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I just wet my pants watching this.

Kaiju 26

Originally uploaded by modern_fred

Slice thin for stir fry!

One simple 5 letter word. Aka Electricity.

It means so much to us in this modern world, and we take it for granted. When the power is out for an hour or two, it’s an inconvenience. When it’s 6 hours, it’s a headache. But when power is out for what is now 6 days, it changes you.

Our neighborhood was affected by Hurricane Ike, mainly just in power loss, and trees and limbs down. A few houses (like our neighbor’s) were damaged by uprooted trees, but it could have been much worse.

Being the son of a lineman for HL&P (now CenterPoint), I never really understood why Dad had to go work these long hours after storms (Alicia, numerous severe storms/tornado events). I did understand that he helped these people get their power back, but I never really knew why it was so important, especially to a 8 year old (around Alicia). Children don’t understand it, they just know that the lights are out and we have to use flashlights and they get to stay up later and eat something that was cooked outside or that come from a can heated over a sterno.

I feel even more compassion for the linemen that have come from all over to help these guys restore services. I’ve seen trucks from Florida, Georgia and all over in the past few days, either coming or going to the Sam Houston Race Park, which seems to serve as home base for them. I’m not sure about those helping the Entergy linemen, but to see all these folks ready to help makes you feel for the families that they left at home, just to come and turn your lights on.

It’s an inconvenience, but it’s also gave us all time to get to know our families and neighbors better. Originally, just one generator ran on our street for one of the homes. Now, there’s 3 or 4 that are running all night, and a couple more families sleeping just a little easier with a fan or two blowing air in homes that are nearly stagnant.

Nightly, we hold hope that the power will return by the following day, but that day may still be far off. I’m thankful for the camaraderie that it’s brought to our neighbors, and hope it continues even after the power returns.

Update: Our neighborhood was turned back on Friday evening around 5:30. As we expected to happen, both Friday and Saturday, hardly any of our neighbors that were gathering outside were out once the power returned. A few came by Friday night, but not many. Even fewer on Saturday.

I’m trying to do the Nike Bootcamp (www.nikesoccer.com for more info).

I am starting at 118.7kg (approx 260lb). I took the first day’s training tonight, which was their “Sparq” test and 4 power drills. Here’s what the tests were and how I did.

Rating: 22.55 ( scale of 0-120, 60 being “solid”, 120 “elite”)

Part way through this, I finally figured out how to work my watch, but I didn’t want to redo the tests. After the tests, I did the drills, which are:

In an hour, I put on a good sweat, just about as much as an indoor match, but I was quite a bit more active. If you’re doing bootcamp too, add me as a friend. I’m using biglancegk at gmail dot com.