Home, Sweet Home
Well, I'm back home again. Amazingly, my sister's house didn't lose power - just a couple of glitches for a few minutes each late Saturday night/early Sunday. And amazing because a lot of trees came down just down the street, several leaning on power lines, and a bunch of her neighbors still don't have power even now. She lost a couple of trees, and a ginormous branch broke off of one of her trees and missed my car, literally by inches! I can't believe how lucky I was.
Long Beach took a bit of a beating from the winds and storm surge, but my apartment and my building weathered it just fine. The streets outside flooded, but apparently very little flood waters made it into my parking lot. At least not enough to damage any of my neighbors cars or anything. There was hardly any sand or driftwood residue when I pulled in tonight.
Here are some vids I found of Long Beach during the storm in case anyone is interested. I'm sure if you were watching your local news, you likely saw the footage of the lifeguard shack coming off its moorings and crashing into the boardwalk. Apparently that was the big excitement of the day. (National Blvd. - where that was - is 5 blocks west from me.)
This vid was taken Sunday morning, two blocks west of my building:
And this one is footage set to music, but it's got some great shots of the waves.
As you can see, even though there was a "mandatory evacuation" ordered, a lot of people ignored it. Hehehehe. We were pretty lucky Irene downgraded to a tropical storm. Once the brunt of the storm passed, it was basically fine here, unlike other places in the tri-state area near the rivers. So much flooding in Jersey, and upstate NY! (Beth, I hope your house is okay! I haven't checked my flist since Saturday!)
My parents lost power almost immediately Saturday night, but thankfully they got it back this morning. They came over tonight and we all went out to dinner. Still lots of places without power, and lots of traffic lights out, and people who are apparently ignorant of the fact that during power outages, you're supposed to treat intersections as a 4-way stop. If the heavy rains, high winds, and flooding doesn't kill you, the NY drivers will. Oy.
Lots to do tomorrow. My answering machine was maxed out from automated storm warning and recovery messages. My office didn't have power as of this afternoon, and I have to call in the morning to see if I can pick up my new car tomorrow afternoon, because nobody called me today about it. Got all my papers though - insurance transfers, title to my current car and whatnot - and the bank didn't run shrieking at my credit report and approved my loan, so I'm good to go on my end. \o/
Someone asked if they could do a podfic of my Remus/Sirius fic from small_gifts that I wrote for epithalamium - Boys Keep Swinging for the Harry Potter Podfic Fest, which is pretty awesome. I can't wait to hear it! Eeee! \o/
Also, we did watch Doctor Who on Saturday, and all three of us (Josh, Hannah, and I) loved it. I noticed some criticism of it hereabouts, which is fine - tastes differ and all that - but the three of us watched it twice, and really enjoyed it a lot. I need to get a hold of the Confidential now. We also watched Iron Man I & II (finally! I'd never seen either) and enjoyed those as well, though not as much as Doctor Who.
I'm off to skim the flist and I suppose I should try to get to bed before 2. I hope the rest of you East-Coasters are all okay and undamaged! ♥
Long Beach took a bit of a beating from the winds and storm surge, but my apartment and my building weathered it just fine. The streets outside flooded, but apparently very little flood waters made it into my parking lot. At least not enough to damage any of my neighbors cars or anything. There was hardly any sand or driftwood residue when I pulled in tonight.
Here are some vids I found of Long Beach during the storm in case anyone is interested. I'm sure if you were watching your local news, you likely saw the footage of the lifeguard shack coming off its moorings and crashing into the boardwalk. Apparently that was the big excitement of the day. (National Blvd. - where that was - is 5 blocks west from me.)
This vid was taken Sunday morning, two blocks west of my building:
Click to viewAnd this one is footage set to music, but it's got some great shots of the waves.
As you can see, even though there was a "mandatory evacuation" ordered, a lot of people ignored it. Hehehehe. We were pretty lucky Irene downgraded to a tropical storm. Once the brunt of the storm passed, it was basically fine here, unlike other places in the tri-state area near the rivers. So much flooding in Jersey, and upstate NY! (Beth, I hope your house is okay! I haven't checked my flist since Saturday!)
My parents lost power almost immediately Saturday night, but thankfully they got it back this morning. They came over tonight and we all went out to dinner. Still lots of places without power, and lots of traffic lights out, and people who are apparently ignorant of the fact that during power outages, you're supposed to treat intersections as a 4-way stop. If the heavy rains, high winds, and flooding doesn't kill you, the NY drivers will. Oy.
Lots to do tomorrow. My answering machine was maxed out from automated storm warning and recovery messages. My office didn't have power as of this afternoon, and I have to call in the morning to see if I can pick up my new car tomorrow afternoon, because nobody called me today about it. Got all my papers though - insurance transfers, title to my current car and whatnot - and the bank didn't run shrieking at my credit report and approved my loan, so I'm good to go on my end. \o/
Someone asked if they could do a podfic of my Remus/Sirius fic from small_gifts that I wrote for epithalamium - Boys Keep Swinging for the Harry Potter Podfic Fest, which is pretty awesome. I can't wait to hear it! Eeee! \o/
Also, we did watch Doctor Who on Saturday, and all three of us (Josh, Hannah, and I) loved it. I noticed some criticism of it hereabouts, which is fine - tastes differ and all that - but the three of us watched it twice, and really enjoyed it a lot. I need to get a hold of the Confidential now. We also watched Iron Man I & II (finally! I'd never seen either) and enjoyed those as well, though not as much as Doctor Who.
I'm off to skim the flist and I suppose I should try to get to bed before 2. I hope the rest of you East-Coasters are all okay and undamaged! ♥