I wasn’t able to pick up my mail last week; my local post office branch was closed with no power. Fortunately when I stopped by there on Monday this week, my voter registration card had arrived — right down to the wire!

Along with it, I received a “Voter Report Card” from the League of Conservation Voters. Although I definitely *have* voted in all general elections for the past twenty years (just not here in NYC), I still found myself immediately feeling self-conscious, standing there in the post office with this indicting report.

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I went to a neighborhood barbershop this afternoon to get a haircut. The barber quickly intuited that I was a new customer, and as he got started, he asked me, in a strong Russian accent, about other places I had gone to get a haircut. Do they offer an online appointment system? He was curious because he had just launched this service for his shop. “Did you receive a confirmation email?” he asked me intently. I told him yes, I did. “And did it provide the correct time?” he asked. I said that it had. Apparently other customers have had issues; the recent daylight savings time changeover has caused a bit of a bug. He interrupted the haircut to call someone to complain about this, in Russian. Continue reading →

Walking through the East Village and Alphabet City today, I spotted a-frame signage sporting a variety of post-Sandy messages. Here are a few examples.

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Just returned home and all is well. Sounds like power was restored to my neighborhood right after I left on Friday. 

As I traveled through New Jersey on the Bolt Bus this afternoon, I saw an incredibly long line of vehicles at a gas station. And I wasn’t able to take the subway to my area from 34th St — looks like my local subway stations (14th st, 8th st) are still closed.

Other than that, what I encountered in my trip home today looked basically like it did before. It was good to see my neighborhood businesses with their lights on again, and the typical evening bustle of folks here. 

Sounds like my power should be back on when I return Sunday evening, although a native New Yorker who lived through the '03 blackout warned me that my building might not see power restored for another week or more (because it's a century old). 

I made sure to completely empty my refrigerator and freezer before I left this afternoon, to make sure I don't have any fun science experiments waiting for me when I return.

Walking through the West Village this afternoon, I saw a few scrappy vendors selling flashlights and batteries. If power is restored tomorrow, this may be a very short-lived enterprise.

11:45am

Had a great dinner last night with my gracious Brooklyn host and a friend who lives nearby in Park Slope. Both of them, like so many others in Brooklyn, have been working from home this week, with Manhattan office locations still out of power. We talked about how our survival instincts have kicked in this week — the evidence of which is:

• Eating more than normal — our dinner last night, for example, was a celebration of carbohydrates
• Sleeping more than normal
• Vivid dreams, not all of which are pleasant Continue reading →

The Think Coffee location nearest me lost its awning in the storm – took this photo yesterday. This morning as I walked south towards the Manhattan bridge, I saw several awnings and signs in similar condition.

One would hope Sandy would change things — I guess we’ll see. Good article in BloombergBusinessweek on this topic today:

The issue was MIA during the presidential debates and, regardless of who wins on Nov. 6, is unlikely to appear on the near-term congressional calendar. After Sandy, that seems insane.

3:38pm update — just after posting this, I read that Sandy has impacted Mayor Bloomberg’s endorsement for President.

I walked south from Chelsea last night and into the dark zone. I thought, at some point, I’d see revelers, people in costume, something Halloween-y. I’m sure that all was going on somewhere, but not where I was.

Which is suprising, because I was walking through the heart of Manhattan — down Broadway, to Union Square (which is occupied by local utility and police right now), and southeast into the East Village. And it was truly empty, dark, and quiet.

I walked past Webster Hall to see if they were gearing up to hold their Halloween party. Not a soul there or even around there, save a few people talking by candlelight across the street.

A friend of mine had been planning on visiting me this week, to come check out how NYC celebrates Halloween. He wisely canceled, but if he were out here this week, he definitely would not be witnessing a typical Halloween here.