vsbabu.org

Post Isabel edition

Oh well, Hurricane Isabel came and went.

The Good

• Not much damage around were I live. Several uprooted trees, thats all.
• Office closed yesterday and today. Yesterday, metro was closed; today, no power. In effect, a 4 day weekend, with nothing much to do.
• Only nature’s noise yesterday night. Slept very well! Almost like my native village in Kerala.
• No power from 10pm yesterday till 5pm today. No TV! Not mine, not neighbours'. Silence is golden - especially when the hum of electric equipment is absent.
• Great brunch at the Eat 'n Run Deli in Ballston.

The Bad

• No power. No internet. Confirmed that my laptop (Toshiba 1905-S301) can work for 3.5 hours on battery.
• Drinking water alert.

The Ugly

• Without question, the TV stations. Everyone of them -except WB50 and UP- kept day-night coverage of the bloody storm. Most had their reporters in Kill Devil Hills NC, Alexandria VA and Ocean City MD. Every 15 minutes the anchors would go live to some poor reporter to get live pictures of trees waving in the wind and the rain pouring down. I don’t know why, but these soaked souls were excited beyond reason throughout the day. All of them, for most of the time, kept repeating what they said 15 minutes before. Who cares if it is live or not? It is nothing but rain and wind. I’m a bit thankful that these folks don’t run TV stations in Kerala. Imagine seeing only this on TV throughout the monsoon season for a month!
• TV stations again. Power is back and there is nothing else on TV. They’ve live reporters standing in front of fallen trees - AFAIK there are only few of them.