Members in the path of Sandy - how're you doing?

We lost our internet service all day, and our electrical power @ 9 PM last night (when there was no wind or rain)! We lost a little bit of siding on our garage, and that was about it, so we were extremely lucky. Our neighbors across the street had a huge pine tree that toppled over and blocked the whole front of their house. They spent the day chopping it down. The stump will be removed professionally next week. The footage from the NJ beaches, especially on Long Beach Island, Seaside Heights & Point Pleasant are so disheartening. Ditto for NYC.

Everyone, thanks for checking in and it's so hard to believe the devastation!!! Please stay safe.

My entire township lost power Monday evening around 7pm. When the power went out, I looked out the window for a while - watching the trees sway crazily. You could see flashes of blue - several pops in a row. Those were the utility poles coming down and you would see that area go black. When I woke up Tuesday AM, power was still out _ I was surprised that there weren't more branches on the ground in my back yard (West side). Looked out front to the east - nothing that I could see. Went outisde - several trees down on the north side - none of them were so close to the house that they would prevent me from getting the car out of the garage. However, 1 of them did take out a good portion of the shed roof. Since I had nothing better to do, I spent Tuesday afternoon picking up and stacking the random branches in the front yard and visiting the neighbors.

One of neighbors got her power back Tuesday AM, but she's on a different line than the rest of the street. As of today (Friday night), we're still without power.

On Wednesday, I took a drive to look for a wi-fi hotspot to figure out if I could connect to work. The highway was totally backed up going south due to all the downed poles and trees. Ended up making u-turn and discovered that my local Wendy's was open and had wi-fi. I had to wait on line for almost an hour. During that time, I spoke with my other co-workers and boss via cell phone. I ended up spending the next 2 hours at Wendy's to connect to our office to extend the promotions for our outlet stores since they would expire that night. I had to leave Wendy's to recharge my laptop and then go back later to finish up.

BTW, I recharged my laptop and cellphone with a portable power supply. I got it about 24 hours before the power went out; so, it was charged up. It can run small appliances and has a built in light and you can use it to jump start your car or as a power source on camping trips. It came in handy because I didn't have to go out and use up the gas in my car to recharge my devices.

On Thursday, my mother and I decided to bring some of the perishables from the freezer to my brother's - he didn't have power, but they were able to cook because they have a gas stove. 5 minutes after we walked in their power came back on - so, we're staying here until our power comes back on. I didn't mind hanging around my house, except it was definitely getting colder with each passing day. .... and we were fortunate because we had hot water.

Overall, no one in my family lost anything except power and trees. One of my cousins has a generator, but they are only running it to pump water (they have a well) and lights for a couple of hours and their refrigerator. They are not using it to run the TV, etc.

Gas lines are crazy right now. It was just announced that 'rationing' starts tomorrow. If you're plate ends in an odd #, you can only buy gas on odd numbered days. If even, on even #'d days. If you have a vanity plate that's all alphabet, you go on odd days. Reminds me of the 70's when I had to sit in the backseat while my parents go on line to buy gas - even though my father had a medical pass to buy gas on any day. The governor said that 90% of the gas stations below interstate 195 are operational, but only 25% are operational north of I- 195. They either don't have power and/or don't have gas. They are trying to get gas to the stations that have power and vice versa to alleviate the lines. Overall, if they just got the power back on , everyone would be operational and fewer people would be looking for gas for their generators.

BTW, I'm not whining about the power not being on. I'm getting pretty sick of listening to people calling into radio shows and saying that the utility companies aren't working hard enough. The # of trees and poles down have made many roads impassable. If there's a wire near them, people have to wait for to make sure the wire is dead before clearing the tree/pole. The utility guys are coming from all over North America to work 15 hours and then 8 hours off - after all, you don't want a tired person frying themselves. Someone on the radio actually complained that he saw a bunch of utility vehicles sitting outside 5 Guys - I yelled at the radio 'These guys have to eat, too!!!" All of the public announcements have said power should be restored within 7 - 10 days, except for the shore areas. These people were complaining on Wednesday night - 2 days of no power, of which 1/4 to 1/3 of that time was in the midst of the hurricane. Some people are seriously stupid and selfish.

Forgot to mention that the majority of the population of NJ lives North of I-195. Thus all of the long lines.

Also, my work location has been closed all week. The building lost power Monday night and only our computer room was on generator. That night, a tree fell across the access road. They were able to get a crew out there to unblock one side of the access road, which allowed people to bring food in for the computer room operators and for the shift changes. We've started implementing our disaster recovery plan due to concerns with getting more gas for the generator - this means flying backup tapes out to Colorado to be restored to a machine - then, we would all have to remote connect to Colorado. As of tonight, the building still does not have power; so, we won't know until Sunday if we will have to work remotely or if we go back to work.

