Quote of the Day

From The Quotations Page:

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction."
  - Blaise Pascal

Well, that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

the queers shall lead us from the darkness

Well, I had been working on a little, then not so little, post on Glenn Maxey and No Nonsense in November , but SHG beat me to it (well, we saw him over a week ago, so it's not like this is new...so no real race there!).

I have been one of the masses of envelope-stuffers, sign-placers, etc. for presidential campaigns, but this was the first grass-roots meeting I had been to in 15 years, and it was really interesting. The words used, the way he got people interested and in agreement using logic and drawing them in was fascinating. Yet I was frightened as I sat there thinking about how similar meetings go for the "other" side, specifically fundi-Christians. *shudder* No wonder things have gotten to the sad state they are in.

What I wanted to point out, though, is that Maxey is craftily using this as a way to help re-jump start the TX Democratic Party: By getting NNN to work and get contact lists organized and networks in place for the next set of fights, he sees the gay community in TX as potentially being a significant aid in the next round of elections next year and then for 2008. With TX-Dems a bit scattered and confused, they will hopefully take notice and leverage off it. At least, that is how he sees it. In fact, he put it as TX Dem party leadership hopefully sitting up and taking notice with a feeling of "the queers shall lead us from the darkness". Now that is what I found most interesting and hopeful out of what Maxey had to say. A ray of light, so to speak (groan, here come the strains of Madonna).

go back

Last night my home laptop decided it did not want to start up correctly for some unknown reason. I had not installed anything or changed anything. Oh fuck.

Enter Norton GoBack, a nifty little part of Norton Utilities that lets you literally go back to an image of your hard drive from a previous snapshot point.

Since everything was fine at 5 AM yesterday, I picked that point. 20 Minutes later, I was back in business. No drama (OK, minimal drama). Buy it, it's worth it!

Ran Norton Utilities, fixed the gremlins, and went on my merry way to go spend a quiet evening walking the dogs and reading Cryptonomicon as G-Hopp and D were in NOLA for the day (well, by that time, on their way back).

Anyway, Norton SystemWorks is well worth the money, it has saved my sorry ass many times. Yay Peter Norton, uebergeek!

can i please pee in peace?

There are days when the only truly peaceful time I have is when I stand at the urinal and pee.

Today, like happens occasionally, somebody was at the next one over. If you know the person, it's OK to say "hey, 'sup" or some such, but that's about it. No talking shop or whatever.

What I cannot stand is the sudden blathering about the weather, or whatever, that somebody you don't know feels they have to do. Like happened today.

SHUT UP.

I am peeing here, leave me in peace to enjoy the bliss of emptying my bladder.

I have a similar pet peeve about elevators (although I usually don't pee in them). Just because there is silence does not mean you have to speak: I do not know you. We're all in here for the same reason, just keep your mouth shut.

some happy news

'took long 'nuff

He has insisted he committed no crimes

hmmm, sounds a lot like...

"I am not a crook"

la la la la la, i can't hear you

and behind Hallicurtain #3...

Under-utilized ridiculously expensive cruise ships!

 

YAY!!

 

fucking morons...

ewwww!

Live giant squid caught on camera!

heard on channel 13 ABC this evening

Houston avoids devastating plowing...

Honey, it's not supposed to be devastating...

I&D at Kroger

So SHG and I stopped at Kroger by his house in the Houston Heights this evening because my Kroger in Stepford was out of Half 'n Half, and, well, without it I cannot have my coffee in the morning, and that's not a good way for me to start the day.

Anyway, we saw a gay guy. Then another. Then the deli guy was such a queen. Then we saw a twinkie couple. Then a lesbian. Then a bear couple. Then another lesbian. Then then then then... well, you get the point.

I have not felt that at ease at the grocery store... ever.

and behind hallicurtain number 2, we have...

2.3 million in no-bid trailer purchases by FEMA for Katrina storm victims!

 

YAY!

