Sunday that crazy storm started to blow, the Nor'easter that dumped record amounts of rain all over the northeast. Very early Monday morning — around 4:00 am — there was a very powerful blast of wind and our power went out. (I happened to be awake at the time.)

Later that morning, Connecticut Light and Power didn't know when our service would be restored (but they were "aware of the problem"). By noon they were reporting (through their phone service) that our power would be back by 12:00 am on the 18th (so, midnight on Wednesday morning). This was on Monday the 16th. So we were facing up to almost two days without power. Nuh-uh.

That's not going to work. We have a baby here now, and would really like to keep her warm and well fed without resorting to extreme measures. We talked about finding a hotel room for the night, but Ellyn suggested we talk to Eric & Bonny about staying in their summer rental property for the night, as it's currently empty. They said yes, so that's what we did. (Thank you guys!)

After returning from my weeekly breakfast with Rich (and, this week, Kerri, Teddy and even Lauren!) in North Kingstown, Corinne and I decided to pack up the vehicles and trek back to Mystic. The phone company was still saying that service would be restored by midnight tonight, and we really wanted to be home. (Plus, we'd only brought enough "baby stuff" for one night.) (Pictures are of Rich and Kerri holding Lauren.)

First thing we saw as we approached the house? The garage door ascending in response to the truck's built-in remote. YAY!!! According to the blinking clocks all over the house, the power had been back on since before Corinne called the first time this morning.

Incidentally, this storm was no joke. Though western CT received more rain than we did, it's rather hilly around here so the streams, creeks, brooks and rivers all rose significantly. One in Waterford (just a few miles away) rose a full nine feet. Also, the wind ripped our closed deck umbrella right off of its base and tossed it over the edge, wrapping it around the birdfeeder I had mounted to the side of the deck with a fancy wrought-iron hanger. (Our only losses were, thankfully, the umbrella and some wind chimes that I think were given to us as a wedding present.)

I've posted some pictures of the very flooded Mystic River Road.

2006 was a good year for me and mine, in many ways.

To all of my family near and far, to my ecclesia here and worldwide, to all of my friends new and old, close or distant:

Happy
New Year!

Hoping 2007 will be even better, for all of us...

Tuesday was an intense day, with some very high highs and very low lows. I'm just going to brain-dump it all.

Low and High:

Perry died. This is very sad for all of us, but he lived a long, full life and had plenty of time to know even his great grandchildren. I had to call this both a high and a low... it's hard to attach anything "all bad" to Perry Lanphear.

High:

Breakfast at Snoopy's Diner with a friend and client. The business side of the meeting went well, as plans were made and progress reviewed. The friendly side of the meeting was even better. Best of all were the pancakes! Mama mia. Must take Corinne there so she can replicate those Apple-slice-filled beauties. (Oh wait, I gave up food. Nuts!)

High:

After my gigantic breakfast, I drove up to see Steve Davis in MA so we could go for a ride. He had a basketball game the night before, so was worried that he'd be too tired for my pace. I promised that I would ride super hard the day before and then eat a huge breakfast to weigh me down. I did both, but neither were necessary: he kept me talking the whole time! It's hard to push the pace when you're talking so much that you can't breathe heavily. Sneaky, Steve.

This was ride #103. Stats: 36.4 miles (58.60 km) in 1h 59' 37" for an average speed of 18.25 mph (29.39 kph).

Low:

Our average speed for that ride. (Sorry Steve, couldn't resist.)

High & Low, Again:

After I left Steve's place, I went straight to Gary's & Ellyn's house in Westerly. Ellyn had invited the whole family for a "send off dinner" for Gramma and Grampa. They were up here in New England for much longer this year than previous years, because of Mandi's wedding, but now they're heading home and last night was our last chance to see them this year. I was about 90 minutes early because the alternative was driving all the way home, finding something to do for 30 minutes, then driving back again.

