It is about 2pm Eastern on Tuesday, October 30, and I am writing this from our apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. I wanted to post a quick update for family, friends, and colleagues: we are all doing fine.
Julie, our seven-month-old son Fitz, Mr. Charlie Ketchup (our Yorkshire Terrier), my parents, and I are safe and together. My parents live nearby in the same neighborhood, and everyone is doing fine.
We don’t have electricity, and AT&T mobile phone service is not working here in Hoboken either. The combination of no power and no cell service makes you feel pretty cut off from the world. Right now I am able to get online briefly through a Verizon Wireless mobile hotspot device running on battery, which is how I am posting this. I will log off shortly to conserve what power I have left.
Hoboken is a small city, about one square mile, sitting right on the Hudson River across from Manhattan. Hurricane Sandy has hit the area hard. From what we can tell with limited information, there is significant flooding across town. We are taking precautions and keeping an eye on things.
Fitz, at seven months old, seems to sense that something is off. Children pick up on these things. Mr. Charlie Ketchup is less calm, but managing. My parents are taking it in stride. Julie and I are just glad everyone is under one roof and safe.
With no electricity and no phone service, we have been spending our time the way people used to spend all their time: talking, reading books, and being together. I have also been using the quiet hours to work on my book, a guide for CTOs that I have been meaning to write for a while now. It turns out that a hurricane is an effective way to clear your schedule.
These are things I should be doing regularly even when there is no storm. Spending time with family, reading, writing. It should not take a hurricane to remind me, but here we are.
I am going to sign off now and save the remaining battery. If you are trying to reach us by phone, it probably will not go through. We are fine. I hope everyone else in the path of this storm is safe too.
Update, November 3: Power has been restored. It is good to be back on the grid.
Update, November 5: Hoboken was hit hard by Sandy. If you are looking for a way to help, the Rebuild Hoboken Relief Fund is doing real work to support our neighbors and our town.