 

Now, I realize we need places for these people to live. But it only takes a day or so for companies to assemble government bids especially if the rules are relaxed (that's relaxed, not revoked), trust me, I know. Just because there's a crisis does not mean we should wave our bras in the air like we don't care and fling our panties around at will.

 

For temporary roof repairs, FEMA went to All American Poly Corp., where it bought $6.6 million worth of blue tarps bearing the FEMA logo. The agency bought $28 million in ready-made meals from G.A. Food Service of St. Petersburg, Fla., and it went to the Danish firm Thrane & Thrane for $3.5 million in satellite phones.

All of these contracts, along with many more, were awarded without the competitive bidding normally required for government purchases. It's not unusual for such processes to be streamlined in disasters, but waiving safeguards raises the risk of fraud and waste, said Steven Schooner, a government contracts specialist at George Washington University Law School.

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckityfuckfuck

 

I cannot wait until we vote as many of these trolls out of office as possible.

 

Write kids, write.

back to ranting

Well, it would seem that Prezident G. Duhb Azalea wants to federalize emergency response (by way of my favorite slight nut  Lynn Samuels), and simply tromp all over states' rights:

 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused Mr. Bush of attempting a power grab in the wake of fierce criticism that he responded too slowly to Hurricane Katrina a month ago. 

"Using the military in domestic law enforcement is generally a very bad idea," said Timothy Edgar, national security policy counsel for the ACLU. "I'm afraid that it will have unforeseen consequences for civil liberties."

 

Ummm... wouldn't be better to just repair and streamline federal responses to state  requests for assistance? Fix it buddy, don't replace it. Perhaps coordinate and communicate a little more? Oh WAIT! I used BOTH of the "c-words", sorry!

 

Seriously though, this does not smell like teen spirit, it sounds like a spoiled child trying to take all the chess pieces for himself.

 

And who loses? Why, us regular folk, that's  who. Send your letters in folks.

All about Rita

Well here it is Monday night and I am finally caught up after having life somewhat disrupted by Hurricane Rita. Sunday and part of today were clean-up and then catch-up.

The Storm

I have to say that any time I witness even a fraction of what Mother Nature is capable of, I am left in awe. The storm itself was not very scary, considering we were on the outer "clean" edge, with minimal precipitation and lower winds. Yet the wind gusts were quite impressive. It definitely made me glad that we were only out on the edge and that all the stuff from outside had been brought in. It also angered me that many of my neighbors had been less responsible and left stuff outside, which had experienced higher sustained winds would have been inside my house. That in turn reaffirmed my desire for pre-fitted plywood panels for the windows of my new house.

I had the webcam up and running until about midnight Friday/Saturday night when the power went out. We could have kept it going using the battery packs and inverter and dial-up, but we were challenged by silly things like lengths of phone cords. But, I hope it was useful or at least interesting while it lasted. I did receive several nice emails from people I have never met thanking me for the cam while it lasted.

Once the power was out for good, it was time to just sleep. We new it would not be too bad for us so I think we all actually slept a bit.

Saturday morning the storm made landfall just as we got up around 6 or 7. Part of my fence was down along with some twigs (found all the branches in the backyard later...):

Saturday first light, mostly blowing rain.

Fence down...

Twigs.

By 10 the radio said the weather was over for the greater Houston area. What area they were talking about, I dunno, because it was still raining and blowing here. We amused ourselves by taking turns online with the battery/inverter/laptop/dial-up and bloggin' and bloggin'. By 2 it had calmed, and by 3:30 we were all going stir-crazy and had to get out of the house so we went on an excursion into town which you can read about over at SHG's bythebayou and see some pics from over at G-Hopp's flikr. When we got back the electricity was on and the house on its way to being somewhat cooled down, but still no cable and no internet.. It was an early night that night for all of us.

The Clean-Up

It turns out Kingwood got the worst of the storm as far as Houston goes. As far as how much damage we got here at the house, it's average for the neighborhood, maybe a little more because of the downed fence. Some people have whole trees down, others have nothing. What is interesting is that you can tell how few people evacuated by the state of their yards - they're not back yet so it's a mess. A pet peeve about the clean-up here: People who do not sweep the leaves and pine needles from their street gutters. Hello, it's all going to back up and create local high water the next time it rains, you dumbfuck.

