Hurricane Sandy...from South-Central PA

Well, very little wreckage for yours truly to crawl from just yet.  Back at the Office, and I'll give you some updates on the world about me.

I decided there was very little to do but sleep, as I am working today.  Wonder what the road to Harrisburg will be like.

Just before 7 pm, the power flicked off, but returned a couple seconds later.  Lucky.  So far I've heard 1 million are w/o power in Pennsylvania.

The rain pretty much stayed heavy with little change as the night went on, and we got the wind gusts.  Sounded like a good ol' Nor'easter, as we New Englanders like to say.  

I was awakened at about 1:15, when the full force of the winds hit.  It went on for some time, but there was nothing for me to see at this point, so I stayed in bed.  No point.

So I did finally get up around 9:30.  The gang at WITF was still at it, and we have extended local coverage today; I'll be walking right into that.

My first order of biz was to check the property.  As expected the second big tree, an evergreen that has been at a 45-degree angle for years snapped and went over.  So there's two for the landscapers to get rid of.  Beyond that, nothing.  My landlady survived the night okay, and she had company, which I was glad to see.

I've seen almost nothing in York that would make you think anything really happened.  A number of businesses are still shut down as are the schools.  Traffic has again returned to normal, and the usual gas stations and the like are open.

I'll have more pics, hopefully and another report from the road.

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Now, the worst of it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20137363

My friends in New York, I hope they're safe.  Some of them live in these areas, but they've dealt with worse than this.

For the local picture:

http://www.witf.org/

Other than that, we were damned lucky.  The state sounded much better prepared this time than for Hurricane Irene.  We'll see how the wild night went for others. 

For me, I appreciate not having too much excitement, especially at my age.

Hurricane Sandy...the Blogger on the Beach, So to Speak...

2:56 pm, Eastern time...I'm back at my house, after spending the morning and balance of the afternoon out and about.  As I have no specific duties until tomorrow, I've made my preparations to ride out the storm, before I have to ride into it.

I wrote earlier about the cycle of madness when people go out of their minds and buy out the store; based so far on what little I've heard from the eastern shore of the US, we might well have a reason to be a bit worried.

I was up and out early this morning to...and yes, I railed about this, and here I am being a part of it...to replace my cell phone.

Let's just say it was lost in an unfortunate accident and a bit of my own foolishness.  Anyway, I zipped over to the Galleria (Deatheria, some call it) Mall near my house.  I wondered if it would even be open.

Rain had been falling much of the night, and it was steady but not unusual.  The ground was pretty saturated, and there as a little wind.

Well, thanks to the Verizon guy, he was there, and got me fitted out with a new one...a "free" upgrade on my account, so that took no time.  While getting my data transferred, he noted a text that the Capital City Mall in Harrisburg was closing.

I wondered if most of the stores in the mall would even open today.

Anyway, I took a ride up Route 30 to the Office...they were open, and from there I watched as things unfolded.

I even managed a quick workout at the gym; Morebucks closed at 2 pm, the gym closed at 3, and other than convenience stores and gas stations, just about everything else has already shut down.

So far, no real concerns or worries.  I did not detect anyone being really flipped out, like some seemed to be the during the buyout.

So I'm home, and as long as I have power of some sort, I'll be transmitting.

Some shots of the property I just took...the rain is falling steadily still, with a few gusts but nothing serious as of yet.

http://www.noaa.gov/stormcentral/

NOAA is on top of the situation as well...this gives you a pretty fair look of how it's doing.

NPR and one of my employers, WITF have been keeping tabs on the storm as well.  None of the alarmist, Frankenstorm bullshit; we'll have enough time to get into that later.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20121635

This link is to the BBC, and they are keeping a close watch as well.  Doing a good job.

So, you may ask, why am I not out there reporting?  Well, this is where I am.  I will be on duty for WITF tomorrow, and I am essentially the extra pair of hands.  If they need me, I come off the bench.

I am again "on the beach," but figuratively.  You feel like you should be out there, or doing something, but that's how it goes.  I'll have enough to worry about and do later.

I must be a real geek...while traveling through Harrisburg recently, I realized I was listening to AM 1670.  In that area, that is the NOAA Weather Radio relay station.  If you don't have a specific Weather Radio (as I do at home), you can the National Weather Service forecast and other related information from there.

