Come On Irene - Post Hurricane

Hurricane Irene, the ninth cyclonic maritime storm to be identified and tracked this year in the U.S., had made landfall late last week. It has since bounced back out into the Atlantic Ocean and garnered a new trajectory, NYC. Before she hit the area early yesterday morning, various computer models and many a dolled-up meteorologist warned the public without inciting panic. These well-calculated and timely reports transformed Irene from a bloated and uncontrollable monster into a manageable pain-in-the-arse.Of course in retrospect, it seems all of the alarms were for naught. However, people need to understand that it is because everyone was expecting worse, that worse did not happen. Now I am not trying to state that everybody is fine. Everybody is not fine. In fact, there are many of the local population that are scanning through their insurance papers, hoping and praying that they are covered for floods. Most of these people, unfortunately, will be crushingly disappointed.But there is a silver lining to this black cloud; they are alive. As you can see in the pictures above, streets were emptied well before and after Irene spun through. This means that police, fire, and EMS were able to navigate the concrete canyons and asphalt jungles with ease. These selfless personell helped those in need exactly when they needed it. Any emergency responder can tell you that response time makes all the difference.Thankfully, I did not test said response time this past weekend. In the local areas surrounding my neighborhood, mandatory evacuation orders were handed down. Residents vacated their homes; businesses boarded up shop windows and recoiled, hoping their preparations were enough to assure their continued livelihood. All I had to do to prepare is fill up my two liter growler of beer (from The Ginger Man), top off my car's fuel tank, pick up two breakfasts (one for Saturday, one for Sunday), pull my grill in from the squalls, and boot up my Playstation 3 with all the Blu-ray and Netflix goodness that is included.This weekend was so relaxing that I felt up to confront the passing storm. So yesterday afternoon, I got into my snow boots, donned my extreme weather jacket, secured my personal electronics, and ventured out. By the time I got to my street corner, I found myself in two interesting situations; I was not the only one out and I was the most excessively dressed. To my amazement, Irene let up so much that people were out biking, running, walking dogs, and even playing with their children. I even saw a woman in an interesting black and white cocktail dress, walking the streets of my town. Also the footwear of choice was flip-flops.Immediately I found myself at ease. I unzipped my jacked and captured all of the images you see in the above gallery. What did I learned at the end of all of this? A hurricane in NYC is very rare and always dangerous. I am just happy to see the sun again.