Kingwood's main roads were cleared of down trees early, but there are still some signals out. Everybody is very orderly about stopping etc. Why can't they be that way normally at the four-way Stop signs? Out on the freeway you see a lot off messed-up billboards and corrugated metal roofs. All in all, we are very lucky. In Liberty County, one county west of here, as well as Beaumont, Galveston, they are not so lucky.

Sunday was a feverish effort to fix the fence that blew down, gather tree limbs and twigs, and return the house to show-quality for anybody who might be insane enough to look at it Monday or Tuesday. My cleaning lady had to cancel the previous Thursday (I wonder why?) and after having the four of us holed up for several days it was in need of a good cleaning. The hardest task was putting the fence back together again. I was inspired and scurried off to Home Despot in search of what I needed and managed to get all the items I wanted to put the damned thing back up AND I found a generator! Yay! Of course at the check-out, the woman was talking about how "we reap what we sow, we reap what we sow, and look at Louisiana, they have many sinful, sinful, cities there." Seeing as how I really wanted that fucking generator I bit my tongue and smiled.

Macho Man For Rent, with pratical glasses on.

Fixing the fence was interesting. I am glad that I learned a lot about some manual labor from my Dad, and about "general contractor" type work, e.g. how to do something. As I was doing it, I realized how little of that I do now - my tender hands that were once calloused from working outside and being a field geologist got all red and blistered. I also realized that I much prefer to pay somebody else to do this stuff, although I am all kinds of proud of myself and my "butchness" in having fixed it myself. Anyway, everybody pitched in on the fence (which went faster than I thought, although there was a set-back due to extensive cement sub-surface, some termites, and a nest of mean-looking red wasps in the lady-bug house. D decided to just duct-tape them in: he's braver than I!

Duct tape fixes all!

Peekaboo...?

Fixed Fence.

Anyway, everybody pitched in on everything, and after a while SHG went home with Boris, and G-Hopp & D went to go look at a car for D. I carried on for a while longer until I was ready to collapse. The lawn guys not only could not show up the previous Thursday, but had not shown up the one before that, either, so things were raggedy in addition to debris-ridden. So, I dragged out my 20 yr-old lawn mower that weighs about 132 lbs. and is all fucked up and did it myself. Mind you, the oil has not been changed since I moved to Texas 8 1/2 years ago and I have not started it in 2 years. Well, that good 'ole Briggs & Stratton engine fired up on the fourth pull! Yay quality American products! Anyay, I quickly remembered that even though I enjoyed doing that kind of work at my parents' house when I was in school, and that I did not mind it except for the hottest weeks of the year in Dallas, I really fucking hate it here.

The Return

So far the return of people who evacuated Houston seems orderly and not as bad as prediction, which is good. There's gas to be had if you look a bit and don't mind waiting a few minutes. What I really worry about is how many people will not evacuate the next time that we really should. Tomorrow I go back to work, mostly caught up from several days away. First task is to re-assemble my office.

Rita: Sunday AM

Light blogging ahead: cleaning up and all. Will post more on yesterday etc. later on!

By the way, apologies on no webcam during the storm, we lost power and internet! Oh well! Next time, longer telephone cord!! BUT a lot of people took a look and all, I hope it was helpful while it lasted!

Rita: Saturday late AM

Well, the water pressure has dropped, probably because without the power on, the pump stations for the city water stations are down. Oh well. We listened to the crank-up radio and apparently 550,000 - 700,000 people are w/o power, depending on who you ask. And they estimate up to two weeks for full restoration. WHAT? TWO weeks? I'm sorry, but that's abysmal considering the Houston city limits were only grazed by the storm. I think they are overestimating so they look good later on.

The radio also claims that the rain and wind have stopped in North Harris County (where we are)...um, I don't think so, and that was over an hour ago.

