For the DC area, I think the media is being over the top because their audience goes all the way from a few inches of rain in the western suburbs of DC to a 15-foot storm surge in Ocean City. And local governments have a responsibility to prepare for the worst. Think back to the superdome in New Orleans.

With Isabel, I lost electricity for 4 days. My neighbors across the street never lost power at all. I was renting a condo at the time, and my landlord, who lived a few miles away, was still in the dark for several days after my power came back on. A co-worker who lived a few miles in another direction had no water for several days. It's so unpredictable and variable.

I just spoke to my mother. Back in the early '90s there was a nor'easter that caused 4-5 feet of water to cover the main roads in and out of my hometown; both my parents wound up abandoning their cars on their way home from work and wading through it. It was the worst flooding in my lifetime there, and I think the worst they've seen, too. Anyway, I told her I thought they should expect the same with this storm, and she totally agreed. They're assuming they will be staying in their house for several days, and that they will lose electricity. The main concern is all the tall, old trees surrounding their house. They've survived a lot of wind up till now, but the last time they had hurricane-force winds there was 30 years ago.

Another thing I'm glad about -- the people who live next door to my parents always keep an eye on them in bad weather.

Something I'm wondering about -- a couple of my cousins work in construction and they're working on the World Trade Center site. One of them is a crane operator. They must be so busy right now trying to secure everything in advance of the storm. Crazy.