Category: Manhattan

We Survived Hurricane Irene

… and Probably Should Get the t-shirt to express the survival.

Thankfully not so bad; we fared okay.

New Yorkers insist on grumbling, of course.

Look, I’m not going to second-guess the order to evacuate the coastal areas of the city or whether MTA didn’t need to shut down service. Hurricane Irene could have been a disaster and we got lucky. And, I’m glad to not have to hear about people trapped in Battery Park City or Coney Island or the Rockaways, or stuck in flooded subways or blown away on the elevated lines. Better to be safe than sorry – I’ll agree with the mayor on that.

Check MTA for subway service updates for Monday. Looks like service is expected to be up by 6am.

Pretty amazed – fascinating footage from AP, via NPR’s news blog. So the island of Manhattan was pretty unscathed; downtown was gushing with water during the height of Irene, but Times Square still glittered w/ lights, even if a people-less. Ah well.

Come On Irene

At least the hype (hopefully hype) is exciting. I even got kicked out of the office early, but I work in Zone A, which got ordered a mandatory evacuation and the building’s landlord was turning off the electricity at 5pm.

The following embedded video was from a friend of mine, MW. I share it as a mild form of hokey entertainment for us Triscribers. Better that than to freak out.

Hope for the best, after all!

In case you (still) need to check what zone you’re in: check the interactive map.

As I note over at my other blog, all the libraries in the city are closed this weekend.

Also, no subways after 12pm on Saturday (check the MTA on that). Of course, this means that, on the bright side, the mayor’s not going to tell us to take on a Broadway show. Stay safe! (and dry?)

Oh, and don’t forget – have a manual can opener, if you’re going to have all that canned food this weekend. Just sayin’.

Follow Up: Lawrence Block Reading/Signing

Last post on Lawrence Block was here, referring to Ken Tucker posting at Entertainment Weekly about Block’s appearance on the Craig Ferguson show.

Thursday night – went to Partners & Crime for Lawrence Block’s book reading/signing.  I had a great time!  The reading and the Q&A were terrific; and I admired how Block was pretty even-handed about the e-book development (at least, from what I could tell; he was right about how the development is still not clear, especially about pricing, but it has been great for bringing back older books). 

In addition to signing my purchased copy of his A Drop of the Hard Stuff (the latest Matthew Scudder book, but apparently a good entry for new Scudder readers – which would include me, since I’m behind on many things), Block signed my copy of Telling Lies for Fun & Profit!  I can’t stop highly recommending this book, not just because it’s such a great title, but because there are great fiction writing tips. Block did say, though, that he felt Spider, Spin Me a Web was the better writing book, because it goes deeper into writing topics; either way, his tips are good stuff and he’ll be issuing more compilations of his Writer’s Digest columns (I think in ebook format).  Yay!

I’m eager to read the Scudder book – the Block tone is rich stuff as I noted previously, after reading The Girl With the Long Green Heart. 

See here for Amazon’s Lawrence Block page.

Plus, it never ceases to me how much great stuff is at Partners & Crime; I haven’t been there in so long, but I can’t seem to leave without buying something. Ah, those unique Lower Manhattan bookstores…

(cross-posted on sswslitinmotion.tumblr.com)