#sandy2012 and the nor'easter

I have been meaning to post some new stuff for such a long time now, but I have been insanely busy. I briefly wanted to talk about my Hurricane Sandy experience. I still live in the dorms, so I was quite safe. In fact, I live in the "safest" dorm....meaning we have the largest generator. But it is located in the East Village, which we now know was part of the "SoPo" district (South of Power).
I honestly was not even aware there was going to be a hurricane until a few days before. To put it lightly, I was no where as prepared as I was last year for Irene (when I actually bought food and bread). This year, really all I could do was buy six 1.5 L bottles of water. I did have two flashlights, which proved to be very, very handy. Our power went out around 8:30 pm Monday night, and it was already dark by then. The hallways did have power (thanks to the generators!) but we only knew that the generator would last at least 90 minutes. No one knew if the water was still running, when the lights in the hallway would go out, if we could get into our rooms (our dorm uses key cards instead of actual keys) etc. Thankfully, the generator lasted one week. Hot water only lasted about 12 hours, but some did not even have running water.
I only stayed about 24 hours after the power went out, so until Tuesday night. I had not anticipated leaving, but I ended up staying in midtown with my friend Ben until Friday night. The first 24 hours felt like forever. Because there was no wifi, and the position of my room in relation to the building (I face an inner courtyard) I had absolutely no cell service. So I had no idea what was going on. I later found out something actually did happen with Verizon, but either way I was literally in the dark. The one advantage of my room is that it is directly across from the only window in the entire hallway. So I had first dibs on the bench, and the first night I literally laid there (pillow and everything) for hours just reading because there was nothing else to do. On Tuesday, the weather had pretty much calmed down, so my suitemates and I walked to KTown for a much needed meal. After dinner it was decided that the three of us (my roommate had already gone home for the weekend and just stayed home once school was cancelled) were going to leave. I'll be honest, I was not happy with the circumstances that surrounded this decision (which I felt I had no say in), but it ended up being for the best.
The rest of the week flew by because I channeled most of my energy and efforts into work and not really thinking about anything else. Late Friday night, I got the email that the power had been restored. I gathered up all my belongings (all three bags worth....) and hopped on a downtown bus.
The following Wednesday, we got hit by a Nor'easter (my first) which is like a freak snow storm. I pretty much stayed inside all day and caught up with the tv I missed from the week before.
And apparently I am out of storage space (?) for photos, so photos are currently a work in progress. But I have lots!