a few people still without power?

[emilyf]

It seems like a few people might still be mia- I know Marisa is right outside NYC and there may be a few others. Hope you're all ok, and let us know when you get your power back!

Emily
mom of Charlie born 11/02

[Marisa6826]

Hey Emily-

Thanks for remembering! :)

We were without power from 4:10 pm till about 10:30 am the next day.

Jonathan thankfully was able to walk to the ferry (about 17 blocks) and get back to NJ within three hours.

I loaded Sophie in the car and went to my best friend's house here in Hoboken for the night. For some reason, the power loss here in town was very random - building by building.

She was 38-1/2 weeks pregnant with her first baby and had gotten on the ferry ten minutes before the city lost power. Her husband was able to make it home a 1/2 hour after her by cutting in line and using his monthly pass.

Everything was more or less shut down here - and what wasn't closed was completely mobbed. The pizza places ran out of dough and the Indian bodegas were selling stuff by candlelight! I came back to the apartment around midnight to check on the dogs - I also realized I had forgotten my jewelry and was paranoid. No cops, no alarms, no lights - NO WAY! Took me almost an hour to get 12 blocks back uptown.

So at 4:45am my friend's water broke! Her husband was in a quiet panic. Her OB/GYN is in NYC. The lines were all down, we couldn't reach the insurance company, the hospital in NYC didn't have power anywhere other than the ER. She ended up going to a local hospital 15 minutes away (well, really 40 minutes but her DH drove fast!).

She was dialated to 8cm by 7am and had a little girl by 12:30! 8 lbs and 20-1/2" . I haven't seen her yet since I wanted to give her some time with her family.

I'm just so very, very excited. She's my best friend and has wanted a baby for so long. I was able to hear the pride just oozing from her husband's very pores when he called to tell me about his new little girl.

What a wonderful and crazy 24 hours it's been!

Thank God the baby waited 12 hours to make her appearance. Fashionably late as any lady can be! :)

-m

[KathyO]

We're in Ontario, and we've been doing rolling blackouts (4 hours, 9 hours, etc.) since yesterday. I figure we'll probably lose power a few more times before things even out. As long as my fridge and freezer get a shot of the juice once a day or so, I can cope with everything else. It's hot, but Sis down the street has a pool.

Just to keep things interesting, though, DH (who works here at home in a basement office) got a mass voicemail from his division president yesterday to announce layoffs in DH's area, details to follow. He was JUST picking up the phone to call his team leader and ask, "So, like, do I have a job?" ...when the power, and the phone, died. His team leader is MIA too. So I guess we have a suspenseful weekend ahead of us...

Cheers,

Kate

[gour0]

I was thinking about you! We just got our power up tonight around 730 or 8. What a rotten, stinky 28 hours! When the lights came on I ran outside to tell the neighbors! It's hard to believe how spoiled I've become. Dh kept asking how this was any diff from our visit to my parents and I kept whining about cross-breezes and fans! (not to mention refrigeration...) Sigh. I hope you're out of the woods now. Sorry about your cliff-hanger. I hope it ends well.

[jd11365]

Great story! I was thinking about mommies in labor when I heard about the blackouts. I kept thinking of some poor woman stuck in traffic, the subway or an elevator...yikes! Glad to know everyone is home safe...

[Marisa6826]

Mass voicemail layoffs???

That SUCKS!

Good luck!

-m

[KathyO]

Well, it's a natural outcome from having shut down the Toronto office, and dispersed the remaining employees to work from their homes. Back when everyone was in the same place, they did their layoffs by summoning everyone to an off-site meeting at a nearby hotel conference centre. The company would have sent in a gray eminence from somewhere (VP, director, whatever) to give a standard speech about how painful this was for the company, how much everyone's contribution was valued, etc. etc., and then folks would proceed to the back to pick up envelopes with their names on them. If the note inside your envelope said to stay put, you were still "in". If you were instructed to proceed to another room, you were "out". After the second such rigmarole, people just started ignoring the gray eminence and stampeding to the envelopes at the back. Fun fun fun.

We are lucky - our cash flow isn't great, but our tiny house and modest car are paid for, so if the worst happens, I think we'll manage okay. Que sera sera!!!

Cheers,

KathyO

[Marisa6826]

Jonathan was let go using that two room approach a few years ago.

It really sucked. They were handed boxes on their way out of the conference room and were given an hour to pack stuff up. Since their co-workers (who were spared) were "given" the rest of the day off, had no clue until they got back to their offices the next day what happened .

Nice, huh?

Good luck Kathy. I hope he finds something soon if he WAS let go.

My fingers are crossed.

hugs

-m