FEBRUARY 2003 IN
RICK ASTER’S WORLD
What to Do When the Power Goes Out
What do you do when the power goes out?
It might be a good time to
visit friends or go to the mall. But suppose
you find yourself in a power failure during bad weather when
it’s more prudent to stay at home. There’s still plenty to do.
These are a few suggestions.
- Report the power failure. If your phone is working, call the
electric utility so they can get started on restoring power.
- Return phone calls. Remember those people you said you’d call
back when you had time? While you’re at the phone anyway, you
might as well call them too. Hint: it’s not necessary to tell them
it took a power failure to get you to make that call.
- Pay bills. A power failure doesn’t have to stop you from getting
the account statements together and writing the checks.
- Wash the windows. If it’s daytime and you’re depending on sunlight
coming in from outside, you can get a little more light by removing
the dirt and dust from the windows.
- Wash the bathtub. Heck, you can probably find a hundred things to
clean. Just make sure you keep the candle from coming in contact with
the shower curtain. That would be bad.
- Make pudding. You know the kind I mean — the kind you make from
a powder mix and milk, but you hardly ever make it because you have to
stir it for five whole minutes. If not now, when? Besides, the milk
will go bad if the power failure lasts for more than a day anyway, so
you might as well make something of it.
- Test the smoke detector. Remember the button on the smoke detector
that says “Push and hold to test weekly“? Yeah, that one.
- Take out the trash. You have to do it eventually anyway. Do it now,
and at least you’ll know you won’t have to do it when the TV is on.
Well, you get the idea. The point is, there is always plenty to
do, so you don’t have to let a minor problem like a complete power failure
stop you in your tracks. Chances are, the power will come back on
long before you finish the first few things you think of to do.
Carpe diem!
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