(we're all about bandwagons…)
I’m listed on the redeye from Denver to JFK tonight. Tomorrow is Berck’s sister Sydney’s birthday. His dad Jim is arriving tomorrow afternoon. Since Berck’s brother Kelsey also lives in NYC, so we should have a fun time. I haven’t seen Syd’s new apartment yet, but I hear it’s pretty tiny. It’s in on the opposite side of the Brooklyn in terms of niceness, though. Berck says her neighborhood doesn’t smell bad.
I have Monday off, as does Berck, so I’m hoping to fly back Monday night.
So, I might be furloughed after all. My earlier statement that I have 189 below me and that they’re furloughing 150 was correct. I failed to take into account the fact that 49 of those below have already been furloughed, but are on the seniority list. There’s much discussion and disagreement about whether or not this is the case. I’m inclined to believe that they are on the list, which would put me as the 10th from the last person to be furloughed. If 10 folks senior to me decide to take voluntary leave, then I’m good. If they do not, I’ll be out of a job.
I should find out on October 3, probably toward the end of the day. Wish me luck.
I haven’t got a plan B, thus far. Most flying jobs I could consider would involve moving from Colorado Springs in order to make less money than Joanna is currently making, which is something of a precarious move. I figure it won’t hurt to delay thinking about it until after Friday.
The remains of at least one person has been found in the wreckage from the fire.
I’m no expert, and have no real information, but it’s starting to sound like someone set himself on fire… No official word as to the cause of the fire, yet.
Some coyotes woke us up last night. They were yapping away like drunk teenagers. This is nothing unusual–they wake us up at least once a week. At the same time, there was a siren, followed by more sirens and a lot of banging noises. The sirens are not all that unusual; there’s a fire department just up the road, and there’s a huge residential area served by the road just outside our apartment. The banging was unusual, and the noise of a helicopter circling over head finally prompted me to look outside the window.
“Uhh, Jonah, there’s a big fire out there.”
Jonah got up and got very excited, and decided that we should go investigate. I wasn’t inclined to get yelled at by cops at 3am, but decided that since there was no way I was going back to sleep, we might as well. I put on some clothes, and we started walking up the street. They were evacuating the apartment complexes just up the street and across the road from us. The cops were banging on doors, telling folks to get out. Dozens of people were standing around in pajamas, with blankets and their pets.
We stayed out of the way, and watched the blaze appear to get larger, rather than smaller, despite the half-dozen fire trucks who’d tapped every hydrant in sight. They finally started making progress after they got a huge ladder truck set up. The explosions continued; who knows what that was. Parts of the building falling, cars burning, and natural gas meters blowing up, probably. After it looked like they’d gotten it mostly contained, we went back to bed.
No one’s speculated about the cause of the fire yet. It destroyed 8 apartments and burned 10 cars. Everyone appears to have escaped uninjured, though there’s still one person unaccounted for.
The road was still closed at 10am this morning, and we had to drive all around the back side of the neighborhood to figure out how to get out. By noon, they’d opened 3 of the roads at the Rockrimmon/Delmonico intersection, but one side of Rockrimmon is still closed.
The police have a couple of RV’s set up in the road. I’m not sure why the police need RV’s. Donut storage and coffee production? The fire department still has quite a few trucks out there, as the fire is still smoldering, though they’ve finally stopped watering it.
I thought Jonah said she was getting the camera last night, but it turns out she was asking me to get it. So we didn’t have it. But, the local news seems to have captured some pictures.