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Thread: Post Xmas Blizzard 2010

  1. #1
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Default Post Xmas Blizzard 2010

    1) Ordered a snow blower, a good one from Sears, due to arrive between 27th & 29th.
    a) Wait, today I get an Email that it is delayed, now the 30th.
    2) We were do to get 12"-19" of snow, crap crap crap why couldn't it hold off until I got the damn snow blower.
    a) Well actually 24"-28" with some nasty drifts.
    b) My mail box got hit by plow, this was my home made one on a long arm to protect it from the damn plows and of course oil trucks. Fixed it real fast, watching out for traffic.
    3) While shoveling and shoveling and shoveling a 40' pine came down, of course it fell on the house. No one injured so that is very good, not near the power lines, also good but it snapped the Fiber Optic cable in two thus no phone, Internet or TV.
    a) The old cable line is about 2' further out, it is not in use of course but that was missed by the tree.
    4) None of the tree guys I called yesterday called back.
    a) Well at least the guy I called today called back, I am now waiting on him.
    5) Verizon FIOS call took 20 minutes to place yesterday, suppose to be out between 8-12 today. So I planned to get out this morning to cut the branched out of the way.

    6) Last night I was dead tired, went to bed before 10am and crashed quick. But all good as I wanted to get up early to clear those tree limbs and carve a path to where the Fiber line goes. My wife wakes me up just after midnight as the Carbon Monoxide alarm is beeping. I get up, find the alarm beeping (did not know it was the CO alarm immediately), went to the would stove that was left open and smoldering so I turned it over a bit and closed it up, let the dog out, let the dog in and then went back to bed where I could not fall back to sleep until around 3am.
    a) Mail box hit again and worse and end of driveway partially filled in.
    7) Little later than I hoped, I got going on the pathway to the driveway from the FIOS area, beat a trail to the shed and dug it open to get the pole saw to clear the branches from the 40' pine tree that snapped my FIOS line and nearly passed out by the time I got back from the shed. Did I mention the snow was 28" deep on average? OK, took a break, got the pole saw in action and found the saw needed some quick repairs. Came back in, shucked winter gear and carried pole to basement shop and tried to add a new wing nut but cheap wing nuts kept snapping in half. Dug up an older, well made one and used that and a good washer to fix the saw blade and then made a quick fix to the locking mechanism. Back up, back into winter gear and saw-saw-saw and realize it is noon. Trudge back in strip out of winter gear ...

    8) Called back Verizon to find out when to expect truck, was no surprised at delay, just wanted a ballpark. Stuck on hold for 20 minutes today, let pass an incoming call as this was happening that of course was the FIOS guy. Kept cutting branches. But once he got here we were up an running by 2pm. Of course still waiting on Tree Guy.

    9) I also widened the end of the driveway as mounds are 6' tall and driveway was narrow. Then lowered the left side mound for improved vision of oncoming traffic.

    So here I am at last relaxing a little and hoping the tree guy shows up or calls.

    This really sucked, my back and most of my muscles hurt.

    Do you have a Blizzard story?

  2. #2
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Oh, Jim, that all sounds just awful, I'm sorry.

    Blizzards suck, we are lucky we haven't had one that's really bad this year, at least not yet. At least this year I won't be making my hour-long commute that turns into 3-4 hours in a blizzard. Once a couple years ago, when I was still commuting with both kids, I left at 4:00 and it took me 5 hours to get home. After about 3 hours on the road, I made it to a McDonald's so at least we could get some food. God, that was awful.

  3. #3
    A Groupie Marsilia's avatar
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    Christmas Day, B&N's server was so stressed by the eleventy-zillion people setting up their Nooks that we had what felt like the whole lot of them in our store starting at 9:00am on the twenty-sixth. By 10:00am, I think something had blown up at the corporate office, because we couldn't get through to Store Support, and the wait time on Customer Service was over an hour. The twenty-seventh, we got an e-mail saying that the blizzards in NYC meant that people had not managed to get to the call center, nor had the people there managed to leave. We were asked not to call them for tech issues, and to just exchange any Nooks we couldn't trouble shoot ourselves.

    As we were out of "classic" Nooks, this was a problem when people had managed to break them right off the bat (or waited until the week after Christmas to bring them in to be fixed). Also problematic was the fact that the manager who knew about the e-mail was having chest pains and numbness in his left arm, and none of the other people in charge believed me when I said "No, we're not supposed to call store support for this kind of thing."

    And, of course, customers trying to set up accounts or buy books didn't really buy that a blizzard in New York had jack all to do with their service issues in Mississippi.
    So, I'll whisper in the dark, hoping you'll hear me.

  4. #4
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    We haven't had any severe storms here, luckily. Just a fairly steady accumulation of snow. I keep worrying a neighbor kid is going to burrow into one of these giant snow berms and die.
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

  5. #5
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Sarahfeena View post
    Oh, Jim, that all sounds just awful, I'm sorry.

