It's been an interesting month in Seattle. After reaching record rain fall last month, this week was the worst storm in over a decade! It's very interesting to note what happens in these chaotic situations. Here's the most notable introspections I found:
- Coffee is like Seattle area people's crack . All other stores were closed around town except Whole Foods. Thinking it would be nice to grab a coffee, I made my way over to their cafe. Power was out throughout the city of Bellevue, which meant all other Starbucks were closed. The line at the coffee stand was no less than 40 people deep. I decided I didn't need a chai that bad, and later asked the clerk at the grocery cash register about the line. She mentioned the wait time was 45 minutes. Wow.
- Panic sets in without power. Most gas stations around the area have ran out of gas, as panic set in and the desire to absolutely fill up your tank spread. Most gas stations that DID have power/gas had a line of around 30 cars at all times.
- The internet is an addiction. Being unable to check my email for the past few days has been difficult. I'm so used to bringing up my feed reader to get my news, and I felt cut off from the world. Cable is still down but luckily Starbucks here in Issaquah has hotspots.
- Overall, people are much more patient on the roads when disaster strikes. Typically, when a traffic jam occurs in this or any other city, residents become frustrated and anxious to get going. I constantly fall victim to this. The past few days have been a drivers worst nightmare, and almost everyone seemed extremely patient, realizing that slow downs are imminent. If only we could stretch this thought pattern to our day to day lives.
It's amazing how a couple days in the cold and dark will make you appreciate a warm shower. I'm not sure if this has any relation to global warming, although I'm sure some local pundits will make the assumption, but I do know that if disasters like this persist throughout the United States, climate change will become a huge issue in 2007.