Storm (12/12/2008)

[leetninja]

does anyone know a status in North Salem?  Specifically in my neighborhood? I dont want to drive all the way there only to find out no electricity

[KBCraig]

Ninja, do you have a home phone with an answering machine? If you have phone service at your house (phone lines can be more vulnerable than power lines), try calling home. If your answering machine (which requires household current) picks up, you've got power.

I feel for y'all. I went through it in 2000, when a major ice storm knocked out everything in the ArkLaTex area. 13 days with no power or home phone, just me and my old tomcat trying to keep warm in front of the fireplace burning green wet wood. Thankfully I have a gas water heater, so I took a lot of long hot showers by lantern light!

I spent my (non-working) waking hours breaking in the chainsaw I had purchased just two weeks before the storm. The informal gathering place was my church, which had power and cots in the gym; the women were preparing three hot meals a day while the men went out and cut a lot of wood off of houses, off of cars, cleared driveways, etc.

It was voluntaryism in action. 

[AntonLee]

funny how all this time we didn't really even need stoplights. . . not one crash at 4 very very busy intersections

[dalebert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdxjFRBwG0E

[Pat K]

Riding around in the skittle mobile
Dale the doodler at wheel......................

[Pat K]

[Friday]

By jove, I think you're right...

My power came on about 30 minutes ago.  As soon as it did, the fire alarm went off.  Not the obnoxious little one in my apartment, the big industrial-strength one in the hallways.  Every piercing blast of its horn pounding in my brain is like God saying "THOU SHALT NEVER BE HUNG OVER AGAIN"      (repeat every 2 seconds, for infinity)

(No, the building's not on fire, I did check.)

[AntonLee]

"It's kinda beautiful..."

righty oh. .  . it is very pretty, especially with the sun flowing through the crystalized trees.  I love it, awesome.  I've been in the area for quite a long time, and I've never in my life had a power outage like we've had this time.

[Ron Helwig]

We just got power back here at Little Minnesota around 6 p.m.

Still no cable or Internet.

Oh yeah, how are you posting then?  Huh?  Answer that!

OK. My laptop is running a program called "VZ Access Manager" (VZ for Verizon). It is hooked up to my new phone via USB (I could use Bluetooth, but figured whenever I do this I want the phone to have power). The phone is running a program called "Modem Link", which makes it effectively look like a custom modem to the laptop. I click "connect" on the VZ Access Manager, and it tells the phone to dial and all that fancy crap.

FYI, still no cable or Internet here. Metrocast sucks worse than Comcast.

[Kat Kanning]

Cool

[Toadstool]

WHOA!
I made it!!! lol
3 days no heat or power,
was a trip FOR SURE!  ever sleep in a cold ass dark room. lol

clean up should take DAYS!
Worst Storm I have seen, well w. out snow.

[Scott Roth]

Still no power at my place in Antrim.

[turbo]

I have an extra 750W inverter if anyone needs it (they are sold out in NH and Mass... I ended up driving to RI last night to purchase them, but fortunately our power came back on before I got home!)

[leetninja]

my home phone is VoIP so no power means no internet means no phone.  Other parts of town have power but I guess my neighborhood still is without as of noon today.  This is really crappy.  I had to go back last night at midnight realizing holy crap i left the filter housings (full of water) and the well tank etc full so I had to drain them via flashlight.  I think the only thing that is saving my house and lines etc right now is the water softener that we have adds salt to the water so it doesnt freeze as easily.  nothing frozen that we could see.  the basement actually retained a lot fo heat from the pellet stove.  i had to rescue my reptiles - i had left a heat pack but it ran out and they were rather cold. 

i dont want to do a 2 hour round tripper again to Salem if there is no power still but this is relatively horrible to be sitting here wondering all day and night if my house is ok.  most of my neighbors are still without phone service and others are in shelters.

im attempting to call national grid but they of course are closed. 

[leetninja]

I have an extra 750W inverter if anyone needs it (they are sold out in NH and Mass... I ended up driving to RI last night to purchase them, but fortunately our power came back on before I got home!)

how do those work anyhow?  i have never used or owned a generator.  do you hook it into the house somehow or do you just run extension cords all over?