December 16, 2002

The wind woke me up last night when it shook the windows and sent branches a tap, tap, taping at my chamber door.

I lay there, staring at the pitch black ceiling, listening to the steady knock right next to my ear.

I sat up, idly curious as to the time, and saw that there was no power. It suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea what time it was; you can't tell by how dark the sky was.

That was a problem, because I head off to the work in the wee hours of the morn, before the sun rises. In a rush, I jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, combed my hair, and hunted for some clothes, when I remembered that my palmtop had an independent battery.

Two in the morning. A far cry from being late. But how to make sure I wake up in time? I have a battery powered clock! So, using the palmtop as a flashlight, I scrounged for a battery by cannibalizing one from the TV remote, set the clock and went to sleep.

Sure enough, it rang and I woke on time.

Too bad I went the wrong direction on the freeway...