Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

yes! it started out so scary (of course my first thought was terrorist attack when i couldn't get hold of anyone by cell phone) but it ended up being such a fun night

it took me 2 1/2 hours to get from mineola, where i was working, to levittown, where DH (then just BF) lived. he worked at a local bar at the time, so we opened it together at 9pm and lit candles and he only served tap beer because there was no ice and the cooler wasn't working (obviously )

a bunch of people, mostly friends, showed up and we played pool with the light from a REALLY strong flashlight

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was getting ready for my friends going away party that night because he was going to bootcamp for the Army.

I was also at work when my boyfriend at the time had dropped me off and 10 minutes later the lights went out.. I immediately thought he got into an accident with my car and crashed into a pole and that's why the power went out

We got our power back on about 8pm

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

Not to be depressing but it was the last time I spent the day alone with my dad. I will never forget the conversation that transpired between my then BF (now DH) and my dad's GF. My dad and his girlfriend were over for dinner and then supposed to go upstate but then the power went out...


GF: Why don't we turn on the television to see what's happening?

*long pause with muffled laughs*

BF: Because it runs on electricity.

GF: Oh that's right, let's plug in the radio that will work.

BF: Okay, I need to go outside for a minute.

Me: Me too!!

Dad: I'm right behind you!!



GF: You are going to leave me alone in this scary ghetto?? What if someone tries to kidnap me?

Dad: It might not be the suburbs of Cleveland you are used to but the 5 locks on the door should protect you just fine!

Then my dad, BF and I ran out of the apt so fast because we were all about to burst out laughing. Just because she lived in a McMansion in Ohio does not give her the right to call our apt at the time ghetto. She wondered why I could not stand her...hmm.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

My FH and now my DH at the time was trying to install a new air conditioner becuase our old one died that morning. he acussed me of the black out becuase we went to put the new one on and there was no power! We laugh about how we were not the only miserable ones with no air conditoing that day!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at work, and the lights didn't even flicker there. It was a call center so they had major back up generators.

I sat in traffic for a while to get home.

We were lucky and our power came back on about 8 o'clock that night.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

i was at work, we had a few beers up on the top floor deck
then i went home and had more beers on our outside deck

passed out and woke up to power

was actually a fun night!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was grading the Regents Exam for the summer school kids. I got such a bad headache from reading in the dark!!

My brother-in-law got into a terrible motorcycle accident that day too.

My brother was in his deli in Rockville Centre and had no idea about the blackout because they had their own power supply!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at work in Melville. We thought it was just our building that had a power outage, but then we got a call from a co-workers wife who worked in NYC and she said everything was out there too.

It took me 5+ hours to get home that day (from Melville to Oceanside)!!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at work!
Then BOOM everything shut down.
I left to make sure my mom & grandma were OK. Then that night we had to pick up friends walking home from the city!!!
It was such a miserable HOT night without AC!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was in Maui. I turned on the hotel TV and it was all over the news.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was on maternity leave & waiting for a babysitter (who cancelled because of the blackout). I had to take my almost 3 month old to a wine tasting at the Vanderbilt.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at work & I also thought it was an attack.. It took me 7 hours to get home by bus.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was running an overnight with about 70 4, 5, and 6 year olds..I was at a campgrounds and they got us out of the pool a few minutes early (didn't think anything of it). My Nextel didn't work, but the service was always kind of faulty..my supervisor came and said that there was no power...didn't really effect us since we were cooking out on a fire anyway...the bus came a bit late and we didn't get to sleepover at the building since there was no power, but the kids had fun...

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at work too...

I drove home (was living with parents at the time) and we went to the firehouse (Dad is a member/commissioner) and hung out there...

I remember looking down Main Street and thinking how creepy it was that there was NO lights/signs/traffic signals at all...it was like a ghost town!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at work and it took me forever to drive home. Our company didn't let us leave until 5 anyway.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

At my house with Dh and 1st son who was 2 months old. Our friends came over for a BBQ and the Yankee game. We'll we had the BBQ, no Yankee game but they did tellus they were pregnant though. I was a GREAT night!