Our 3 NYC locations are also closed. One of them is near the river and they will unlikely to be opening until later next week and belos 34th St. The other 2 will probably have power restored by Monday and the plan is to have the west side employees work in one of the other 2 locations in NYC (or in NJ if we re-open). At this rate, they'll be up and running in NYC before we will in NJ.

Hopefully the weather forecast is wrong, but there might be a cold and rainy nor'easter headed for us on Wednesday.

Red Cross begging donations-10.00 from everyone would help. I am cashing in my piggy bank, LOL. Maybe we could find some skate fan or Paula might know of a great thing we could bid on-some great tape-DVD thats special-a program of autographs-international members mite care -any ideas?

Heyang....it would be ok if you were complaining about the power not being on. I know I am. The reason is my dad is still without power and he hasn't seen a utility truck on his part of Long Island! Each time you call the power company it's a different sorry with a different time frame...this week until sometime after thanksgiving. It's very frustrating when you are trying to plan for a family member who's healthy is not 100%! My dad was staying in the house and it was 50 degrees inside. There is still about and inch or water in the basement and I can't do anything without power. I brought him to his house in upstate NY only to find out that there is a electrical problem with his well water pump. Trying to get an electrician in a rural county on a Friday night or Saturday is almost impossible but I'm going to beg and plead! I would take him to me in New Jersey where I have power but he can't walk up stairs and I live in the third floor. And due to his health issues I can't leave him alone for an extended period of time. My family members who had power were being jerks and wouldn't let him stay with them because they don't have room. Now I have to plan to bring him to a hotel in NJ by me so I know he's safe. In fact I'm sitting in a hotel right now because of the water pump issue at his vacation home in upstate NY. While I appreciate the work of the power company, their constant lies about time frames and different answers each time you call is surely frustrating and cause for complaining. Seriously, most of northern NJ, New York City an Long Island are like third world countries right now. Even in my trip to upstate NY, the lines to get gas50-60 miles oustide the westchester area on the New York State Thruway are ridiculous! People are fighting and pulling guns in each other at gas stations. It's crazy! Now most northern counties and shore counties in NJ have to ration gas starting tomorrow. I mean driving to my dads yesterday was like a war zone. Not enough is being done! Yes you see on the news lower manhattan, queens and the jersey shore. Come to my dads community on the north shore of Long Island. Report about that. Show them how there have been no utility trucks there. Show them how I saw people lines up for three miles just to get a gallon of fresh water. Show people how one of the two roads into town collapsed and is effectively closed until whenever! It's sad. Ok...that's enough ranting and I'm sorry if I did. It's just so frustrating! And did I mention that my dad is supposed to go to closing on his house December 1? Can't pack a thing because there is no power. If the deal still goes through I have to beg and plead the attorney to push the closing date.

You should be contacting local municipal authorities about help for your father, as well as the utility company. Put pressure on both ends.

I actually think the utility companies are doing a decent job in NJ. PSE&G has restore more than 1/2 of their customers in the 1st 2 days. My street doesn't have a lot of homes; so, I accept that it won't be one of the 1st to come back. Also, there were numerous downed utility poles nearby that they couldn't start replacing until late Wednesday. PSE&G has pretty much said 7 - 10 days for restoration of all areas once the scale of the disaster was assessed - the day after the hurricane, they said 7 days. So, I'm not upset by the lack of power because they set realistic expectations.

My office is still without power. While other areas nearby have power, we know it's a low priority road since it's only our building and the ice rink on the road. Utility poles and trees came down. Our NYC offices are going to re-open before us.

I don't know if you should say lies about restoration. Part of it is a matter of them getting a closer look and being able to assess the work. They weren't able to completely assess the non-shore areas until sometime Wednesday. The utility workers also had to detour around blocked roads, etc. to get to areas to determine if debris was to close to a live wire, etc. It's a logistical nightmare and communication amongst all parties can be iffy when so much is going on.

The rationing is to cut the lines done. THere is gas, but so many roads are still blocked that it's hard to get them through to certain areas, unfortunately.

I heard that the NY Harbor shipping lanes had to be cleared of all major debris before tankers could come in. No one needed to have a tanker spill fuel into the water or get stuck because of the huge cargo containers that got washed into the water.

Glad you sillionlove and heyang are not hard hit. power is bad as we know after so many noreasters. we had a huge 2008 ice storm and the power companies were awful. this time in ma they were better prepared. sorry no one picked up on the red cross thing. USA members and intl members, this was a very destructive hurricane. It was so huge from space-look at the mass. Had it been a 2 Manhattan might be demolished. It seems people are now immune to natural disasters but we might be jaded.I have unopened skating throuh time 3 dvd set that was 60.00 if you can even get it now-I got two sets actually, it is wonderful, comp performances and show skates...i'm thinking to auction it...we should easily get 100.00 or more start bid at 60.00 (plus shipping to?) I have nothing but troubles but if every chat forum helped. Canada, Europe, Asia this is billions in losses and many many many ruined homes/businesses Jersey Shore looks gone -ocean has reclaimed huge sretches...Toni or mod in this thread, let me know if we can do some Red Cross fundraising here...if Paula oks this and promotes it, we might get a real nice amt...let me know-God bless me for trying! and any who can make it happen...Bless you!

