Blackout!!

[computerworks]

An update from the power-starved Northeast.

Well, we have electricty back now. The effects of the Blackout of 2003 will linger here for a few more days, though.

Really bad personally, since I was about to leave NYC for a weekend at the Monterrey Historics (...just been planning the trip for 6 months...no big deal, eh?)

Yesterday afternoon... driving, about a half-hour away from JFK, one by one, all the radio stations go dead... the traffic lights go dark... the power is out everywhere. It's always fun to drive in the city, but with no traffic lights, it gets especially challenging. Get to the long term parking lot and the agent says you might as well go home... the airport's closed. In disbelief, we drive right to the terminal at Kennedy Airport...what chaos. About a million people milling about in front of Terminal 9 at Kennedy. We park and go inside... The airport has closed. No power, no security, no bag handling.....NO FLIGHT TO MONTERREY!

Spend an hour in the parking lot on the cell phone, discovering the outage is encompassing most of the Northeast. We cancelled the guaranteed late arrival room, rental car etc.
Talk to American and re-book on the first flight out from Laguardia, which stands a chance of getting power back sooner than JFK.... 6:15 in the a.m. Friday.

Fight the traffic-anarchy and drive back home...every intersection is like a Figure-8 race. Credit due to us NY'ers.. no one was mad, most took it in stride. No horn blowing - but, just close your eyes and 'gun it' thru the intersection. Got home to a hot house with no power or food. Get to bed at midnight and set the wind-up alarm to 3 a.m. Power did come back on during the night.

Get up today and call the airlines.... all flights out of Laguardia are CANCELLED. Call JFK... all flight s out are CANCELLED. With some far driving to, like Philly, and some creative scheduling, we could get to California Saturday night. I guess in time to see the closing ceremonies. So...the trip is off.

NYC was mayhem last night. No panic or anything, just a people-nightmare. My son-in-law works in NYC and I believe he ended up sleeping on a park bench. All bridges and tunnels were set to allow only traffic leaving the city. No mass transit at all. The entire street system of Manhattan, south of Central Park was gridlocked far into the night. Hotels had armed guards at the door... you could not go in unless you had a room reservation. Just about every business closed and locked up at sunset, with fear of bad things happening in the dark. Surprisingly, I don't think there were many incidents.

Power is steadily returning... but mass transit will be a mess for at least another day.

What timing!