Hurricane Log, Day 2, and a Tom Robbins Quote

October 25, 2005 7:00 a.m.

I reported to work as instructed by our hurricane hotline and my supervisor's recorded message, but the building is on generator power, so: no computers, minimal lighting. I peeked into the cafeteria and saw that there were some people--I guess drinking coffee in the dark--I was like, okay, no thanks.

Nobody has shown up in my department. Most likely people are waiting for daylight before they set out on the roads since all the signals are out. Now that would be sensible, wouldn't it. On my way in, I picked up a co-worker from the warehouse department--he was waiting for a bus. He would have had a long wait because the busses are not running today. I saw someone riding a bike in the dark. My plan for the rest of the no-power days (they say it could be weeks) is to wait for daylight and ride my bike. It's much cooler now than it was before the storm. Good bike-riding weather.

8:00 a.m.

Looking for information, I visited the call center and "Information Services"--I did get some information, but not answers to my particular questions. Apparently, Palm Beach County is just a bad as Broward and Miami-Dade, power-wise. The Palm Beach residents I talked with were wurprised to hear the Dade & Broward had also
been hard-hit. I guess the radio stations are concentrating on local news.

The director of IS told me that the resort is officially open, but I guess they are not checking anyone in. There are 400 guests in-house. The Palm Beach airport expects flights to resume today so I imagine once that happens, our guests will be departing.

4:00 p.m.

I left work a little after noon, having been very little use to anybody, but I was there and available if they'd had something for me to do. Came home, cleaned up the house. Dark comes early when there's no electricity; it's hard to read with flashlights and candles, so I spent some time listening to my Tom Robbins audiobook: Wild Ducks Flying Backward. One passage was so inspirational that I sat in the dark and transcribed it by candlelight, to wit:

Note: The preceding was written several years before the military-industrial complex first seized and then cemented total control of the U.S. government, a coup d'etat that would have failed without the active assistance of a rapidly growing population of fearful, non-thinking dupes--true believers, dumbed down and almost comically manipulated by their media, their church, and their state. So be it. Freedom has long proven too heady an elixir for the masses, weakened and confused as they are by conflicting commitments to puritanical morality and salacious greed.
in the wake of the recent takeover, our prevailing national madness has been ratcheting steadily skyward. The pious semi-literates in the conservative camp tremble and crow; the educated martyrs in the progressive sector writhe and fume. It's a grand show from a cosmic perspective, though enjoyment of the spectacle is blunted by the havoc being wreaked on nature and by the developmental abuse inflicted on the children.

We must bear in mind, however, that the central dynamic of our race has never been a conflict between good and evil, but rather between elightenment and ignorance. Ignorance makes the headlines, wins the medals, doles out the punishment, jingles the coin. Yet, in its clandestine cubbyholes, and occasionally on the public stage, enlightenment continues to quietly sparkle, its radiance outshining the entire disco ball of history. Its day may or may not come, but no matter. The world as it is--life as it is--enlightenment is its own reward.