Parkland Shooting 2018

It's really a horror that it's been 6 years since Newton shooting and this is still happening all the time.

Justice Scalia Passed Away 2016

I don't usually talk about news items on the blog. I certainly didn't know Justice Antonin Scalia personally, so I debated writing about his passing. However, it's been very much on my mind for the last few days. Justice Scalia was the most conservative justice on the Supreme Court and as such, I've never agreed with him on much. Nonetheless, I was saddened to hear he passed away for a number of reasons. Of course, I was sad because he was a person, not just a Court opinion, and of course I'm very sorry for his family.

Also, although he went to Harvard Law, he was formerly a UVA Law professor and he remained loyal and helpful to UVA. I saw him speak at UVA Law in 2008 and while I vehemently disagreed with the content of his talk, I was still grateful that a Justice of the highest court had come to talk with us and that I was able to go. I also saw him in Supreme Court Oral Arguments, twice. Once while I was a college student at GW and once while I was in law school. He was intense! Better to live out your convictions than to sit silently.

Justice Scalia  giving a talk at UVA Law in 2008 (with Dean Jeffries)

In 2006, someone got him to briefly participate in a skit via video recording for the Libel Show. It was really funny. And how awesome that he did that for us?

 

Justice Scalia in the Libel Show 2006

Justice Scalia has also had a number clerks that were UVA Law students. One of these students was my friend Donald who had the huge honor of clerking for Scalia in 2012. But more than that, Donald and his wife Sarah got to know him personally and he was always kind to them. Scalia also had yearly events for his clerks so everyone stayed in touch through the years. I'm truly sad for them to lose him in both a professional and personal capacity.

Donald and Sarah at the Supreme Court on a weekend in 2012

when Donald was still clerking. Sarah was pregnant with William.

Last weekend, Donald also participated in the ceremonies where Scalia is in repose in the Supreme Court while the public is invited to pay their respects. President Obama and the First Lady also came to pay their respects right before Donald was slated to stand at the casket. The First Lady looked noticeably teary-eyed, and it was really moving to see real affection between public servants despite opposite politics in such a politically divisive time. Both Donald and Sarah, and a number of UVA Law professors attended the wake and funeral.

Scalia's former clerks on the steps of the Court as casket is brought in on Friday (on CNN/CSPAN)

Which is all to say that I am very sorry for the Scalia family, so many people in my law school community, and Donald and Sarah in particular.

Boston Marathon Bombing 2013

The Boston bombing was truly horrific. It's so sad for all of our country. I'm so glad that the amazing first responders, doctors, and nurses saved a 100 wounded people. That's truly amazing.

Please take a look at the videos if you haven't already and see if you can identify the FBI's suspects: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/boston-marathon-explosions-map/index.html

And if you can, give blood! We're planning our next appointment soon.

Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting 2012

We were so deeply saddened by the horrific loss of so many lives this Friday in Newtown, Connecticut. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the 20 children and 7 adults who were killed and the community of Newtown. Everyone I know has cried again and again for the families. My friends and I are of the age when some of us understand personal loss, and some of us understand what it means to be a parent. The loss of a child is an unspeakable horror. I hope that our country does whatever it takes to protect our children in the future.

Updated Diary of a Refugee 2012

We're home! Our place had no power for a total of 7 days, luckily we were able to spend 5 of those at Ash's place.

Day 1: Monday, October 29th
In Long Island, Superstorm Sandy produced up to 75 mile-per-hour gusts. At our place, we lost power around 2 p.m. on Monday, and for some reason it clicked back on around 5:30 p.m. I cleaned the entire apartment after the power went out. We cleverly ordered pizza for dinner before our neighborhood lost power. We were in high spirits and James entertained us at night by singing and dancing.

Day 2: Tuesday, October 30th

Getting up with James at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning in the dark was not fun. I started getting bored and antsy so we took a walk around the neighborhood. Kevin stood in a long line for some Dunkin Donuts coffee. That evening I started getting cold and we knew the temperature was dropping. We had cold spaghetti for dinner because our stove is electric not gas. There was less dancing Tuesday night and more huddling for warmth. I wrote more about Monday and Tuesday here.

Blackout dinner: Cold spaghetti by dinner

Day 3: Wednesday, October 31st
Wednesday afternoon we drove up to Ash's house. We heard news of the devastation in the area for the first time. We saw crazy mile-long lines for gas in New Jersey. It was Halloween so we dressed up James and let him run around. Ash's parents are also staying with her because they lost power. Ash made us an awesome hot meal for dinner.