I found that infinitely more interesting than anything that was on the radio at that moment!  My presets are to the sports stations and the weather channel, because there is NOTHING worth listening to on the AM other than that.  And the sports stations are barely tolerable.

I don't listen to FM radio hardly at all; my car presets are WITF, whom I work for, 91.7 in Philly (NPR, Jazz) and 95.3 (ESPN).  I used to have an XM radio, but no more.  (If you'd like to buy mine, let me know, heehee)

So now I'm listening to NOAA, and the robot voice.  My main plan is to check stuff out online, and my friends on Facebook, Twitter and other places and see how it goes.

Already the New Jersey coast and parts of New York, etc., are getting it.  A tall ship has apparently been lost, and two crewmen are missing.  I'm afraid we're gonna hear more like that.

I picked up the New York Times today, and I have something else to read, so I'll not be idle.  This is kind of how I am...you never stop being on duty, never stop wondering about how it's going out there.  And you be ready, in case of whatever.

So Baldrick is sitting beside me on the desk while I type; my coffee is brewed and I'll keep myself watching and waiting.  Our area is probably gonna get it tonight; I do hope we keep power; my landlady next door is up there in numbers, but I'm glad to see she had visitors, likely her son.  

I'll add more photos to my Facebook page as time goes on:

http://www.facebook.com/tory.gates

In any case, I understand some are trying to ride the storm out in the danger zone.  I certainly hope they're going to be all right; I honestly don't want news of peril, doom, and "if it bleeds, it leads."  

One person interviewed on NPR today said something that portends a not-good situation:  he was either on Long Island or New Jersey, I can't remember where he said.  He had lived through Hurricane Irene, and he said, this already is worse.

Uh-oh.

I am glad I don't have cable...I can just imagine what the major networks are doing right now.  

Well, that's all for now, blurkers...let me know where you're at and what's going on...stay dry, stay safe, and stay cool.  

"Here comes the end...here comes the end of the world..."

Well, here we are once again!  It is Sunday morning, and I am typing from my desk at home as I prepare for another work weekend.

As you all know, Hurricane Sandy is coming, and oh, this part of the nation has gone into its regular gyrations of screwing oneself into the ground with the impending FRANKENSTORM!

I want to know who in the media came up with this latest load of ignorant shit.  They knew full well the below average population would go mad, rush out to the stores etc., etc.

Usually this happens in the winter time; from my years in Washington, and my sister will attest to it, if a snowflake even THINKS of hitting the ground, DC reacts like it's under nuclear attack.

Around here in Pennsylvania, almost the same thing.  

Just in case you wonder, here's the current Hurricane wind speed probabilities.  Reminder that a hurricane force wind is a sustained wind of 74 mph or above.

I'm not expert, but the feeling from me is that Sandy will be a tropical storm before it gets here.  The conspiratorial bullshit idea that a storm from the west will make the FRANKENSTORM could occur, but snow?  Come now; the temps are not going to fall anywhere near freezing in this area.  Upper elevations, sure, it's possible, but again it's all about whipping the senseless masses into a frenzy.

http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/zoom/hltimages.shtml

Now that's a link to projected rainfall over the next few days.  Yes, I think we're gonna get some wet weather; we may get some flooding, and some wind issues.  It happens; we survive, we wake up the next day, and we keep on going.

I will admit to making a few precautions of my own, just regular stocking up of a few things.  Better to be safe than sorry, true...BUT THAT IS WHERE OUR COMMON SENSE KICKS IN AND EVERYONE ELSE'S FLIES AWAY!

I had to go to a nearby supermarket in a shopping center of some size yesterday to pick up a prescription.  I had no need to get anything else at the moment, because I was headed to work.  It was like rush hour on I-83 or Route 30 (for those in other parts of the world...think, "Kenmore Square after a Red Sox game."  That should help.)

The store had a fair to moderate number of people buying things out, but it didn't look too bad.  Then I saw the woman rush by with a big shopping cart layered with plastic bottles of water.  Gonna be thirsty, sometime along?  The Lowes was crammed with people, the parking lot jammed up with everyone laying in their supplies for the End of the World as We Know It...

This is what everyone does...I don't know who started the "bread, milk, toilet paper" scam, but it makes supermarkets and grocery stores wealthy.  The populace, who have never known real privation (if their internet connection goes out for more than 2 minutes, they howl like raving valkyries), stock up for the BIG ONE.

