So Hurricane Irene has done her worst and can I tell you something? We humans have become total wimps, yours truly at the forefront. Take power away and we become a bunch of sniveling, complaining crybabies. Cold showers! No electronic devices! Have to lift the garage door MANUALLY! Where's my ice? What about my laundry? HOW DO I CHARGE MY COMPUTER/IPAD/PHONE???? Three days without power and my town is acting like the Donner party. My husband makes jokes about braising the family pet (don't worry he won't, I'll go before the beloved dog will).

And the wrath being focussed on the local power utility is bottomless.

WHERE ARE THE TRUCKS?

WHERE ARE THE WORKERS?

I SEE NO LINES DOWN!

WHY DOES THE STREET OVER HAVE POWER AND WE DON'T???

You get my drift.

A low point for me was when I went to the local deli for a toasted bagel to find that they had sold out long before. They had been swamped, it seems, with people, like me, desperate for something hot and crunchy for breakfast. This lack of a toasted warm something almost made me demented. I had actually gone for a run and endured a freezing shower with the image of this bagel held in the front of my mind like the proverbial carrot before the donkey's nose. The guy behind the counter backed away when he saw the expression in my eyes when he delivered the devastating lack of bagel status. I looked around to see if there was someone elderly or lame with a bagel who I could take down. No such luck.

The lowest blow came when they put off opening school for another day. It was supposed to open today. Then tomorrow. And now they have put it off until...when? They didn't say except for an ambiguous "when the roads are safe". At this point I would airlift my kids to school. That day when schedules return to normal, when we don't have pull our teenagers out of bed in time for dinner, when we don't have the spend an entire day white knuckled in the passenger seat of the car as our 16 year olds attempt to drive, when our 12 years olds don't spend the entire time whining to go to the mall, this is a sacred day my friends. AND IT HAS BEEN DENIED ME.

So Irene, you're dead to me. Talk to the hand.