Lightning doesn't strike the same spot twice.

At least, I hope that statement is true, because that means we're safe!!

Monday night, big storms rolled through Lawrence right at my bedtime - which translates to just around the time the weather comes on during the 10:00 news. (10:19 for those weather nerds out there that have to know!)

I was reading in bed, Jeremy was finishing up an email, and all of a sudden... BOOM! The loudest thunder that either of us have ever heard was accompanied by a crazily bright lightning strike. The TVs both turned off and I paused for a second to figure out just what exactly had happened, since my bedside lamp was still on. Right about then, Jeremy hollered up to see if I was ok, and I got up to check things out. Several things were dark, but some things were still working, and since the storm was still going we decided to wait until morning to reset the fuses.

The next morning, I discovered that after resetting the fuse box, things still weren't as they should be. The damage - the upstairs bedroom TV, the old desktop PC, our cable modem, our garage door opener, and our air conditioner thermostat control were all COMPLETELY FRIED. We also lost cable, internet, and alarm service. Yes, we had surge protectors... they just weren't too effective this time!

So where did the lightning hit? Your guess is as good as ours. A tree across the street to our right was absolutely destroyed, so that was our first guess, but the energy would have had to cross Crestline Drive, which isn't impossible but is a little unlikely. The ground is pretty saturated, so it might have traveled by some standing water. Our neighbors that we share a wall with theorized that it hit the TV dish (both condos have one, neither of us use it, but I digress), and then it grounded from there. This makes some sense since everything that went dead was on that side of the house... but there's no burn marks or other tell-tale signs of a strike there. Maybe it just hit the ground in our yard - but again, no burn marks and why would it hit the ground when there's so many trees and roofs nearby to hit? I guess we'll never know for sure.

We're back online today (although not wireless, which is mildly annoying) and we have A/C, which is awesome since it's 96 or so today and very humid. As for the rest, I guess we'll be talking to USAA.