Anyway, thanks to a gas stove we had wonderful chili-steak omelets (steak left over from last night on the gas grill) and beer for breakfast. The stuff in the refrigerator has got to go before it goes bad! Beer before breakfast, as the MBGC (of which I am a member) slogan goes!

We have tunes, thanks to a battery-powered XM satellite radio, phew. The laptop battery started to go down to 5%, but the battery pack (rechargeable in the car) and inverter come to the rescue!

Rita: Saturday, the morning after...a pill would be good

It got pretty windy with a bit of rain last night around 8 or 9. Starting then, the power went on/off several times before stabilizing. The cable and thus internet were kaputt, so we settled in (see SHG for that).

Anyway, power finally went out for good. SHG, G-Hopp and I were up at 6 with the wind howling and rain driving, but it was really not bad at all here. The bayou out back is barely 1/4 full.

Thanks to a gas stove and a french press, coffee was up and ready, though we tried to use the regular pot, but the wee power inverter we have was not enough for the Cuisinart - we forgot that the grinding motor and the heating element draw quite a bit of juice. Thanks to the big-ass battery on my laptop and SHG's SBC dial-up option, we checked online to check the storm out (and blog of course). It's very windy and sort of rainy, though it seems like it is downpouring because the rain is actually blowing sideways. We got very, very lucky. Here's the storm track, with a little white dot over Stepford:


With no power, and a short phone cord for the modem, the webcam is not up to show you the outside, and blogger is being bitchy about uploading images...well, it's been like that for a couple of days now...so no more pictures right now. Feh.

Damage report: Many little branches blowing about, and a section of my fence went down (not surprised, it's about 14 years old). It never even occurred to me that it might blow down, I only thought about the house.

There are several lessons I have learned from this whole thing. First, when you're in the possible path of a hurricane, the uncertainty of the predictions are extra unnerving. Second, they are actually pretty good at the predictions, uncertainties included. The stress and emotions come and go. Third, we all deal with this stress differently: I try to do little things and make things perfect, and then retreat to the computer. G-Hopp hangs with the computer. SHG talks. D goes nuts in the kitchen.

Fourth , for somebody like me with pets who are his family, or somebody like me with children, with like me meaning a generally over-compensating, over-prepared, obsessive compulsive prone to worry, some seemingly over-preparedness is in order.

Let me elaborate: This morning without power is less than irritating. Having no running water, or holes in the house with undesired water coming in would really really blow. You prepare in advance like we did (and quite well except for the lack of generator and boarding the house up, both because of the lack of any thing to buy to do so) and then as G-Hopp put it, there's a bit of anti-climactic feeling. Then you wait. Then you get lucky and all is well. And then you may feel a little foolish for worrying.

Not me. I don't question any of my/our decisions, including the one to stay in light of the lack of gasoline etc. And I won't let anybody question my judgment or give me shit. Given the information available and the conditions of gasoline and traffic, the decisions were the right ones. I mean, the Houston plan was for 1.2 million max to get out, and something like 2.1 million did, or tried. And, much of that was apparently Houston people that were not called on to do so - only zones A,B,C (and the zone C order was lifted yesterday early in the morning).

But what I will do is do a lot of prep for possible future events. Like buy a really good generator. Like get that desert roof rack/fuel can/water can package and front-hitch cooler carrier for the Rover, and be all stocked up. I did have everything ready for the pets for the last few years, but that was just for them in case I was out of town during a hurricane and the sitter or the ex needed to do something. When I move to my new house, I will get all the plywood for the windows pre-cut and numbered and ready to mount. From now on, I will be over-prepared, which could eventually turn into being just plain prepared if something big happens.

This leads me to another thought: Think of all the people who fled Houston in advance of a powerful storm...that turned out to weaken and veer off away from us. So many of them will be feeling foolish, especially after the Hell of an 18 hour evacuation drive to Austin, the dearth of gasoline, and now the inverse coming back here starting today. They should not feel that way, but they will. And that is not a good thing.

