Observations on Sandy 10.30

Thought I would throw up a quick post before I wander out to see what's happening. Just shy of two million without power in the city and as of now I have no idea for how long. I have double batteries for everything so I should be okay for now and I can always go uptown for a charge but than I'm sure everybody has the same idea. The apartment smells of wet clothes and something electrical. The latter isn't anything here, I think it's coming from the subways, probably everything shorting out overnight. As with the power there isn't any timetable for when the subways will be back, than again I suppose there can't be without knowing about the power first. It's either a vicious cycle or I'm still mentally wiped, hard to tell at this point.

I guess I'm just an adrenalin junkie because I need to get out and look around while the VQs seem to be perfectly happy watching a movie and contemplating empty wine bottles, probably mentally calculating how many they have left and how long they will last. As for myself, I went up on the roof when i woke up and what stuck me was just how quiet it is, unreal how a city this size can be so quiet.

12:45PM - Surviving so far, actually I'll be happy as long as I have batteries and a 4G connection and those are a few things I do have. Well I have batteries and Ash has the 4G but she doesn't need it to drink wine and watch movies so I claimed it. Latest is the power could be out here for two or three days but that is subject to change. All the subway tunnels in lower Manhattan are flooded and it's a total mess in the streets, trash, trees, leaves blowing everywhere. Haven't heard anything about Stone Harbor yet, my dad said it could be days till anybody gets in there too. I was looking at photos I took yesterday and so far I'm unimpressed, visibility was terrible, it was more like a blizzard than like Irene. As always we shall see, maybe with some work. Now I'm off to check on Foxy.

5:40PM - The sun returned to the Village an hour or so ago, briefly, but it was there, I know it was, I saw it, maybe. Anyway, when I checked on Foxy I found the family had sustained an injury, Foxy has a massive scratch on her hood. The garage manager said some branches had blown in and one landed right on her. Pisses me off cause that may be the biggest scratch in all the time I own her. The latest on the power situation is four days, via Reuters not ConEd, but we have come up with a wonderful plan in the event it drags on, it seems my dad is going to get some company. There is nothing much to keep us here without power so some outlet shopping may be called for plus I can get an estimate on a paint job while I'm there because I am not about to pay what they would gouge me up here.

Geek notes, I know it's probably something not worth mentioning but don't forget you can always use your cell phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot if you lose your Wi-Fi. Also there are some decently priced battery packs out there that can run your comp for up to 6 hours, I just grabbed a Duracell model today.

Political note, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked on Fox News whether Willard would tour damage in his state and said; "I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I have a job to do in New Jersey that is much bigger than presidential politics. If you think right now I give a damn about president politics, then you don’t know me." So some Republicans still really are relatively sane, too bad their party despises them for it. Today was probably the day Christie lost the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

Observations 7.1

An update on the weekend's weather and yesterday's post.

Over the last week over 2,000 high temperature records were set and fifteen cities set all-time, all-time, heat records over the weekend. This is a list of those set Friday before the derecho storm. It was 109° in Nashville, TN, 109° in Columbia, SC, 109°in Cairo, IL, 108° in Paducah, KY , 106° in Chattanooga, TN, 105° Raleigh, NC, 105° in Greenville, SC, 104° in Charlotte, NC, 102° in Bristol, TN, and 109°in Athens, GA.
With the hottest months of the year yet to come the number of records falling is dwarfing even the Dust Bowl era.

As of Sunday millions of people were still without power as temperatures again approach 100° all along the east coast. Utility companies from Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia described the damage to the power grids as catastrophic and all three states, along with West Virginia and Washington D.C., declared states of emergency on Saturday. Meanwhile Atlanta declared a code-purple meaning the air over the city was very unhealthy. Friday night's storm, which at times reached hurricane force, killed a dozen people with two boaters still missing.

I did hear from my friend and she was hit by the storm and lost power. It may be a week until she gets it back so she plans on haunting malls, movie houses, and work.

"Unlike a polite hurricane that gives you three days of warning, this storm gave us all the impact of a hurricane without any of the warning of a hurricane," Maryland Govenor Martin O'Malley.

In the city of New York, which was unaffected by the storm, temperatures are again in the mid-nineties today. To make things more interesting at 2 AM Sunday morning Consolidated Edison, the power utility, locked out its unionized workers after contract negotiations broke down. Con Ed replaced 8,500 skilled union workers with 5,000 management personnel raising the possibility of power cuts. The dispute centers on the pension plans of older workers
which the company wants to cut.

Think about that. Instead of sending its workers south to help with the cleanup Con Ed locked them out. Corporate responsibility at its best.