Observations on Sandy 10.31

ghost on flickr

With power in the Village out for at best a few more days, and the temperature plunging into the forties, it just may be time to activate plan B. I hope my dad is ready for company because ready or not it's going to be there soon, probably for the weekend.

The photo above is one I took of a friend of mine during the storm. We were down near Hudson River Park and the visibility was atrocious so I really didn't think I had any shots worth keeping, including this one. But the more I looked at this the more I liked it, sometimes bad visibility is actually a good thing, the lesson being don't delete your shots on first impression.

The flooding in the subways is so bad that something called the "unwatering team" from the Army Corps of Engineers is in the city, I have no idea what it is but I like the name and I wouldn't mind having one of their jackets as a souvenir. Seriously, one of those blue jackets with "Unwatering Team" across the back in big yellow letters. No?

I haven't been online much because cell phone service is getting increasingly spotty around here. I think one of the reasons for that spottiness is mental; Monday was the day of the apocalypse, Tuesday was the day to look around and take a deep breath, and today was the day to get back into it (Ash started living on her cell again), whatever your it happens to be. Another reason is purely technical, the backup batteries on the cell phone towers are going dead and have no way to recharge. The truly ironic thing is that the POTS lines are working just fine, not that anybody has them anymore.

I finally had some news about Stone Harbor today. My dad has had no info and with the spotty cell service I couldn't find anything out myself. What video I had seen from the shore so sad, places I had been totally devastated. Earlier today I had an email from a friend who had heard an interview from Stone Harbor on NPR and said it sounded good. That was so awesome to hear and I hope I thanked her for emailing me.

Finally a fashion note, I've been getting some rave compliments on my Timberland hiking boots, mountain holdovers that have come in damn handy lately.

Happy Halloween

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 on Sandy 10.29.1

9:15AM - The first major kink in my storm plans. With an 11' high tide expected tonight there is talk of shutting off the power to lower Manhattan because that much water could flood the subway and turn off the power the hard way so I now need to get ice for my beer. Of course they aren't saying how long said power would be off if they turn it off. To complete the weirdness it's now snowing in West Virginia.

1:25PM - Starting to have a gut feeling that this is going to be nasty, I don't know why, but it's so bad so soon. Wind is picking up, rain too, and the river was as high as Irene with a good 24 hours or so of storm to go. Really not a good feeling at all. LaGuardia and JFK airports are both starting to flood. Wind gusts are 60 mph now in the city. South Jersey looks like the hardest hit so far with everything from Atlantic City to Cape May flooded and Sandy still 100 miles away. Not a battery or loaf of bread to be had in my immediate area but I did find ice for the beer, one never knows. Inside, The Weather Channel keeps playing music that reminds me more of a "Halloween" movie than a storm.

4:30PM - The NWS forecast for Central Park now lists 'wind gusts to 80mph' for tonight, the term "ghost town" is being thrown around a lot and it fits. I don't know where everybody is hiding but they aren't outside at all. The tide is on the way in now, water is rising in Battery Park, and a crane is dangling on 57^th Street. The last bridges will be closed at 7 PM which means for all practical purposes Manhattan will be cut off, that is a new one but still no word from ConEd on turning off the power. For now I'm going to try and get some more pics before it gets dark and worry about the power after that. The proverbial sky isn't falling yet but it's looking pretty damn bleak around here. Meanwhile my brother is working in western Pennsylvania and it's snowing. One last thought, what does one have to do wrong to be the reporter CNN sends into Atlantic City?

8:50PM - I was just up on the roof and to our south is an amazing sight, looking towards Battery Park is a black hole where ConEd turned off one of the power grids. So far we have power but it flickers on and off, sometimes for five minutes. Gawker, BuzzFeed, and other sites are down so I have a theory that the internet runs off the New York power grid. The water level at Battery park is 2' above the record and rising, streets flooded everywhere in the East Village, haven't heard anything about water in the subways yet. If that happens the city is screwed for some time.  Now I just saw there are fires in at least one subway tunnel and seawater is flowing into the Battery Tunnel. Over 3 million in the NE without power, Ash wants to know why I keep tweeting if nobody can read it, good question, I'll worry about that tomorrow.

