Another Plastic Gadget?

I can appreciate irony.

Yesterday's geek-ish entry was all about my foray into smart-home technology. I explained how I set up 'Google Home' to control lights and switches in this apartment. This morning I rolled out of bed and said, "Hey Google, Good Morning." Rather than having the fake fan switch off, hearing my calendar entries, and learning about the day's weather, I heard an announcement saying the speaker could not connect to the Internet.

I'm not sure if the fault was connected with a reported power outage in some neighbourhoods of New Westminster, or not. I do know that I called our Internet provider on my cell phone. Our regular phone is VoIP so that didn't work and neither did our TV as our local channels come to us over IP too. I did manage to use my phone as a hotspot to catch a bit of the TV news and listen to news radio.

I realized I was not able to actually tune into over-the-air broadcast radio. Of course, we live in an earthquake zone here and when, not if, the big one comes, we may not be able to count on Internet service. So while still connected to my mobile data plan, I ordered this cheap emergency radio with a hand crank. It has been a long time since I was a boy scout, but I have not forgotten about the importance of ... being prepared!