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As you know, each week I find a new way to waste my Saturday. Today’s squandering started early. I fell asleep on the couch last night and woke up a little before seven this morning when I heard something click. At first I didn’t know what it might be, but I wandered around the house and saw that all the lights that were on were at about half their usual brightness.
It took me a few minutes to absorb this phenomenon, and to put a name on it. Brownout. I’d never been in one before, but this is how I imagined one would be. Even the digital displays on such things as clocks and microwaves and VCRs and the like were dimmed down drastically. I flipped the switch in the laundry room and the light came on (dimly), but the fan did not.
I have to admit, it scared me. I wasn’t sure what to do about it. Phoning the utility company didn’t seem to be in order. What would I say, that the electricity hadn’t gone out? That the power was still on? That the light inside my house was nearly as dim as the hazy early-morning sun on the other side of the miniblinds? So I went to bed.
Sleep eluded me until the power did go out all the way. Then I was on familiar ground, and I let myself drift off. Many hours later I woke up to the flashing numbers on the clock radio on bedside table. I got up and methodically went through the usual routine, resetting clocks all around the house.
Then I turned on the TV. No problem. Then I pushed the power button on the remote for the stereo receiver. Nothing. I pushed and pushed that button, finally assuming there was something wrong with the device. So I pushed the power button on the receiver itself. Still nothing. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and pushed the button. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
When I realized that my receiver was fried, all the air went out of my balloon, all the wind out of my sails. It occurred to me that I’d forgotten to turn the receiver off during the brownout, so something really bad must have happened then. It’s out of warranty and would probably cost more to fix than replace, and this comes at the worst possible time for an unforeseen expense.
But I can’t be without a receiver. I don’t want to listen through the TV speakers when I have an expensive set of external speakers and an elaborate wiring system connected to a dead receiver. And I can’t listen to the radio or the CD player at all. I don’t think anyone can expect me to survive more than a day or two of work without music. I’ll have to replace the receiver as soon as possible, possibly as soon as Monday (because I’m not going shopping on a weekend day in December). | 