9:05PM - Water is now rushing into the subway tunnels. For all practical purposes lower Manhattan is f*cked.

10:25PM - Probably my last post for the night as we lost power about 30 minutes ago and I'm on battery power now. Power out in all of lower Manhattan, subways flooded, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel flooded, streets flooded all over, not pretty at all. The water peaked at I think two feet over the record but don't hold me to that. NYU hospital is being evacuated because their backup generators failed and on and on.

To end on a lighter note I think I invented a new word today, the yell text. It's what you get from your best friend when you are wandering around outside in a storm such as this. In said texts she calls you an idiot and other colorful terms that you can probably guess. Looking at three sets of wet clothes hanging around an apartment with no power I may have to agree with her.

Take care and be safe people.

Observations on Sandy 10.29

After this post I'm probably going to do like I did with Irene and just keep updating the same one or two posts unless something drastic comes up. I have no idea what would be drastic in this situation.

To catch up last night's last projections had sandy coming ashore just about on top of Stone Harbor, New Jersey, the beach house, and Fred's. Unlike Irene this storm is going to drive straight into the shore and not run parallel to it. I don't think Stone Harbor has ever received a direst hit. Some video I saw on Philly news yesterday already looked bad, I hope the house survives.

In the Village the first hard rain fell just after 1 AM last night. About an hour before that I went for a walk and the streets were just dead, empty, I know it was one in the morning but this is New York. The streets were nowhere near as dead before Irene. Also it was deathly quiet without the subways running. The only major event was what I swear was bird flying into the window while I sat chatting. Scared the crap out of me.

One thing I noticed during my first look today was the sky. So reminiscent of a blizzard and not at the churning nasty sky of a hurricane. Found a small coffee shop just inside Zone A that the owner said will remain open for the duration. Nice to know for later but I wont name it for obvious reasons. Not that anybody reads this but why take the chance? I may need a place to dry off later. For the record I live in Zone B, about a block from Zone A which was evacuated yesterday (375,000 people live in Zone A).

For the science geeks, that would be you Sean, Central Park already set a record for low pressure this morning. At 7 AM the pressure was at 946mb, the record low was 961mb on March 1, 1914. Sounds impressive but I have no idea what it means. Right now it's two hours away from high tide and the storm surge in the harbor is only one foot below Irene's worst. I know what that means and that isn't good at all. High tide tonight includes the full effects of the full moon.

The National Weather Service in New York just called Sandy "a worst case scenario" for the city. Going to be interesting to say the least.

Sunday Observations 10.28

Next year is the 100^th anniversary of the Armory Show and there are two big exhibitions to celebrate it. One, "The Armory Show At 100," opens in October at the New York Historical Society Museum. The other opens on February 17, 2013 at Montclair Art Museum and is a little more interesting. "The New Spirit" will put together fifty pieces of American art that were sold at the original Armory Show.

You can file this under a 'it's a small world' tag. From an article about the current natural gas boom in The New York Times last week;

"It is a great time to sell,” Mr. Eads recalled telling Terry Pegula, the founder of East Resources, who had built up his own operation in the Marcellus region of Pennsylvania from one well to 75 over the course of one year. “With all these new plays popping up, I had a real concern gas prices would weaken.” Mr. Eads then helped arrange what will go down as one of the great early paydays of the shale revolution: the 2010 sale of East Resources, which Mr. Pegula had started with $7,500 borrowed from family and friends, to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion."

You might wonder what that could possibly have to do with me, well here you go. Pegula, a graduate of Penn State, is huge ice hockey fan and he spent part of that fortune to buy the Buffalo Sabres. More importantly he donated $102 million to Penn State to launch its Division I men's and women's ice hockey programs and build the Pegula Ice Arena as there home. On the flip side Shell indirectly employs my brother, also a Penn State graduate, mapping wetlands in the wilds of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Donald Trump proved once again that he is just an ignorant self-important blowhard and I'm not talking about his big announcement on President Obama, I'm not even going to discuss that. Monday Trump spent a full day on Twitter talking about nothing but Diet Coke. A small sample; "@realDonaldTrump: People are going crazy with my comments on Diet Coke (soda). Let's face it--this stuff just doesn't work. It makes you hungry." Enough on that, the man just irritates me to no end and I don't even drink Diet Coke.

