Earthquakes & Hurricanes

As many of you have heard over the past week there was not only an earthquake in New York City (technically the aftershock of the one that happened in Virginia), but also a hurricane headed our way as well. While most people in the city freaked out, being from Texas I didn't really let either one phase me too much.

First I'll start with the earthquake. Despite New Yorkers freaking out, nothing really happened. I was sitting on the roof at work eating lunch and the building started shaking. As I sat there with a few people we wondered what could possibly be the cause. About 30 seconds later, it stopped and we went on with lunch. A few minutes later a friend from Texas texted me about it.

Here is how the conversation went: Him: "Earthquake much?" Me: "Ok was there one just in New York? I felt it and had no clue what it was." Him: "Haha yeah the news is already all over it." And that was about as much as I freaked out. While yes I understand earthquakes aren't supposed to happen here, I don't really understand why everyone else here freaked out so much.

Growing up about 20 minutes from the Gulf Coast taught me in a way to be numb to hurricanes. This past week was no different. While the rest of the city (along with my roommate's family) was worried we were going to lose power and the city was going to flood, I continued to think it wasn't that big of a deal. I know the weather man's tricks to scare everyone into thinking they are going to be without water or electricity for weeks and to stay glued to the television to make their fears even worse. We don't have TV at my apartment, so I didn't really have to worry about that thank goodness. Also, I knew by the time it reached us it would be so much weaker nothing was really going to happen.

I did the necessary precautions of buying some dry food, water (to humor my parents), chocolate and about 6 bottles of wine (you can never have too many). Erica and I hung out at home Saturday night thinking it would begin to rain or something would happen since most of the city had shut down. We drank wine, ate chocolate and watched movies on her computer. By this point we were dying for a TV. After a very uneventful evening, we went to sleep hoping more would happen tomorrow.

Not only was the hurricane not a big deal like I had predicted, I slept right through it without even knowing it happened. I woke up and was still waiting for it to come and Erica told me it already had. I was in a way slightly disappointed because I was hoping for at least something semi-dramatic since there had been so much hype in the city. Also, we were hoping we wouldn't have to go to work on Monday.

After being in our apartment for so long we were going a little crazy. We decided to walk around the city to see if we could find any damage. We walked about 45 blocks south and over to the river. Most of the city was still closed and it was extremely eerie to see the streets so empty. The weather was nice and cool with a strong breeze. The walk felt amazing and afterwards we ate at J.G. Melon's for dinner (another blog will come about this place later in the week).

I understand that the hurricane was devastating in some areas and don't mean to make light of it in any way. It's just that in our area, absolutely nothing happened and with all the hype by media and New Yorkers I was slightly disappointed. I am happy that Erica and I are both safe and nothing happened to our apartment. I'm also happy I bought food I will eat either way and now I hope they'll let me return the flashlights/batteries.


I already had one friend inform me he didn't really care to read about my salads, but it's only day two and I already tried to get out of eating one for lunch. I decided I would post what I ate at the bottom of each entry to hold me accountable, so if you don't care, don't read this part. Today I had spinach leaves with garbanzo beans, sunflower seeds, green olives, and roasted tomatoes, onions, cauliflower and mushrooms with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was much better than yesterdays choice.