Stop

For the second weekend in a row, they are drilling or doing whatever in the middle of the street late at night. It's loud. Unfortunately I am working from home. But I just wish they would stop! Last week, they started at 1:30 am. What if people were sleeping?!

Music

In search of the film score-type music that played after Barack Obama's speech last night. I loved it. It reminded me both of an epic film and the grand journey type music they play at Epcot. Any leads?

Speeches

Does anyone know if they are putting together a dvd of the speeches from the Democratic National Convention? I would buy it.

Yum

I love huaraches.



(from our excursion to Red Hook today)

Marathons

Question of the day: Are serialized shows better when viewed in
marathons or on dvd?

I ask because when watching all of last season of Lipstick Jungle this
week, I liked it better than I did before. (I liked Cashmere Mafia
better at the time but that didn't survive.) I wonder if you are more
invested when it's one episode after another. (Thinking about my 3
week, 6 season SATC fiesta.)

Houses

Earlier this morning, before coming to work, I read the story online about John McCain not knowing how many houses he has.  (Seriously?  Is that possible?  Can you be so far removed that you don't know how many houses you own?)

 

By lunchtime, it was on every news site, Obama had a great ad about it, it was in his speeches and the McCain campaign had already come back with a lame recycled response (clinging to guns? are we in March?).  So quick.  Usually the media doesn't pick up on these things, but I guess it resonated when you have a man who doesn't know how many houses he owns.

 

Although one of the blogs (and unfortunately I don't remember which one or I would link it) had a good point.  If McCain thinks you need to make $5 million to be considered rich, and his dumb response to try to paint Obama as elitist notes that Obama made $4 million... then McCain's saying Obama's not rich?  Good job.

Today

I think the Today Show should permanently be on location.

The pieces they are doing on Chinese culture while in Beijing are so
interesting, and I think it would be fascinating to watch similar
explorations in other cultures. I wish.

Tomatoes

Today for lunch I had a sandwich of grilled vegetables - zucchini, eggplant, squash, tomatoes - and pesto, with a side of tomato and herb salad.  It was fresh and delicious, and from the farmers market up at Rockefeller Center.  It was more than I usually spend for lunch, but it was worth it.  Later in the afternoon, I couldn't resist the conecake from the Treats Truck, and it was an afternoon of tasty food.

 

I ordered dinner at the office today, getting Italian food from a place I had ordered from before, which everyone says is fast and good.  Maybe they were off today.  Because instead of being early, or even on time, they were over 30 minutes late.  The grilled chicken was dry.  I specifically asked for "no broccoli" and there were broccoli stalks in all the vegetables.  The whole meal - the chicken, the vegetables (that I could eat), the pasta, the salad - was all just ordinary.  I tried to order something healthy instead of something soaked in cheese and sauces, but it was just blah.  I thought I had better food from this place before, so either they went downhill, I picked the wrong thing, or it was an off night.

 

But I highly recommend lunch from the farmers market.  The tomato and herb salad is what sold me.  There's nothing like fresh tomatoes in the summer.  If only the excellent food police hadn't incorrectly fingered the tomato as the culprit earlier this summer, then we wouldn't have been deprived of tomatoes for so long.

Congratulations

Yay Michael Phelps!!

Although I don't know about these sportscasters... they said his feat "may never be done before." You mean, again?

I love that Visa had the ad ready for medal #8.

That was great to watch! Yay!! Not as much of a nailbiter as the last incredible relay but it was great!!

Five Years

As many blogs and news articles have noted, it's the five year anniversary of the blackout of 2003.  I'm not going to check my old site to see if I posted about it when it happened, but even if I did, I thought it might be a good idea to write about where I was and what it was like living through the blackout of 2003.

 

I was working in downtown Manhattan that summer, near the Staten Island ferry terminal.  We were about 20 floors up, and I was in my (windowless) office when the power went out.  I remember not thinking it was serious at the time, just a power outage in the middle of a hot August.  But everyone was evacuating the building, and we had started hearing that it wasn't just our building.  I thought about just leaving with my keycard, but my instincts kicked in and I grabbed my whole bag, including my cell phone off the charger, and left with everyone else.

