Monday, July 26, 2010

Power Outage Hack - A Religious Experience

Yesterday, at around 4pm a nasty thunderstorm was on the horizon. As we waited for it to roll in, our power mysteriously went out. We went ahead and called up the power company, and was told that it would be back on by 8pm. 8pm? The storm hadn't even started yet -- what the heck?

The storm came and went in about 30 minutes. No power. 8:00pm came and went. No power. At around 2:30am, we got power back.

Luckily, we had a handful of storm lights all charged up throughout the house, so losing power didn't exactly leave us in the dark.

While the flash lights are great, they don't have the best battery life and don't exactly light up a room. So, we decided to light some candles. First we tried lighting a few Shabbat Candles, and that worked fine - though they don't have the longest staying power. Then it hit me - I had a couple of extra Yahrzeit Candles lying around. So, we lit them up. They worked great. They are ideal because:

  • They burn for hours (their designed to go for 24)
  • They are self contained, so you don't have to worry about finding a stable candle holder or about leaking wax
  • They are intended to burn all night un-attended
  • They are cheap - you can get them online for about $1.00 each, or we usually get them at the store for like $0.89.

Next time you're at the super market, find the Jewish section (it'll have Matzah, and various forms of powered soup - don't ask me why these are considered essential, all year round items). Somewhere around there should be a nice big candle in a glass. Buy a few and be prepared.

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