It’s day 6 for us without power.  I finally got a chance to update this blog post now that I found a spot with wireless internet access.  It’s been an interesting week, to say the least.  We lost our power from downed tree limbs and fallen utility poles back on Saturday, around 3pm.  Winter storm Alfred has pretty much devastated the region, creating power outages incomparable to anything we have ever experienced.  As far back as I can remember, we never had a loss of power for longer than a day or two.  The storm was just a freak occurrence for our area.  It’s highly unusual to get a “Noreaster” snowstorm with 6-24 inches of snow during the middle of fall (when the tree limbs are already wet, but not yet frozen through).  The meteorologists in the state predicted this one very accurately, yet enough planning or provisions were made to handle all of the downed lines and tree limbs that this storm caused.  Just two months ago the area was devastated in part by Hurricane Irene.

In the end, we’ll live! We of course gripe about going a week with no power, but I’m just happy all of our friends and family are safe and healthy. Tough times like this just prepare you better for times ahead.

By day 3 without power, you pretty much have had it.  No heat, hot water, no TV, and you’re starting to get tired of cooking all of your meals on a gas grill.  The power and lights being out is something I can personally deal with, but being trapped in my home and neighborhood was really trying.  We felt like we were stuck in the middle of a deserted war zone or something.  Downed tree limbs and intertwined power lines blocking both ends stopped us from even getting our cars out. Even still, one of the sides of our street is still blocked, and awaits repair.  We have a feeling we will have gone a good 10 days before everything is back up.  Who knows how long it will be before our internet access is working, if the phone lines are down as well.  It’s a mess, pretty unexpected and definitely one of those stories we’ll be sharing with our grandchildren someday!  Good old winter storm Alfred.  I can’t emphasize enough how much the simple things you take for granted are appreciated, when you go through a long power outage.  A hot shower.  Watching a movie or the local news.  Lights instead of candles.

Work is pretty much at a standstill for me until we get turned back on, but I’m not complaining I’m viewing this as a free week to deal with the mental, physical and emotional fatigue of Alfred.

Recently, I stopped at the local town library to borrow one of the seasons of LOST dvds that I hadn’t watched in a while.  I usually just use the local RedBox, but seeing I was passing by, I figured I’d run in and get all the disks in one shot.  We pay taxes, and that’s what these places are supported by anyway.  Plus, if you return the videos late they get $1 per day per dvd out of you anyways.  Anyway, I was treated pretty rudely by a middle aged woman working there.  I’m a happy go lucky type of guy, waiting patiently at the counter for assistance for a good 2 minutes or so.  The lady was sitting way off to the side, and I presumed she was not working that same area.  She was over at the reference desk, or something.  The fact I was just standing there quietly made her wise-alecky off the bat, when she finally noticed me standing there.

She remarked, “You know… I’m not going to know you’re standing there unless you say something.”

“Oh, that’s okay – I’m not in a rush, no problem”, I replied. It wasn’t a big deal, I mean – I was standing there for only 2 minutes, not 20.  Gosh.  She then proceeded to check out my items, only to notice that I had six dvd’s, and I guess five is the limit per person.  Do you think she was going to let that one slide?  No way, she went to town on me.

“You know, you are only allowed five videos per visit,” in a pretty snotty voice.  I can imagine her getting even hotter with annoyed anger towards me, inside.  I’m thinking, “Oh crap, now look what I went and did.  I poked the sleeping lion with a stick, and I’m the one wearing T-Bone steak underwear.”

“Oh, no problem – my mistake.  Here, I’ll take this one out – I’ll be right back, let me return it back to the shelf so you guys don’t have to later.” I know how much of a pain it is to return library items to their places.  I used to do it when I volunteered there.  So I ran it back, and then returned to the desk.  Ding round three.

“You know you have a late fee due on the following items…” I’m pretty sure they didn’t have my face up on a wanted poster in the back room for this violation.  I didn’t have the cash on me, so I asked if I could pay it next time.

“Yes, you can pay it whenever you’d like.”

In the meantime an older woman that looked like she was around 85 butts in, “Are those DEE VEE DEE’s?”

“Yes, they are,” I responded.  By this point I’m thinking to myself, “Good lord… what am I in the twilight zone or something?”  Little old lady goes, “I have one of those machines and I don’t even know how it works!”  I just smiled.  I’m usually a conversationalist but seeing that I was just trying to get in and out of my encounter with miss thang, I didn’t engage.

