Now that hurricane (and later tropical storm) Irene has passed, I think it’s safe to say Chenango County made it through relatively unscathed. Granted, some people lost power (well, maybe more than some), there were plenty of downed trees and we experienced some minor flooding (nothing compared to 2006), but unlike some communities up an down the coast, we made out pretty well. That is, of course, unless you happen to occupy the southeast cubicle here in The Evening Sun’s main office.
Which, I hate to say, is exactly where I used to “hang my hat,” so to speak, five days a week, for the past year-and-a-half-plus.
Even with the windy, rainy and altogether nasty weather, my Sunday was proceeding according to plan, watching movies (“The Beaver,” “The Adjustment Bureau” and “Tron: Legacy”), making dinner (homemade beef stew) and enjoying some down time with the significant other. That was, we had decided, our plan from the get-go, and despite the inclement weather (I swear the rain was coming down horizontally at one point) things were running smoothly. And then, as I should have known would happen, reality intruded. In this instance, an unexpected phone call (isn’t it always) from Evening Sun Sports Editor Pat Newell.
“Hello,” I said suspiciously, not recognizing the phone number that had appeared on my cell’s screen (sorry Pat, haven’t programmed you in yet).
“Hey, Brian, it’s Pat Newell. Just wanted to give you a heads-up that the roof down here at the office is leaking pretty bad. I moved stuff out of the way and threw some buckets on your desk, but I figured you’d probably like to know,” came Pat’s reply, which, I must say, rendered me speechless for a moment or two.
Regardless, there went my relaxing afternoon, at least for the next hour and a half or so.
I had no idea what to expect once I’d made my way down to Lackawanna Avenue, yet I was fairly certain it couldn’t be good. And it wasn’t. Pat had done his best to clean up the watery mess that had taken up residence in my comfy little corner cubicle, but I’m sad to say, the damage had already been done.
I could, at this point, say they don’t make them like they used to, but in this case, well, I don’t think Apple had waterproofing at the top of the list when they designed your typical desktop computer.
Then again, sometimes when you least expect it, miracles do occur. But I’ll get to that later.
Fast forward to Monday afternoon, which found this mild-mannered reporter occupying “new quarters.” It’s not all that bad, really (just a hop, skip and jump away), but – at the time – I must admit I was already missing my old computer, as we were convinced the poor, waterlogged thing was shot to hell. And seeing as it had ... a) a much larger screen (which actually survived) ... b) a wireless mouse (found out yesterday that the little bugger is still going strong) ... c) one of those nifty, flat-button keyboards (dead as a door nail) and ... d) the mini-Mac I’d been using since I first began here at The Evening Sun, which contained all of my contacts’ information, my e-mail account and a lot of other work-related stuff I’d amassed, that should come as no surprise.
Needless to say, the entire experience was not the way I wanted to spend even a small portion of my Sunday, not to mention a terrible way to kick-off the work week. And then, the unfathomable.
Yesterday, following hours spent morosely wandering the newsroom, uncomfortable with my new cubicle and lacking the will to go on, it was discovered that the Mac had pulled through. Unbelievably, storing the once-sopping-wet piece of equipment in some rice had pulled out any remaining moisture and (we’re still recovering from the shock) I’m, as they say, up and running once again.
And while it’s still going to take me a little while to get used to my new “digs,” I’m simply happy to have some semblance of normalcy returned to my little corner of The Evening Sun universe.
For now, let’s just hope tropical storm Katia decides to stay out to sea. I think all of us (and by all of us I mean the entire east coast), could do without a second round of torrential winds, rain and flooding, not to mention the power outages.
As for me? Well, I’m just glad it’s over.

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