My friend form work was at the hosital with his DW who was giving birth to their DD!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was sitting at a bar with DH on a date here in Washington, DC wondering how all of my family that works in NYC was going to get home....

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at college in Rochester at the time. I was typing the last paragraph of my last paper for the summer.

Just about everything shut down, so DH and I went to the college hotel's pool where our friend was lifeguarding and hung out all night.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I sure do! It was the 1st time I was allowed to have my nieces for a sleepover. I planned a really great day; took them to Castle Golf in the morning for mini golf and go-carts, and then down to Smith Point Beach. We had a wonderful day . On the way back from the beach, the train track gate on William Floyd was down. I didn't think anything of it until it took 10 minutes or so for a cop to come and lift the gate As we drove along William Floyd, I took immediate notice to NO lights, NO business, etc. I turned on the radio and there was no local station (WBLI). Then I realized that there was no NYC stations either! I thought we had been bombed. I totally freaked on my poor nieces!!! We drove to my house and called my SIL who told me the entire East Coast was out and to stay put with the girls. I had stocked up at the Good Humour outlet by me, so we took to the streets handing out every kind of ice cream treat imaginable to everyone who passed. Then we BBQ'd everything we could in the freezer; invited every neighbor nearby to our house and had a water fight w/the kids. Thankfully when we woke up in the a/m, the power was back and we took off for Splish Splash!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was registering for classes at Suffolk - or attempting to (with my sister along to help lol). I was almost done and the lights went out - bam - lost my whole schedule lol.

We thought it was just Suffolk so we went home and started to see people on the LIE like, freaking out in their cars on their cell phones. When I tried to just dial my house it said all circuits busy so I was wondering what was wrong. Then, we heard it on the radio and it said they thought it was the entire eastern seaboard. My sister and I immediately worried for my brother who was working in the worst precinct in NYC at the time (the 75)... When something like this happens they can get called in on mandatory overtime. And a lot of times, when these things happen, people tend to lose their marbles - looting, violence, fires, etc. So, when we got home we were happy to find Kenneth there -- we told him what happened (he was outside and had no clue) and he IMMEDIATELY avoided the phone LOL.

For the next few hours we would screen every call that would come for him. Turns out, they never even called him in for overtime but we were there to say "he's away in another state" lol if they happened to! Thankfully, it happened to be his day off. There is no way we were chancing him going in there (to East New York, Brooklyn) to face riots... no way!

We spent the rest of the evening at home with this RIDICULOUSLY large propane light (camping equip) and that lit like the ENTIRE lower half of my parents house haha. We took out board games, looked at pictures -- we were hot but it wasn't so bad.

What a day!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

Hanging around at home.

I made a frozen pizza on the barbecue.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was home..just finished my stint at the UN and was waiting to start this job.

I was just about to go for a run when I heard my refrigerator conk out....(my apt got tons of light during the day so I didn't use the lights, had I not heard that, I never would have known )

my bf had the great idea to save everyone in his clients office and drive them all, with his brother, to Long Island.

I was home with my mom and bros and sisters.

he came to pick me up at like 2 am so I could go with him to drop something at work.

as we were driving back to brooklyn, the lights in my nabe starting going on.

it was so cool driving through the city in the dark though...seeing people still outside...battery powered radios on, candles lit.

it was kinda beautiful.

Message edited 8/14/2008 10:41:35 AM.

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at my Aunt's funeral. I never want to live through that day again

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I'll never forget!!!! I was at work in the city on the 33rd floor (which I had to WALK down) and thankfully my sister in law worked 3 blocks from me. We met up and walked across the brooklyn bridge to get home. I remember thinking I wasn't going to make it home. It was so hot that day and we were walking forever. I think we left at 12pm and didn't get home until almost 11pm. Talk about BAD day!

Re: Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today...

I was at work---headed home and called DH (he was a BF at the time) like 10x trying to figure out where he was. He eventually made it to my parent's house where I was---and we had a bbq.

We wound up making use of the utterly pitch black streets and having some sexy time in DH's car.