The Crippling Blizzard of '16

[Helene2013]

I understand better for the garbage removal now. Thanks.

Yep...you've had a challenging week and it is something! Hoping not too much damaged in your things. The better you can get there, the better chance of saving the stuff from snow, debris, etc.

Good luck.

[Crankin]

Hope your stuff is not destroyed.

[ny biker]

I think maybe I got lucky. I just spoke with someone at the storage facility who said that the damage is limited to a small area and only a few units are affected. And it happened in a different part of the building from where my storage unit is. Right now they are only allowing people to access their units during office hours, as a safety precaution. I'll try to visit in a few days just to check things out. But overall it is good news -- I was worried that I would either have to scramble to move my stuff out quickly or have to deal with the hassle of an insurance claim. I'm happy to not have to do either of those things!!

Meanwhile, the cleanup continues slowly. I think my experience has been pretty typical of most people in this area -- slowly waiting for the snow to be cleared from streets, sidewalks, bus stops, crosswalks, parking lots, etc. Some roads are still unplowed, most are "passable" but that is not the same as normal. We'll be in a melt-refreeze cycle for the next few days so we'll have to look out for black ice at night when temperatures drop. Things should warm up this weekend -- I'd like to think about going for a bike ride outside but I don't know yet if that will be possible.

[shootingstar]

Good luck whenever you can do a bike ride NY. Today another employee returned from a cruise ship vacation where ship stopped by NYC. So there was a temporary vehicle ban in NYC because of the impassable roads? Wow, that's serious for a big city.

[OakLeaf]

Ugh NY. Hope your stuff is okay and the snow removal starts moving faster as there's less of it (as opposed to slower as it turns to boulders of solid ice ...). Hang in there.

[emily_in_nc]

Glad to hear that your stuff is probably fine, NY. You have had enough trouble with that storm than to have yet another thing to deal with! Has your garbage been picked up?

[ny biker]

Thanks so much, ladies. The cleanup continues here. They're saying it's the 4th-worst snow storm we've had in the DC area and it is certainly taking time for everyone to get back to normal. The schools were closed every day last week and one county (about 30 miles west of DC, where they got 30" or more) is starting 2 hours late tomorrow. I was out running errands yesterday and found most roads plowed, some multi-lane roads still having lanes cleared and giant snow piles causing significant blind spots at most intersections. It's still very dangerous for pedestrians in many areas.

The very good news is that we're getting several days of warm weather -- 50s or 60s during the day and above freezing through the night. This will help a lot with the clean up. Yay melting!!

My upstairs neighbor is moving out. Since we have trash pickup 6 days per week, the condo rule is that you put stuff out at the curb in securely-tied plastic bags from 6-9 am, and the truck comes through and picks it up during the late morning. Most people realize that this is really quite convenient and are able to abide by the rules. A few folks are too self-absorbed and/or have no problem living in a garbage dump so they put garbage out at night. When this happens the condo association will fine them. Anyway, as the upstairs neighbor has been getting ready to move she has been putting huge piles of trash bags out every night since Wednesday. She did it again last night (Saturday) knowing full well it would sit there for two days. This makes me furious. And there's no excuse for it, she could have put stuff out in the morning instead of at night, she could have made other arrangements for the last few things she needed to toss today, or at least wait until tonight to put it out instead of making her neighbors live with her garbage all weekend.

Since I am powerless over her self-centered behavior, I am trying to convince myself that she would have put stuff out in the mornings throughout the week if the storm had not suspended trash pickup for several days, but given the situation she was overwhelmed and therefore unable to come up with a way to give a crap about her neighbors while getting ready to move.

(I'm also terrified that the next upstairs neighbor will be a loud stomping elephant-walker with a noisy hyper dog, like the one who lived there before this garbage-piler moved in. I don't know the owner/landlord for that apartment but I'm thinking about taping a note for them on the door to request -- beg -- that they not rent to anyone with an energetic dog. Cats are fine, lazy dogs are fine, but the ones that run around a lot are like giant bowling balls rolling back and forth and back and forth and back and forth on my head. I might also offer to buy a new soft-close toilet seat for them, because the last two people who lived there slammed the toilet every single time they used it and it drove me nuts. But I digress.)

I got a late start today but I'm working on getting outside for a quick ride around the neighborhood to enjoy the warm weather while it's here.