When in doubt, throw it out (and other things I learned yesterday)

Warning: the following post has nothing to do with beauty. Please feel free to skip over it, but I hope you'll find it interesting enough to read (and hopefully useful as well).

In case you weren't aware, yesterday a single person in Arizona caused the biggest power outage in the history of San Diego by bringing down the entire energy supply to all of San Diego and parts of Orange County, Imperial County, Baja California and Arizona. All told, over five million people were without power for 12 hours or more, including ALL of San Diego (1.4 million people).

Some of you might say, "Twelve hours? Ah, that's nothing!" But let me tell you, the scary part is knowing that EVERYONE in your entire city and outlying areas has lost power. There's no place where you can drive with the gas in your tank to find relief. There are no gas stations to fill up your tank once you hit empty...it's sort of a helpless and desperate situation.

I was sitting in my living room when it happened at about 3:30PM yesterday. I had just gotten off the phone, and was literally on my way to plug my phone into the charger (I was down to my last bar). So the first thing I thought was, "I'll just hop in my car and drive a few miles to a CVS or Rite Aid outside of the blackout zone, take a look around at the new products and escape the heat!". At this point I had no idea how far the blackout area extended.

So I grabbed my keys and got in the car. BIG MISTAKE. I live in a pretty urban area with lots of traffic, so the first thing I encountered was terrible, backed-up-traffic-for-miles at every intersection. With the power down and no traffic lights working, all intersections turn into a four-way-stop. It takes forever to cross an intersection two cars at a time.

What would normally take me a few minutes ended up taking over an hour, only to discover that everyone's power was out. The streets were lined with people wandering out of retail shops, not quite knowing what to do. It was HOT yesterday (almost 100 where I live) so, block after block, I saw businesses with their doors open, only to reveal pitch-black stores inside.

Running low on gas, and still not knowing the true extent of the power outage, I kept driving hoping to find a gas station that was open. Obviously that never happened.

After a while, I headed home to see lots of my neighbors gathered in the courtyard. We all shared stories and it was then I learned the true extent of the outage. Rumors swirled about this being "part of a terrorist plot to destroy Southern California" (it wasn't), and other rumors swirled around that since the MAIN power lines to Southern California were essentially cut, it could take days, if not weeks to get us back on the grid.

When a potential emergency situation hits, your mind instantly goes into survival mode. Some of the questions that immediately hit me were:

Do I have enough water on hand to survive this?

How can I charge my phone?

What non-perishable food do I have in the kitchen?

How do I get a hold of my family?

How do I get gas for my car?

The main reason I'm writing this post (other than to share the experience), is to HELP better prepare YOU in the event of an emergency. I don't want anyone reading this to experience the scary feeling I felt yesterday when I realized I might not have enough water to get me through even two days, and barely enough food.

When my boyfriend, Mr. G, got home (about three hours after the power went out), I had already done most of my freaking out and was in full-blown planning mode. He thought I was being dramatic (ok, maybe I was), but I basically just screamed, "WE NEED MORE WATER". Sure, I have a Pur Water Filter on my kitchen tap, but if things get bad, that filter won't filter out everything, and you'll be instructed to boil your water before it's safe to drink. Well, if you don't have a gas range, how do you plan to boil your water without electricity?

Living in an earthquake state, I always keep a gallon of water on hand (everybody does), but I hadn't checked the expiration date on my emergency water in quite a while. The bad news: it expired a year ago. Uh oh. Eventually we found a local liquor store that was open for business. The employees had flashlights and guided us around the store, and of course we had to pay in cash because you can't take credit cards without power (unless you have one of those old-school manual credit card machines, which not a lot of people have these days).

The store itself was hilarious: it was filled with lots of guys who were buying beer and preparing for a long night of partying on their front porches. Then there were desperate people like me, who knew we had to get as much water as possible. And then of course there was Mr. G, who instinctively grabbed the oh-so-essential bag of Doritos. Seriously? I'm grabbing water and loaves of bread and batteries and he grabs...Doritos. (The funny part is that I probably finished most of that bag later that evening with my nervous binging).