Rita: Friday late afternoon

Well, we went for a nice long, long doggie walk out in the wind. It's an odd wind for us here - it rarely gets even breezy. Thus, it's a but eerie. Looks like less than 1/4 of people have left Kingwood. Many folks out in their driveways/garages having a beer and a steak. Many cars parked up high in the drive, even sideways, since during serious down-pours the streets flood a bit when the drains cannot keep up.

We just got the first few raindrops. It looks like Rita will track east enough of us that things well be not too, too bad. We'll see about that. We're ready, though, she could change her mind yet.


Hey, don't forget about the webcam of the backyard while we still have power and internet!

I wish I knew a way to stream it right on here...

Rita: Friday PM - Kingwoodcable system error

While channel surfin' for some Rita info, D came upon this one...it would seem that Rita, spinning out there in the Gulf of Mexico like a whirling dervish has managed to crash the IBM XT mainframe at the local access channel before even getting here:

Rita: Friday PM Pissiness

Even though now only a cat 3 storm, Rita could really make life messy for a while. So I decided to pay all my bills, 99% of which I do online. So I have this City of Houston parking ticket that arrived in the mail but never on my windshield. I go to the website indicated on the ticket to pay, and get told that that URL is no longer valid, please go to such and such. Now I really doubt that the whole system migrated in the last few days since the ticket was issued. Hello, how hard is this to coordinate??

Anyway, I wander around and finally find the place to enter my ticket and pay (and probably pay a "convenience" fee as well).

So I get this, over and over and over again:

I HATE HATE HATE stupidity! I HATE IT!

SO, I confirm the number, the format of the number, that ticket is eligible, blah blah blah. No dice.


FEH on you Houston, no money for you today, just because I am pissy and Rita is coming. Fuckheads.

Rita: Friday AM

I set the A/C to 60 last night to bring the house down to cold for when the power goes out. The fridge and freezer are also set to max cold. I even brought my old dorm fridge in.

It's cold in here!

We're pretty well stocked for most everything we might need. I really wish we had a generator. But we do have a power inverter, which we can hook to one of the battery packs we have, so we can run the coffee pot! And maybe laptops and network if the cable is not out.

Batteries and Flashlights!

Booze and gnomes!

More booze!

Coffee!!

Vices!

Wind-up radio, charging cell phone, and wine!

Swaying trees...well, you cannot see them swaying...

It's getting uncharacteristically breezy outside...and the neighbors have not secured anything outside. If they do not by around 3, I will go bug them about it, since I do not want their shit flying inside my house.

Intellingent Falling!

And now for something light from the Onion!

Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

Rita: Friday first thing AM

While my computer is on and we have power/internet, I am going to show the backyard through my Yahoo! Messenger account. If you get on there and look for me, I am a_regulr_guy (no a in regular!!). It's set for everybody to see it. Find me as a friend and then I will "accept" you.

Rita: Thursday Evening

Derick made awesome chili for dinner...He has taken over my kitchen, and that is just fine with me. I am kind of wandering around delagating tasks and taking care of the weird shit that only I can do.

We went for a walk to survey the neighborhood this evening. It looks like less than a third of Stepford has headed outta Dodge, many people around, some plywooding, others doing like us and just preparing and trying not to freak out.

Puppies!

Some friends called last night to convince us to come to San Antonio or Austin. At this point, the highways are fucked up jammed packed, and there's no gas to be had. I would make it half way and just run out of gas. Now with my four cats, SHG's Boris, and the pups, that would SUCK. It's just not feasible. We will look in the morning and see what's going on.

I am not sure what to do. I am having aengst about being irresponsible. On the other hand, as SHG pointed out, each person here is an adult and we're all in agreement. With G-Hopp here, I too feel the weight of "running" heavy on me. As one friend put it, its not like we're gonna die, life just could be really miserable for a while. And that's true. I worry most about the wind. Of course, I want to be here to patch any breaches in the house.

By the way, THANK YOU to all who have called and emailed with concern and offers of help.

For now, I need to just collapse and rest.