    Blizzards suck, we are lucky we haven't had one that's really bad this year, at least not yet. At least this year I won't be making my hour-long commute that turns into 3-4 hours in a blizzard. Once a couple years ago, when I was still commuting with both kids, I left at 4:00 and it took me 5 hours to get home. After about 3 hours on the road, I made it to a McDonald's so at least we could get some food. God, that was awful.
    The only time I had a 5 hour commute from a Blizzard was pre-kids. My wife and I commuted together back then. We drove a long time, maybe three hours and finally made it about half way. We decided to stop for dinner at a place just of the highway I knew. After dinner we got back on the road and made another quarter of the ride and made a stop at a Sears. Oddly we bought a small window AC during a snow storm, it was deeply discounted. I asked if anyone else had bought an AC during a snow storm and the sales clerk said no. We finally made the final drive home and so it was probably around 5-6 hours but with two stops.

    Quote Originally posted by Marsilia View post
    Christmas Day, B&N's server was so stressed by the eleventy-zillion people setting up their Nooks that we had what felt like the whole lot of them in our store starting at 9:00am on the twenty-sixth. By 10:00am, I think something had blown up at the corporate office, because we couldn't get through to Store Support, and the wait time on Customer Service was over an hour. The twenty-seventh, we got an e-mail saying that the blizzards in NYC meant that people had not managed to get to the call center, nor had the people there managed to leave. We were asked not to call them for tech issues, and to just exchange any Nooks we couldn't trouble shoot ourselves.

    As we were out of "classic" Nooks, this was a problem when people had managed to break them right off the bat (or waited until the week after Christmas to bring them in to be fixed). Also problematic was the fact that the manager who knew about the e-mail was having chest pains and numbness in his left arm, and none of the other people in charge believed me when I said "No, we're not supposed to call store support for this kind of thing."

    And, of course, customers trying to set up accounts or buy books didn't really buy that a blizzard in New York had jack all to do with their service issues in Mississippi.
    Sounds like a retail hell story. One of the tree guys I talked to had been plowing contracted store lots for the past two days but his tree stuff was on a another location and the township had yet to clear the roads. He was hoping by tomorrow morning he would have access. So the storm was pretty damn bad.

  6. #6
    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Wow, What Exit, I'm so sorry! That really sucks. We got about six to eight inches of snow here in SE Vermont, where I'm visiting my in-laws, on Dec. 26-27, but it hasn't been a big problem. My SIL and her family drove up from Dobbs Ferry, just north of NYC, a few hours ahead of the same gigantic blizzard that hit you. They drove back down today and said their neighborhood snowplow guy had left everything in good shape, fortunately, for their return.

    My worst snow story this year was from about two weeks ago, when a massive blizzard hit us on a Weds. afternoon. My usual 20-to-30-minute commute took just over three hours. Fortunately (a) I'd gone to the bathroom just before leaving court, (b) I had a full tank of gas, and (c) my iPod was fully charged and I was able to listen to a lot of my favorite tunes while I waited, and waited, and waited....

    Hope you feel fully recovered soon!

  7. #7
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    I have updates and pictures:

    1) Finally got a tree service here for an estimate.
    2) Called Insurance company and that was painless, no need for further est. just get it done and send photos
    3) I already had the photos and will link them in.
    4) Call back tree service and he'll bring a crane in tomorrow or Friday, I'll try for more pictures.

    Few other bits of good news:
    1) The solar panels finally cleared today, it never took more than the next morning before. With the panels clearing the rectifier that looked dead came back to life. Hooray!
    2) CO alarm went off again but this time as I was going to sleep and not yet asleep and I determined it was the 9 volt battery that was the problem. As a plug-in CO monitor I did not recall it had a battery, but makes sense in case of power loss.
    3) Dug out to my mail box and the mailbox survived though the post is pretty beat up. I should be able to make a winter repair to it tomorrow though that will get me through the winter.

    So today was much better then prior days.





    Also the mailbox I made:

  8. #8
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    One more update. Tree was lifted out today. Found out I have some soffit damage and the roof was penetrated in one spot.

    All but bottom 14' of tree:

    Bottom 14" of tree:

    Visible damage to outside of house:

    Attic shot of damage:

  9. #9
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    The nasty, dirty, massive piles of snow here are melting today and it's raining. I can actually see green grass in a few spots. Unfortunately, what this means is that there's going to be a lot of ice on the roads on New Year's Eve.

    My guests shall be spending the night here rather than risking driving on that. Yeesh.
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

  10. #10
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Last night during a small New Year's Eve party the kitchen sink drain went. After an hour spent trying for a makeshift repair came to conclusion to give it up and do the dished in the morning after I got the parts for Lowes and fixed the drain.

    On top of everything else, Sears called today and the snow blower is being delay until the 4th now.

    This has been a pretty crappy holiday overall.

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