On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 16:15:38 GMT, (Jayjay) wrote:

On 19 Sep 2003 12:08:30 -0400, Wendy Marsden
wrote:


The mid-atlantic coast. :-) Seriously, we're going to spend the week-end
in the D.C. area. My FIL just called to say, "you're not really going,
are you?" I replied, "We laugh in the face of danger. Ha ha ha!"

Wendy


well - the "danger" is gone now... its just the cleanup. I haven't
seen the news yet to see how bad the DC area got hit... So - here's
hoping all is well and safe and you get to have fun.

There's certainly no danger now, but there are a lot of annoyances.
Today my office was pretty much shut down, so we went out and did
stuff, where we ran into all kinds of idiosyncracies:

a) Tried to meet friends at a restaurant for lunch. They were closed
because their power had been off until right about noon, and it would
take them another hour or two to be ready to open. Went to another
restaurant (which was mobbed because all the people whose power was
out were going out to eat).

b) Went to clothing store where my friend picked out several things to
buy. They'd just opened and we were the first customers, and when the
cashier went to ring up Mary Anne's things the computer didn't work
because it had rebooted during the night. They just wrote down her
credit card number and let her take them.

c) Tried to go shop at Loehmann's, and the whole shopping center was
closed due to no power.

d) Went to Gold's Gym for massages with Ahmed. They were open but had
no running water so the toilets didn't work. We really wanted to go
before our massages, and tried the McDonald's and Shell Station across
the street, but neither had working toilets. (I probably shouldn't
admit this, but we just went back to Gold's and broke into the stall
with the loose latch and pee'd in the toilet, even though we couldn't
flush.)

e) Tried to eat at favorite sushi place in Fairfax on the way home,
but it was closed due to water problems. (In Fairfax they have
running water but say it might be contaminated so you have to boil it
first. Some restaurants are open, some aren't.) Went to another
place instead (also mobbed).

Minor, in the scheme of things, but it's not business as usual. We
are fortunate at my house. We never lost power, lost only a section
(though a big one) of one tree, and have no water problems. Many of
my friends have more damage and still have no power.

Chris