The Southwest Power Outage

Didja hear about the burning and looting going on in San Diego during the power outage yesterday. Yeah me neither. I heard some union hack spilled coffee or whatever on a flux capacitor in Gila Bend AZ causing rolling blackouts across 3 states and much of Baja California. Back to the burning and looting though ... It was horrendous. All those candles and folks recklessly looting their refrigerators for food before power and proper order could be restored overnight. Except for the commute home from work it was a pretty pleasant evening.

Encountering an intersection with no lights at all you assume a blinking red and each takes a turn through the four way in an orderly fashion. Sokay .... In a neighborhood just north of University City the intersction is Genessee and La Jolla Village Drive. They Really could have used a cop but there we're none anywhere around. Kinda wierd because they should have been heading in and out of the Police Station on a shift change at that time of day. The object is to try get through the 4 way safely. South Bounders go and allow for the left turns East bounders go and allow for left turns North bounders go and allow for left turns and finally West bounders go and allow for left turns. What really happens though is what could only be described as a game of chicken and there are some pretty expensive rides in this neighborhood. North and South bounders dash into the intersection as a pack of 6 or eight cars and left turners try to squeeze through before the East and West bounders pull the same manuver. Pedestrians cross this madness at their own risk and This was going on all over the city. Chaos ensues!

Accidents everywhere. The folks just hop out of the car and do their insurance seminar in the middle of the street. To be fair, I did see one cop car, unmarked, trying to turn left on Lebron. That would put you onto the way east end of the UCSD Medical School. He had to use his lights to get through the 4 way stop. I'm pretty sure they were told to go hide somewhere for a while. The Twenty minute bus ride down to Old Town took 2 Hours. There were nearly 100 passengers waiting there for a north bound 44. Way more than could fit on a single city bus anyway. Screw it. I walked the 2 miles or so to Fort Hobson.