No, we're talking about my wife's hair. And last Thursday was definitely not one of the good days for Natalie.

We woke up late, but it wasn't our fault—the power was off so the clock radio just sat dark and silent. We were only about 15 minutes behind schedule, but we would have to get ready for work without Matt and Katie, without burned toast ... and, if you can believe it, without a hair dryer.

"How do civilized people survive without electricity!?" cried Natalie as she tried desperately to fluff her locks with a brush and a hair pick. OK, she didn't really say that, but you can bet that's what she was thinking. Because Natalie, like the rest of us, has become dependant on electrical power. And it's never more obvious than when we're without it.

I know what you're thinking—our ancestors did just fine without electricity. Sure they did, but they didn't have the Internet and ESPN, so they didn't know what they were missing! We do, so when the lights go out, we whine about everything we can't do. Take last Wednesday night and Thursday morning, for example. I don't know where you were, but we were sitting in the middle of a blackout.

It happened the first time right around the dinner hour. It was like everyone got home from work and clicked on the air conditioning at precisely the same moment. Because no sooner did I snap on the AC than, POOF!, no power.

If you're anything like me, you have to be convinced. So you'll click the light switch on and off about six times before you say to yourself something very profound like, "Hmpf ... doesn't work."

Then, as if choreographed, all the neighbors wander out to the street at the same time to check to see if everyone else is powerless, too. That's when the realization sets in and panic strikes—"Oh, my God ... no TiVo!"

My big plans for the evening were ruined—firing up the air conditioner, flipping on the TV and microwaving a bag of popcorn. Ever try popping popcorn over the barbecue grill? It's just not the same.

You know, I'm convinced that without a microwave we'd all certainly starve. We have meals in our freezer all portioned out in plastic bags with the names written out in indelible marker on the outside. Without a microwave, those meals are just chicken and salmon popscicles.

Oh, my God! What's going to happen to all that food in the freezer? Without power it will all be reduced to a puddle of goo! So the first thing I did, in what I feel was truly a reckless act of self sacrifice, was run to the freezer and eat all the ice cream and popscicles. We had a quart of Dreyers Mint Chocolate Chip and a box of root beer, banana and lime popscicles, and I saved them all by eating them before they melted. Natalie wasn't impressed.

"What should we do for dinner?" she asked when she got home a little after I did.

"I'm not too hungry," I replied, wiping the green drips of the chocolate mint from my chin.

She just shook her head and said, "I'm not surprised."

"Hey, do you realize how quickly they can all melt in a heat wave when the power goes out?" I said.

"Oh, please," she moaned. "I notice you didn't eat the frozen vegetables. You know, they can melt, too."

"Sure, but they don't taste as good," I thought, but didn't dare say out loud.

The power was only out for a couple of hours on Wednesday, and it came back in time to get the AC on long enough to cool down the house for the night. Then it was off again the next morning.

And that meant getting ready for work without watching TV, making toast, using the electric razor (too bad the scale's not electric), checking email and, of course, clicking on the hair dryer.

So I just couldn't help myself when I found Natalie frantically working with her hair that morning. I said, "I don't know if you're aware of it, but the curling iron runs on electricity, too."

Funny thing, though, it can fly across the room without any electric power at all!

Want to talk? Give me a call at 408.354.3110, or write to dsparrer@svcn.com.