When did a month become thought of as a long time for electric service to be

[ChillZilla]

151. A month without power in our age is pretty tough

But I've noticed on these threads that many of those who are less than sympathetic to the plight of Staten Islanders lived though Ike in Houston. I, for one, was without power for three weeks. This will come a surprise to many because as far as I can tell it was pretty much uncovered on the news. Yeah, they covered it in general but compared to Katrina or Sandy, it was a relative non-event as far as the Texas residents were treated; so to see people bemoaning their fate after a couple of days is a little, not so much irritating, but just, well, we're just not that sympathetic. Call back in two weeks when you've been without and we can talk.

I think Houstonians in particular felt nationally slighted after Ike, many people were without power to 3-4 weeks, houses smashed up etc, and the media coverage just wasn't there. Not a sympathetic enough group I guess. Also, we didn't get the major flooding into Houston that accompanied Katrina and Sandy so there was that I guess.

I'll concede that it was different in terms of loss of life as well, but Galveston was pretty much half destroyed, way worse than Staten Island I'll guess at this point. Nowhere near the coverage. Then again, I didn't have TV for about a week so maybe I'm wrong.

And not everyone here was prepared. My neighbors had to wait in line for 6 hours for gas, that cracked me up that that was supposedly a super tragedy in NY. Uh, that happens after every hurricane. That's why you gas up your cars and if you have a generator, if you're smart you'll find and purchase some 30 gallon fuel drums and fill them up before the storm. I did and ran my generator for three weeks without a trip to the store.

I'm fully sympathetic to the plight of those affected by Sandy, but they just need to know people have gotten through worse. Help is on the way, just be grateful for any assistance you get, which everyone seems to be, and you'll get through this. If I was closer, I'd be helping out, just like I did after Katrina, Rita, Ike...and whichever one comes next.

No point hating on folks though, this is uncharted territory for many many people.