PLEASE NOTE: My blog is still on indefinite hiatus; I have made a single exception for this blogpost. After this, I will be going back on my self-imposed break from blogging.

So I am writing this blogpost on my iPhone, sitting in the last good light of this damp and overcast day on my bedroom patio, facing the forest behind my apartment. Why? Because there has been a massive power failure in most of south And east Winnipeg this afternoon.

After waiting for an hour for the power to come back on, I finally gave up, put on my scarf and a fleece-lined jacket, and deposited myself outside with my iPhone. I am in a grumpy mood. The province next door, Ontario, just imposed a one-month stay-at-home order for 30 days, starting at noon today, and I believe that it is only a matter of time before we have a lockdown here in Manitoba too (in fact, they never really released most of the restrictions imposed in the second lockdown in early November!).

Manitoba Hydro failed us BIG TIME today…

I am prepared should the power remain out all evening; as part of my pandemic preparations from 15-16 years ago I have a portable camp stove and fuel, and I also have a converter to allow me to plug devices like my iPhone in to recharge from my car’s battery.

I spent part of the time standing outside in the cold drizzle, having a socially distanced chat with my upstairs neighbor oasis she stood on her 2nd floor balcony having a cigarette. Yes, I was reduced to TALKING TO PEOPLE while my computer was down!

I now have no less than three virtual conferences to prepare for:

1. The Virtual Ability Mental Health Symposium to be held April 16th in Second Life, where I will talking about acedia during the coronavirus pandemic. They asked me to speak because of the blogpost I wrote on the topic, which apparently several people had told them about.

2. I have just been accepted to present on developing a taxonomy of social VR platforms at the 2021 Immersive Learning Research Network conference, to be held in VirBELA.

3. Finally, I’ve been asked to moderate a panel discussion at the 2021 Educators in VR virtual conference taking place in AltspaceVR this coming May.

So, as you can see, I am going to be quite busy the next few months!

The power just came back on after over 2-1/2 hours, so I guess I’d better crank up my PC to make sure it’s OK.

Stay safe and stay healthy!