Rita: Thursday Afternoon

This afternoon was a time to drink lots of beer, chain-smoke, and clean out the garage. The weather of course was really nice, the typical calm before the storm. We brought EVERYTHING into the garage.

SWEEP G! SWEEP!

We had fun cleaning up and putting SHG's car in safely. My Triumph is being repaired so it is safely in the shop over there.

The below decal is on SHG's car.. we'll have to see about that...!

None of are used to so much "manual labor" and wound up all sweaty and out of breath. I still had too much nervous energy so I attacked the hedge...Geez, I hate how I look in these pix! Diet incentive. Speaking of the diet, I am sort of keeping to it during this stressful time: Chocolate and Whiskey are great comfort food.

Before Rita: Thursday Late Morning

This morning we awoke to the local NPR station listing hat service stations HAVE gas...the list was about 3 out of what must be at least 100 stations inside the inner highway loop. The mayor was having press conference on evacuating the three zones, all of which are way far south of here. No call for even voluntary evacuations up here.

After coffee and WAY too much time spent in front of the television watching the chaos on the roads and general mess of evacuation, SHG and I ventured out to get some last-minute stuff: Prescriptions, chili makings, and gas. Well, no gas to be had. At Kroger, there were tons of people out and about, which was eerily soothing. Lots of people staying here. Kingwood is very quiet this morning. It's like Christmas Day, the degree of quiet here.

Before Rita: Thursday Morning

Well, things are brightening up a touch...overnight Rita has turned somewhat hard to the north, putting us on the "better" side of the storm, i.e. the west side. Of course, we're closer to the eye now. They have not called any sort of evacuation for up here yet. We'll keep an eye on things today as we get ready here, taking in stuff from outside, etc. At this point, everything is jammed solid on the freeways.

Check out G-Hopp's entry regarding our logic thus far.

More later...

Before Rita: Wednesday evening

Insanity.

After my sort-of fruitful trips to Home Despot, I went to work around noon. The ride to the office was a bit of a bitch as the Beltway was already significantly backed up around the "exit" routes, like 290 and 10. I saw a convoy of 50 busses escorted by a State Trooper (you very rarely see Troopers within Houston city limits, so you know something's up), which was eerie. Well, it was at least 50, I started counting only when I realized there was more than about 5 or 10. Also many mobile homes and campers on their way outta town. On the surface streets, all jammed up: people getting their kids from schools, and trying to get gas - very long lines.

This afternoon we basically secured our office. We moved all the computers and critical files away from the windows and into the locked interior rooms. IT-guy made us all synch our laptops and ran a full back-up to take off-site. It was a bit surreal. The advantages of being on the top floor of an all glass building, and having northern/eastern exposure suddenly seemed a little less when faced with blown windows, etc. Most of the people in our office are ex-pats, so they are kind of stuck here in town.

Anyway, around 5 I left and it took me very very little time to make the in-bound trip to SHG's place, seeing as how everybody was going outbound. Long lines at gas stations - like 10-50 cars depending on the station. I finally stopped at one to top the English Cottage off, but had to put regular in it (not a big deal, but there goes the fuel "economy" and it ran a little grainy after that).

At the service station, you could see the fear and concern in people's faces. At one point, I was gassing up and the pump in front of me was free - so I waved the taxi behind me ahead. He was just jockeying in when another Rover Discovery comes flying in off the street and tries to take his space! Asshole! The taxi did not budge and wound up sort of blocks him in, so the Disco had to back up/turn right to get out. Well, he starts yelling:

"Hey! You have to back up to let me out!"
(taxi sees where this is going and does not budge)
"Hey! BACK UP! I'm in a LAND ROVER not a HONDA, I cannot get OUT!"
(no movement by taxi)
"HEY ASSHOLE! I'M IN A LAND OVER, I HAVE NO TURNING RADIUS! It's not a HONDA! Back the FUCK up FUCKER!!!!"

Well, at this point, now I'M pissed off because I see his wheel is not cut all the way, maybe only 1/3 of the way, so I yell "Hey ASSHOLE your turning radius is 26 feet, turn the FUCKING wheel!!