Those are not tiger feet!

Day 4: Thursday, November 1st
Ash didn't have to go to work today, but because she had 5 noisy people staying with her she wasn't able to sleep Wednesday night, and spent some time making up for that on Thursday. I got up with James at 5 a.m. and we did our thing, and Kevin got up a little later and went hiking in Sterling Forest. When he got back, Kevin, James, and I walked around the main street, but most places didn't have power so we came back without actually going inside anywhere.

In Ash's backyard

Day 5: Friday, November 2nd
Ash's birthday! Sadly, she had to go to work so we missed her for most of the day. We tried going to the main street again, but places still didn't have power so we went to the grocery store and picked up some supplies and birthday goodies. I wrote more about Ash's birthday here.

Chilling with Ash on her birthday

Day 6: Saturday, November 3rd
Kevin tried to get gas, and despite waiting in two lines, he wasn't able to get any. Now we were worried that even if we got power back, we'd have no gas to actually get back. I didn't worry for too long though because Ash and I had plans to go to a spa and get sushi. Yay!

The Clous squeezed into the guest bathroom (Ash thought it was funny)

Day 7: Sunday, November 4th
This morning was  the end of daylight savings.  You know what's worse than the end of daylight savings with a toddler who will want to get up an hour earlier according to the clock? The end of daylight savings when you're a staying with a friend because you lost power in a storm. True story.

James coping with the end of Daylight Savings time

Kevin successfully got gas in the morning, so he relaxed by going hiking in Sterling Forest again. We walked to Main Street again and this time some of the places were finally open. We got a call from our neighbor that power came back, but we decided to stay through the day to spend more time with Ash. Kevin, Ash, James, and I went to Pennington Farm.

Ash trying to train James to be a stair gargoyle

Days 8-9: Monday, November 5th- Tuesday, November 6th
And on Monday we were back in our place with power, heat, cable, and internet! Hurray!

No one is happier than Harley. James chased him every day yelling, "Cat! Cat!"

Tuesday was a normal day with no natural disasters.

Days 10-11: Wednesday, November 7th- Thursday, November 8th

Except, then the Nor'easter hit us on Wednesday, and we lost power and heat in the middle of the night. It was cold in our apartment without heat, so Thursday afternoon James and I went to stay with my mom. Of course, the power came back as soon as we got to my mom's. 

At Nana's on Friday

Days 12-13: Friday, November 9th- Saturday, November 10th

Kevin came to get us on Friday and I was home for a few hours before I left for Girls' Weekend on Saturday morning.

In 13 days, I was able to be at home with power all day for 3 or 4 of those days (depending on whether you count last Friday or not since I could have been home but wasn't).

Superstorm Sandy 2012

In Long Island, Superstorm Sandy produced up to 75 mile-per-hour gusts. At our place, we lost power around 2 p.m. on Monday, and for some reason it clicked back on around 5:30 p.m., giving us about 30 minutes to do all the things that I regretted not doing when we lost power at 2 p.m. I made some pasta, checked email, recharged our phone again. We had bought a radio, but we didn't check it before the storm, and it was broken. So after 5:30 when we lost power, heat, and phone we had no connection to the outside world except for text messages, but we were trying to save the charge. We had no idea about the devastation that was happening in the East Coast.

We were in pretty good spirits on Monday because we had bought a lot of food in preparation and it was pretty warm inside the apartment (as well as outside). I spent my power-free time cleaning the entire place and feeling pretty good about my productivity. In the evening, James entertained us by singing (sort of) and dancing (totally). After he went to bed, we had a nice evening of drinking wine and chatting.

How to entertain a toddler in a blackout, Monday night

But things were getting kind of old on Tuesday. Getting up with James at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning in the dark was not fun. I had to juggle a flashlight and his breakfast, and him, and there was no entertainment or even light for reading, beyond the flashlight. It wasn't light out until 7:30, and I was too bored and tired to wait until James's nap so I woke up Kevin to take over until naptime. On Tuesday we were antsy to get out so we took a walk around the neighborhood. That's when we realized it might be a long time before we got power back. And the temperature was dropping.

