It's hard to know how to feel about this, but the utility company sent me a letter advising me that my electricity would be shut off on Monday, December 17, so they can replace a power pole in my neighborhood. Apparently this is an all-day job, because they said to expect to be without power from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm. And just for fun, they added that if it takes longer than one day, or if bad weather forces them to postpone the work, they won't be able to contact me to let me know when they would reschedule.

On one hand, I'm glad to know of this ahead of time. It's always most difficult to cope with these shutdowns when I'm not prepared. On the other hand, there's no good way to prepare for it. What they don't know is that when they shut down my electricity, I also lose heat and running water. I can't cook. I can't work on my treadmill. And I can't watch General Hospital. No Twitter, f'petesake. In the twenty-first century, f'petesake!

Although I said I can't prepare, I have to. I have to have something to eat that day, something that doesn't need to be heated. I probably have to get up early enough to take a shower before the water goes off, and maybe I have to raise the garage door, in case I need to get out. Why might I need to get out? Well, there won't be any hot water for my morning tea break, will there? (And the beer certainly won't be cold when it's 5:00 somewhere gets here.)

And I have to make sure my iPhone and iPad are both fully charged. This barely scratches the surface of the prep work. More ideas are coming to me all the time.

And oh, by the way, I have to let the Boss know ahead of time. I'll probably have to make sure that any work I would have done on that Monday gets done over the weekend instead. I'm glad I have two weeks to soften up the landscape before this outrage (uh, outage) hits. Trust me, by the time that date gets here, everyone who might be affected will know about it.