It is the evening of Christmas Day. The day did not turn out the way I had planned.

Those who follow me on Facebook know that I was one of the quarter-million people in Maine, in the US, who lost power on Friday night.

But I made it work.

Because I follow the weather, like most Mainers, I pulled my large, portable US$1300 (≈$1900) generator out of my walk-in basement early Friday evening and connected it to the outlet outside.