[Colin_Partridge]

Hi gang,
Nice to be up and running again after the great blackout of 2003. I was wondering how everyone coped with the power outage I hope that everyone is ok and did not suffer too much. Anyhow I for one sat in the dark with candles and told ghost stories to my grandchildren. It was one of the nicest evenings we have ever spent no TV to compete with.
Colin

I was on a business trip in Chicago (no blackout). I am from Toledo, OH (it was blacked out). Definitely heard about that from my wife.

Steve - Toledo

Where was I when the lights went out?
The last thing I remember was saying... 'I DO'
been in the dark ever since !

[Kenny_S]

Oh BD, Hope the little bride don't read your post.You will not be able to see her for about a week id she does. Well not till the swelling goes down in your eyes.

I was out in the heat trying to carve. Notice the word trying. :, but It will be a little cooler as soon as the little bride spins the fan faster! :

[AlArchie]

We are far enough away from the failures that we didn't even have a flicker. We're in Michigan, but 0ver 600 miles from the Detroit/Lansing metro area, and far enough west to be off that particular grid.

Al

I'm not sure; was either fishing, golfing, or carving but don't guess it really matters 'cause the lights never went out in Texas (then again, maybe our lights are always out and we just don't know the difference).

[mdallensr]

I was at work, right in the middle of the black-out in northern Ohio. We sent everyone home, since it was pretty obvious we'd be down for awhile. We grilled steaks outside and went for a swim. The power came back on at 9:10 PM. I won't be surprised to find the problem started nearby. I keep convincing myself to buy a serious standby generator for our house, then get lazy and forget about it. We have several real outages every year, and have a well, so without power, we can't even take a shower. I was suprised to learn how many large cities have no back-up power for their water systems. Most small towns around here had water throughout the outage, but Cleveland had none until Friday PM. They were worried about sewage flowing directly into Lake Erie so they closed all the beaches. My kids were at Cedar Point and just finsished one of the big roller coasters when the power died. They were lucky.

Indiana here, we didn't lose power in my part of the state, thank goodness!
I already had the MSNBC news running on tv when it started, and I hate to admit it, but I was glued to the screen for the whole rest of the day. These things are so scary and fascinating at the same time, I just couldn't look away.
Of course the channel I was watching is based in NY, so that was mostly what they covered.
I was so proud of America! Watching those tired, frightened people just doing what they had to do, and helping each other along the way. Many of them had to walk for miles in the blazing sun and anyone who had an umbrella looked like they were sharing it.
We have come such a long way! And of course, Bravo to the Canadians!

Donna

Sitting on the Atlantic City beach, carving a Santa clause holding a large fish and fishing rod. Big Al

We didn't have much problem here in Central Ohio - a little flicker or two.

But it isn't unusual to lose power around here....

Teri