I’m glad to see everybody pretty much made out OK on the whole Irene thing. They do such a good job of awfulizing everything, it’s hard to tell what’s really going on out there. Except that, once again, crack “reporters” from all the major networks proved that, if you go out into the rain, you’re gonna get wet. Not that Irene didn’t suck (and continues to suck) for a lot of people (like this idiot), and they say this morning that 20 people died (this is very serious – as opposed to when a US drone drops a bomb on an Afghan wedding party, which is more of an “oops. Those wacky drones” kinda thing).

You may not hear it on the national news, but one of the hardest hit areas was apparently down in the Catskills, which this morning is pretty much under water. At least one motel has guests trapped on the second floor with no rescue in sight (plus they’re running low on borscht; I just hope they don’t have the misfortune to be trapped with Jackie Mason, though I expect he stays in a high-class joint like the Concord. Oh, wait, they tore that down). The Mohawk River isn’t expected to crest until sometime today – at record levels.

Early estimates for the cleanup from Irene are in the $10-15 million range (which is a good thing, I guess, according to Glenn Beck). I expect the teabaggers to be first in line with their hands out for Federal funding.

I think we can all pretty much agree that the big heroes of the storm were NJ Governor Chris Christie, and of course NYC Mayor Bloomberg (is it too late for both of them to jump into the Presidential race?). Christie singlehandedly saved over 100,000 NJ residents from drowning with his brave decision not to go swimming in the ocean (which could have added three and a half feet to the storm surge, wiping out The Boardwalk in Atlantic City and – worst of all – f*cking up the return of Nucky Thompson on 9/25).

The footage of Bloomie jumping into the East River to save a family of tourists from Ohio will stay with me forever – or at least until September 11, when video of Guidi Ruliani begins to overwhelm us.

President Obama felt obliged to make a statement. I have no idea why, or what he really said, but I guess his handlers probably told him it would be good to get out there and remind us all that the President suffered right along with everybody else. I mean, he had to cut his vacation short and everything. And he was doing the big work: integrating Martha’s Vineyard. Civil Rights and disaster management. What a man.

Obama, Christie, and Bloomie. Heroes all.

Speaking of heroes, well, I hate to toot my own horn (can’t reach, for one thing), but I actually braved the storm to go swimming in the hurricane yesterday morning. Sure, it was dangerous – perhaps even foolhardy – but it was something I felt I had to do. The water got a little rough at times. When I was splashing. But I eventually managed to pull myself out, slightly exhausted – which I guess is like being a little pregnant – but no worse for the wear (then I cleaned the garage (a little), went grocery shopping, did laundry, and PM’d my pellet stove). And now I feel as if I’m coming down with a cold; guess I better find where we hide the oil of oregano these days.

Like all Americans, I’m looking forward to hearing the post-game wrap-up on Irene today. And tomorrow. And probably every day until at least until September 10th, unless some blonde chick goes missing somewhere or there’s a minor earthquake.

Unlike NYC, the trains are running here today (or they would be, if we had trains), so no holiday for me.

And that, of course, is the real tragedy.