The Benefit of a Power Failure

So this morning I had to come in to the office. (It's that time of year again, when we’re gearing up for the big tradeshows for the industry and an daily newspaper for the same, so I have to have most of the editorial staff in at least some of each weekend of February.) However, there was a power failure yesterday afternoon. Although Evelin reset the clocks, she didn't do anything with the alarm.

I woke up to the alarm just as Evelin was coming back to bed from feeding Celeste. I was so psyched! Celeste had slept all the way until 5:30 a.m.! I mean, my alarm was set for 5:30, and here was Evelin coming back from a feeding, and I hadn't been awoken by any earlier feedings, so she must have slept through the night!

As I'm saying this, Evelin is looking at me like I'm crazy. "It's midnight," she said. It look a little while for that to sink into my head. "No, it can't be, the alarm is set for five-something." "No. I didn't reset the alarm." "What?"

So the alarm was going off at midnight, which matched up with the usual eleven-something feeding.

But that's not the benefit of the power failure. The benefit is that I no longer have to run down to the basement every night at about 7:10 p.m. We have an old TV down there that at some point a while ago I set the alarm on so that it would turn on automatically for an hour or two each night. And when it turns on automatically, it's tuned to Telefutura. For those who don't follow the Telefutura programming lineup, 7:10 or so is when "Cien Mexicanos Dijeron" airs. (It's a version of "Family Feud" from Mexico.)

For some reason, I couldn't disable the alarm clock. I don't know if the remote is wearing out (the time and alarm can only be set/adjusted with the remote) or what, but it just would not stop going off. Last night, while preparing dinner, I got the feeling something was wrong. I hadn't heard any noises from the basement and I hadn't run down to turn off the TV. The power failure stopped the clock on the TV and thus the alarm isn't going off. I'm not sure I want to check whether or not resetting the clock will turn the alarm back on or not ...

The other benefit is that the new windows are living up to their promise to cut down outside noise. Evelin said the neighbor's generator was a lot quieter yesterday thanks to the new windows, even in Celeste's room, which overlooks the driveway where the generator sits.