I’m at Columbus Circle, where, if I understand correctly, President Bush’s motorcade is about to come through. People are being kept well back from the road.

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A ferocious cold front brought torrential rain to Manhattan — and tornadoes to New Jersey — this morning, but conditions are improving now. Here is a radar loop from earlier today:

When I arrived at work, the first thing my boss, Lyn, said to me was, “Tornado in New Jersey!” Then, recalling my (eventually abandoned) plan last week to take public transit to the Jersey Shore as Hurricane Isabel approached, she added, “Get on the bus, quick!” Heh.

Well, we can’t compete with D.C., but here’s a fallen branch in NYC. :) It’s a rainy and windy first morning of fall here.

Shelob will make Her big-screen debut in Friday’s Return of the King trailer, according to TheOneRing.net. Woohoo!

Three totally unrelated items of note:

1. The Red Sox’ magic number is down to 4! Boston beat Baltimore tonight, 7-5, to move one step closer to clinching the wild card. It looks like that magic number probably won’t fall any further tonight, though: Seattle leads Anaheim, 5-0 in the 5th.

2. In a few minutes, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno will begin, and tonight’s studio audience includes 90 candidates for California governor. Heh. (Jay invited all the candidates, but most of the big-name candidates did not choose to attend. Gary Coleman and Mary Carey will be there, however.)

3. Happy Autumnal Equinox! Summer ends and fall begins tomorrow at 6:47 AM Eastern time.

Here are some of Dane’s pictures of damage from Hurricane Isabel in his D.C.-area Virginia neighborhood. (He said he will send some higher-quality versions when he can, electricity-wise.)

Regarding the top photo above, Dane wrote that on “Forest Lane, about two blocks from my house, there were three uprooted trees that appear to have fallen in a domino effect. The stump across the street is rotten and appears to have hit the uprooted tree on the other side of street, casing it to fall. … Suffice to say it would not have been fun to be located in any of the surrounding hoses during the storm.”

More generally, he reports via e-mail:

Power remains out at home, but is online at the office (which is in Old Town Alexandria—which flooded—go figure). And we are still being advised to boil the water. There is still no word as to when power will be restored; although the power company hopes to complete repairs within one week.

Here are the rest of the photos that he sent along:

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There had better not be any major breaking news in New York today… because I forgot my cell phone. :(

The Red Sox’ magic number — that is, the combined number of Boston wins and/or Seattle losses needed for the Sox to clinch the wild card — is five. It dropped by two yesterday, thanks to the Mariners’ 12-0 loss to the A’s and the Red Sox’ 2-0 win over Cleveland.

The Yankees, meanwhile, have officially clinched a playoff spot. The Sox are technically still mathematically alive to beat the Yanks in the AL East, but even if they did (and it would be a mighty ferocious comeback at this point), the Yankees would at least get the wild card. But no matter: either way, if Boston makes the playoffs, they can earn their chance to cut down the Yanks in the ALCS.

In other news, over in the National League, the Chicago Cubs, who won yesterday, are only a half-game behind the Houston Astros (who lost yesterday) for the NL Central lead. Are you thinking what I’m thinking: a Red Sox-Cubs World Series? :)

Oh, and then there’s those hapless Tigers: they’re now only four games away from becoming the, uh, losingest team in baseball history! (Hey, if we can say “winningest,” why can’t we say “losingest”?) Seven gaves left, only four losses needed to break the 1962 Mets’ record. Go, Detroit, go! (UPDATE: Well, that’s based on the sheer number of losses. In terms of losing percentage, the Tigers need five losses in their final seven games to beat the Mets’ historic mark. But that’s okay, I still have faith that these Tigers can do it!)

BrendanLoy.com’s intrepid Washington Bureau Chief and, now, official D.C.-area photographer, Dane, won his race against time with his dying laptop battery, and managed to successfully send me a bunch of photos of Isabel’s impact on his area.

Unfortunately, I need to go to bed now so that I can get a halfway decent amount of sleep before work tomorrow, so I don’t have time to post the pics now. But stay tuned — I’ll get them online ASAP, most likely tomorrow evening.

The Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park was great fun. Here are a few photo highlights:


Three wizards: Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast? No, not really… but the wizard on the right is the very same guy who got made fun of on national television by Late Night With Conan O’Brien’s insult comic dog, Triumph, at the Star Wars premiere!

Let the joust begin!

Here are a bunch more pictures:

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Guns don’t kill people… knives kill people. :)

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