In front of our home

On our block

Power lines in the street

A prepared local business

In our neighborhood

More trees down in our neighborhood

A tree that hit a house

It was really cold Tuesday night, and we decided that we should probably go somewhere Wednesday. My mother lost power too, so we couldn't go there. Ash had generously invited us over even though her parents were already staying with her, so Wednesday afternoon we drove up. Driving around, some places had traffic lights and other places didn't.  We saw crazy mile-long lines for gas in New Jersey.

Gas lines in New Jersey on Route 17 near Ramsey

We listened to the radio in the car, and we heard for the first time that Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane on record by diameter to date, spanning 1100 miles. It's official categorization changed several times in the 5 days it took to travel from the Caribbean through New England. On October 29th it brought the most damage to the Jersey Shore, Lower Manhattan, Staten Island, Coney Island, the Rockaways. In the US, it cost at least $20 billion (but possibly over $50 billion in business interruptions) and at least 97 people died due to the storm. Today we found out that one of those people was a student at Stony Brook and we are so sad about it. I feel so terrible for her family, friends, professors, and the University community.

Wednesday was Halloween, so we let James run around Ash's house in his costume, and my mom was even able to come over and see him so that was fun. We haven't been up to much since then because a lot of stuff in Ash's town is closed due to power loss as well. We're on Day 5 and we still don't have power at home. About 900,000 people lost power in Long Island and 400,000-500,000 still don't have power. The Long Island Power Authority has no real estimate of when we might get power back, though they're guessing next weekend. That is shockingly bad, and we're obviously going to have to figure something out since Kevin has to go back to work on Tuesday, and it's supposed to be 33 degrees. I'm also super nervous because meteorologists are now predicting a winter storm in the Northeast.

Thank goodness Ash is the awesomest friend and hurricane rescue center anyone could ever have. And today is her birthday! For your birthday... you get the Clous... and your parents!...um, forever... sitting on your couch. Happy birthday, Ash!

Hurricane Sandy is Coming 2012

The local media is all abuzz about Hurricane Sandy hitting New York, but no one here seems especially worried. Probably because Hurricane Irene was a hyped last year, and all that really happened in our neighborhood was some damage from trees and a power outage. (We lose power a lot in our neighborhood so we're kind of used to that.)

The Mayor is closing the subway and Long Island Rail Road tonight at 7 p.m., though that did not stop my husband from going into the city today to watch football with the guys. Ah, priorities. If he gets stuck there, James and I will be very displeased with him.

The Mayor also declared some areas of the city as mandatory evacuation zones, but I'm not really sure what that means since I don't think they actually force anyone to evacuate. We're not near the coastline so we're nice cozy here. But we almost always lose power, so if you don't hear from me, that's why.

New York City and Long Island Evacuation Zones

Post-Hurricane Irene 2011

In one week, James had his first earthquake and his first hurricane.  Though technically, by the time it reached us, Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm.  James was less well-behaved for the hurricane than he was for the earthquake.

Even though Hurricane Irene didn't reach Long Island until sometime around 9 a.m. on Sunday, the strong winds that had began Saturday evening.  We took the air conditioners out of the windows sealed everything tight and kept the fans circulating air until we lost power at 3 a.m. Sunday morning.  Most people wouldn't even notice losing power at that hour but I got up with the baby several times that evening.  He had a sleepover with us in our room in his play and pack, so that in case there was some damage to the house, he would be in rescuing distance.  I kept looking out the window all night and it was strangely eerie, almost how I would expect a movie to depict the time before a tornado.  That's why at 5 a.m. when I got a phone call that there was a tornado watch, I nearly jumped out of my skin.  Thankfully, there was no tornado.

A tree in our neighborhood didn't make it

Without power and thus no air conditions or fans it was hot hot hot. My guess was that it was quite comfortable outside but we didn't dare go outside or open any windows until we were certain everything was over. I think we were more cautious than we would have been if not for the baby.  Thank goodness for the battery pack on the breastmilk pump, since James refuses to breastfeed, and going cold turkey on feeding/pumping can result in mastitis and other medical complications.  We had no news of the hurricane except for some limited lookups on Kevin's phone because we didn't want to use up the power. We didn't know how long we'd be without electricity, so we tried to not even open the refrigerator. We had cranked the cooling up to high the night before because we were expecting to lose power and wanted to keep the food as cold as possible.  Luckily we had power back on by dinner time so we were able to make a hot dinner. Sadly, we lost power again RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JERSEY SHORE. So sad. So terribly sad.

