Halloween Hurricane

My last post was right before Hurricane Sandy hit. Here's what the Hudson looked like at Dyckman Street (200th St) on Monday the storm hit, before it got really bad.  Of course, I had Charlie in the stroller with me, because he needs to see everything. 

Here's me using the fancy panorama feature on my new iphone for an indecipherable picture. 

We got through the storm without a problem.  The lights briefly flickered a few times, but that was it.  We were very lucky and grateful.  I tried to work from home on Monday and Tuesday, but that's much harder with a 10-month old.  Bloomberg's a business guy, so he was focused on getting business moving again. This meant me sitting on an "express" bus for 2 hours on Wednesday waiting to get through midtown, only to get off 45 blocks from where I needed to be out of frustration.  Thursday and Friday were better, but it was still a crazy week.  The only thing I could compare it to was 9/11, but without all the horror.  I went to the park with Charlie on Saturday after the storm, when it finally opened, and here are some of the trees that fell down. 

Wednesday was Halloween and the annual gathering in the park was moved indoors to a nearby school because the parks were closed.  We had never been to this before, but knew that it was where families go to do Halloween, since trick or treating doesn't really work in the city.  It was incredible and I had never seen anything like it before.  There were tons of people and most everyone was dressed up.  There was a family of four dressed like the Ghostbusters, a dad and son both dressed like Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and more Star Wars characters than I could identify.  (That last part was a lie.)

Charlie was Billy Fucking Idol.  Nilda went as a groupie and I went as a roadie, since it seems parents need to also have costumes at these things.  I had been pushing for something different, but Nilda wasn't going for it.  I'm not sure why, since Lithuanian Porn Star is a perfectly appropriate costume for a 10-month old.  He was a big hit.  

 

Just so everyone knows, Charlie is no longer our sweet, good natured little baby anymore.  That's been replaced by this complaining shit who's just like his parents and needs to be taken into consideration.  By the way, The Heller Theory is making its triumphant return to the Sidewalk Cafe this Thursday, November 8, at 9:00 pm.  Come out and party like it's still 1999.