Hurricane Sandy aftermath day 2, Caldwell postpones Halloween, maybe we'll have power in 10 days

Well, we survived our second dark and cold night at home. Went to the Cloverleaf for dinner last night. Two hour wait for a table, with a limited menu. Luckily saw a friend at the bar and crowded around his table. Ate sliders and waffle fries, then hit the Ringside to watch the news on TV.

Devastation, destruction, and mayhem. Everywhere. Ugh. Had a coupla beers and went home. Today, up at 8, headed to the office with Sophie in tow. School? Still no power there, or at home. The PSE&G brain trust is still saying 7 to 10 days before they'll get to us.

Barry's in Atlantic City today. Presumably rallying his progbot voting base. He'll get their lights on in time for the election. The Republican parts of Jersey? We're outta luck.

Caldwell has tentatively rescheduled Halloween for Saturday. Apparently the school district has to sign off on the decision, and they haven't consulted their Oracle yet. And just to make things more confusing, Governor Christie has decreed that Monday is now the day. But if we don't have power, what's the point? No kid is gonna trick-or-treat at a bunch of dark houses on pitch-black streets. My daughter sure isn't 'cause it's not safe.

AT&T cell service is still spotty. It's out completely here at the office, and intermittent at best while at home. Meanwhile Tammy and Sophie's Verizon phones are working, pretty much everywhere. They watched a Netflix movie on Tammy's Droid last night. I stared at my dead BlackBerry. AT&T says "Rethink Possible". I don't think that means what they think it means.

Nobody has ice. Shop Rite Liquors got a delivery yesterday afternoon. Word is that it was sold out in 15 minutes.

Lakeside Deli is only selling cold sandwiches. Their grill isn't working. I don't know what's up with that. The joint is still mobbed, and the sloppy joes are still outstanding.

There are lines at every open gas station. And lines for coffee at the bagel store. Gas lines. Food lines. What's next? Zombies? Welcome back Carter!

UPDATE 31 Oct 2012 14:54:
It's official, Halloween in Caldwell is Saturday November 3rd.

Here's the scoop from The Caldwells Patch:

From Caldwell Mayor Ann Dassing: We moved Caldwell-West Caldwell Halloween to Saturday, Nov. 3.

And from the comments:

This is the first we have heard from Mayor Dassing and it is about Halloween??? I would like to know when I will have lights and heat again, thank you.

C'mon now. Mayor Dassing is totally focused on the important stuff. She's a public relations professional. If you haven't heard from her, that's gotta be your fault. Really. Walk on up to Town Hall and find her. She's probably glued to the fax machine, waiting for folks to fax in their forms to sign up for the Borough-wide email alert system. You know, the form you can't print because you don't have any electricity. You shoulda planned ahead. Told you it was your fault.

UPDATE 31 Oct 2012 16:40:
And The Patch took down their Halloween post. So now the status is, official communications from Mayor Dassing: 0. Lovely.

UPDATE 01 Nov 2012 10:01:
Many thanks to Wombat-socho for the Live At Five Six link.

Posted at 13:07 by Chris Wysocki   [/caldwell]   Comments | Perm Link |
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