The only thing as startling as finding the power suddenly turned off unexpectedly is the whirring back to life of all the electronics and seeing the lights come back on throughout the house in the middle of the night when power is restored.

About 2 1/2 hours after we lost power tonight, we seem to be "all systems go", though a quick Google News search and Google Blog search don't turn up any reasons for the interruption. I guess if a power grid fails and nobody was awake to notice, did it really fail?

Issues like this, where the grid that keeps us going and connected seem to not be redundant or easy to disrupt, make me more nervous than any alleged weaknesses in our security systems, as far as hackers or terrorism are concerned. We've come to rely so heavily on the modernization of our communication and information systems that hitting our power and cable seems to be the best way to go to decentralize our knowledge base.

And yes, we were already awake past 2 a.m. Our dog continues to struggle after her recent issues and has managed to keep me up thus far. We may get some sleep tonight. Regardless, we do have power, and that's a start.

Update: Palo Alto Online reports a tree fell and hit a power pole before midnight, knocking out power from Sand Hill Road to California Avenue. Of note, their story says power was restored after 3 a.m. This blog post shows it was back before then.

Just before midnight tonight, all our lights went out here in Palo Alto, where Kristine and I are housesitting and watching over our dog, and the homeowner's dog and cat. Being a high tech Silicon Valley house, we have been stumbling about by the light of our cell phone, letting the BlackBerry guide us to matches and faux candles.

As usual, there is no known cause of yet. There has not been any inclement weather, and police sirens immediately following the outage have me thinking some car found a power pole instead of staying within the lines. But who knows?

All I know is that it's very dark, the animals are confused, and the BlackBerry is our only source of light, phone and link to the outside world. What a good device! While our laptops, cable TV and all other power sucking utilities are dead, or won't reach the Internet, the BlackBerry enables us to both see and hear.

The Blog from e-mail function from Blogger is pretty cool too, as I guess you can tell. We'll see if the lights come on sooner, rather than later.

When the first Nintendo craze broke out, I was in elementary school, and it seemed that every kid I knew had an NES console. But we didn't. My family didn't exactly see the benefits of adding yet more reasons for us to sit in front of the television for hours on end, wearing our thumbs raw to kill the imaginary "bad guys" in the video game, rescuing the princess, or finding the hidden warp zone that would take us to the next level.

One morning, my mother, who taught one of my classes at school, asked my classmates why they thought she should buy us a Nintendo. The classmates were helpful, saying it helped hand-eye coordination, strategy, and could serve as an incentive to get chores done around the house or homework. Besides, it was fun. Eventually, she caved, letting us get a Nintendo, the caveat being that we couldn't have any games that showed actual violence against people. That meant no first-person shooters, no Mortal Kombat, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, and the like. But we were fine with the standard Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, and Metroid fare, battling against my brothers for gaming superiority.

Nearly two decades later, Nintendo's Wii is again the flagship gaming console, surprisingly thumping the much-hyped Playstation 3 and Microsoft's XBox 360. Despite not having the best graphics, and an undeniably weird controller, the Wii's quirks have drawn new people to the platform who wouldn't be there otherwise. I'm now growing used to grown men discussing the benefits of the Wii Sports game pack, and how they're actually getting real exercise from the included Tennis, Baseball and Boxing games. Instead of the more macho war simulations or Grand Theft Auto episodes, I hear people laugh about how their kids can handily thump them in tennis with a flick of the wrist, and strategize how to best project the Wii in their home, yet retain accurate hand-eye coordination.

Though I'm now in my 30s, and haven't had a game console since the first Sony Playstation while in college, the unqualified praise from multiple friends is almost enough to having me consider bringing in yet another entertainment-focused time waster into my home. I know I'd be all over the baseball game, trying to swat home runs and dive to make every outfield catch. I know I'd be finding yet another excuse to not got work done around the house or finish business tasks on deadline. And I know, that this time around, it would be my wife trying to talk me out of getting one, instead of my mother years ago.

Should I plunk down a little bit of cash, and add the Wii on top of the TiVo, Apple TV and start becoming an unknown international sports star in my own mind? Can I stay professional yet geek out on this gaming? It'd be great to learn your take or if you've picked a console to keep you entertained.

Ahhh... the ebb and flow of being a partial season ticket holder. Owning tickets to approximately 40 Oakland A's games through the season means periods where we won't visit the Coliseum to catch a game for the better part of two weeks, followed by spurts where we are seemingly there every evening. And if I tack on any extra games with friends of coworkers, it just gets that much more crazy. This weekend, if correctly executed, I could be cheering on the A's run in the division race every day from Friday through Monday.

Last night, we saw the A's deliver a pounding to the visiting St. Louis Cardinals. After the appreciative ovation given to the team's manager Tony LaRussa, who rose to stardom during his tenure as the A's manager in the late 1980s to 1990s, the A's were out for blood. Despite falling behind early 3-0, the team showed a rare offensive surge, scoring six in the third inning, six more in the seventh inning, and two more runs in the fourth and fifth to wrap up a score more likely at a Raiders/Rams football game: 14-3. (Of course, nobody would expect Oakland to win that one)

The baseball fun continues with a 6:05 game this evening with a friend from Athletics Nation, a 1:05 game Sunday on Father's Day, and in a special treat, a group of us from the office will be back to the Coliseum on Monday night to see the A's take on the Cincinnati Reds, making it four games in four days.

Some have asked me if it ever gets boring or repetitive to see the same players at the same place from the same seats, day after day. The answer is clearly, no. While as a fan, I can get frustrated by seeing the same storylines, such as the A's not scoring enough runs or misusing the bullpen, the truth is that every game is different, and every game starts with the slate clear, and both teams have a chance to win. Even if the A's fall behind, I know that we could be on the verge of seeing a late-inning comeback or a tragic heartbreaker. I've seen both, and it's all part of being a fan.

Starting at 6 tonight, you can find us in our usual seats: Section 114, Row 28, Seats 5 and 6. Go A's!