Or something far far stranger
When i got home from work, i thought someone had been screwing around in my room. The old desktop computer in the corner that i never use, and has no monitor, keyboard or mouse connected to it had turned itself on, and both of my clocks had lost their saved time. My sister said the lights dimmed and flickered some for a couple seconds. Clocks losing power isn't interesting, but i thought the computer turning itself on was

any of you other MN members see anything like that?

Sounds like a brown-out. You lose voltage, but the power doesn't go out completely. They can do weird things to electronics...make sure your computer and any other sensitive equipment like your entertainment systems are all on surge protectors, and if you have a desktop, an uninterruptible power source is a good idea.
If you have a laptop, don't leave it plugged in when you aren't using it.

the desktop is an old 600Mhz Pentium II. i don't really care... my laptop wasn't plugged in, but my surround sound system was. I can't recall if that has a built-in surge protector or not.

It does, but the built in surge protectors are LOW capacity,and should NEVER be relied on.
Get an actual strip.
You might ask one of our various resident techies what to look for when you go shopping for one...

yeah, i'll get around to it. I just never bothered with the surge protectors, because we always have such reliable power. i can't remember the last time it went out. I guess it spoiled me

Yes, its been bad here lately. Never happend until about 4 years ago. My guess is the rapid increase of population putting a strain on the generators. You live in an area of rapid development too?

5 years ago there were fields all over the place. now i feel like i live in the city :?

there is no such thing as reliable power, it may seem reliable.. but what you really have to worry about is "dirty" power, thats what kills your electronics

Power in this area sucks. Just down the road it'* great, according to a buddy of mine.

We were getting weekly brownouts/power outages weekly for a good while about two years ago. Then I bought a low-end uninterruptible power supply for my PC and the outages seemed to dwindle to nearly nothing. Stupid power company toying with me...

Yup, there is your problem. What town you live in?