I had a chance to watch Grampa cut down a whole Pineapple into rings. He'd never done it before, and definitely did not like the fact that there's so much waste. Rather than just slice a little more deeply as he "skinned" it, he made shallow cuts and then worked with a paring knife to dig out the bits of rind that were left. After slicing it down, he carefully cut the inedible core out of every piece. This was all both highly amusing and rather painful to witness, but he didn't cut *himself* so all's well that ends well. :-)

Almost everybody made it to the dinner. Corinne had to work until 6:30 so she was late, but wanted to be there so she could say goodbye. Dad was there until 6:45, but had to leave to teach a class. Gary worked late but made a quiet appearance while we were still eating (spaghetti and meatballs). Katie's in Colorado so couldn't be there at all. Mandi, just back from her honeymoon for a day, showed up just before G&G were about to give up and go back to their rental for the night. (She had to work late, also.) Sarah was there but left a little early because Art, who couldn't make it due to work, needed some dinner. Everybody else in the family (Mom, Jed, Ellyn, Gramma and Grampa, Tom, and Rusty) was there, too.

Quite a day.

Very early Tuesday morning, a wonderful man, friend and brother succumbed to old age and human nature. Perry Lanphear was about 80 years old, and had lived without any functional kidneys for a long time. I truly believe that everyone who knew Perry saw him as the "strong, silent type," and a true Yankee. He was also one of the smartest and wisest people I've ever known. I'm tempted to say that we — his friends, family, and ecclesia — are the worse for his loss, but the truth is that what he gave us over the years so completely eclipses his loss that there's no fair comparison.

There were so many things about "Uncle Perry" that I hope are never forgotten. His sometimes subtle (and sometimes not subtle at all) yet hilarious sense of humor; his love for his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren; his generosity; his amazing humility; that awesome yet rarely used Voice of Authority.

Perry endured (in a sense that some will comprehend, but not all), right to the very last moment. Just saying that makes me so proud I get choked up. Just days before he died, he was there with us, celebrating Mandi's and Ben's new life together. And though he must have been exhausted and worn thin, he was there again around the table with us just a day later.

Everyone has a story about Perry, a reason to remember, something to hold onto. No one in my own family will ever forget the kindnesses he showed us when we all first moved to Rhode Island from New Hampshire, in 1991.

Sleep now, Brother. Your life remains an inspiring example to everyone who knew you. Better things — better than even your deep mind ever imagined — now await.

A week ago, my cousin Kt sent me a link via IM that said something like, "This is cool, check it out." We haven't spoken on IM in months, so I immediately guessed that it was a virus/worm/malware doing the talking. I wrote back to tell her that she was infected.

I clicked the link anyway. I'm on a mac, and figured I'd be impervious to all but a kryptonite-powered virus. I was right, it immediately downloaded a .exe file. No harm done.

The next day, Andrew E. sent me the same message. Andrew and Katie are friends, and I knew where he got it. I wrote back to tell him he was infected, but -- like Kt -- he wasn't actually there at the time.

Thursday night it finally turned funny. I was over at Eric and Bonny's house, tutoring Avonlee, when Eric told me that he got an IM from Andrew. I told him I'd seen the same one a couple of times. Eric uses a mac at work, so I figured he was as impervious as me.

But, no. Eric didn't realize it was a virus. He actually put the file on one of their Windows servers so he could see what Andrew said was cool.

Really, I'm not making this up. Not sure I could have if I had tried.

He was lucky, though. For some reason -- possibly because there was no instant message program installed on that server -- it didn't infect the machine. Perhaps with no way to replicate itself, it simply self-immolated.

I haven't done any research, so I don't even know the name of this bug. If you're on Windows, though, just be careful about the fairly innocuous sounding "this was cool" or "check out my pics" messages from people on your buddy list.

Darn virus writers are a clever bunch, aren't they?

(I realize that virii-via-IM isn't a new phenomemon, but this is the first time I've seen it first-hand.)