Last night, I decided to drop into one near Harrisburg to pick up the extra stuff.  Two bags, all I needed; empty shelves.  No water jugs, but for two.  Cases and cases of little bottles everywhere; even the artisan and pretentious water was gone.

Yes, someone's kidney are gonna collapse, aren't they?

Didn't go down the toilet paper aisle, but it didn't look as devastated.  There was still bread on the shelves, in some sections.  I think there was a run on doughnuts, though...hmmm...

Not so many there that time of night, but it was amusing.  

I wonder if they have bunkers like we used to back in the 50's and 60's for when the Commies bomb us.  Around here, I'd not be surprised.  Make sure the AK-47's are locked and loaded, and there's five years of ammo ready, while you're at it there...I was on jury duty with a religious whackjob woman who was going on and on and on about canned water, three years of dry goods in her underground whatever...you would not be surprised to know this is "normal" around these parts.

Or do people do this, perhaps...as a big adventure?  As fun?  Maybe this is their form of fun...they don't have the life they wanted, so this is how they excite themselves.  

Being a broadcaster, how's it going around here?  The TV stations are all in their 2012 Storm of the Century mode yet again.  I'm sure they've all staked out their territory, at the markets, the Home Depots, the Lowes', the hospitals, and their favored spots by the side of the road, where the low-level wannabe reports can do their impression of Jim Cantore every 15 minutes.

Radio-wise...I can't imagine there's going to be much.  Since most stations are now automated, and on satellite programming, there is little in the way of local, real radio any longer.

The few that do have local programming (I'm talking commercial outlets here), may lay on some extra coverage and all that, but there isn't much left for actual reportage.  

There are state-oriented outlets that might do better, and in the bigger cities they have enough staff to be on top of it.  There will be some work on the NPR affiliates, but hopefully it will be measured, and not as alarmist as the rest.

Will this be a FRANKENSTORM?  I don't think so; a little discomfort, a little lost power, but oh, the wailing creatures of comfort and habit will howl if their power goes out!  Satellite dish got skewed by the wind?  OH NOOOOOO!!!  WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE...!!!

And when the power comes back on, they'll rouse themselves from their coma and be on the horn to their Congressman demanding action.  

We all do get way bent out of shape on this stuff.  It goes back to my feeling we as a nation don't have a clue about real privation or suffering, unless...you lived through a natural disaster, a real one.  Hurricane Katrina, and you were in New Orleans.  The earthquake in San Fran. in '89...the tsunami that hit Fukushima last year...that kind of thing.

We don't know what it's like to be hungry...really hungry, starving even...to have no light, heat, power, etc.  Of course we try to make people think we know, with post-Apocalyptic TV shows, movies and all that.  Most of which either does not scratch the surface or makes it all so fanciful.

We do not know, and we should not make light of it.  Somehow this mass consumption and mass buying mocks the whole thing, because we don't know when to stop.  Or shut up.

Sometimes, we do get a fascination with the weather, because we ourselves do not have anything to do.  Often that is because we're in it; we are relatively safe, but cannot do much.  

I remember the Great Ice Storm of 1998 all too well.  My then-wife and I had just moved to Maine the week before.  Layers of ice, everywhere; I'd never seen anything like it.  It was seriously dangerous; I could not even drive the short distance to the station I managed, because everything was stopped.

"Ya got powah?" was the mantra, and it was for real.  We were lucky; we did not lose it, but huge swaths of the region were knocked out.  

This was a real, serious storm.  Everything stopped.  And it stopped for days.  I think it reminded people, especially those with the short memories about nature, and what it sometimes can do.

Kaitryth and I watched the Weather Channel a lot; I admit it was fascinating to watch how the channel handled themselves. Back then, it was 24 hours of weather, not a few hours of weather, silly talk shows and fake reality shows like it is now.  What a fucking joke it now is.

Anyway, you can get drawn into that, as long as you remember where you are.  

So that being said, I foresee a storm with some significant power; we're gonna get dumped on, and we might lose some power lines, some roofs, etc.  I hope not; I never want to see that, and I don't want to see anyone lose their stuff.  But it does happen.

I do not know where I will be; I could be called to duty, or I might be about here.  If so, I suppose I'll do my own reporting and see how it all goes.

And stand back and watch the world go made for something that is a pin prick to third world residents.  Oh, it could be fun...fun indeed.