The librarian checked my items out, and then proceeded to explain the expiration date and late fee arrangement on the items, yada yada, talking down to me like it was the first time I had ever visited a library.  I killed her with kindness at that point, even more – “thank you very much.  You take care now.”  The look on her face was so funny.  It’s like she was thinking, “Why is this guy being so friendly to me, after I just treated him like a piece of crap?”  Kill people with kindness the next time they are rude to you.  It will either A: piss them off more, B: confuse the heck out of them, or C: change their attitude around entirely.

The whole time I was standing at the counter, not being attended to, I was actually waiting patiently for another librarian I was friendly with, who was in the back room talking on the phone.  I used to work at this same library as a volunteer, back when I was younger.  The library director even knows me, and we always chat it up when I bump into him.  I wonder if this new grumpy lady would have treated me differently if I had started name dropping?  I just got a kick out of how irritated she seemed.  It was like straight up DMV employee or postal worker syndrome.  You have to give people the benefit of the doubt, because they could be going through some really tough time in their life.  You never know what you’re about to experience when you’re dealing with the general public.  I’ve worked those customer service retail positions for years, and believe you me, I could probably write a behavioral psychology book just on the people I’ve met.

Dear miserable employees of the world… please just try to smile.  It goes a long way.  Cheese up from the feet up! Please lay off drinking your daily six pack of haterade.  I’m not the reason your baby daddy left you, and isn’t paying his child support.  I also wasn’t the one that hit your cat with my Pontiac.  I’m sorry life has dished you such a terrible job, with crappy pay, but that doesn’t make it my fault, is it?  Take a deep breath, remember to be thankful that you still have a job in this tough economy, and try and be at least a little courteous.  You don’t have to bubble forth or even make small talk with me, but that would be fine too.  If you really hate your job so much, try and start taking the steps to find something better.  If you can’t afford to go to school, keep on looking until you find something else.  Let your hatred for your existing position motivate you!  I know that’s what I did – back when I was working my college job.  You are actually in control of your own life, as dreamy and amazing as that might sound.

Remember, kids – if you enjoy your job, be thankful.  If you don’t, you should still try be nice to people.  Turn that frown upside down! The golden rule, and whatnot – it’s pretty legit.  Stick to it, and live a happier life.  Cheerfulness is contagious.  Generally, most people around you will even be easier to deal with, if you just smile.

That’s my public service message for 2010 – maybe for 2011 I’ll talk about the importance of spaying and neutering your pets.  Nah, we’ll leave that one to Bob Barker and Drew Carey.  And watch out for the angry rabid geese.

This is a summer thunderstorm rolling through the neighborhood on a muggy, humid summer evening. My wife caught multiple bolts of lightning in this clip. In the background you can hear our stressed out beagle dog panting and walking around the room. I was trying to catch some still shots of the lightning on my Canon 40D at the same time. The best display of lightning is around 00:38 of this clip if you want to fast forward to the best part Enjoy

Out of any other area of the US, New England probably sensationalizes the weather and forecast the most.  A few days prior to this we had a rash of tornados that popped up around the area, causing multiple downed trees.  Driving through a local town we spotted sights like this:

Not cool.

Below are some screen grabs from the video, as well as a few I crappily captured hand held with my DSLR.  To do lightning right, you need to have excellent timing, a slow enough shutter, and a sturdy tripod.

Scenes like these are everywhere in Vermont.  Gorgeous and untouched mountains, rivers, countryside and forests.

We stumbled upon Hogback Mountain and I captured these panoramic shots.

One more thing you can expect to find in VT is incredible beer!  There are tons of microbrewers including Magic Hat, Long Trail, Otter Creek, Harpoon, and McNeill’s.  Be sure to stock up on the brands not available in your area, before you head back home.

These portraits of us were taken at the river just underneath the Dummerston covered bridge.

I just found out that Mount Snow, Vermont is using this shot of the historic Dummerston covered bridge on their postcard to suggest things to do and see in the area during the “off season” for skiing.

Check out MountSnow.com for all sorts of affordable activities and local area attractions.  They are so much more than just skiing!

Another Photoshop video tutorial by Robert Mizerek.   This is a good one for this time of year.  Here Bob illustrates how to use an adjustment layer to turn a green tree into a “fall” looking tree with bright autumn foliage.  Right now in New England the trees have all peaked, and the leaves are falling.  If you have shots of trees or landscapes from the summer, you can still make them look bright and amazing.   The Miz’s photoshop video tutorials are always a great resource to all photographers, graphic designers, and Photoshop users alike.

Author: Robert Mizerek