Paul's Heart

An Exciting Day

In February of 2011, I made my first attempt at running for public office.  I ran for our local school board.  Due to a controversial contract negotation tactic, my opinion of teachers and the support they truly deserve and the crap they do not, changed.  I attended meetings and continued to follow the actions of our school board and decided that their actions were not what best represented my children.  An opportunity came up to serve on the board, when a board member resigned in the middle of her term.  Long story short and another post on this issue, I was one of 16 others who were not even interviewed because the replacement had already been decided.

I keep my opinions of my politics to myself, just as I do religion.  I do not discuss them with family or friends because unfortunately, these are often relationship-busters.  But that does not mean that I cannnot be publicly involved in them.  Along with four others, we ran a very clean campaign for five school board seats.  Two of my mates won, the other two and myself lost by a total of nearly 500 votes, which is miniscule in a district of 90,000+ voters.

Running as a candidate was exciting.  I could have done without the negative crap that seems to accompany politics, especially for school board.  As a result of my candidacy, I have been a participant now assisting our local election poll for the last three elections.  There is a certain pride and appreciation for being involved in a process that so many sacrificed so much so that we could be free to have this right.

Today and this evening, was perhaps the biggest election I have been involved with.  It was a near record setting for a turnout with the presidential election at stake.  Pushing a turnout with numbers close to 90% in our area, this election definitely got the attention that it sought.  Activity at the polls was constant and busy.  The results locally were indeed close. 

Unfortunately, there is the negative aspect of the behavior of several voters.  I watched as a fellow poll worker was given a “nazi salute” with a verbal diatribe slamming our current president.  Several voters passed by me as I proved I do not have ESP and had no idea what party they supported, and dared to hand them my party’s sample ballot.  Their responses were just as disappointing.  Instead of just a simple and courteous “no thank you”, instead there was lots of teeth-sucking noises, gut wrenching sounds, and comments such as “get real” or “you’re insane”.

The election will be closed in less than a half hour.  But here at home, the polls have been closed for over two and a half hours.  We will have a president within the next 24 hours, and our country needs to move forward no matter who it is.  I am hoping that tomorrow, our country can finally begin to realize how great it is, that we can elect our leaders, and how we got the opportunity to do so.

Recovery From The Big Storm

The last 96 hours will go down for me as one big blur.  Everything happening without time to take a single breath.  Having to continue on with care for the children, and working to put food on the table, in spite of the horrific storm that was called Sandy.

Prior to the arrival of the storm, we had prepared our house for as best as we could.  Last year’s Irene dumped a lot of rain on us, and we figured that was what would happen again.  We had flashlights, lots of dry firewood, coolers with ice, clean clothing, and plans on how to deal with the kids.  Then Monday night, around 9:30pm in the heat of the storm, the power went out.

Our story for the next two days in this area  is probably very similar to so many others.  But for those in our lives, miles away, in New Jersey and New York, especially close friends of mine in Manhattan, once again they are faced with a monumental recovery effort.  The Jersey Shore must rebuild.  Manhattan needs to get its tranportation back up and running.  A neighborhood in Queens must console each other with the loss of an entire neighborhood up in flames.

There will be plenty of rhetoric about climate change.  There will be accusations of taking advantage of tragedy for political gains.  And I am sure that there will even be zealots who will claim to cry out in God’s name, that somehow we are being punished.  The fact is, none of that stuff matters at this very moment.  With a lot of us having power restored, we can now see a lot of the devastation left behind. 

For the most part, the majority of us are now in clean up mode.  Many will be rebuilding.  Others will just sit and wonder “where do we go from here?”

Just before the power was restored in my home, a stranger, who happened to be a friend of one of my Facebook friends, reached out to me yesterday to offer to help me drain my flooded basement, as he had a generator.  I gladly accepted his offer, connected everything, and then shared a couple of beers while we watched the water pour out of the hose.

Bryan took time away from his wife and children to help out a total stranger.  Having the water drained made a difference as the water was just an inch away from my furnace box and the electricals of my washer and dryer.  In spite of the safety of the stagnant rising water, I walked through to unplug everything just in case the power came on so nothing would short out.  About two hours after he left, our power came back on.

It turns out, this could have made all the difference in the world as water had returned to my basement prior to the electric being turned on, which clearly would have destroyed my furnace making a bad situation even worse.  Instead, the power came on, the sump had an easier job to do, and tonight I got started on clean-up instead of dial-up (to the insurance company).

This was an awesome gesture, and will not be forgotten.  It is also a good news story in an awful time period.  In time, after the media is done sensationalizing Hurricane Sandy, there will be much better stories such as random acts of kindness or miracles.  Perhaps a baby will have been born during the storm, pets being rescued and reunited with their owners.  It is only a matter of time.  Snookie will finally have to get a real job.  Good news will come.

Keeping Things In Perspective

The last twelve hours have probably been the scariest I have seen in a number of years.  We have just faced our second major weather storm in two years.  Last year’s Irene packed a lot of rain to her.  But this year’s Sandy had all the makings of a real hurricane to hit this area in a long time.  Howling winds, streets littered with debris, and water collecting in our basement were all reminders of what we were going through.

For the second time in two years, I could not sleep.

At the time that I would normally wake up for work in the morning, I was already awake, never really drifting off to sleep.  After last year’s Irene I was too worried about the possibilities of spawned tornados or any other danger to our home.  With two small children and several pets, along with my wife, we knew our priorities, to keep everyone safe.

So before I left for work, I grabbed the flashlight, and searched around the inside of the house.  I had already heard the girls were awake, but fooled by the late darkness this morning, they went back to bed.  Our garage was dry.  Our basement had quite a bit of water in it.  Our dog had been anxiously waiting to go outside to take care of business.  It was fairly calm at that time, and I glanced around the back and front yards.  Everything seemed in place, trees still standing.  All our outdoor belongings stored on the porch for the storm remained as they were placed.  The trees mostly stripped of their leaves which now lay on the ground.

My family is safe.  I hope yours is too.  When I get home from work, myonly hope at this point, is that my roof is intact.  The things that are down in my water soaked basement will be dealt with as soon as I get home, provided the power has been restored by then.  If anything is damaged, it can be replaced.  Food that did not survive in the refrigerator/freezer can be replaced.  My family cannot be replaced.