Well we just lost power. Darn.
It is snowing like a motherfuck out there.
Yeah. Had 3+ inches on my car as I left work.
Still no power but we have snow.
Snow in Boston. But still full power and telecomms over here.
My best friend is in Union, NJ - a week without power and heat and they just got slammed with snow. He’s texting at least daily, but trying to conserve battery power as he can only charge the phone every couple days. I hate living so far away, nothing I can do to help him 
I want to get on the phone and yell at someone to come turn his damn power on, but I’m sure no one needs that, everyone’s working as fast as they can.
There is a Red Cross shelter not too far from there, at the Cranford Community Centre. (There’s also one in Newark - the linked website will show you all open shelters close by) Maybe he could stay there a couple of days to stay warm?
Still living at mom’s. From what I understand, power was restored to my home yesterday. I also understand that this new clusterfuck blew the transformer* in my neighborhood, so power is out again.
This is the first morning in a week that I’m not at the relief center down the street. The neighborhood church allowed the local PTA to use their ample kitchen and meeting center, so they’ve all been doing a fantastic job of taking in donations and getting them distributed to people who need them.
Now I’m just taking a break from shoveling out mom’s place before I head back to the center. Not quite sure what I’ll do today, since my main deal has been riding out to the hardest hit neighborhoods that still have people living in them and handing out…well, whatever they need. Hot meals, toiletries, cleaning supplies, clothes, blankets, whatever. My car looks like some kind of rolling episode of Hoarders. But the streets are too dangerous this morning to make deliveries – hopefully by this afternoon.
Unbelievably fulfilling, though. Want to make a new friend for life? Find a guy who’s shoveling his entire life onto the four-inch-deep muck that used to be his front lawn and hand him the first cup of coffee he’s seen in a week.
Once this is all over, though, someone remind me to start a Pit thread about some people can really suck when they think their helping (case in point: “Ew. Why are we feeding them? They’re not Sandy victims, they’re the homeless!”)
Back to work…
*I really need to come up with another way to describe it other than “blew the transformer”. It’s a phrase I’ve been using a lot these past 10 days, and it brings weird robo-porn to mind.
Wonderful. Thanks for helping keep people sane.
And hot coffee is marvelous when it is cold and nasty out. Most people are addicted to the caffeine and sugar in it, and it really can be a ‘comfort food’ in a natural disaster.
<We have a tradition of taking out either hot coffee and fixings or iced lemonade to the line workers when they are working on the stretch of road that our land borders [we have about 600 feet road frontage and it seems like there is always something happening in about 1000 foot frontage of the road that includes our house.] We get the best information on the restoration from them, and they are thrilled that someone isn’t screaming at them.>
Finally after 11 days and about 15 minutes, the lights came on. So far the only electrical losses appear to be a pair of craftsman 19.2V chargers. More large branches came down last night with the heavy wet snow but no damage to the house so far. It looks like we did OK and just have a big mess to clean up. Worst problem now is the boiler is acting up. I can try to change the nozzle and filter tomorrow.
We need to move wood from the away from the house pile to a nice stack on the back deck - it was nippy enough that we decided to keep cooking soups and stews on the wood stove for the moist heat [otherwise the damned air dries out my sinuses and they spring nosebleeds unless I pretty much constantly hose them out with neitral saline spray and my neti pot.]
And I was playing with my crank charge flashlight, the cat knocked it off the headboard and it broke 2 of the little LEDs because it hit the corner of the wheel base of my hospital table at just the perfect angle. Now I need to get a replacement, and that model is no longer for sale
Assuming you’re talking about the flashlight not being made anymore, if the only thing broken is the LEDs, check at Radio Shack. Odds are, they carry the parts and might even be able to help you replace them. Worth a shot, anyway.
This is probably going to sound silly and is tangential at best, aruqvan, but if fixing the flashlight requires soldering or anything else you don’t feel comfortable doing, loiter around the Engineering building of the nearest university and look pathetic. (If you don’t happen to be a female aged 18-35, see if you can find one to do it for you. 
) Engineers tend to think broken doodads look sad, and want to make your doodad not sad again, often for free, especially if you’re also standing there holding the parts you need for the repair.
Bostonians apparently freak out when it snows. I have no idea why. It only happens every year. People who gibber at me about it get to hear about the time in Flagstaff that I decided to wait on going to the store because I opened up the front door to my apartment and discovered that somewhere between three and four feet of snow had accumulated in our courtyard while I slept, and I would have to tunnel my way out. If people in other places along the coast do this too, I can just imagine that snow on top of power outages on top of the general mess left behind by Sandy is making a lot of people just want to sit down and cry helplessly for a few days.
Man, I wish there were something else I could do from here. I almost feel guilty, shuffling around and worrying about my uneventful normal life.
Well, looking pathetic I can manage, but I am in the 49-60 demographic, I can handle a soldering iron with ease myself but in addition to the LEDs the plastic shell of the flashlight also cracked, poor thing. I really liked the particular one - it felt right in my hand and was comfortable. I’m thinking of looking around for some sort of headband light that is rechargable with another hand cranked main flashlight that is USB. Not sure if I can find this type of setup [or 2 different and nonrelated products that would work togehter.] I suppose I could set up a headlight with replacable batteries and stockpile a number of sets of rechargable batteries and a solar charger setup.
Three weeks after the storm, and there are already documentaries on NOVA (PBS) and Discovery Channel.
Well, they had plenty of footage.
[EDIT: aruvquan, how about using Super Glue, or one of those 2-part epoxy glues, or even (gasp!) duct tape to fix the housing?]
cyanoacrilate melts plastics in general, 2 part epoxies unless they are highly specialized cause an exothermic reaction that can get warm enough to melt plastic … plastic may be a wonder material but it really does not lend itself to mending. I am just going to hit Cabela’s and look at what they have to offer.
And I just watched one of the Sandy specials and the things that kept hitting me were when people were talking how fucking stupid most of them were. Same as with Andrew, they get 5 fucking days notice, and they are standing there when the storm hits going ‘Whaaaaa Happenin?’ with a fucking stupid look on their faces as if magically the storm is going to part and go around them. [like that dumb bitch in the BASEMENT apartment standing there when the tide hits the building. What the fuck did she expect to happen?!:smack::rolleyes:]
Sorry, every major storm that hit when I was living in a seaside location, I evacuated from in a timely fashion and didn’t lose any valuables.
I did not know these things. Cool! Well, not so cool for you, 'cause it means you can’t mend your flashlight, but cool to learn.
And I have no idea about the people who didn’t evacuate, either. I’m sure they thought they had good reasons, but dang …
[quote=“Morgyn, post:615, topic:638766”]
Three weeks after the storm, and there are already documentaries on NOVA (PBS) and Discovery Channel.
Well, they had plenty of footage.
They’re even mentioning it on American Choppers tonight, as Paul Jr. is called on to save the 9/11 tribute bike from the storm.