Hi, all!

No time to write. I'm back at work for the first time in a week and must catch up. But I wanted to check in and see how all of you are. We lost power for four days or so and still have no heat at home. Still no cable or internet at home, so no way to get GS tidings. This was my first chance to check in. We're better off than some, by a long shot. Anyone with a roof and walls is better off than some. Poor southern New Jersey. And the temps are now hovering around freezing at night. Stay strong, everyone!

Olympia., so glad to hear you're ok! Our heat is finally working all right, and a week ago it was under salt water, so don't despair!

Olympia said:

Hi, all!

No time to write. I'm back at work for the first time in a week and must catch up. But I wanted to check in and see how all of you are. We lost power for four days or so and still have no heat at home. Still no cable or internet at home, so no way to get GS tidings. This was my first chance to check in. We're better off than some, by a long shot. Anyone with a roof and walls is better off than some. Poor southern New Jersey. And the temps are now hovering around freezing at night. Stay strong, everyone!

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I was just worrying about you last night to the other mods! So glad to read you've "weathered the storm"!

Glad you're OK, Olympia!

My dad got power back Saturday night and I brought him back home on Sunday. His side of town was put on an emergency list because there are two roads to get and and out if his town and one of those roads collapsed. Hoping this next storm goes out to sea and doesn't hit us again!!

Still no heat at home but no shortage of chocolate, so am okay. Since even my office is drafty, I am sitting here in my many sweaters, my woolen hood with neck attachment (I think it's a ski covering of some kind--I got it in a remnants bin at a discount shop), and my leg warmers, and I've just turned on the space heater. Mmmmm! And I'm about to hunt around on YouTube for some Russian opera.

Glad to hear your father is safely home, sillylionlove. Hope everyone else is settled in and cozy.

I got power back on Saturday approximately 11pm - 5 days and 3.5 hours. So PSE&G met their 7 - 10 days estimate for my household. Everyone in my extended family had power back by Saturday, as well. My uncle & aunt's phone still is non-operational because the outside line was ripped.

Office is still closed. Telecommuting really doesn't work well when you're trying to resolve problems. We tried Skype, but 1 of 4 of us couldn't be heard during a group call. We tried our conference line, but you don't know when someone's going to talk; so, we're stumbling all over each other. It's hard enough to communicate when we're all in the same building - it's probably 4 times harder when we're all in a variety of locations. Also, the tech group had to remote implement an emulator for people to use on their personal PC's or Mac's. Problem is that the emulator doesn't work the same as the one on our corporate machines - so, I'm trying to figure out work arounds for a tool I don't even have, and, of course, the incompatibility is related to a key function that must be completed before Wed 7pm.

sillylionlove said:

My dad got power back Saturday night and I brought him back home on Sunday. His side of town was put on an emergency list because there are two roads to get and and out if his town and one of those roads collapsed. Hoping this next storm goes out to sea and doesn't hit us again!!

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glad Dad's ok!

I have a hole in my shed roof. THought about putting a tarp over it, but then I realized that there's no way I can do it myself and even if someone else was around to help, they'd have to climb on the tangle of trees that broke the shed roof. Since my knee has been re-injured, I'm not up to climbing. In general, I think it's too risky for anyone to climb on the debris to put a tarp on - I wouldn't want anyone to fall because the debris shifted. The only thing of value is a lawn tractor that we haven't used in years, which should be able to tolerate getting rained on. Prediction for this week's nor-easter is 1 - 2 " of snow for my area of NJ. Since it's supposed to warm up right after that, the only real concern is the wind.

Stay safe, and please don't climb on the shed!

Our one remaining problem is that there is a huge (like half a hickory tree) tree limb balanced on my son's telephone line. The telephone company will not do anything about it, and the tree guy can't get to it in time for this next storm.

why won't the telephone company do anything? they would have to here in AK (though most of ours, I think, are underground).

Because they are a private company & they don't want to, I guess. Because in CT, they don't have to, because the line is not broken.

The problem is that the limb is big enough to pull the service off the pole in the next wind storm, which is coming tonight. The electric company cut the power line and re-led it over top of the limb. The phone company refuses to do that. If they would get the wire out, the tree man would take care of the limb, but as it is now, the tree man won't do the wires, and the phone company won't do trees, so my son is just stuck with the situation. I hope to heck he doesn't try to do something himself.

they should have a bonfire...