Anyone here live on the East Coast? I live around Trenton NJ.....about 45 miles inland.

I was up till midnight last nite and watched the TV coverage on Irene. There were the formulaic obligatory shots of the reporters leaning against the wind(with their hoods removed). One guy was complaining that the sand and water were stinging his face. Hey stupid put your hood on. I guess it wouldn't be as dramatic if he did.

I get the impression that this storm was a bust, "newswise". They wanted dead people floating in the streets, boats and home debris floating out to sea and at least one uprooted tree in every back yard. They had to be satisfied with things like pictures of NY City deserted. I was so moved, I almost lost my breakfast. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. How about the reporter walking down a street with, get this, water up to his ankles. I understand that could be dangerous if you unlucky to get mugged, knocked unconcious and fell face down. How about the Rhodes Scholar who pointed out a sign that was hanging loose. He was concerned it would break free and go flying across the street, except for the fact that the strongest winds had already passed and one would have diffculty getting a kite off the ground at that moment.

This stuff would be comical if it weren't serious.

I'm not making light of this. There are tons of people who will be without power for a considerable time and there are probably people who died and were injured. If you live on the coast, You might have incurred losses.

As for my location, the storm center passed about 30 miles east on its way north. I've seen more damage after a severe summer thunderstorm. Last nite, the power went off twice for a combined total of about 6 seconds. We got lucky.

I just heard a tv reporter sigh and admit the storm wasn't as severe as they expected.

I think we might see the sun in 3 or 4 hous.