happened today). Thankfully, they scheduled us to come out the very next day, although we figure they've worked their way down the list at this point post-storm. The biggest pains so far was the half a day spent rewiring the service to the house and the refilling the generator every few hours. So glad that's over. When I was young I used to think that a "nooner" was pretty damn good. Now that I'm old, I see that the best I can look forward to is a "noonan" and it isn't worth the effort it takes to unzip. Maybe Hazbeen Mittens can "quietly rise" to that, but I'll pass, thanks. From the column: " Officials knew the storm was coming and everyone knew it would be bad, but the people of the tristate area were not aware, until now, just how vulnerable to deep damage their physical system was. The people in charge of that system are the politicians. Mayor Bloomberg wanted to have the Marathon, to show New York's spirit. In Staten Island last week they were bitterly calling it "the race through the ruins." There is a disconnect." I'm prepared to take that last sentence as a bit of rueful irony, with the reader left to fill in "In other words, I was completely wrong." But then I've been walking around for four days smiling randomly at surly people, growling dogs, and assorted inanimate objects, so what do I know? Before the election, I worried about election day