We got back from the mountains just in time to see the evacuation of Zone A in New York City as the storm otherwise known as Sandy ever so slowly approaches. I'm having flashbacks to Irene now and wonder if Anderson Cooper is going to be in Washington Square tomorrow morning. I may have to go check.

Observations from the Window 10.26

the calm before the storm on flickr

You can probably guess that the main topic of conversation around here today has been the impending frankenstorm, snor'eastercane, or just plane big ass storm otherwise known as Hurricane Sandy for short.



At the moment I really don't have much to say about Sandy other than it's supposed to hit somewhere in the vicinity of New York in a few days. Personally I think it's bad karma because there have been altogether too many blizzards and hurricanes hitting the Village since I moved here but my brother swears it's just climate change in action.

Earlier today we were reading what I wrote last year during Hurricane Irene. Taken together the Irene posts are one of my most read series of posts so I thought I would take a look back here too. This wasn't my first post about Irene but I like it because it contains a very serious list of items we stocked for the storm. As I write this tonight I think the VQs are probably out buying the very same items. If you want to read the full series just click the Irene tag.

Saturday, August 27, 2011
Observations on Irene 8.26

I thought maybe I would take some early morning photos so I rode an empty subway train down to the soon to be forbidden zone of Battery Park. Truth be told I didn't take much of anything because it was just a cloudy dreary humid morning and on top of that the Starbucks was closed. If this is the calm before the storm I think I'll pass.

Irene came ashore in North Carolina around 7AM as a category 1 storm. The weakening doesn't change the situation much here as the problem is how long the storm will batter the city and how much water will be pushed into the harbor, the rivers, and down the street. Later today ConEd will decide if it is going to shutdown the power to lower Manhattan. Because the cables are all underground they are vulnerable to saltwater if they are in use but not if they aren't in use. Now I understand why there are no batteries to be found in the Village.

Everybody says be prepared so we stocked up with the following ...

One case of Corona, one case of Corona Light, and two bags of ice in the freezer. Multiple bottles of red and white wine because Ash can't decide which is the right one for a hurricane and one must follow the wine rules at all times.   A bag of limes and one bottle of Jose Cuervo Black Medallion tequila because one shouldn't ride out a big storm with cheap tequila.   One carton of Misty Menthol Ultra Lights otherwise known as Misty Silver under the theory that people think ultra-light smoke is healthy and will think silver isn't.   One carton of Marlboro Menthol 100s because Chloe isn't a lite weight like me and smokes a real cigarette, or so I am told.   New lighter to light those above named cigarettes.   Two camera and two laptop batteries charged.   A camping lantern and flashlights along with a jumbo pack of priceless D size batteries. The latter I am tempted to sell on the street because, well, they really are priceless right now.   My older digital camera packed in a towel and zip-lock bag. Don't ask on this one because I'm not going to tell.   Shit I forgot to get food.

A bit of worthless hurricane trivia that doesn't seem so worthless now. If the storm is a category 1 at ground level it is a category 2 ten stories up. I can hear the glass raining down already.

No subways running down below and it just started raining in the Village. I suppose this really is the calm before the storm. Let the games begin.

update - Due to some concern I would like to add that we have cookies, coffee, and two cases of bottled water too.

Observations on The 2012 Election 10.25

There are only 12 days left until the election but it's not too late to donate to one of the four state marriage equality campaigns and hopefully be part of history. Or you could donate nationally. I'm not one to beg, I'm more one to say why the hell not?

Maine, Why Marriage Matters
Maryland, Equality Maryland
Minnesota, Minnesotans United for All Families
Washington, Washington United for Marriage

Nationally, Human Rights Campaign

Observations 10.25

Marriage for All Families: Stories from Maryland

link

Published on Oct 23, 2012 by NewLeftMedia

The final of our four-part series made in each of the states that have marriage equality votes this November, this short shares the experiences of same-sex couples who want to get married in Maryland. They have the same challenges, responsibilities, and aspirations as any other couple, but they are strangers in the eyes of the law. That's why marriage equality is so important: it aligns personality reality with legal reality, as a simple matter of fairness.

The series is produced in association with The Four, a social media campaign to support marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington State. Learn more and get involved at TheFour.com.

Film produced by Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll.
Music by Timmy's Work.

Observations on Art 10.24

I have been saying for years, in writing and in person, that it isn't just me, artists are just generally a weird breed. Finally I don't have to argue that point anymore because I now have video proof. We've watched this quite a few times and I can't stop laughing at the sheer 'what the hell' weirdness of it all. In a video just released today, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, Gangnam Style ....

草泥马style

link
Published on Oct 24, 2012 by 未未 艾
No description available.

10/25 update - Ai Weiwei offered a bit of explanation today for the video which is already banned from Chinese websites. "We feel that every person has the right to express themselves, and this right to expression is fundamentally linked to our happiness, and even our existence. When a society constantly demands that everyone should abandon that right, then the society becomes a society without creativity," Ai Weiwei said in an interview. Also the characters he replaced Gangnam with in the title mean "Grass Mud Horse" which in Mandarin supposedly sounds like something rude you might do to your mother. It was meant as a snub to censors and evidently had that effect.

Observations on the 2012 Election 10.24

With election just a couple weeks away now it's easy to concentrate on the presidential race at the expense of all the others. What gets lost doing that is the fact that this could end up being a truly historic election for multiple reasons. Gay marriage has been voted on 32 times since 1998 and lost all 32 times. This year it could pass in not one but three states; Maine, Washington, and Maryland.

But the subject of this brief post is that this year a record 141 women are running for Congress and another 18 for the Senate. In 1992 a total of 24 women were elected to Congress which was the most ever, hopefully that will pale next to this years total. It could also include Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin who would be the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.

In the 2012 United Nations' survey of women in parliaments around the world the United States came in with 16.8% or 78^th which ties it with Turkmenistan. In comparison, Afghanistan had 27.7% and
Pakistan 22.5% women in their respective parliaments.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been one of the forces behind the drive to have women run for office and take responsibility for issues important to women. In 2010 Gillibrand won a special election to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat and is running for re-election this year. On Mother's Day of last year she wrote; "Now more than ever, we must get more women engaged at every level of public life. Because if women don't get off the sidelines, there are decisions being made every day about every aspect of our lives and they might not like what they find."

Kirsten Gillibrand: Standing Up For Women

link
Published on Oct 15, 2012 by GillibrandForSenate

Observations 10.23

Marriage for All Families: Stories from Washington


link

Published on Oct 16, 2012 by NewLeftMedia

The third of our four-part series made in each of the states that have marriage equality votes this November, this short shares the experiences of same-sex couples who want to get married in Washington. They have the same challenges, responsibilities, and aspirations as any other couple, but they are strangers in the eyes of the law. That's why marriage equality is so important: it aligns personality reality with legal reality, as a simple matter of fairness.

The series is produced in association with The Four, a social media campaign to support marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington State. Learn more and get involved at TheFour.com.

Film produced by Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll.
Music by Timmy's Work.

update - It was announced today that on October 15^th Bill and Melinda Gates donated $500,000 to Washington United for Marriage for its campaign to pass Ref74 which would uphold Washington's marriage equality law which brings the total amount raised for the campaign to almost $12 million. In the latest polls 57% of likely voters support the referendum despite the National Organization for Marriage pouring money into the state. Yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg a $250,000 matching donation to the campaign if the local organization could raise an equal amount.

Observations on the 2012 Election 10.23

Last night was the third and final presidential debate between President Obama and Willard. I don't think they have been anywhere near as important as some would have us think. The polls really are skewed in a way but not by any side or the other trying to make them look good. They are skewed by the facts of a modern election. Despite all the Republican attempts to stop it in some states for the first time more people may have voted before election day than actually vote on it. Also I don't see how it is possible to look at these two men and be undecided, seriously, if you are undecided at this point you are probably undecided about a lot of things in life.

But if you really are still undecided I'm writing this in an attempt to sway you. Below you will find all you need to know about Willard Romney. What he wrote about the auto industry bailout in The New York Times back in 2008 and what he said on the same subject during last night's debate. I think the few paragraphs I'm posting are enough to make my point but if not at the bottom you will find links to the complete Times piece and the full debate transcript.

