Wednesday (21-December-2011) — South Carolina to Florida

Gone to See America. December 2011 Florida Road Trip. Day 2:  South Carolina to Florida.

I set up a Nikon 1 V1 camera and 10 mm f/2.8 lens on a tripod rigged into the passenger seat, and started driving south. The camera was set to take images every 10 seconds, auto ISO, f/2.8, focus manual (infinity), auto shutter speed. I would have to stop and change the battery every hour or so. The images were then used to produce the following time-lapse video of the road trip.

Tuesday (01-November-2011) — New Jersey

Late October Nor’easter Aftermath: Day 3

Other than a few power dips (brown outs), the power remained on for the last day. My APC UPS units continue to protect the computers and servers. The following is an update from PSE&G.

  • 88% of the more than 570,000 PSE&G customers impacted by power outages from
    Saturday’s wet, heavy snow that brought down numerous trees and power lines.
    Crews will continue to work around the clock until all customers have power.
  • PSE&G expects to meet the state’s goal of having at least 95 percent
    of customers restored by Thursday. At this time, about 67,000 customers are
    without power with the majority of these in Bergen, Essex and Passaic
    counties
  • This storm caused more individual incidents of damage to
    PSE&G’s electric infrastructure than did Hurricane Irene. There is a larger
    number of service lines that are damaged as a result of falling tree limbs.
    Repairing the significant number of single lines from the poles to customers’
    homes and businesses presents the greatest challenge with this
    storm.
  • PSE&G is using every available resource to make repairs and
    restore electricity as quickly and safely as possible.  Resources include 262
    crews and troubleshooters, 116 line contractor crews and 240 tree crews working
    to restore power.  In addition to its own crews, PSE&G is receiving
    assistance from mutual aid crews from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and
    Mississippi.
  • Electric crews work to restore power to the largest numbers
    of customers first, taking into account “priority” customers, such as hospitals,
    police stations, fire stations, water and sewer facilities, schools, and
    communications facilities (TV, radio, and telephone).  At the same time, the
    utility restores power to homes and businesses, starting with the circuits
    serving the largest number of customers.

31-October-2011

Halloween and a 2 Year Anniversary.

I finally got power back here at my house in New Jersey after a very early snowstorm. Two years ago today I was in Florida for a wedding of Lars (my brother) and Valerie. I’ve made it clear in the past that I do not do, and am not a wedding photographer. On the other hand this did not stop me from taking some pictures that day. For a full selection of images from that day please check out 31-October-2009.

Lars and Valerie. (David J Mathre)
Lars and Valerie. (David J Mathre)

30-October-2011

After the Storm.

The power came back on at about 3:30 AM, which was good since the house was getting cold. I had moved out to the RV since it has a propane heater. Unfortunately, the power went out again at 10 AM. Once it was light out, I went out to survey the damage. Several more trees down, including my favorite Japanese Maple in the front yard. The remaining Birch trees were bent almost to the ground. Images to follow. The night before Halloween is known as “Mischief Night” in this region. Hope folks are not running around tonight with downed power lines. Right now PSE&G is saying power should be restored by midnight Halloween, or for some of the worst hit parts of the state on Wednesday. If it is going to be much longer, I will need to drain the water in the pipes before they freeze.

28-October-2011

Day 11 and Counting

My Drobo disk-array is rebuilding after adding a new drive. Don’t know how long it will take. New images to follow. The down side to large storage solutions such as Drobo is the time required for backup and restore. Not sure how many days this will take!!!!

Winter is Coming!

Latest report from the National Weather Service: Snow Saturday Night?

Tonight: A chance of rain after 2am. Cloudy, with a low around 36. East
wind between 3 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts
of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Saturday: Rain, mainly
after 8am. High near 43. Breezy, with a north wind between 14 and 21 mph. Chance
of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.

Saturday Night: Rain and snow, becoming all snow after midnight.
Low around 28. Blustery, with a north wind between 17 and 24 mph. Chance of
precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 47. Northwest wind between 9 and
14 mph.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 29.
Northwest wind around 7 mph.

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Check out an image of the Moon over Colorado taken 4 years ago today with a Nikon D2xs and 200-400 mm VR lens: 28-October-2011