Wild Weather

The Blue Hole

Well, the big story this week is the weather. The forecasters certainly got this one right - they said that a front would be coming through on Friday and that we could expect high winds. And high winds it was - easily 70 mpg, and with some reports upwards of 98 mph at the Saratoga Airport. The net result was that the National Grid system took a real beating. We lost both power and telephone service at noon on Friday (and Jeff said that there were pretty dramatic flickers earlier in the morning). We finally were restored 30 hours later - around 6:30 on Saturday evening. The temperature in the house dropped about 10 degrees over 24 hours. Linda figured out how to start the gas range (to make tea - we knew better than to use the range for heat), and we also were able to use the gas fireplace to get some heat into the house. It was cold, but we got through it.

Actually, we were quite fortunate. There are people in northeastern Saratoga County and Washington County who have been told that it may be the end of the day on Wednesday before their service is restored. The problem is that the transmission system to that area was trashed, and until that is repaired, National Grid can't even begin to gage the damage to the distribution system.

Kim came over Friday night to tell us that they had a generator, and we were welcome to come over to warm up. Actually, the thing that I missed most was the ability to take a shower! When we lose power, the real issue is the storage capacity of the grinder pump and the number of toilet flushes that capacity translates into!

I did a presentation at the IEEE section meeting on Wednesday. Great turnout - more than 60 people, lots of good discussion and nice comments. Also did a presentation at the Albany Engineer's Week continuing education program on Friday. I think the crowd for my presentation was the peak for the electrical session, and again with lots of good discussion and positive comments. That was fun!

Pat told me on Friday that he's leaving IEEE to go over to the darkside (Elsevier Publishing). I knew that he wouldn't be there forever, but at least he was there long enough for me to feel comfortable that I know what I am doing. Geri Krolin-Taylor will fill in until they name a replacement.

Linda has this week off. Don't know yet what the plans will be - I think we are going over to Stockbridge for a day to look for drapery fabric, but I don't know what day that is going to be. I'm pretty busy on Tuesday, and Linda has a luncheon on Thursday, so those days are probably spoken for.

I made this image in the Blue Hole, the bar in the Fiesta Hotel in Belize City. Put the camera (Olumpus 35RC) on a tripod, and used a long cable release to make the exposure while sipping a Beliken. Have no idea what the exposure was, but I like the surreal quality of the blurred faces while everything else is sharp.