Final Score: Human Race 1, Irene 0

"Survival. It's what man is really good at." -Kazie

Hurricane Irene has finally left us here in the East Coast and boy can girl leave some damage on your home on the way out the door.

Massive flooding, vicious winds, trees falling down like lightweights, power lines on the fritz, roads shutdown, houses damaged, cars totaled. It was just a never ending cycle of bad news coming down on us during this weekend.

At least 21 people died from the carnage that was Irene and sadly that number might be increasing soon. According to experts, the range of damage done on the East Coast overall is around $7 billion. And not to mention the millions of people that are currently without electricity in their households.

But out of all this there is a positive; a pretty big one if you ask me...and that this: We survived.

Yes, it wasn't pretty by any imagination but that fact that we survived Irene is a step moving forward. We have survived bigger disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the California Wildfires, 9/11. World War I, and many other historical conflicts that threatened us. But guess what? We may have lost a few souls and I give condolences towards them and their families but we are still alive and kicking.

The rebuilding process will take some time; This is probably the most hated sentence in this post but it's true. You can't satisfy every one's personal need of power in one day when there are millions that are in the same boat as you are. The clean up crew has a lot of tasks on their checklist to complete and it will take a while until all those conditions are met. We just need to have some patience because as bad as you think you have it right now...someone is doing far worse.

I have no power, probably won't have it for a week but I'm forever grateful that I'm still living. That my vehicle is still in good traveling condition. That I still have a job to go to and make some sort of salary. I'm a lucky guy in every sense of the word; so I can go without power because I know it will eventually turn back on. I would be lying if I want everything in the crib to be up and running ASAP but I'm in no rush. Yeah I'll lose the food and drinks I have in the fridge but at least I'm still fortunate to even have a fridge.

So people complaining about why the power ain't on yet, please do me and those that think similar to me a favor....shut up.

For everyone that has been affected by Irene I wish you all safety and peace of mind as we go through the aftermath and the rebuilding process. We will return to our regular scheduled program of life...just gotta watch a few reruns until the power comes back on.

Protect your neck and watch out for them trees on the road. We've been through many disasters here in the states and survive, let's not let this Category 1 Hurricane be the dagger shall we?

Survival is the name of the game. Well...game on.