice from the freezer anyhow since it needs defrosting.

Time 4:30PM: Hiss! As I’m removing ice, freon gas (toxic) spews right into my face as I’m breating in. Freon (which is heavier than air) fills my lungs displacing needed oxygen-rich air. I gasp and cough for air. My vision starts to cloud over as I realize that I’m drowning and suffocating. I quickly remember that Freon is heavier than air, bend over while coughing. I feel the heavy gas leave my lungs as I cough, and vision returns. There’s my 3rd near death experience in my life.

Time 5:30: After telling the super what happened, he tells me to empty the fridge while the windows are open, and then seal the fridge up. I do so, and it’s sealed. He tells me he will make an appointment with sanitation to remove the fridge.

Time 8PM: Cleaned up the apartment some, and am dead exhausted. I take a much needed shower - I’m stinky, sticky, and filthy.

Saturday: I go out looking for a fridge. Finally found 2 that will fit in the tight demensions of my kitchen. Cost is $345 - frost free of course. Delivery is $46, and they will remove the old fridge. Sweet! Tax at 8.625 kills me. Tax is almost the same price as the shipping! WTF!

Man this weekend sucked. Kinda ironic that this happened 2 months AFTER that researched published a report about how vulnerable the US’s power grid is for an attack. I remember hearing news reports on the radio saying that Iraqi’s rejoiced and laughed at us for the power outage saying it was a sign from God to show us what it feels like to be without power. The Iraqi’s have been without power for nearly 4 months. Man, I really feel for them now. 2 days without power is hell. I can’t imagine 4 months.

A few things I’ve learned though:
1. Mayor Bloomberg is a damn liar. Don’t believe a word he says. Funny how confident he is on the radio, saying that it wasn’t so bad. He thinks this will work in his favor, when in fact it will hurt him politically.
2. The news is very selective about maintaining Manhattan’s image. The only report of looting that they mentioned on the radio was Bed-Stuy. Go figure. There were isolated incidents of looting all over NYC, not just Bed-Stuy.
3. Tea lights candles friggin rock. One of these bad boys lasts over 4 hours. They only cost me $2 for a box of 6. I’m stocking up on these.
4. Buy LED lights that use AA batteries. These last a damn long time. I went to radioshack to buy battery cases and Blue LED’s just to make my own for next time, since we had a power outage almost exactly 12 months ago when the Con-Edison transformer plant blew up.
5. I really feel sorry for the Korean Deli on the corner called SpaceMart. They had to throw away everything. It’s brand new place too… But heck, if they threw out EVERYTHING, I trust them 100X more!

Again… this weekend was probably the worst I’ve had in a long time. Yes, the impact on me personally was probably worse that 9/11, with the exception that none of my friends died this time. I guess as a New Yorker given the last 2 years of crap that we’ve been through, we all work together. Remember the 1970’s blackout? That was urban chaos. Interesting how tragedy can bring an entire city together to somewhat get along…