Jason Pearce

I had a great Christmas and hope you did too. Much of my time was spent with family.

My brother Cameron and I logged lots of time on the Xbox playing video games. NBA 2003, Unreal Championship, Gotham Racing, and few others were among our favorites. Thanks to Santa, we were not short on gaming options. Our family of four also spent a few evenings playing cards (Hearts) or heading to the movies.

On my mom’s side of the family, everyone but my cousin Will came to our house for gifts and food on Christmas day. Cousin Lans and his wife Marte flew in from Norway, cousin Chad came from San Francisco, and everyone else had an easy drive within North Carolina.

On my dad’s side, it was fun catching up with cousins Pearce and Patrick Landry and their growing families. Pearce has four boys and Patrick has two girls. My have they all grown.

New Year’s is going to be spent in Jacksonville, Florida, to enjoy the festivities of the Gator Bowl (North Carolina State vs. Notre Dame). We drive down tomorrow (seven hours) and return the following day. While it will be a lot of time in the car, it should be a fun trip.

I hope everyone has a great New Year’s.

I never really noticed before, but my dad is a big sports fan. Or shall I say, he is a big NC State basketball and football fan.

But you can’t blame him, for NC State’s football team had a great season and will be playing in the Gator Bowl New Year’s Day. Naturally, the family is going (less my brother Cameron, who will be returning to LA).

State’s basketball season is also off to a good start. Dad, a few friends of his, and I went to a game tonight. The game was played at NC State’s Historic Reynolds Coliseum instead of its new stadium. Like the old days, the pep band was blaring, cheerleaders were flying, fans were stomping on the bleachers, and the smell of popcorn was thick with nostalgia.

The highlight of the game was Julius Hodge’s triple-double (I don’t really know what I am talking about, for I just learned what this meant this evening). Playing as number 24, Hodge is sophomore guard and was the number three draft pick, according to dad.

What was amazing about Hodge’s performance tonight was that he will go down in the books as the first NC State Men’s Basketball player to ever earn a triple-double. And to think, out of the 750 games that have be played in this historic building, it wasn’t until tonight that a start sophomore could make the feat history.

And on the seventh day, CP&L said “Let there be light (and heat, and Internet access, and water, and …)” Power was restored today. Yea. I get to sleep in a warm, electric-blanket induced, bed tonight.

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Things remain cold and dark at home with outside temperatures dipping to 35 degrees at night.

Nearly a week without power, we continue to spend our evenings stuffing wood into the fireplace and burying ourselves under as many blankets as we can find. Personally, I spend most of the night in the fetal position trying to keep warm by breathing under the sheets.

Power has been restored for nearly all businesses in the Raleigh area and 97 percent of all homes, according to CP&L’s website. So we remain hopeful.

I spent most of the day yesterday hanging out in Barnes & Noble. For those that now have power, life is clearly back to normal for double-lattes are being ordered, kids are running through busy shopping isles, and hours upon hours of Christmas music can be heard in the background over the noise of cash registers completing yet another sale of Harry Potter, John Grisham, or Steven King.

Me? Well, I was simply pleased to have found a good Web Development book, a highly-prized position on one of B&N’s couches, and to waste the day away in the comfort of heat, lights, and nearby restrooms with running water.

Here’s the latest news from CP&L’s website on the much-anticipated return of power.

More than 97 percent of customers now have power

Progress Energy crews have restored power to approximately 97 percent of CP&L customers who lost power during the storm.

As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, outages across the CP&L system totaled 15,225 - down from a peak of 464,000.

In Wake County, remaining customers without service total 3,100 - down from more than 265,000 Friday afternoon.

The hardest hit areas with customers still without power includes the following North Carolina counties: Chatham - 3,610, Vance - 2,347, Granville - 1,943, Warren - 856 and Nash - 730.

Much of the work today is house-to-house service line work, which can be very time consuming. We have a tremendous amount of resources focused in these areas today and expect to get nearly all of those customers restored today.

Rest assured our crews are working as hard as ever - and we will not stop until we have restored power to every single CP&L customer. We will work around the clock until every home has power.

Customers who see that the meter base is damaged or torn from the side of the house should get a licensed electrician to make repairs and have the repairs properly inspected. CP&L cannot complete restoration until the meter base is repaired.

CP&L customers can report outages and receive power restoration estimates through the company’s automated outage reporting system by calling 1-800-419-6356.

We know with the extreme cold, this has been a very difficult time for our customers. We appreciate their patience.