Electricity and Technology

Driving past a construction site today, a passenger in my car (also known as member of my household) said, "Look, something is being built over there," and pointed out the steel beams that are the frames in the initial phase of the construction of a large building.
"It's going to be the Hilton Garden Hotel," I explained.
"Oooh, can we stay there?" she asked.
I said, "Well, you're the second person to ask me that. If the power ever goes out, and we have no heat, and it's in the middle of winter, then maybe."
"Can't we just stay there for a mini-vacation?"
"For $100-plus a night, to stay about a mile from our house? Nah, I don't think so. No, the power would have to be out."
About 10 minutes after we returned home, and a few minutes after I had started cooking a feast of spiral noodles and cheese and frozen veggie burgers, the power went off. Both the noodles and the burgers were halfway done, so by putting a lid on both, they actually managed to cook all the way, despite there being no more heat source.
Luckily, since the Hilton Garden Hotel is about a year away from having its steel beam skeleton filled with walls and ceilings and fountains and glass elevators and gardens and furniture, we didn't need to start packing up. We aren't living during that time of year when we need to depend on the heat, either. But something said to me, I wish I had a place to go right now. But I don't. The power came back on after a half hour, but it was just enough time to make me think a little differently. Do we have a battery-operated radio? Check. Do we have candles? Check. Do I know where my elastic-banded headlamp is? Check. Is there anything in the refrigerator that will go bad? Not really; unless you count milk, tangerine juice and eggs. There's really nothing else in there other than stuff I want to keep away from the moths. Does our automatic garage opener work if we don't have electricity? Check (the power company's on-hold message told me that). Do we really need electricity? Not sure how to answer that one. Can we live without it? I guess we'll find out.
Today my head was filled with all the possible ways people can communicate with each other. Since 1995, the avenues of human contact have quadrupled for me from (1) telephone with no caller ID and no answering machine, and (2) U.S. Mail, to the present, to: (1) telephone with caller ID and answering machine, (2) U.S. Mail, (3) cell phone, (4, 5, and 6) three e-mail accounts, (7) text messaging, and now (8) www.noonewilleveruse.blogspot.com. And there might be one or two other ways I could be found, not including Instant Messaging and Web cam, which I don't use. I'm sure I've left something out. And that leaves, sadly, exponentially more opportunities to be reminded that no one's going to any sort of effort whatsoever to find out what I'm doing, how I'm doing, or why I'm doing it. That's really an exaggeration. I really don't mean that. I like technology. When technology can make me feel like I am overjoyed that there are so many ways to get in touch with me, then I will love technology.