Hurricane Sandy is all over the news. For millions of people, Sandy has been at best an inconvenience and at worst an unmitigated disaster. Wherever we turn, we're either seeing images of the devastating damage on the Eastern Seaboard or uplifting stories of bravery and determination from relief crews and volunteers.

I want to bring it a little closer to home. My thoughts and hopes (and volunteer efforts and charity) are with everyone affected negatively by the storm, but I have a hunch that there are some among us who have seen some positive moments, too.

So, let's see what's on the sunny side: what was your silver lining in Sandy's clouds?

I was due to move out of my apartment at the end of October. I moved up my timetable when it became clear how severe Sandy was going to be and I rushed to get all my stuff moved the weekend before the storm hit. As a result I was safely ensconced in my new apartment well before the city shut down.

In my new place I'm rooming with six other people: one that I know well and five strangers. Sandy made landfall the day after I moved in, and we were all cooped up in the apartment together that night. Since there was little else to do, we all had dinner and played a bunch of board games that night.

We're back to normal now, cooped up in our respective rooms, but I got to know my new roommates way faster than I ever would have otherwise.

I was fortunate enough to have power the whole time, so family members that didn't have power were able to come over and stay with me. I've never been so glad to have 3 extra people in my studio apartment.

I had a great night on Wednesday courtesy of Sandy when I finally ventured back downtown after two days on the UWS.

It was a bit of a spooky to walk through a pitch black Madison Square Park, 14th street, and East Village, but Josh (@joshm) and I finally got back to our neighborhood in the East Village and stopped at a bar called Bua on St. Marks. Now, 9 p.m. on St. Marks on any other night would be chaos, but it was — and this is the only way I can think of to describe it — as if we'd snuck into Disneyland or onto a movie set after hours.

The bar was filled with dozens of candles but somehow only a few people were there. Because there wasn't any music or street noise, everyone could actually hear each other talk, too. Peaceful. Lovely.

After spending the last storm with a friend in Pennsylvania, I decided to stay at home in NJ for Sandy, in order to help with clean up. Little did I know I was going to be stranded here without power for four days and without internet/tv/phone service for five.

The silver lining? Over the past few days, I have spent more quality time with my mother and brother than I have in the past few years. We watched movies together (battery powered of course), caught up on our lives, and even played board games like Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. Can you imagine? Analog family game time?

To sum up, i feel way more connected to family now than I did this time last week. I just wish it hadn't come at the cost of such a devastating storm.

I live in Williamsburg and was unaffected.

Exploring lower Manhattan in the darkness was a pretty magical experience for me. I did it the past two nights and felt like I was traveling back to the 1800's. Attached a few photos although they don't totally do justice.

I also spent a lot of time doing iPhone programming which has been on my todo list for ages.

Update: I decided to get all 2005 on you and upload a set to Flickr.

flickr.com

I never lost power, but being stuck inside for a week with Kevin made me appreciate how well we get along. In the downtime (when my phone was actually working), I also talked to my family a lot more than normal. They're in MA, so the brunt of the storm missed them, but it was nice to just catch up.

I've also gotten to know my neighbors and neighborhood a lot better. From chatting with neighbors in the laundry room to wondering at how the bodega cashiers are still smiling to noting the enthusiasm of the cleanup crews in Prospect Park...I was reminded why I liked this neighborhood. Even the humongous lines for gas at the end of my blog were mostly pretty upbeat.