A couple of things have been going on the past couple of weeks. Of course, hurricane season is in full swing, so we're watching the progress of Gustav as it heads toward the Gulf Coast. My mother's husband is freaking out and has the TV welded to the Weather Channel because Gustav is scheduled to make landfall near his hometown. Meanwhile, Hanna ( Read more... )

Tropical Storm Faye is now over Cuba. Its "cone of death" extends over the entire west coast of Florida, while the center plot line goes perilously close to home. This is cause for concern, especially if Faye balloons to a hurricane within the warm waters of the Gulf... and it will ( Read more... )

Okay, so this post is about TS Alberto. Especially what a cool storm it was. Is? At the moment it's hard to tell because outside, the skies are clear and blue, with a gentle breeze stirring the dampened branches. I took a hurricane day anyway. I hate commuting to that meat locker of an office ( Read more... )

My company just sent out the following e-mail message:

"To help increase awareness of the first day of the 2006 hurricane season, we'll have a Jeans Day next Thursday, June 1."What does wearing jeans have to do with hurricanes? That in the event of a hurricane, it's better not to stain your work clothes? Believe me, I'm aware of June 1 being the ( Read more... )

As I write this, Wilma is on her way out of the state. This hurricane stuck to predictions and stayed around Naples and south Florida. That was the best scenario for us, as up here in Tampa, we got blustery winds and rain, and maybe a brief hiccup in the power. My Jeanne experience was far worse ( Read more... )

Time for my usual post snarling about the hurricanes. I have to admit, though, that the coverage of Wilma has been a lot different than the "AAAAAA!!!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!! Film at eleven" coverage we had last year. No 24-hour hurricane specials or 24-hour Wilma crawl at the bottom of the screen. No, "hunker down" cliches. It's all ( Read more... )

Fill in the blank. I've heard: Pompeii, tsunami, any other historic scene of devastation ( Read more... )

My first encounter with foul weather and media for the year ( Read more... )

A summary of my Jeanne experience:

Saturday evening: All TV is preempted by Hurricane Specials--redundant information we Floridians have all memorized by now: local shelters, stay in your house, evacuate your trailer and the coastal areas, and oh! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! Storm is projected to skim the edge of my county. Get on the computer and lose ( Read more... )

According to the latest predictions, my neighborhood is right in the path of Jeanne. Will let you know in a few days if I still have a house. No delusions of keeping the power on ( Read more... )