Dude, I recomend that you buy a REAL UPS. Not one of those $30 Radio Shack Surge Protector. Some thing give you both Power5 and Telephone line protection. You will be amased on how many people over look the telephone lines in these events. (Plus I have seen enough cooked modems and fax machines)
I recommend some thing like the APC Brand.
The problem that I have had with some of the smaller brands in getting replacement batteries for them.
A good UPS should last you about 3 to 5 years before you need to replace the batteries in them.
My sell line with any UPS is this :- "If they save your computer once, they have all ready paid for themselves."
And I have seen lightnight strikes though the system so badly that the VGA out on the Video Card had burn marks. (BTW, the monitor was just as f***ed.)