So he sees I am standing there with the same truck as him and have called him on his shit, so he cuts it, backs up and speeds off. Fucking dickhead.

Then, it was off to SHG's place, where we packed/protected, and got him and Boris the cat ready to go. He was having a touch of aegnst about the traffic up to Stepford. We dumped his fridge into some bags, etc etc. We took off in two cars and headed up and had no problems since we 1. checked the traffic report, and 2. I knew the "back way". But when we crossed 59, the big highway by my house, it was a mess, and it is not even an official evacuation route. Wow. It looked like this (though who knows where this image was taken from):


So, lots of people stressed out, scared, trying to get out of Houston. And I used to think we had plenty of ways out of the city.

Before Rita: Wednesday afternoon, what to do?

For those of you perhaps wondering where Stepford (ok, ok, Kingwood, 77345) lies, here's a couple of maps. I'm 56 miles from the coast, and 32 miles from the head of Galveston Bay. So even with a little more northerly track, we're OK up there - a lot of wind and rain. It's at about 115 ft elevation, so no surge.

From NOAA, 4 PM CDT 21 September 2005

Pink is Hurricane Watch, Yellow TS Watch

I just can't get too crazy over this... there are so many panicking people at Home Depot (the line for plywood was 30 pick-ups long, the line for generators was 100 people who camped out at 04.30 this morning), there's no gas left at many stations, etc., so you get the panic from them. I don't have warm fuzzies about Rita, but on the other hand, what else can I do? We've got. or are getting, most of what we need (but I would like a generator), and we're finishing securing our offices/servers/etc. at work, and SHG, G-Hop, D, and I have a plan (sort of), and R may join us.

Now, if we get really close in to the eye, e.g. a very hard turn right for Rita, then of course we're just fucked.

Before Rita: Wednesday Morning

This morning I went to Home Despot to get a few things. Of course the things I really wanted like gasoline cans and a generator were sold out, although there was still plywood In fact, I went to two Home Despots and a Lowe's. At the final stop, a Home Despot, there were about 40 pick-ups in line for plywood, and about100 people in line for generators, though nobody knew when the next truck was coming in with them. I made the mistake of talking with some of them. This just began to trip me out. They were all in various states of panic, and were just feeding off of each other's fears.

Not that there is nothing to be worried about. But there is no need to freak out, just keep calm and get it all taken care of, whatever it is you decide and/or need to do. Sheesh.

Anyway, plywooding-up my windows is not practical. But I would like a generator.

Before Rita: Its vet day!

Frak gets a check-up!

Well this morning was vet-time! I have a house-call vet come to the house for the cats because it's much less traumatic than carting all four of them over to the vet...either at once or as separate visits, and Frak has serious issues with the vet, as in he has to be sedated, and well it winds up being cheaper over all. Everybody behaved, with the only injuries being a couple of scratches on my arm.

Now I'm off to work with a stop on the way to buy a generator... if I can find one... the power company says we could be without power for up to two weeks here after the storm, which I think is crap... on the other hand, you never know... #@%* Rita!

john kerry speech at Brown

Below is an email from John Kerry sent out regarding a speach he was (about) to make on Monday at Brown University. Very interesting and timely. You can read the text of the speech here, which you should, because it's good.

I think the comments regarding the Gulf Coast becoming a right-wing laboratory are spot on, but as usual I could not articulate it well-enough, but this does the trick. This is why I am not a politician.

Thanks to mountaingirl for the heads-up.
__________

In a few hours, I will deliver a major address at Brown University about what the rage and destruction of Katrina have revealed. I want you to be one of the first to read and reflect upon the text of this speech for a very simple reason.

It's time for each and every one of us to say what needs to be said -- with the full force of our convictions, with nothing held back. This speech is my attempt to do exactly that -- and your response to my call to action will define the work of the johnkerry.com community far into the future.

