OH MY GODS!!! I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET AGAIN!!! I live in the Midwest and got hit by the derecho storm. It took a week for the power to come back and then another day or so for the internet services. I've been stuck sorting through my 'recently read' stories and trying to find anything that's not too depressing, all while trying to ration my battery life until we got power back (and the estimates kept changing, from 2 weeks to 2 days to tomorrow at 10 p.m. to finally getting it back two days after that). I finally realized I could charge my kindle with my laptop (since I couldn't do anything on that without internet), but that was only a day or two before we got power back. I've also been rereading the Percy Jackson series, but still- I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW ABSOLUTELY ECSTATIC I WAS WHEN WE GOT POWER BACK!!! AIR CONDITIONING!!! (even though it was still super muggy until the dehumidifier got a chance to kick in) TV!!! (only satellite and dvds) LIGHT!!! (my room's in the basement so that was a big one) Not to mention we could finally do the laundry, so... CLEAN BRAS!!! We had to move all the fallen trees and branches out to the curb so that the city could eventually pick them up, and I had to help. I just had to get used to being covered in sweat, but my bras were fricking sponges. Not to mention I have eczema, and sweat makes it worse, so I scratched my neck and arms raw. Also, think about how much food you have in your fridge and freezer. We had to empty those out, both the upstairs and downstairs fridge (downstairs is extra storage), and throw almost everything out. I had to eat dry cereal for days since we didn't have milk. WARNING: DO NOT TRY TO EAT CEREAL WITH WATER INSTEAD OF MILK!!! *shudders* I guess the moral of the story is: DO NOT TAKE ELECTRICITY FOR GRANTED... EVER!!! Thank you for coming to my Ted talk!