I'm sure most of you won't be reading the blog today because you're out of power. According to the P-I, "a one-two punch of howling windstorms and heavy rains left at least three people dead and more than 1 million homes and businesses without power... One woman died after being trapped in the flooded basement of her home, while falling trees killed two others."

Nearly an inch of rain fell in one hour at the weather service's north Seattle office, according to the P-I. A record rainfall of 2.17 inches was set in Seattle for the date, breaking the old record of 1.24 inches on Dec. 14, 2002. I believe it. I walked to the post office at lunch yesterday, a two block trek, and I came back into the office looking like I had just gotten out of the shower -- a fantasy for some of the women there, I think.

Many of the people I work with don't have power, and many stayed home to assess damage to their homes. Yikes. Dad said a 45-foot tree nearly missed his neighbor's house as it nailed their porch.

Most of the Eastside is out of power, but behold: the hamsters at my ghetto apartment building in Ballard are still on their wheels and we have electricity. Take that, upper-class Eastsiders. Go keep warm in your 7-series BMW's. You can call me to learn how amazing the hour-long episode of "The Office" was if you can get your cell phones to charge.