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Power (Or: The start of blackness)

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Niki

(Let’s do a double post…)

So, about 10 minutes ago my power flickered for the first time, but did not go off completely. It flickered again a few minutes later. But for now, I do have power… At least it was nice and waited to start flickering until about 2 minutes after I ended the videochat with Marco!

There really isn’t a lot of rain in these parts. Maybe 2 or 3 inches. We will also escape the worst of the wind (being in the lower Hudson Valley).

A lot of things are closed by now in NY and NJ. For example, the stock exchange, Holland tunnel, the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel. In terms of public transportation – all subway, buses, and trains. NJ Transit won’t be running today or tomorrow. The Port Authority is not running any public or private buses. Some of the bridges (such as the George Washington bridge) are scheduled to close in the next hour or two.

Some random news stories:

A crane has come loose and is dangling 75 stories above New York City in midtown. Evacuations have begun to happen – including the evacuation of a large hotel.

The HMS Bounty replica ship (shown in some movies, including “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” sinks off the coast of North Carolina. 14 of 16 crewman are rescued – 2 remain missing.

Rescues had to be done off Long Island’s Fire Island (south of Long Island) – one of the first places to see a mandatory evacuation order. About 140 people stayed behind and ignored the orders to evacuate. Of those, 14 had to be rescued a few hours ago.

Now let’s hope the power cooperates and I don’t lose it. Hrm.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: New York | 2 Comments

Preparations (Or: On the day of Hurricane Sandy)

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Niki

So… there’s a hurricane coming today. Hurricane Sandy. The news has been almost all-weather related for the last 36 or so hours. A civilian boater already had to do one rescue of a juvenile surfer out in Sea Bright, NJ. (His father actually drove him to the beach to surf!) I thought for sure that was going to be the first U.S. fatality.

I just received a text message about 15 seconds ago that my work (a college) was closed for the next two days. Problem is, I am “on call” and required to go in and open up the library – unless we are told to stay off the roads or the bus system doesn’t run. Hrm… [Edited to add: I have since been told to stay home both days.]

Last year during Hurricane Irene I lost power for about 4 – 5 hours. Not bad. During the October snowstorm, however, I (and about 25% of my town) lost power for 4 days.

Here are some random pictures I took today:

Leaf-covered path. In this particular section, most of the leaves have fallen off the trees in the last few days. Which is a good thing in terms of trees coming down. But a lot of the trees are still full of leaves.

Window decorations in a local restaurant which flooded horribly during Hurricane Irene and was closed for almost 4 months. (The windows read “GO AWAY SANDY”.)

The creek which flooded the restaurant (on the left you can see the side of the restaurant). It floods pretty easily – Marco and I went to the mall once during a torrential downpour and it was almost to the top.

The Shoprite parking lot. Just take my word for it – it was pretty much full. It reminded me of shopping the day before Thanksgiving.

The water aisle in Shoprite. Yikes.

The managers of Shoprite were pretty smart – they removed most of the extra displays that normally clutter the area in front of the checkout lines. This helped to remove most of the congestion. What else helped – all checkout lines were open, and a worker was directing people to open aisles to keep the wait down.

This storm is 1000 miles wide. NYC has already ordered evacuations of “zone A” areas. All public NYC schools are closed.

But I live about 25-30 miles inland (roughly) and there’s not much risk of flooding in this part of town as I live on top of a somewhat steep hill. There are areas of my town which are prone to flooding, however.

I am pretty much prepared. The freezer only has ice cream and one hamburger patty left in it, pretty much. The fridge is similarly empty of perishable foods. I did get some rice and soup in case I don’t lose power (since I don’t have a stove, I am very limited in my food options otherwise). Other things I bought were crackers, chips, and granola bars.

Should be an interesting morning.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: New York, Weather | 6 Comments

ESPN (Or: I got my baby back)

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Niki

The post title is a play on the old Chili’s commercial… I want my babyback, babyback, babyback ribs. Chillll-i’s babyback ribs…

(If you are not American, you can see it in an action here, where Michael Scott from The Office sings it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07kgCNSB8AI. :P)

As you can see from the above photo, there was a knock on the door yesterday. I opened it and saw my landlord on the other side holding an Optimum/Cablevision plastic bag. Inside was a cable box and even a new remote! He said they were giving them away for one year free (after that I believe the monthly charge applies).

The crazy thing is now I have at least 10 times as many channels as I did before I lost cable in the first place… Good times.

Categories: Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Autumn (Or: View from my door)

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Niki

It is that short time of the year where the color bursts forth from the trees. I opened my front door this morning to go to the deli and was greeted with this sight (without even needing to step outside!):

For this particular tree, it seems to be about a 3 or 4 day window between full color and when the leaves start falling – a short window of opportunity to take a picture. But I am glad I did!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Autumn, New York | 6 Comments

Fridays (Or: Two months to Penn Station)

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Niki

Fridays are a glorious thing. I might even sleep in until 7AM tomorrow! (shocked look). I also have exactly 8 weeks of work left. Odd to realize.

The search committee has been set for my position. The library director, the vice president of the college, two professors, and me. The two professors were handpicked as persons who are both involved with the library and active (so they won’t sit back and not ask any questions). Three of the five interviews we want to conduct have been scheduled, out of 32 received resumes. So far there are interviews on Nov 8 and 9 in the late afternoon.

Early next week I will start brainstorming some questions, based on the quirks I have found for this job… should be interesting.

But did you know what else this means?