Natural and human calamity have stripped away the spin machine, creating a rare accountability moment, not just for the Bush administration, but for all of us to take stock of the direction of our country and do what we can to reverse it. That's our job -- to turn this moment from a frenzied expression of guilt into a national reversal of direction.

We've seen America at its best and our government at its worst. Millions of Americans are beginning to realize where they fit in our democracy under Republican governance: nowhere.

It's time for a fundamental debate about the choices we are making as a nation. Here is some of the language I will use later today to help provoke that badly needed national conversation:

The Katrina Administration

Katrina is a symbol of all this administration does and doesn't do. Michael Brown -- or Brownie as the President so famously thanked him for doing a heck of a job -- Brownie is to Katrina what Paul Bremer is to peace in Iraq; what George Tenet is to slam dunk intelligence; what Paul Wolfowitz is to parades paved with flowers in Baghdad; what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy; what Donald Rumsfeld is to basic war planning; what Tom Delay is to ethics; and what George Bush is to "Mission Accomplished" and "Wanted Dead or Alive." The bottom line is simple: the "we'll do whatever it takes" administration doesn't have what it takes to get the job done.

This is the Katrina administration.

The Real Test of Katrina

This is the real test of Katrina. Will we be satisfied to only do the immediate: care for the victims and rebuild the city? Or will we be inspired to tackle the incompetence that left us so unprepared, and the societal injustice that left so many of the least fortunate waiting and praying on those rooftops?

Making the Gulf Coast a Right-Wing Laboratory

The rush now to camouflage their misjudgments and inaction with money does not mean they are suddenly listening. It's still politics as usual. The plan they're designing for the Gulf Coast turns the region into a vast laboratory for right wing ideological experiments. They're already talking about private school vouchers, abandonment of environmental regulations, abolition of wage standards, subsidies for big industries, and believe it or not yet another big round of tax cuts for the wealthiest among us!

Let's be absolutely clear about the moment we are in. The weeks ahead will define our country's direction -- our understanding of ourselves, what we believe in, what we insist on creating, what we refuse to let happen.

The speech I will deliver in a matter of hours is about saying what needs to be said. In the weeks ahead, our entire johnkerry.com community must engage in doing what needs to be done. I know I can count on you to stand with me as we take on that challenge -- and I will be in touch in the days ahead about our next steps together.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

P.S. There is one thing you can do right now. Share this speech by forwarding it to as many people as possible. We're going to need all the help we can get in the days and weeks ahead.

Beofore Rita: Tuesday evening

Well, we're up to advisory...

Thanks to all the folks up North who have been sending all the boxes of clothes for Katrina folks to my house! I now have four BIG ones! Plus what SHG and I have collected! AND, I have some pet stuff for the SPCA as well!

potty mouth

There is a really interesting article in the Science section of the NY Times on swearing and obscenities (you need a free login to read it). I cuss like a sailor at times, ok most of the time, so I found it fascinating... Maybe this is why I do it:

Yet as much as bad language can deliver a jolt, it can help wash away stress and anger. In some settings, the free flow of foul language may signal not hostility or social pathology, but harmony and tranquility.

"Studies show that if you're with a group of close friends, the more relaxed you are, the more you swear," Dr. Burridge said. "It's a way of saying: 'I'm so comfortable here I can let off steam. I can say whatever I like.' "

Evidence also suggests that cursing can be an effective means of venting aggression and thereby forestalling physical violence.

Oh, like when that stupid goddamned asshole in the friggin' Hummer H2 cuts you off because he's the imbecile king of the fucking road with his fucking cell phone stuck to his ear and his fucking head up his fucking ass talking about not a goddamned thing?

Before Rita: Tuesday: oo, she looks like she'll be a mean one

I hope the damage to Cuba and The Keys is minimal since Rita is still only Cat 1. I bet it picks up some huge power over the nice warm Gulf of Mexico and just fucks with Texas.

When I think of this storm, why does and image of Carla (Rhea Perlman) from Cheers having a fit and flailing about come to mind?

Before Rita: Monday afternoon, more uh-oh

Well, this certainly lends a certain reality to the whole Rita thing...