So Hurricane Sandy has come and gone. We had lots of wind yesterday, lost a grill off our deck, and had a few large branches fall. But unbelievably, we never lost power except for a quick glitch when dinner was almost ready. We gulped and hadn’t quite caught our breath before the power was back on. I’m still not sure how we kept power, but we did. We lost our Internet, cable and phone around 1:45 in the afternoon, so that kept me from working. Sue’s office was closed but mine was open so I worked all day until I lost that connection. Because I have only a virtual desktop, I have no ability to work remotely without a strong Internet connection.

As of this morning, our Internet connection was still down so I needed to head into the office. I headed in on back roads — highways were still closed when I left but opened up when I was half way in. So, I headed west and headed over to the Interstate to finish my drive in on the highway. Traffic on the newly opened highways was so light; it seemed that most people were working from home or taking the day off. As I got to my office, I realized that about half of my co-workers were home or taking the day off. The parking lot was only partially filled and the desks were practically empty. I’m guessing that a few groups not in proximity to my desk were more filled than my group, mostly based on the fact that many groups cannot work offline like my team can do. We’re mostly working heads down on documentation, others are answering calls from customers. Our work can be done from anywhere with an Internet connection – theirs, not so much.

So when all is said and done, we were very and survived the storm this year with little damage and little stress. Unlike last year, we weren’t outside, surveying the damage almost hourly and all night long. We slept through the night, counting our stars that we were not even close to the damage from last year.

This weekend, we’re hosting a party for Sue’s Mom’s 90th birthday. We have a few relatives from out of town from Sue’s family (two brothers and a nephew and their respective spouses), and our daughter will be in town to help celebrate. While it won’t be a great surprise, it’s the a good chance for family to spend time together and have cousins spend quality time together. We’ll have a great time and it should be a fantastic weekend!