It’s only (roughly) two months to Penn Station. Back to New York City once more, with the awesome duo. Time to plan all our events …

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: New York City | Leave a comment

Oh no (Or: Where’s my ESPN?)

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Niki

Today I woke up as normal. Got ready, made breakfast, sat down in front of the television and loaded up Google Chrome to send Marco the much anticipated morning email. But when I turned on the TV…

I was greeted with the (light) blue screen of death.

Important Information about Your Service

A digital cable box (or CableCARD) is needed to receive this channel. Please contact us at (866) 580-0535 to have a digital cable box shipped to your home FREE of charge OR visit one of our Optimum Stores.

Here is some more info: news article from NPR

I have managed to make it almost 5 years without needing a cable box, and I consider that a very good run. (For the record, in both places my landlord paid for cable as part of the rent agreement and I used their cable hookup.) Each cable box is $7.60 per month. You see above where they say it’s free? Read it closely – it really means the shipping of the box is free. They know how to get you.

I just have about 5 channels now: CBS, NBC, FOX, 9, and 11 (and 11 is some weird channel I have never heard of before). There’s another 4-5 channels that I have never watched before available as well.

I think now the plan is that I will just end up watching more TV shows on the internet, rather than trying to find a cable box for the last two months that I am here. It did give my heart some pain to realize that meant Roger wouldn’t be able to watch Rangers games live while he is here in December… But otherwise, I am just missing out on ESPN and a few other things. Usually the TV is on mostly for the background noise.

Still – hmph.

Categories: Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Influences (Or: Pennsylvania Dutch bread)

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Niki

Similar to the post I wrote yesterday about the Dutch influence on the land (in Blauvelt, NY), I decided to share with you some pictures of the type of bread I eat. Of course both types are listed as “Pennsylvania Dutch” rather than true Dutch, but one of them states it much more clearly than the other.

Still, it was quite strange to see “Dutch” written on my bread bag.

Above is my favorite bread, and I have been eating it literally since I moved to the east coast. It was the only whole wheat bread at the deli I frequented (there really was no “grocery store” within walking distance in New Brunswick) so I ate that one. And then I lucked out because the Shoprite here in New York also has the same brand.

The bread above is a bread I have only had a few times. I only grab it from the nearby deli on the way home when I forget to get bread at Shoprite (which is about a 1 mile walk each way, so it would be too crazy to go back just for bread).

It’s actually potato bread, which I decided is okay if it’s toasted, but otherwise kind of odd. I don’t really like sweetish bread, so there you go. Also, I believe my bread should not be a pale yellow color…

Categories: Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Blauvelt, NY (Or: Dutch History)

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Niki

Dutch influence can be found all over the New York area. (Case in point – New York City used to be called New Amsterdam.)

One of the things Marco and I saw on the way to Bailey’s Smokehouse was this sign in front of a home:

You can read more by going to the Rockland Historical Society‘s page about the house. Apparently the first Dutch settler arrived in the area in 1683. Here is a quote from the page about the name “Blauvelt”:

“There are many guesses as to why the name Blauvelt was chosen. Some suggest that it is because in English, Blauvelt means blue field, this stemmed from the blue flowers which abounded in Gerritt Hendrickson’s grain fields. Another possibility is that Blauvelt originally was Gerritt’s family name when he arrived from Holland, but he just did not use it when he arrived in America. The blue field refers to the predominant color in his family’s coat of arms.” – read more

It really is all about the Dutch! At least on the east coast…

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Dutch history | 5 Comments

Five Guys (Or: Hamburgers in Times Square)

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Niki

During our most recent trip to New York City, Marco and I decided to try out Five Guys, a hamburger joint. We had heard about it a few years before but we never made it around to visiting one (even though there was one on a bus route we take to the Palisades Center). They also sell hot dogs and a few sandwiches – see their menu. We visited the one in Times Square right next to door to Roger’s favorite restaurant, Chevy’s.

It’s slightly pricey, but when you consider that their default hamburger is a double it works out. Also, all toppings are free. I was holding down the fort and securing us a table to sit at so I just told Marco to go on ahead and order me a hamburger. He did great, choosing “mustard and jalapenos” for me. (Occasionally I like a tiny bit of ketchup, but it’s not required at all and I’d prefer no ketchup to letting someone else choose how much to put on there.) The only crazy thing was that it seems to come with barbecue sauce even if you don’t ask for it… but it was pretty good as well. I think they put the barbecue sauce on the other side of the patty so it wasn’t completely combined.

The biggest tip I have is that unless you love lots of french fries, if you go with two people just get one order. They give you a lot for your money. (Marco got the cajun style fries… so good and spicy! He said they were a bit too salty, but I tend to love salt.)

The other thing that they have (which we did not try out) was a freestyle coke machine, as referenced in the front sign of the restaurant photo above, and as shown in this internet picture. You choose what flavor you want based on touching the screen and then (at least at Five Guys) it asks you another question and then dispenses it. It was a fully electronic screen, not just one screen with the flavors displayed.

This particular location had a bulletin board and colored pencils for you to write a message. You can see our message on the left side of it (hanging off the edge).

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: New York City, Vacation | 2 Comments

Setting up (Or: Town festivities)

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Niki

Today when I went to Shoprite, I was greeted with the setup for the annual “town day” that we have each October. This year I will have to miss it as I have a prior engagement – if I get some good pictures of THAT unnamed event I will post them as well.

Here are some of the pictures I took on the way to and from my weekly groceries chore: