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Sandy - Avery Bjorned

Hurricane Sandy

Sandy - Avery Bjorned

The story thus far:

Sunday we decided that with Bloomberg assigning our neighbourhood a “Zone A” evacuation notice, we would take the Barans up on their invitation to hole up with them in midtown – a long way from the water, and well sheltered from the worst of the winds.  As it turns out, it was a good call – we have yet to confirm the details, but Marjorie found a blog that said the water reached a block beyond our building.  On Sunday, along with many others, we headed out.  We had no trouble getting a car, and we lugged all the gear that you need for four days away with a baby.

As we watched the non-stop news coverage at the Barans, we would compare the mounting epic disaster crawling up the coast on screen to the relative calm outside our window.  Chris broiled some excellent steaks.  It all seemed a long way away.

Monday things shifted up a notch.  The trains had shut down at 7pm the night before.  No subway, no LIRR, no PATH.  The highways shut down one by one.  Things were still quiet enough in midtown, so I took the camera for a walk up to Grand Central, thinking a long shot down a deserted Park Ave would be worth a wet walk.  I had brought my rain gear – both for me and the camera – so I was set.  The wind sounded like jet planes over head, and a really eerie moaning whistle lower down.  But there were still plenty of people around.  Tourists, idiots, and cameramen.  Getting that iconic shot of a deserted Manhattan was much easier said than done.  I got what I could, carefully selected for dramatic effect.  Most places were closed.  A few restaurants stayed open, and they were all doing gangbuster business.  I had a slice of pizza at a deli while I warmed up and checked the water protection on the camera, and then I texted the fam that I was headed back.  No rush.  Still might get lucky.  The wind and rain were definitely picking up.  Fewer people on the streets, and those walking fast with their heads down.

I took a few more pics.  Got a couple half decent ones by the library and looking down 5th.  Then I got hit by a truck.

Yeah, that part sucked.

This black SUV was motoring down 5th, certainly trying to get home before the storm really hit.  The streets were all but empty and as I said, pedestrians were sparse.  Nevertheless, I was crossing with the signal and I have bloody big red stripes on my coat.  I’m hard to miss.  Except by that guy.  So he just wasn’t looking.  Possibly, being a New York driver, he did see me, and planned to cut close past me.  They do that.  Anyway, his mirror took me in the camera hand.  The mirror slammed back, and his side panel smashed my arm into my side.  I flew 10 or 20 feet, I don’t recall, but I landed on my feet as he sloshed to a stop.  I already knew I was ok, because, as I was sailing through the air, I clearly recall thinking, “I will be damned if I’m taking another $500 ambulance ride.”  Still, the practical side of me thought, “I hope my ribs aren’t broken.”

Then, he was out of the truck and asking if I was ok.  I gasped that I was not, but I was already taking inventory of body parts.  A couple on the other side of 5th was hurrying across, and since they could see I was still standing, they stole my line, “Is the camera ok?”  I tottered back over to the truck as he babbled, and tried to bend over to retrieve the camera.  I couldn’t make it, so he obliged.  I checked the lens and made sure it still turned on, all the while trying to keep up with his well-intentioned chatter.  I noted that all my fingers still worked, though the pointer and pinky were protesting the effort.  I reckoned that the fact I could hold the camera up probably spoke well for my ribs.  The sorest spot was where the iPhone in my chest pocket had been smashed up against me.

He said he’d get me his card, but after a few moments of searching he said he couldn’t find one.  I gave him mine and asked him to get in touch, just so I could tell him I was ok.  That would be important to me, in his shoes.  Whether he couldn’t find a card, or had a panicked moment of lawsuit dodging, it doesn’t really matter.  If I were a different sort of person, I could have taken a picture of his licence plate.  Probably could have taken his picture too.  But I was glad to be alive, glad I wouldn’t have to add a mountain of worry to Marjorie on the cusp of a hurricane, and glad my camera seemed fine.  I asked him to please slow down, shook his hand (gingerly) and sent him on his way.

As I continued on my own way, my mood for photography somewhat abated, I thought about my relatively close call.  If I had been one step farther forward, I would have been hospitalized without a doubt.  Smooshed.  One step.  Maybe a quarter second.  In such ways fate is measured.  Next time I sign off asking you to go hug somebody, you best get off your punk ass and go hug somebody.

So I got a few interesting pictures, and a fun little story about using up one of my lives.  When I got back to the Barans, the beer was cold and dinner was hot.  Bloomberg tersely ordered all cabs and livery cars off the road, and without using the word asshat said that everyone still within an evacuation zone would have to stay put, and forget about rescue for the duration.

Later than night, the water peaked at 13.8 feet.  Cars floated.  Transformers popped.  A substation literally exploded.  We lost power.  No problem – Rita stocks plenty of candles, we’d filled every available container with water, and we had plenty of food.  And despite it being the end of October in New York, it’s not that cold.  So we’re good.  By far the biggest difficulty is the lack of power.  Can’t charge the phones or run the laptop.  How’s a man to keep writing?  And I’ve got a website to launch!  And a software project to manage!

Throughout the tristate area, 5 million people are without power.  In New York state, it’s 2.4 million.  And in Manhattan, that’s supposedly a quarter million customers.  If you walk up past 39th Street, you’d hardly know we just had a hurricane, much less a massive power outage.  It’s business as usual.  Which is excellent if you need a pint.  Same old bumper to bumper honking traffic, same throngs of pedestrians tourist and otherwise.  I reckon I will make that hike tomorrow so I can get some work done with Lee.  In a pub, I’m sure.  Right now a bunch of us are at the Redken Exchange (5th at 46th), catching up, washing hair, getting colored.  Very civilized.  Avery has been meeting lots of new people with wide-eyed pleasure.  She loves an adventure, so long as Mum isn’t too far away with the food supply.  We were wise to bring four diapers.

So to everyone reading this from outside New York, we just had the biggest storm this town has ever seen, but this little family is fine.  Water climbed 13.8 feet to drown much of the coastal neighborhoods.  Billions of dollars damage.  29 lives lost state-wide, most because of tree-falls.  Within the space of crossing a street, however, it’s like nothing happened.  Crazy.  They’re saying it might be a week (we’re at the end of Day 2) before power can be restored to midtown because basically the substation needs a new substation.  Did you see that explosion?  The subway will be coming back online very slowly as well.  The flooded stations in Lower Manhattan – 5 feet of water along 60 miles of track – have to be cleared one pumper car at a time, apparently.  Then the tracks have to be assessed for safety, and salt water damage repaired.  Amazingly, some trains are back up with partial routes already.  We won’t hold our breath for the 7 line.  It crosses under the East River, so, yeah.  But the bridges are open, and most of the tunnels.  New York wastes no time, ladies and gentlemen.  Hats off to the recovery crews.

I’d like to take the camera for a walk tonight (looking both ways twice before crossing, TYVM) to see if I can get some decent shots of that divide.  Didn’t bring a tripod though.  Will have to make do.

I imagine it will be a couple days at best before we get power back at the Barans.  It’s conceivable power will be restored at our place in Long Island City first.  We’ll invite the Barans over there of course, but it’s hard to say if they’d come.  Available power and hot showers versus the inconvenience of being isolated in the hinterland.  We’ll see.  Phone lines are still out on Long Island, so we can’t get in touch with our building to see when it’s ok to come back.  We’ll hang tight, I guess.

This has been a bit of a ramble.  Apologies.  I just wanted to get some of it down before we had to move on.  All the laptops and phones are charged up and Marjorie’s hair color is about ready for a rinse.  Looking good.  Time to think about food.  Oh – my arm and ribs are fine.  The muscles are sore as f**k, and it’s a process getting out of bed, but you won’t catch me complaining.  Life is awesome.  And so far, no sign of zombies.

Actually, I’ll just close here with a rave about my incredible wife.  I can’t imagine a better partner for something like this.  Maybe a ninja.  But seriously.  She’s calm, organized, forward thinking.  And pretty hot.  She takes wonderful care of Avery while appreciating my help.  We are a dynamic and stable team.  I love her madly.  And my daughter.  What an idyllic little loving family.  Just nauseating, really.

Lucky.

Now go hug someone.

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Zombie Incursion, Prologue

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Hooray for sleep!

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Mum and Avery, roughing it in a luxury apartment in Manhattan.

Posting from the iPhone. The Taverners are camping at chez Baran for the next couple nights while Hurricane Sandy does her thing. Irene was a snoozer last time, but we have been sternly advised not to compare the two. Sandy is all about the big left hook when she bounces off an icy front coming down from Canada. Thanks Canada. Now she’s angry. We’re supposedly in for a long and windy storm. Frankenstorm. Biggest in decades and blah blah. We brought clothes and such for four days. And we’re midtown New York. Not like the stores are closing.

So we’re cozy and pretty well supplied. Had delicious Thai from across the street. If there is to be a storm, this is the calm before it.

I brought my rain gear for me and the camera, just in case it gets proper interesting.

Avery is handling it all with grace and aplomb. Which is to say, sleeping through it.

The shoot scheduled for Monday has been canceled, which is what happens with most of the city when transit shuts down. True story. The system that shuffles millions of people every day was suspended at 7pm to prepare for the storm. Makes sense, and I support a move that saves lives and time in the long run. But still. No subway in New York. That’s a huge thing. A dang nuisance.

That said, it’s no big deal so long as the power stays up. Gotta have my internets.

Hear that, internets? Hold together.

I suddenly wonder if I shouldn’t hit Home Depot tomorrow for anti-zombie supplies.

More news as it happens.

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Please, No Pics

nothing to see here

Please, No Pics

It is a zoo out there.  Literally.  Zebras and cows.  A horse in two parts.  A diminutive and Asian Indiana Jones.

I met up with Lee today to swing a big hammer at one of our latest scripts.  The one I can’t tell you about.  Our effort today was meant to include one Mr Brian Dobson (please) via G+, but between our off-site wifi trials and his antique computer tribulations, we released Mr Dobson to whatever it is he does with his Halloween Saturday evenings.  OOOOOOoooooOOOOOOoooo!  I’m not saying we just cost somebody their life right there, but I’m not saying we didn’t.  Well, what can you do, right?

Avery Peppermint Taverner was snugly dressed up in her costume of “I’m not going to sleep anytime soon and you can just deal with that, Mum”.  I was out with Lee, confabulating on the script, while Mum was patiently and lovingly aiming Avery toward sleep.  Apparently our little bunny was having none of it.  The project started just before 9 and was still going strong when we last checked in together after 11.  I got home around 12, and all was quiet.  I haven’t opened the bedroom door yet, but all is quiet.  Mum wins again, I’m guessing.

So yes – a zoo.  New York does Halloween well.  With enthusiasm.  Up near the university there would have been a massive parade that I didn’t get near, with thousands of costumes and all sorts of hijinx.  And the two classy joints we holed up in were not spared from the spectacle.  Darth Vader bussed my glasses while Peter Griffin’s arch nemesis, the Chicken, generously bartended for us.  Scantily clad pirate girls walked the streets with Spider Men and whatever that fuzzy blue gay fella was supposed to be.  I do really like Halloween in New York.  I should really make an effort with the cameras one year.  And the costumes.  I have a little girl coming up the ranks who will be demanding her own costumed walk amongst the deviltry soon enough.  If Marjorie has her way this year, we will let the front desk know that we may safely be counted amongst the candy-distributing cool people in our building.  Who am I to argue?  The guy who will end up answering the door 90% of the time, that’s who.  Awww.

Hey – there was a not-insignificant earthquake centered in the Queen Charlottes an hour or so ago.  It’s all over Facebook.  What is also all over Facebook is how none of it is on the news yet.  sigh.  Talk about a testament to the new age of information.  If you are not plugged in – and by that I mean wireless, you are at severe risk of drowning in a tsunami you never knew was coming.  Twenty years ago you could count on your local stations to be interrupted.  Now… I guess they have to go through channels.  With Viacom or whichever globocorp owns your local news.  Hope my folks are ok.  Hey folks – feel free to chime in here when you get this.

Meanwhile, New York has Hurricane Sandy to look forward to on Monday.  Maybe this one will be a little more newsworthy than Irene.  Not to take anything away from those that suffered Irene’s wrath – and not to complain!  For Irene, I taped up the windows on our south-facing 43rd floor, charged the flashlight batteries, and bought a dozen liters of water.  For Sandy… I dunno.  I guess we’ll bring in the patio furniture?  If it’s significant, we’ll lose the subway for a few hours, and probably the intertubes.  We have a freezer full of food that will keep us for a couple days, and Avery’s dietary needs are covered.  Worst that could happen… the power might be out for a couple days.  We’ll manage.  More likely we’ll watch the wind snarl up the East River and keep on working.  You’ve heard of New York, right?

We’re supposed to have a shoot for L’Oréal Professionnel on Monday.  I suppose SoHo might be affected by torrential rains, violent winds and cancelled catering.  Hope we’re all good.  It will be great to get behind a camera again.  Light some faces.  Shoot some people.  So I have no objection to another Irene (New York chapter).  Sorry to disappoint.  On the other hand, laughing at the devil, I also enjoy massive lightning strikes, flood conditions, and that bonding that only happens when the power goes down.  So there.  I have my hug buddies lined up.  You?

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