Archive for August, 2011


After the hurricane passed through New York, I read headlines like this: ‘Some Hurricane,’ New Yorkers Grumble as Danger Passes with quotes like this:

“With all the preparations and all the hoopla on TV, it was all for naught,” he said. “I feel embarrassed that we made such a to-do.”

“The cops were riding around telling people to get out, and we were making fun of what a big deal” the storm had not been, Mr. Fenton said.

No big deal? Maybe he would like to tell that to the million people in New Jersey and New York (each) and the Hundreds of thousands more residents in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island without power, to the people whose houses and businesses floated away, to the million people who rely on the trains to get into the city to work. He could also tell that to the two people whose kayak overturned and the rescue workers that saved their lives, or the hundreds of work crews that labored through the night on the train tracks looking for fallen trees and mud slides and arranging for clean up and repairs.

As for the comment that the mayor over reacted by shutting down mass transit, could you imagine the response if water had gotten into the tunnels and shorted out the system? Not only would you have damage to the system, you would also have hundred if not thousands of people trapped in subway cars in tunnels. Would that have been better?

Yes New York City did not get hit as hard as forecast, but if anyone thinks this storm is no big deal, they should go tell that to the families of the 40 people that died.

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Welcome to Manhattan

In the month I have been living in Manhattan, there has been an earthquake and now a hurricane. If I was a superstitious person I would say the city doesn’t want me here.

This morning I went out, my plan was to go to my church and participate in some volunteer work. The sky was white, that white I’ve seen before a blizzard. Now I now it’s not just a winter storm sky, it is a storm sky. It was sprinkling and the wind was blowing, and I looked in Rite Aid and there was a line. I went back home, changed my clothes and did my laundry. And the laundromat was crowded, I couldn’t even put my clothes in the dryer twice, the lady that works there was ready to pull them out as soon as the dryer stopped. So I just brought them home and laid them out to finish drying.

Then I went back out to Rite Aid to get more batteries. Just in case, and I also found some single serving cans of chicken salad, only two left I got them both. I filled my bathtub, but the plug is not very efficient and it drained out. So I just filled it again. I also went out during a break in the rain to get some Chinese food. I hope pork fried rice tastes good cold. Now I am just sitting here waiting for the storm to hit.

The rain is back and the cables that hang down my building are swaying in the wind. Across the avenue lights are on in the high rise, pretty high up. It mildly concerns me, even though this is not an evacuation zone we are awfully close to it.

Hopefully my next post-hurricane post will not be long in coming.

Leaving Beacon

And this time it feels like forever but I don’t know why. Maybe because I know the car is loaded up with the last of my belongings and soon D and Stitch will be driving to my apartment with them. The last of my worldly possessions, or at least the last I have room for. Maybe it was Gwen telling me that the next time I came to visit things would look much different, things might be just gone. Maybe it was standing on train platform realizing I had never gone to the corn festival and not caring. I’m really a city girl at heart. I was never meant to live in the country.

Whatever the reason, whatever happens from this moment forward Beacon is no longer home, it never felt much like home to tell the truth.

It’s a miserable day to be moving, cold, nasty, and rainy. The game got rained out and for a while D was saying he might not drive down in the rain, but he is and so I feel like I am leaving Beacon forever and embarking on a new great adventure.

but I have decided not to stress about it. I was moving for one, getting settled in, and I got sick. First a cold, then today all day I have been feeling like I was going to throw up. So bad that I decided to just stay home tonight even though it was supposed to be my first night at church.

Sitting here watching the Yankee game and live blogging, I realize I need a lamp, this half of the apartment gets rather dark at night. I didn’t realize it until I was spending the evenings here. I just wonder where I am going to put a lamp.

My very first post

From my new apartment that is. I know I have posted before about my apartment, but this is me sitting on my new couch/bed looking at the rest of my stuff (but not all my stuff, forgot things in the old place still). All my furniture is here, mostly new, a few old small things I wanted to keep. I am pretty happy with how things are right now.

Of course now I have to go out and do some more shopping. at least now when I’m done, I don’t have a long ride back home.