Our family was fairly prepared for the power outage. After Dad got home, he produced a pair of battery packs from the garage, similar to what people use for camping. The 1200w EF EcoFlow River had enough juice to power a desk lamp from sunset to 10pm and a hallway lamp all through the night. (All that usage only drained about 30% of its power.)
Wednesday morning, we used the 300w ENKEEO to power our wi-fi router, bringing back internet to the house. Despite all that, most of the Kang family members left the house. Chris went to his company’s office in San Mateo; Dad went to work in Santa Clara; I packed up my belongings and headed over to El Paseo de Saratoga.
My plan was to grab a latte and use the power strip + wi-fi at Peet’s or Starbucks. That was not the brightest plan. Every coffee shop I visited was freaking packed. The Peet’s next to Noah’s Bagels had open seats but no available power strips. Not wanting to be left out, I wandered around the plaza looking for power.
In a stroke of luck, the Panda Express next to the Peet’s had an outlet available. I ordered a bowl of chow main + honey walnut shrimp + veggie spring rolls and settled in the corner. Panda Express had no wi-fi / internet, but that was fine for me. For work-related communications, I relied on my iPhone; if anything urgent came up, I could always unplug and go to Peet’s.
PS: stayed at Westgate until 3:22pm. Was able to snag a spot at the Peet’s later in the afternoon.
