Hurricane Sandy, early voting, etc…
8 minute read
October 30, 2012, 12:16 AM
First of all, hello from Aspen Hill, Maryland, where I live, and where the power is still on (as of this point in the writing at least) despite the pounding we’re getting from the wind and rain of Hurricane Sandy. This was the view off my balcony about two and a half hours ago:
Note the blurry areas on the trees. As this was a fifteen-second exposure, the blurry areas are where the trees were moving around in the wind. I just hope that the lights continue to stay on, and that the 22 cans of food that I bought at Shoppers on Saturday are just my being paranoid about this, and that I won’t actually have to open them with a manual can opener and prepare them on the stove. So I guess we’ll see how that goes. I’m rooting for no power outage, but that might be a tall request considering that this is Pepco we’re dealing with, and that the power grid in the Washington DC region is amazingly fragile. My parents, who live out in the sticks, never lose power, and where I live in the suburbs of Washington DC, you can just look at a power line funny and the entire street goes dark.
But I didn’t start writing this entry to talk about Hurricane Sandy, though I certainly hope that everyone in the storm’s path is in a safe place to wait out the storm, and that everyone who still has their power keeps it throughout the storm. Tonight, I want to talk about the election.
Continue reading…Categories: National politics, State and local politics, Tropical systems
I think this is a help more than anything else…
< 1 minute read
September 6, 2008, 1:39 PM
Seriously, we’re getting a lot of rain, and that’s about the extent of it. Tropical Storm Hanna has given us no wind at all worth speaking of, and the lights remain on. So good deal. And all this rain will actually be of benefit to us so long as a lot of it soaks in and doesn’t just run off.
However, as I indicated yesterday, no Rosslyn visit today. I’m not contending with the rain to photograph a building being torn down. It’s supposed to be nice tomorrow, so I’m going out then.
And all systems are GO for the Wikipedia meetup at Union Station today.
Categories: Tropical systems
And they called her “Hanna”…
2 minute read
September 5, 2008, 8:41 PM
As of right now, Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to run up most of the eastern seaboard starting with the Carolinas and going up to New England. Per The Weather Channel, this is the projected path:
Image: The Weather Channel
Categories: Arlington, Tropical systems
I never thought I’d be cheering a tropical system, but…
3 minute read
June 3, 2007, 3:55 PM
I never thought I’d be cheering a tropical storm system, but Tropical Storm Barry is working out for me. It’s giving the area a much-needed soaking, plus, for me, it cleared the air for those of us who suffer from springtime allergies. These last few days have been rough for me. I was running some work-related errands around Dupont Circle on Thursday, and my eyes got all swelled up. It was not fun, needless to say. This clears out all that junk from the air, and makes it much more pleasant for springtime allergy sufferers like me. I’m just glad that we’re now in the final month of allergy season, because once it’s past, life will be normal again for about ten months.
Meanwhile, yesterday, I went out to find the local Wal-Mart to see where it was, and to do a little shopping. I found it, and it’s in Germantown, store #2357. And it’s not likely I’ll be going back any time soon. It’s also stores like this that help explain why the DC area has generally shunned Wal-Mart. I was not impressed with this store. Let’s just say this: It makes the Wal-Mart where I used to work at in Waynesboro look like an upscale department store.
First of all, the place was dirty. The floors were gross, and there was trash everywhere. Additionally, the shelves were a mess. I don’t think that these people had ever heard of the concept of “zone defense”, which, in Wal-Mart terminology, is where associates basically get their departments in order – straightening the shelves, cleaning up debris, etc. This store looked like it hadn’t been zoned in weeks. The shoe department was especially a disaster – all the flip-flops were just thrown in there, and a lot were just sitting scattered on the floor. Then let’s talk safety, which is a place where Wal-Mart puts a big emphasis (or at least is supposed to). I stepped on a piece of loose cardboard in their main action alley, and nearly went flying. That’s not my idea of a good time. Meanwhile, the associates, where I actually could find some, were kind of rude.
Categories: Retail, Tropical systems, Walmart
Seems that our good friend Charley is going to miss us…
< 1 minute read
August 13, 2004, 11:06 PM
Back from the beach! I will provide a full trip report a little later. Right now I’m still processing the pictures and still working on a sunburn. Oh, and my legs are sore from all the running around I did. But the full report is coming later. Stay tuned.
On my trip, though, I did keep the TV on in my hotel room for the most part. Thus I found out about Tropical Storm Bonnie (since downgraded to below a tropical depression), and Hurricane Charley. For some reason, I just like that -ey ending on there. Conveys something different than with the -ie. Compare: Charley and Charlie. Or, of course, we could just call this storm Chuck and just say to hell with it.
Still, both storms were originally forecast to go past our area, and thankfully that has changed. Still this is what Charley was originally projected to do as of about a day ago:
Categories: Tropical systems
We’re definitely getting nailed…
< 1 minute read
September 17, 2003, 2:58 PM
Yeah… I’d say we’re going to get hit by Isabel, all right.
Categories: Tropical systems
And they called her “Isabel”…
< 1 minute read
September 17, 2003, 11:41 AM
The interesting part about living in Virginia is that from time to time, you do end up getting a hurricane coming through. According to all the weather people, we’re supposed to see it here. I remember Hurricane Fran in 1996… that caused a lot of wind, and a lot of rain. I also remember Hurricane Opal from 1995, which came through our area along Hurricane Camille’s old path, and rumbled on through here as a tropical depression. We actually had school during Opal, and I recall strong winds, and I also remember exactly how dark the clouds were compared to normal rain clouds. But Opal didn’t rain, interestingly enough.
Now unless Isabel does what Hurricane Felix did in 1995, where it stalled offshore and then went out to sea, we’re going to see some fancy weather around here. It should be interesting…
Categories: Tropical systems