The power went out for a few hours yesterday afternoon.1 The alerts said that a “third party” had caused damage to the equipment. I find it strange that a power outage isn’t an unwelcome interruption, it’s a moment of enforced respite from a relentless wfh grind. In our neighborhood the cell service is a poor substitute when the power goes out. I don’t know if this is a universal experience as everyone switches from their wifi to LTE or 5G. Another neighbor complained that their AT&T cell service was not helpful either. We have Verizon. It meant that from 2 pm to 5 pm both Ali and I couldn’t work. We sat on the porch to get a better signal and felt the first drops of rain from the promised storm and played mobile games while updating colleagues that we were out of commission for a while. When that was done, we read books printed on actual paper. The rain never really started, at least not until hours later. A few drops fell now and then as the clouds thickened and the light dimmed. It got harder to read. I moved to a chair by the window to see better. By 4:30, I had decided a nap would be a good use of my time. Just before 5 the power came back on, the dishwasher resumed from where it had left off, and the refrigerator began again to make its soothing whirring sounds.2 This “third party” had given my wife and I a break from busy and stressful days. We were bored, read a book, and had a quick nap.