When all was said and done, we were able to drive over to my parents' house to check on them (they were absolutely fine and laughing at my panic-mode), make calls to other family members in San Diego, and get home safe and wait it out in the heat. Ugh. The heat was ridiculous and it was impossible to sleep, which is why I'm pretty much delirious at this point.

The power went back on somewhere between 2 and 3am this morning, while I was actually reading a book aloud to Mr. G via candelight. Kind of romantic and fun, actually.

So anyway, here's what I learned, and what I'd like to pass on to you:

No one is immune to these types of emergencies. With earthquakes on the East Coast and flooding in areas that usually don't flood, any one of us can get hit with something, at any time.

So number one: don't think you're immune to emergency situations.

2. Buy an old-school telephone and keep it in the closet. I'm talking about an OLD SCHOOL phone that doesn't require a power source. The kind that you only need to plug into your phone jack to use. Because when the power goes out and your cell phone dies and you can't charge your phone in your car, an old school phone will still work. The phone company works on a different type of power source with a back-up generator, so spend the $10 on an old-style (non-cordless) phone and keep it on hand.

3. If you can afford to do so, keep a $20 bill (or more) in your purse at all times. The corner market might be open when an emergency strikes, but chances are they'll only take cash. So you better have some already in your wallet because you won't have access to ATMs when the power's down.

4. Think of how you'd boil water in the event of an emergency. If you have a stove that operates on electricity rather than gas, you won't be able to use it. So what do you do then? Do you have a barbeque or grill? If so, do you have enough charcoal or propane on hand to power it for a while? Is there a place to start a fire near you, like a fire ring or shared bbq? When push comes to shove, you really need to have that essential part of the equation figured out.

5. Do as I say and not as I do: NEVER EVER EVER DRIVE HOME AND PARK YOUR CAR WITH LESS THAN A QUARTER TANK OF GAS.  Please, don't be stupid like me. When you're running low on gas, make it a point to fill up BEFORE you drive home (not the next morning). If an emergency hits and you need to drive to a family member, etc., don't be stuck like I was, with no way of filling my tank and totally dependent on others to get me to my family.

6. Keep a small, battery-operated radio on hand at all times. Don't rely on a boombox when the power fails, because those things are battery zappers. Get a tiny radio for 10 bucks and keep fresh batteries on hand. Two double-A batteries kept my little radio running all night long and it was my ONLY link to the outside world. For a while, ALL of the radio stations in San Diego were without power except for ONE, and everyone was listening to that station for information and updates. I'm telling you, if your phone dies and you can't charge it, the radio will be your only link to what's going on (including VITAL information like if you need to boil your water before you can drink it), so please don't dismiss this.

7. For goodness' sake, make sure you own a hand-held can opener. Mr. G and I actually had plans to go grocery shopping LAST NIGHT, before the power went out. We were almost completely out of food, with only canned foods on hand. And guess what? I only own an electric can opener. Well, that's going to change today, that's for sure. We could have eaten beans last night instead of Doritos, which obviously would have been more nutritious.

There are lots more things you can do to be prepared when an emergency strikes, but those are the seven essential things I learned last night.

Today, everyone's power has been restored and it's business as usual (unless you're a student, in which case you have a free day because all schools and universities in San Diego are closed for the day). Yesterday will always be remembered as the day San Diego lost all power, and it will be a reminder for me personally to always plan ahead. I hope you'll do the same, no matter where you live.

PS: If your power's been out for more than four hours, chances are most of the food in your fridge (aside from vinegar-based condiments) will need to be thrown out. Remember: when it doubt, throw it out. Experts are telling us that most foods in the freezer should be fine, but the fridge? Better to be safe than sorry: chuck it.

If you live in San Diego, I'd love to hear how you survived The Great Power Outage of 2011. Did you take time to get to know your neighbors a little bit better? (I did, and it's sad that it took a power outage to do so.) Did you sit outside and look up at the beautiful moon and stars? The sky was so clear with no city lights to interfere with stargazing--it was a lovely night to be outside, that's for sure.