 

Outside we started getting reports.  The power in Midtown was out!  The power in Brooklyn was out!  No one was getting any cell service.  People were milling around in the streets and trying to figure out why no one downtown had power.  I tried calling on my cell phone but got nothing.  Eventually I hit on a good idea.  I would try a pay phone (like everyone else).  I called Alvin, since he wasn't in NYC and he had an 800 number I could call.  He looked on CNN for me, and I was shocked when he started telling me the blackout had hit multiple states and even Canada!  Of course, I dutifully reported this news to all the people standing near me at the pay phone, and we all started talking about it.  Naturally, when you're in downtown Manhattan, the talk started to turn to speculation about whether it was terrorism.  But mostly people just wanted to go home.  Some people thought about sticking around, but it was already late in the day so most people went home.

 

I first went to the ferry terminal.  But then I wondered, if I took the ferry across, how was I going to get on a train?  Didn't the train need electricity to run?  In any event, I thought that if I got on the ferry, at least I would be closer to home than I was in downtown Manhattan.

 

Only one problem.  The ferry terminal was jam packed.  Hundreds and hundreds of people waiting for the next ferry.  A couple of us decided that it looked like it wasn't happening, and tried to take the express bus.  But no express bus came.  We went back to the ferry terminal.  Eventually with all the pushing and shoving, we were herded onto a boat.  I was so relieved to be moving somewhere.  I kept trying my cell phone, and every so often, was able to get in 5 seconds of a call home before it died.  What a mess.  How was I going to get home from the ferry?  I could get a ride, but I couldn't get through to anyone.  Everyone was doing the same thing.  It was easy meeting neighbors that day.  The whole shared experience thing.

 

Luckily there was a bus waiting outside the ferry terminal, one that would take me not that far from the house.  I started just hoping that I would get there before it got dark, because how was I going to walk home when I couldn't see the sidewalks, cars, anything.  The idea of traveling in complete darkness was a foreign concept.  There's always some light in the city.  Whether it's street lights or house lights, it's never dark walking around at night.  This was new.  On the bus, I remembered that my cell phone had radio.  I plugged in my headphones and just started listening to the news.  The stories that were already coming in to the radio stations about what was going on... this thing was huge.

 

I stopped at the deli about 4 blocks from the house when I got off the bus, and decided to pick up some food.  I got some potato salad and some plain white bread, and then walked home.  I was surprised to find my uncle at our house.  He was out there for a doctor's appointment, and then found out his place in the city had no water pressure and you couldn't use the toilet.  So he stayed with us.  We had no a/c but we kept all the shades closed.  We didn't open the fridge.  At least we had running water and a working toilet.  And a land line.  We heard that so many people in the city had nothing.  My mom and uncle had gone to a deli closer to our house, but the guy was completely price gouging, and charging outrageous amounts for just bread.  People need food, but the storeowners should also want to clear out their stock, since it's going to go bad! I don't see the point of price gouging people in an emergency.

 

We made it through the night.  I seem to remember at some point in the night, the power kicking on for a short time.  We tried to get the tv on to watch the news, and get the a/c on.  Everyone else probably did the same.  The power was gone quickly.  Later, I think we heard that some places in the city had gotten power back on the next day, but we certainly didn't have any.  It was a long blackout.  And no one knew if they were supposed to go into work on that Friday, since no one knew if the offices had power.  I didn't go in.  We didn't have power at home, so I stayed put.  How was I going to be sure I could get home if I did go in? Or that our building would even have power? 

 

The best part for me was that the next day, Friday, I was supposed to be flying to Chicago.  Luckily, Newark Airport had gotten their power back on.  But the other airports in the area had not, so lots of flights were cancelled and the airport was mobbed.  I had my seat on the flight, but it was a nightmare just being able to check in and get to the gate.  I was relieved to finally get to Chicago.  In addition to being able to visit Alvin in Chicago for the first time that summer, I had reliable power, air conditioning, a working computer so I could do my research and pick my slots for on-campus interviewing and just a break from the blackout. 

 

Looking back on it, I think I was pretty lucky in the whole blackout.  I got home before it got dark.  It wasn't massively uncomfortable.  We had food, we had running water, we had a place to stay.  We didn't have to walk up 20 flights just to get home.  I was able to get on my flight to Chicago that weekend, even if it was painful.  I didn't get stranded.  But that afternoon... that uncertainty, confusion, chaos is something I won't forget.  It also just reminds me of how dependent on technologies we are, and just how helpless we are with no electricity.  More than anything during the entire travel home, I just felt helpless and anxious at not being able to be in touch with anyone.  I also can't believe it's been 5 years.