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
By Mitt Romney
Published: November 18, 2008
"If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check...."

Presidential Debate
October 22, 2012
Romney: "I’m a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like American cars. And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry. My plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks. It was President Bush that wrote the first checks. I disagree with that. I said they need, these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy. And in that process, they can get government help and government guarantees, but they need to go through bankruptcy to get rid of excess cost and the debt burden that they’d, they’d built up."
President Obama: "Governor Romney, that’s not what you said…"

As I said last night; game, set, match President Obama.

Romney Opinion Piece
Debate Transcript

Observations 10.22

Ash showed me an old blog post she thought I would like and I thought I would do my own version of it. I seem to have lost the link but I remember the quote by Robert Brault it started with; "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." It was a list of the thirty little things that matter in her life, small things that normally get overlooked or are taken for granted. Hers was maybe a bit too faith based for my liking but still it was a good idea, for what it's worth here is my much shorter list. It was off the top of my head so don't give it more weight than it deserves.

The color black. Yeah I know, is black even a color? By definition black is a total lack of color because it absorbs all light and with it all color. I had an 'argument' with a professor once because I said if black absorbs all color isn't it a saturation, or combination, of them all? To this day I stick by my argument whenever I see him.

The color blue. Indigo, turquoise, and all 60 shades in between. Good coffee and music. The smile on the face of a total stranger. A warm bath with candles on a cold night. Cold nights. Art museums, granted this isn't a small thing or always cheap but it's my list and I love museums, all the paintings and the smell of old oil paints. Chili peppers.

I haven't had this happen in some time but that feeling I get when I work on a painting than suddenly step back and realized it's finished. You can't understand it unless its happened to you and photos don't count, I've found it just isn't the same.

A good movie, the kind you watch, go back to the beginning, and watch all over again. The moments before a snow storm when it is totally calm and quiet. Walking barefoot on a wet beach. Books, real paper in the hand type books. Getting the Sunday New York Times before the sun comes up, a weirdly priceless thing. Vintage photos. van Gogh. Paris.

My last two are in no way small things but I can't make any kind of list of this sort without mentioning them. Talking to a small group of close friends that have been with me for years, like my sisters. And finally, my family, always my family, any time I can spend with them. I should add I mean my immediate family and not the conservative branch that thinks I am the devil's daughter incarnate.

Did I mention politics? I thought so.

Sunday Observations 10.21

I'm going to try something a bit different that maybe will continue on Sunday's or maybe not, we shall see. I've mentioned before how I constantly take notes on my comp, phone, and even a tablet I always have in my pack. Some of the things I use, some never are thought of again. Some things are worth mentioning but don't really need a full post and those will be the things I use here.

Rihanna by Annie Leibovitz

I have never been fond of cats, I just don't like them, but in the November issue of Vogue there are some shots of Rihanna where she reminds me of, well, a cat. A sexy cat I wouldn't at all mind having wander around the apartment.


I could have used this is my previous post but didn't. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D) is running for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. I read an opinion from The Washington Times that calls her a 'radical lesbian' and and all but predicts the end of the Christian world should she win. Baldwin would be the first openly lesbian senator in history. What I wanted to share was a comment from a man whose name I forgot to keep and which is now buried deep in the comments section. "Thanks for letting me know about the lesbian menace. I normally don't contribute to out-of-state campaigns, but your article prompted me to donate $100 towards her election. Keep up the good work, and God bless." Sounds like something my dad would write.

Art Review magazine released its annual 'Power 100' list this week and once again I wasn't on it. I don't know what they are thinking.

If you haven't seen it yet President Obama's "Romnesia" speech is totally worth a look. Too funny and it spawned yet another hashtag at Willard's expense, Romneyshambles was the first and still the best. Little known fact, the Romney campaign has actually purchased the rights to certain hashtags, AreYouBetterOff is one, and has them promoted by Twitter. It backfires every time.

Finally, next Saturday night Ohio State will travel to Happy Valley to play Penn State in a game now known as the Ineligible Bowl. The two best teams in the Big Ten, both ineligible for the conference championship or any NCAA bowl bids. Rather fitting. I'm sure there is some lesson in that but I have no clue what it is.