Preparing for Sandy

New York city has shut down mass transit, NY, NJ, and CT are all in states of emergency, a half dozen of my friend's colleges have been evacuated...welcome to Hurricane Sandy. Or as I prefer, Frankenstorm.  

The chances of two huge, apocalyptical Halloween storms in subsequent years were slim to none, and yet here we are (should I play the lottery?)

Growing up in New Jersey, I'm accustomed to hurricanes, blizzards, and other major storms.  I remember doing American girl crafts during the blackout of August 2003 and building forts during the March storm of 2010 that left towns in my area without power for almost a week.  

Yes, I was a junior in high school during the March storm, but building forts is fun during a blackout no matter how old you are.  

This looks to be one for the books though, as Sandy is the largest storm ever recorded in Atlantic basin history and is expected to affect 50 million people (http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/10/28/hurricane-sandy-vs-irene-how-do-big-storms-stack-up). 

I won't know what my plans are until Lehigh sends out their announcement at 5 p.m., but I doubt I'll be able to go home because conditions are supposed to be worse there.    Hopefully we don't lose power or get evacuated, but thankfully I have open invitations to stay at people's houses that live in the area if we are.  

In the meantime, I've been tracking the storm at http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/storm-chasers/live-tracker/live-tracker.html. It is definitely one of the better trackers I've found, plus they have lots of great options to view weather alerts and advisories by area.  

A few of my friends and I went to Wegmans yesterday to get some extra food and all of the cases of water were already sold out.  This morning, I filled up all of the water bottles in my room with water just in case.  I  put my flashlight in a convenient spot and checked the batteries, so I guess I'm as prepared as I can be.  

As expected, social media has been blowing up with news and jokes about the storm. If you live in the Lehigh valley, you can "check into" Frankenstorm on FourSquare (which I plan on doing later tonight).  Some entertaining parody Twitter accounts have also sprung up.  @huricannesandy, @BigFrankenStorm, @aSandyHurricane, and @LVFrankenstorm are all funny.  Besides Governor Christie's twitter and newspaper accounts I haven't found a good weather/news update, so if anyone does feel free to comment with the handle!

Finally, I hope everyone prepares and has enough water and food.  Stay safe!

 Food and water supply

Some of the funny memes on the Twitter parody accounts

Fall Fever

Fall has always been my favorite season.  When I was little, it was because I loved jumping in leaves, carving pumpkins, dressing up for Halloween, and of course, the start of a new school year (the nerd in me surfaces yet again).  

There's something about the smoky smell of the nights and cooler air that I always associate with new beginnings.  

Now, I get more excited about digging scarves and boots out of the back of my closet, spending afternoons on the front lawn listening to various groups raise money or hold events, the return of pumpkin spiced lattes at Starbucks, and the anticipation of the Lehigh Lafayette game.  

Fall is the happy, blissful medium in temperature, natural outdoor beauty, fun activities, and seasonal food.  

While Lehigh is gorgeous year-round, I think that fall is its prettiest season.  The stairs have not yet become treacherous (unless you have not yet developed your "Lehigh legs") and there is almost nothing that can compare with the ivy turning colors on Alumni Memorial or the view of the valley while walking down the hill to class.  

As a self-proclaimed (and confirmed by my friends) Lehigh nerd, I also love all of the traditions that come with the fall.  From the first year rally on the front lawn and adoption by the class of 50 years prior to dressing in mocos (morning cocktails, basically goofy, whatever you want to wear outfits) for tailgates and honoring our founder and current leaders at Founder's day, you would be amiss to not notice the Lehigh spirit in full swing during the fall.  All of this culminates in our rivalry football game with Lafayette, which is absolutely the best week of the year.  

I also have taken greater advantage of events on and around campus this year.  My best friend and I walked to Celtic fest, which is across the river in North Bethlehem, one Sunday afternoon.  I also went to Dorney Park with my sorority a few weeks ago and have been going to more of the football games this year than I did my freshman year.  

When I was home for Pacing break, my mom, brother and I went to a local farm to pick pumpkins.  We came home with amazing farm made apple cider and cinnamon sugar donuts, which I happily indulged in while catching up on some reading.  

The only major fall "to-do's" I have left are arguably the two biggest--Halloween and Lehigh Laf.

Mornings on the front lawn between classes

Saturday afternoons watching Lehigh football in the beautiful Goodman Stadium.

Doing some reading at the lookout. Absolutely amazing view of Bethlehem and the Lehigh valley. 

A view of South Bethlehem from the bridge.  This was taken on the way to Celtic fest.

My littlest brother and I with our pumpkins we got when I was home during Pacing break.

View of the front lawn

My favorite tree on campus, it changes color from the top down.  And it's in front of Coppee,  a building I will be spending a lot of time in now that I am officially a Journalism major.

While waiting for the bus, I noticed that the mountains in the background looked picturesque.  Unfortunately, they are not as noticeable in the picture. 

This week is pink week, and Zeta pinked out the front lawn as part of the weeklong and campus wide initiative to gain understanding and raise money for breast cancer research. 

Goofing around with my friend Maggie during tailgates (and decked out in mocos).

"The 80s want their Foreign Policy Back"-the third debate

So this is the first post on my new blog, and I guess I should preface it with saying that I really don't know where this may end up.  I am going to write about whatever interests me and I think is worth writing about, and hopefully it interests my readers and they find it worthwhile too.  

On that note, the final debate of the season was last night.  Between Big Bird and binders full of women, this year has certainly had some colorful debates.  Last night seemed to be the true champion, however.  

I was very interested to hear both candidate's opinions on foreign policy, because I have not supported Obama's and am concerned about Romney's lack of experience in the area.  

While the first half hour was filled with the two essentially agreeing with each other, Romney managed to connect foreign policy to the economy and discuss his five points on how to fix the economy.  While his experience in the private sector is a plus over Obama's inexperience and it is part of his strategy to dwell on that fact, I wish he could have actually stayed on the topic at hand.  

Romney's five points

Another major qualm I had about the debate was both candidate's responses to pulling the troops out of Afghanistan.  Romney maintained that all troops will be out by 2014, but chose to focus on Pakistan in his response rather than how to ensure Afghanistan's success as a free, sovereign nation.  While Pakistan will be a factor in Afghanistan's future, it will by no means determine it, just like New York's economy is a factor in but does not determine New Jersey's economy.  Obama said, 

"there's no reason why Americans should die when Afghans are perfectly capable of defending their own country.Now, that transition's -- has to take place in a responsible fashion. We've been there a long time, and we've got to make sure that we and our coalition partners are pulling out responsibly and giving Afghans the capabilities that they need.  But what I think the American people recognize is after a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building here at home" 

While I certainly agree that there is "nation-building" needed here at home, we should not leave Afghanistan without a functioning and stable government and the infrastructure to let it's people be independent and successful.   

Any discussion of last night's debate would be lacking if it did not mention the most popular zinger of the night (while my personal favorite was the "80's want their foreign policy back") of:

"You -- you mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets -- (laughter) -- because the nature of our military's changed."

Quotes from 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/23/us/politics/20121023-third-presidential-debate-obama-romney.html?ref=politics&ref=politics#/?annotation=5722d654a