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 Fact: The ice covering the Arctic Ocean is now reduced to 1.32 million square miles, less than half the size of this same expanse just 30 short years ago. The white (above) depicts the current ice formation, the yellow line, the ice that is no more.
Fact: The US experienced the hottest temperatures ever recorded this year with 4,420 daily temperature records either broken or tied in July alone.
Fact: The two items mentioned increased sea levels and raised water temperatures, which in turn made Sandy what it was; monstrous. Storms, as Uncle Weatherby and all those who have followed tell us, get their strength from the water they pick up from our seas. There's now more of that water and it's warmer. Warmer water evaporates faster, again enhancing the storm's strength.
Global Warming? Does it really matter? Given all of this, we can expect more of the same moving forward.
My family and I were without electricity for 6 days during Sandy. Without power, for us, meant no heat and more importantly, being without hot water. In an effort not to be caught by surprise again, I've done some research on generators and here's my analysis.
 Generators come in two flavors. The whole house generator is automatic, turning on in less than 6 seconds of detecting a power outage. This type of generator is normally fueled by propane or natural gas, has a built in computer and turns itself on for 10 minutes every week, testing itself and recharging the internal battery that starts it up. The cost of the generator, the switching mechanism used to reroute power from your provider (Con Ed, NYSEG, etc.) and the electrician to install it all is about $8,000 or $9,000. If you don't have natural gas in your home add another $1,000 for two propane tanks installed, of between 120 and 150 gallon capacity each, and another $1,000 for propane.
Finally, expect to burn between 30 and 40 gallons of propane each day that you're out of power. In Westchester propane from Paraco is delivered at a little less than $5 a gallon or between $150 and $200 per day. There are less expensive providers, but they are few and far between. Six days would have cost between $900 and $1,200 dollars. BTW after 6 days, in all likelihood, you would need another delivery of propane. If you're fortunate enough to have natural gas the cost is about 40% less.
 Then there are portable generators. Average cost for one that will make your environment livable is less than $1,000. Portables come in a variety of sizes and with a variety of features. For the most part they run on gasoline. Most come with a pull start, as you would find on a lawn mower and some add, or only have, an electric start. The electric start has a battery and a small charger that trickle charges that battery waiting for the time it's needed.
With a portable generator you can have an electrician come in and tie up to 10 circuits of your choosing into a switch panel. Actually there are switch panels that will transfer an entire circuit breaker box to your generator, but you'd need to be careful to manually switch everything off and then manually turn circuits on as you need them, so as not to overload the capacity of the generator. I'm also not sure about the willingness of an electrician to put you at this advantage, as there might be implied legal responsibility in the event of a fire that is the result of an overload.
An Electrician and the switching unit will cost you between $800 and $1500.
You start your generator, plug it into the panel, throw the switch on that panel and the circuits you've previously chosen, your heating system, refrigerators, lights, even TVs are all moved off of the Electric Company's line and onto your generator. Most generators have additional outlets for on the fly power to devices that you can choose to power directly. Or with enough extension cords you can power anything you want, selectively using the generator's available power as you wish each and every time.
What to buy? Certainly not more than you need. We're back to W=V*A, Watts equals Volts times Amps.
Generators advertise their capacities in watts, providing both a "running" and "surge" watt capacity. I recently looked at a Briggs and Stratton "Storm Responder" with 5,500 Watts advertised and 7,000 surge. Generators specify their available amps, but that number is usually buried in the documentation and rarely stamped on the device.
The second number, that 7,000, provides higher watts for a short period of time. It's needed to handle the "surge" required to start motors; the kind you find in refrigerators, home boilers (heat and hot water), air conditioners, etc. Those devices need inertial pushes to get started, like a car's first gear, but will draw much less energy when running. In most instances, it's not useful in calculating your energy requirements.
