Wednesday, October 31, 2012

News Overload!!

There's been so much happening online the past few days, I feel like I'm on internet overload. Between Sandy and Disney-buying-Star Wars and all the Halloween goodies streaming in by the dozen, I've got about a billion tabs open and nearly as many things I want to share all at once.

I was up all night Monday watching the breaking news on Hurricane Sandy, and my heart is with all of the East Coasters currently without power or worse, and particularly with all the emergency workers. I just about lost it at the photo of a nurse evacuating a NICU baby, and the dramatic video of firefighters rushing into the building whose facade had just collapsed. So many heroes out there.

(On a personal note, the Cake Wrecks servers are in New York, and were supposed to go down Tuesday morning when the basement fuel tanks for their back-up generators flooded. Instead, the personnel there took turns hand-carrying fuel tanks up 17 flights of stairs all. Day. Long. The site never went down, and it's still up now. Talk about amazing dedication...)

And for one more inspiring story, have you seen the latest post on Katie, our own little Star Wars girl? Katie asked to be a Storm Trooper for Halloween this year, so the 501st community once again pulled together a Force-full minor miracle for her:

Grab a Kleenex and go read all about it. So, so amazing.

A few people have asked how I feel about the Star Wars news, but I don't think it will surprise any of you to know I'm cautiously optimistic about it all. Living in Orlando, I'm already used to seeing Star Wars at Walt Disney World, so this feels like a natural progression.

Sorry, Donald, but Katie wore it better.

And as for the new SW movie slated for 2015 - well, proponents point to Avenger's success as an example of what could happen. Opponents point to John Carter and the continued bludgeoning-into-the-ground of the Pirates franchise. So...like I said, cautious optimism. Heh.

 I had a little fun with one of my pics from Star Wars Weekends. :)


Check back soon for my Halloween costume post, plus maybe some extra Halloween goodies. Like I said: SO MUCH STUFF TO SHARE!

18 comments:

  1. Katie's story had me tearing up. My first geeky tshirt wad purchased to support wear Star Wars day. Such a great story. GO Katie!

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  2. Katie!! She looks great. Hope she kicks some rebel butt and gets their candy. ;)
    One can't help being amazed at the dedication of the NYU hospital staff, carrying patients down all those stairs! That on top of the logistics of sending patients to many different places with iffy access to computers...I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
    Also amazed at the dedication of the server company staff in NYC who kept Cake Wrecks and lots of other stuff online. Now *that* is good customer service. Please pass my compliments along to them.

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  3. My husband is a firefighter/paramedic working with FEMA right now. Every time I read something like this it reminds me why he got into this field. With the current cutbacks we face here in Ohio, and a general dislike of firefighters, it's so wonderful to see some support for the selfless acts they perform each and every day.

    I cannot say it enough - THANK YOU

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  4. Wow - cry face! How amazing for Katie, and the joy the 501st must have over doing this for her must be immense. And Kudos to them all for thinking ahead about what to do with the armor when she outgrows it, and how they will use it then.

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  5. I just opened so many tabs to go read from your links...and now I want to read that book, too!
    I really enjoy Epbot - thanks for sharing so many awesome ideas and links.

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  6. I want to re-post that Darth Vader picture (with proper credit, of course), its the type of thing that would go viral, but I don't know how without linking the whole article.

    Heather Mac

    PS Katie's story made my day!

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  7. We were pretty lucky here in Maryland in regards to Sandy, although Ocean City got hit pretty hard; most if not all of the fishing pier was destroyed. Irene hit us much harder last year but once again our electric company workers and emergency personal were amazing.

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  8. That pic of the nurse... *sniff* I have something in my eye... allergies...

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  9. My husband is a ball of geek anxiety over the whole Star wars/Disney thing. I hope it goes more "avengers" and less "John Carter" as well. Otherwise I would have to scrape him off the floor. Love your Vader pic.
    And Katie rocks!

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  10. LOVE the posts, Jen! Keep 'em comin'!

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  11. Thanks for the tissue warning with Katie's story - what an incredible gift from some incredible people!

    And even when Katie outgrows the gift and it gets passed on to the next young fan, she'll still have all the pics and memories of wearing it first

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  12. Wait, what? "General dislikes of firefighters"? That thought makes me ill. All of our first responders deserve our thanks and respect for being willing to do those difficult, life-endangering jobs. Please tell him thank you for me! (An upstate NY resident who lives in a little pocket that Sandy somehow went around.)

    Jen, thank you for the fun post. So nice to take time for the happy stuff. And the best Darth Vader picture EVER.

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  13. For some reason a lot happens in October. I keep saying to my husband that it's a very exciting month.

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  14. I just left the NJ shore where I live since it could be weeks before the power is back. My street was miraculously missed, but I'm still trying to process that so much of the shore, including my beach haunt of Seabright, is just utterly gone. It's funny how comforting catching up on my two favorite blogs is, a bit of normalcy in something so surreal.

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  15. OMG, tissue warning for Katie's story was right on. The 501st is an amazing group. Thanks for keeping us updated!

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  16. Katie's story rocks!! I'm a potterhead and I know that we have each other's backs like that. I love that these huge fandoms form families and you love random strangers simply because you both love a book/movie or whatever.

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  17. Imagine my surprise when I came across a name I recognized in the story about the 501st and Katie- I work with him!

    Super awesome!

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  18. Seeing that photo made my morning! Thanks for sharing it.

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