Author Archives: Tin Man

Sandy

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A few people have asked how we’re getting by in the wake of Sandy. Honestly, things are fine… for us.

Matt and I live in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Our neighborhood’s pretty far from where most of the flooding and power outages are, which is below 34th Street; we’re up in the 100s. The power flickered a few times on Monday night while the winds gusted, but it never went out.

New York City seems to be two different cities right now; up here, there are several downed trees in the nearby park, but other than that, things seem fine. A few miles south, though, there’s no power.

And in New Jersey, things suck as well. My parents and my brother and sister-in-law and their kids live in northern NJ, and they have no power. My brother’s house lost power sometime on Monday afternoon. My parents thought they were fine for a while; everyone across the street from them lost power, but they didn’t — until shortly after they went to bed on Monday. Since then, no power.

At least neither of them has any flooding or fallen trees. My parents have this big old stately tree in the front yard that has been dying for the last few years, and my mom was worried that it would fall. Fortunately, it didn’t, but I really hope they do something about it. They were lucky during Irene and they were lucky this time as well. They might not be lucky next time, especially if the tree fell on the house. It would be a shame to take the tree down, because it’s the only tree in the front yard, and without it the lawn would seem bare and the front of the house would get no shade. But apparently 75 trees fell in my parents’ town, including a few near their block. So they need to think about that.

My office is in New Jersey as well, and it’s been closed since Monday. Not that I’d be able to get there anyway, since both the New York City subway and New Jersey Transit remain down. Our subway line should be back up tomorrow, but I doubt NJ Transit will be. Fortunately I’m able to telecommute, which I normally do twice a week anyway.

So, in short: we ourselves are fine, my family is majorly inconvenienced, others are even worse off, and this whole thing is a big fucking mess.

George McGovern

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Former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern has apparently been moved into hospice care and is nearing the end of the life. He’s 90 years old.

So, while he’s still with us, let us marvel that every Democratic presidential nominee since 1972 is currently alive: McGovern (1972), Jimmy Carter (1976 & 1980), Walter Mondale (1984), Michael Dukakis (1988), Bill Clinton (1992 & 1996), Al Gore (2000), John Kerry (2004), and Barack Obama (2008 & 2012).

In fact, every losing presidential candidate since 1972, not including incumbent presidents, is still alive: McGovern (1972), Mondale (1984), Dukakis (1988), Bob Dole (1996), Al Gore (2000*), John Kerry (2004), John McCain (2008). This doesn’t include Gerald Ford (1976), Jimmy Carter (1980), or George H.W. Bush (1992), since they were all incumbents when they lost. So everyone since 1972 who is most famous for not reaching the White House is still alive.

So really, every major party nominee since 1972 is still alive except for Nixon, Ford, and Reagan.

I just think that’s cool.

Trip Anxiety

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This post is sort of an anxiety dump. Because my attempts to avoid anxiety about our upcoming trip aren’t working. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in three nights, and I had a bad stomach bug or something for the last day and a half, which thankfully seems resolved, but the anxiety won’t go away. I feel physically bleah.

My biggest fear involves our outbound flight. We’re flying on… American Airlines, which has been in the news lately for terrible performance, including terrible on-time performance. I could kick myself for choosing American. I honestly feel like a complete idiot. Why didn’t I know better?

I looked at the history of our flight, and it has taken off at least an hour late every night for the last week, except once. Last night it took off more than three hours late. So I’m worried we’ll be sitting on the tarmac trapped on an airplane, or camped out at the gate waiting to board, and I won’t get any sleep, and on top of that we’re basically going to lose a day of our trip.

I know, I sound like Mitt Romney, or some other member of the 1%. “Good heavens, our flight to Paris will be delayed!” Many people would be glad to have such a problem.

But still, the anxiety exists and it won’t go away.