We were lucky though because many homes in Long Island still don't have power.  In retrospect, I wish we had had this emergency radio so we would have known what was going on outside.  In a more serious emergency, or a longer one, relying on one cell phone would have been unideal.  Also, I didn't know the time all day. That's a minor issue, but one that a cheap wristwatch would have cured. (When  did everyone stop wearing watches? Definitely in the last decade.) Finally, I wish I'd made some food in advance that we would have been happy to eat for dinner if we hadn't gotten the power back. We had sensible hurricane supplies like milk, bread, cold cuts, and peanut butter (and of course wine and beer) but really none of that sounded appealing for dinner.  Next time I'd make or order some food the day before that works well as cold leftovers.

Tree close-up

Hurricane Irene is Coming 2011

It's only raining a little bit right now, but we've been watching the progress of Hurricane Irene all day. We did the mandatory beer and wine shopping, and Kevin took out our air conditioners to seal the windows. I even vacuumed because I won't be able to if we lose the power, which will almost definitely happen since we've lost power in much smaller storms. We survived Hurricane James today (he was screaming all day from teething and took no naps), and he is now peacefully asleep in our room, so we can watch him during the storm.

Irene is scheduled to go directly over our town with 67-74 mile per hour winds. Nonetheless, we're not in an evacuation zone, so we're comfy on the couch with our aforementioned beer and wine. We have friends in similar situations in New York City, who aren't in evacuation zones, but are close to them, or close to the water, so we're hoping things go relatively smoothly for everyone. Especially since New York public transit was shut at noon today, so moving around once the storm begins isn't going to be possible. Not that getting on an underground subway was really going to work in torrential rains anyway. When we lived in Brooklyn, our subway stop would flood in the lightest drizzle.

Anyway, since we're bound to lose power, I'm going to leave you with one of Kevin's posts, in case we're offline for a few days. Stay tuned for the next post.

Changes, Tectonic and Otherwise 2011

Tuesday was my last day of maternity leave and my last day with my law firm. I went into the office to sort out a few things with human resources. It was a little bitter sweet. I started working there in September of 2008, but since I also summered there in 2007, I've had a relationship with many of the people there for four years (some, whom I went to law school with, for even longer). I hope to stay in touch with some people, but everyone there is so busy that I'm not sure to what extent that will happen. My plan is to stay home with the baby for a little while and then find a slightly more family-friendly job.

With coworkers Victoria and Brian after passing the NY Bar in 2008

On my way back home from the office there was a 5.9 earthquake in Mineral, Virginia, that was felt in New York, and as far up north as Massachusetts. My friend Sarah in Virginia said her whole house rolled for what felt like quite a while. In New York everyone felt shaking and buildings swaying.

Except James and me. We felt nothing at all.

I was underground in Penn Station, and good news-- it's a total fortress. Not one solitary brick moved. The trains didn't even rattle a bit. I only knew an earthquake had taken place because the conversation around me changed from the imminent ten-year anniversary of September 11th to reports of an earthquake in Virginia, and the possible delay of trains while engineers in New York checked the Long Island Rail Road tunnels for aftershock damage. We were only delayed 10 minutes, so my guess is that it wasn't a very thorough check.

James was home on Long Island with Kevin. As Kevin said, "James, who wakes up when a bird flies past the window, slept through his first earthquake." Kevin grabbed him and got under the doorframe in our living room while James continued to snooze peacefully.

James place-holder photo, to be changed after I get photos from my camera ;)

[Update: Decided to keep photo since Michele liked it. Check the next post for a post-earthquake shot.]

Car Bombs and Suspicious Packages 2010

As you know, there was a car bomb plot last Saturday in Times Square. That's not super close to where I work, and lately I work from home on weekends. But there has been a lot of spillover this week. Monday my subway trains were all rerouted and upon arrival my exit was being manned by New York Fireman (these guys are bigger than huge).

And today, Times Square was closed again because of a suspicious package that turned out to be a cooler of water bottles. Which brings to mind an interesting question. Can't we be as "terrorized" by coolers of water as bombs if the intent is to make large numbers of people feel fear (as opposed to killing a smaller number).

In any case, this is the sort of thing that's taking place where I work, and I spend many more hours at work than at home. In fact, in January, there was another bomb scare that took place right next to my office building during working hours that I wrote about here.

Saturday, May 1st, Times Square Car Bomb

Friday, May 7th, Times Square Bomb Scare