Brother! What A Way To Run A Railroad.

Fellow Looney Tunes aficionados will recognize this as a line from the Bugs Bunny-Daffy Duck classic "Duck Amuck," which is without question (at least IMHO) one of the best cartoons of all time.  For anyone with a few extra minutes on their hands, here it is:

In the cartoon, Daffy Duck uses this line to express his frustration with the actions of an unseen, powerful entity who is generally making his life miserable.  I was reminded of this today while talking on the phone with a good friend from New Jersey who is approaching her tenth day with no power following Hurricane Sandy, and is probably now getting snowed on for good measure if the nor'easter that was forecast actually came through! 

Now, I know y'all saw all kinds of news stories on TV showing pictures of the NJ coast, which was basically either flooded or flattened or both except for a few areas.  My friend would probably be the first to tell you that she is one of the lucky ones, since her home is still standing--she lives in a part of the state where the problem was primarily wind, not water (trees being blown over onto power lines and houses and cars and all sorts of other things that should not have trees on them.)  But it is dark and cold in her house, and she has no idea when her power will be restored.  Every time she calls, she gets a runaround and a date that's a day or two later than the last one they gave her: last she heard, they might get to her street by Sunday. (!!)  What a way to run a railroad, indeed.  

And so, here I sit in my warm house, writing on a fully charged laptop by the light of a desk lamp, drinking the cup of tea that just came out of my microwave and listening to the background noise from the TV, and NOT taking my electricity supply for granted for a change.  In this month of thanksgiving, I am taking her reminder to heart and giving thanks for the heat and light in my house!