Blackout

I've heard that Brazil hit the news today in the U.S. There was a HUGE blackout that hit several states and huge cities like Rio and Sao Paolo. Here's a link to another blog that I read daily written by a woman who moved back to NYC after living in Rio for several years with all the details.

Colleen emailed and asked me if we were affected in Brasilia. Well, yes in a couple of ways.

Last night the lights flickered throughout the evening, however, there also was a heavy rainstorm. To be honest I thought it was the storm as I didn't hear about the blackout until this morning and really don't know if the power surges were from the weather or the power problem.

While taking a shower today, as I went to adjust the water temp, I felt a little sizzle, little shock, little jolt. I have an electrically heated shower and apparently, the power grid was surging in interesting ways and my water knob had become a conductor. Not such a pleasant way to start the day. Gonna wear sneakers tomorrow.

Today at school, at about 8:20 or so, the lights went out. First three completely random, unrelated fluorescent bulbs went off around the room. Then the whole room, computer, etc. The kids of course were over the moon and all had stories to tell about starting with something like "at my house, the power went out, for 30 hours and..." You get the idea. It was back on in about 20.

Here's another article with more information for those of you who want more news. I'm home and in the midst of getting ready to host 9 people tomorrow night for dinner and so thrilled that the power's back on. Well, maybe I'm not getting ready right now, more taking a break from it and happy to have the power on so I can procrastinate a little with a post.