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PDF map of the NYC subway system, showing what is and isn’t operational as of 10/31: http://bit.ly/To8Hx3

I figure someone in the future writing a story about this situation (fiction or non-fiction) will want this for reference.

Today’s been a horrendously busy day from several accounts; Wednesdays usually involve a lot of telephone conference calls with work - it’s the one day of the week that *everyone* is in the office.    So the morning, at least, is soaked with these calls, and I pray that they’re over with before my office phone’s battery dies.  (I use it as a ( Read more... )

Some shots of the water backed up in our backyard, to give you an idea of what we were dealing with.

The multi-day carpet drying process is over with, thank goodness, and I feel a whole lot better.  The fan’s off, the shop-vac is outside and needs to be put back together and hauled off to the shed out in the back, and the only things left running are the dehumidifier (which I’m shutting down tomorrow) and the heavy-duty HEPA filter setup for the ( Read more... )

I’m really dead exhausted, and not a hell of a lot of good with work stuff today; it’s taking me ten times the amount of effort to do anything, and I have no focus.

The turbofan’s rental has been set up for a week, and we’re purchasing one from Sears.  We’re also looking  at sealing up whatever cracks in the foundation wall that are giving us fits ( Read more... )

The neighbors were astonished at the third recent downpour and flood in the area; they say it’s the worst they’ve seen in 10-plus years.  (The one that said that has an instant four-foot wide stream going through her yard.)  We got lucky re the sump pump, but the back yard filled up again and thus the basement carpet got hit again.   After I send ( Read more... )

Well, yes and no and thankfully for my immediate hiney, not on *me* specifically.   But…

Today, Susan left for the entire day off with Mere - first to skating practice, and then off to Auntie Marlyce’s help with a graphics project.   I checked in by phone a few times; Susan sounded hoarse and icky, but she’d said that was more sound than true icky ( Read more... )

< snark switch turned on >

As a Person of the Illinois Persuasion, I see no reason why we should pay for volcano sensors in Louisiana, or landslide detectors on the Chicago beaches, or hurricane detectors in Alaska.    And protecting polar bears in Florida is just wrong.

I did notice ‘things to do in case there’s an earthquake’ posted in my ( Read more... )

Actually, it’s pretty bone dry in the basement, and just laying out the stuff so it can rapidly dry seems to be making a LOT of headway.  Yeah, it’s not going to be as neat to store, but the entire idea was to scan the suckers and pitch them afterwards, so that the only copy around was a PDF.

On the subject of digitization, Susan came back home ( Read more... )

The carpet fan is whirring away in the background, and I think we dodged the bullet on this one, at least as far as  It Could Have Been Worse.  The major damage that isn’t replaceable is a small stack of papers I’d set aside for scanning, which were on the floor in my office.  I’m thinking that I’m going to try to dry the wet papers that are ( Read more... )