Wind Storm '06

Well, we hunkered down and rode out the worst storm to hit the Puget Sound since January 1993. Between fat splats of rain (that caused flooding at major intersections and drowned one woman trapped in her basement office) and winds that clocked in near 90 mph on the coast, over 1.2 million people were without power starting Thursday night. Many areas won't be back online for days, due to the multitude of trees that ripped out of the ground and took down power lines, poles and transformers. Meanwhile, the temps are hovering around freezing. (AP Photo/The Daily World, Kevin Hong - More photos at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website)

It's a mess.

We are lucky. We lost our power during the worst part of the storm, about 2AM Friday morning, and spent a cold Friday night in the family room with our comforters and warm dog. We got our juice back on about 2:30PM Saturday, at the same time as the majority of Westwood shopping center. Still, there are huge chunks of West Seattle without power, in seemingly random patterns. Of course, the combination of holiday shopping fever and no power or heat at home means that EVERYBODY in West Seattle must go eat out, so parking and even finding a restaurant with power is an interesting lottery of sorts.

Aside: on Friday evening, I took the kids to Bamboo Grill on Alki, and saw the last woman I dated (back in March). She was having dinner at the bar with a guy friend, and once or twice when we caught each other's eye, I smiled and/or waved a friendly hello. I know she recognized me, but sadly she was in new-boyfriend mode, and made no effort to return the greeting. Sigh. Whatever. Not like I was investing a lot in the gesture, but it's usually nice to reciprocate.

These storm/disaster situations tend to bring out the extremes of human nature: people are either really nice (thank you Lisa at Ellott Bay pub!), or they devolve into complete assholes, cutting in gas lines (wait your turn like everyone else), rolling through dark intersections (if there's no light, treat it like an all-way stop), or just generally being a self-centered whiny bitch (hey, you know we're all going through this together, so chill out and be a part of the solution, not part of the problem).

Anyway, we're safe, warm and dry, and I replaced the food in the fridge today (when in doubt, throw it out). So we're infinitely better off than some of my friends out in Bothell or Kirkland or Federal Way, who are still without power and/or heat, and dealing with some VERY cold nights.

Be safe, all.

* * *

Oh, and lest we forget, with all the wind-blowing and power-outing, Peter Boyle just died. Sing it with me:

"Tryin' mighty hard to look like Gary Cooper..."

"THOOOPER DOOOOOPER!"

Fair winds, you beautiful monster.