 Some appliances provide the number of amps they draw operationally, like air conditioners and refrigerators and some specify watts, like microwaves and of course, light bulbs. You will need to convert all of your requirements to a common denominator, either watts or amps. You will find watts easier. If your appliance specifies amps and it's a standard 110 circuit, then multiply the amps by 110 (V*A) to produce the watts. Pretty much everything but your electric clothes dryer, central air systems, electric stoves or ovens and the occasional through the wall air conditioner are 110 volt devices. For those 220 circuits, use 220 as the multiplier instead of 110. NB: 220 devices will be controlled by two circuit breakers, not one. If your summed total is 5500 or less, than the Briggs and Stratton's capacity would be a good fit.
Match your total against available generators and select a model from the appropriately ranged generators. If you want to bypass all of this, try this link for a quick and dirty series of check boxes and a calculate button for summing it all up, providing you with a reasonably accurate estimate. Need to see approximate amperes for your household appliances try this link.
If you're going to run a modern day TV and or computer you will need to pick a generator that makes "clean" electricity, as sensitive electronics run best with power that has very little distortion or a "clean sine wave". Generators that are inverter based are the cleanest. Next are generators with built in regulators, that keep the power "clean". Finally come the generators which are capacitor based, good for field work or construction sites but not for home electronics. Most generators advertised are indeed inverter based, but you need to be aware.
You're almost done; all that remains is fuel consumption and that, in my opinion, is a very critical factor. The "run time in hours at half load" seems to be the industry standard. Every generator specifies its' capacity in gallons and run time, in hours at half load. Divide the capacity in gallons by the hours and you have your consumption per hour. (7 gallon capacity / 10 hours at half load = .7 gallons per hour). Look for the best recipe that will still meet your needs and assume "half load" is about what you will use on average. You want to fill it up as infrequently as possible and note that in this last storm, gas itself was in short supply. That Briggs and Stratton mentioned earlier burns just half a gallon an hour.
Where I live people tend to run their generators no more than 12 hours out of 24, usually during daylight hours. I suspect that this behavior is the norm. Twelve hours is more than enough time to heat up or cool down your house, provide numerous hot showers the next morning and enough cooling for the refrigerator to last through the night. Running a generator at night will double your gasoline consumption, make for a very noisy sleep, for you and your neighbors and increase the risk of that generator being stolen, a common occurrence even in my upper Westchester neighborhood.
Some additional considerations are whether or not there's a fuel gauge, low oil shut off, (generators burn oil so keep a quart or two on hand), how many receptacles are provided, the length of the warranty and the noise level measured in decibels.
 If you intend to keep gasoline on hand or in the generator itself, buy "Stabil" in any auto parts store and drop the recommended amount into the tank(s). It will give some staying power to the gasoline which otherwise becomes inert over time. Even with Stabil, gasoline will not last forever and needs to be either burned through the generator or dumped into an automobile and consumed in no longer than a year. Buy starter fluid, also in the auto parts store. It's ether based and can be sprayed directly into the generator's carburetor if you're having trouble getting it started. Try to run your generator for 10 minutes at least once a month; plug a light bulb in, for preparedness and to keep the parts clean and lubricated. Buy a siphon that will allow you to move gasoline from your car to your generator and vice versa. Keep lots of extension cords in the 25' range handy.
You will find a good selection of generators and a great starting point at the Northern Tool website. Even Amazon.com sells generators. Home Depot sells generators, but has a tendency to make separate deals with manufacturers to provide lesser models of their line at a reduced price. Not sure that's their policy with generators, but it makes sense to call the manufacturer directly to ensure that the model is the same as the one normally available elsewhere.
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I've now had opportunity to work with Windows 8 as I've made it ready for several clients. The underlying system is not much different than Windows 7, though the new interface (desktop) is radically different and takes some getting used to. If you're familiar with 7, you will find everything is as it was in terms of features, programs and utilities, just in a different place.The hardware requirements for 8 are the same, if not a bit more lax, than they were for 7.
Microsoft does not call to let you know that you have a virus. If you respond to that phone call and go to the suggested web site, your next call is going to be to me to come by and delouse your computer. Nor is the FBI invading your computer. How bad are these scams to separate you from your money? Follow this 
