I give up. I doubt I’ll be able to get much sleep, but I’m going to try.
Don’t know if there will be much computer activity tomorrow, depending on the storm. We’ll see what we see. Talk at you again soon, blogworld.
My wife actually yelled at Frances to “shit or get off the pot”.
This is just frustrating. The power’s gone off several times today. And since I don’t have a UPS, and I don’t want the PC fried when it goes off then zaps right back on, I’ve powered down and unplugged everything “for good” at least three times. But then it will go for hours with nothing but a bit of rain and wind. So, I get bored and plug it back in again… only to have another squall go through and blow it out.
Wah. Wah. Wah. Bitch and moan.
Let’s find something else to talk about, shan’t we?
Sadly, Labor Day weekend is now entrenched in my brain as the weekend my dad died. It was September 1, 2001, to be exact. I failed to mention the third anniversary here, because… well, I don’t exactly know why.
I guess it is because I don’t want to make an annual tradition to light a bloggy candle for him. I don’t do it for my mother, who passed away in 1996, and it’s not like I love one of them more than the other. However, since I’m sitting here waiting for the storm to hit, I just noticed the coincidence of the Sept 1 date being the day the Indians rolled over the Yankees.
Dad was a Yankee fan when he was a kid and all the way up through his time in the service. Mickey Mantle was his hero. And while he listened to the Red Sox after getting “stuck” in Maine, he really didn’t take sides in the rivalry until Steinbrenner took over the Yanks. After that and the resulting free agent spending spree (he really, really, really despised Reggie Jackson), he became a true Yankee hater. I can just imagine the joy Tuesday night’s game would have brought him.
Of course, he was also a true Sox pessimist. His reaction to their 10 game winning streak would have been, “Yeah, they’ll probably have a one game playoff and lose it again.”
The early bands of it finally hit us a minute ago, dumping buckets of water on us. Not that I wish for a hurricane, but if it’s gonna hit us, let’s get it over with! Even if everything weren’t closed, there is a “keep off the roads” order in effect at noon. It looks like it’s a weekend of TV watching until the power goes bye-bye for good.
The power has already gone out once. So, I think I’m going to turn off the PC to save it from getting fried. Ta, dahlinks.
Update: I jumped the gun. I guess that was just an extreme outer band. The rest of the thing is hours and hours and hours and hours away. I don’t think I can take that much time away from the computer while there’s contstant coverage of wind-whipped reporters telling us there’s a hurricane a-comin’. (And the wife won’t let me change it, because she’s developed a crush on the weather dork.)
Mmmm… cookies…
Yep, with Hurricane Frances crawling like a crippled monkey slowly heading towards us, the womenfolk are in the kitchen baking cookies. Why not? Gotta keep up your strength in a crisis.
Check out Metroblogging Orlando for other perspectives from my fellow Orlandoeans.
Since I finished whatever preparations we’re going to make for Frances, and everything is closed today, I decided to whip up another tune before packing away the instruments and stuff.
If Not For You.mp3
(right-click and save, please)
This lame attempt at Dylan joins the ranks of the other musical monstrosities that can be found under the category mysteriously called Tunes.
Dear Last 6 People On Earth,
I have GMail invitations available. They’re yours if you ask.
Love,
Solonor
Check it out… we gots ourselves an Orlando Metroblog!
We join the Metroblogging family along with New Orleans. But while places like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Vienna and Washington can tell you where the hippest night spot is, we’re the only ones that can describe for you how we’re all gonna die!
Sean and Jason rushed it into production just so we could do so and then be unable to post for a week. Thanks guys!
By the way, we still need a couple more authors. If you’re in the Orlando area and want to contribute, sign up HERE.
Well, as overly dramatic as it was, the kinda-sorta PC break was the jump start I needed. I have one song in the final mixing stages and at least 7 in various states of disarray. (Still looking for a good lyricist, though. As Whiny put it, “Words suck.”) Plus, I feel a little more confident that I can sit down at the computer, check e-mail, skim a few blogs and write a quick entry without getting stuck in the chair for hours and hours. The lure of the geetar is once again more powerful than the urge to work on my monitor-induced facial tan.
Unfortunately, I may be forced to take a break from both the PC and the microphone this weekend (not to mention hot showers and a/c), as stupid Frances keeps rolling our way. A lot of the repairs to power lines that were done after Charley are temporary, just waiting to be blown down again. What’s worse is that they haven’t picked up all the debris from last time. So, for example, I’ve got my neighbor’s downed trees all neatly cut up into easily-hurled chunks sitting across the street poised to come flying at my house like a salvo of wooden cannonballs.
Meanwhile, I’ve seen several fairly reliable, non-governmental sources predict that the storm will hit around Palm Beach, then skirt up the coast to South Carolina, rather than heading inland here. We’ll see. The last “official” forecast should even have my friends in Atlanta worried.
On the bright side, we have plenty of water and canned food, lots of propane for the grill, candles and flashlights ready. The cars are fueled up, and we have plenty of stuff to read. As long as we only have the power knocked out and not something more disastrous occur, we should be fine.
Quoth the Mrs: “It only took two snowstorms for us to leave Maine. How many of these will it take for us to leave Florida?”
How’s the weather in Oregon these days?
Georgia and Florida have declared a state of emergency, ordering the evacuation of coastal residents by tomorrow afternoon. Schools here will be closed Friday. Our office will be shut down, too. There are some computer models that show the storm skirting the coast around Cape Canaveral and sliding up toward Jacksonville, Savannah and South Carolina, but the main track lies right through Orlando again.
I’m getting too old for this shit.
CLEVELAND ROCKS!
(Sorry. No bloggy break is worth missing that.)
