The big one?
To my loyal reader(s), family, and friends:
As you know I live in the questionably justifiable city of Houston, TX. As you may have noticed, heading in our direction is the incarnation of the wrath of God, otherwise known as Hurricane Rita. Don't worry your pretty little heads off over me. As we speak I am in the process of moving most of my worldly possessions into the trunk of my VW Jetta. Sadly, the actually do fit into the trunk of a VW Jetta.
Now, Rita is currently a category 4 storm heading straight for downtown Galveston with an eye on really fucking up Houston. Even hurricanes hate Houston. Are we looking at another New Orleans type disaster? I hope not. For one, that was a category 5 storm and, with any luck, we won't reach that point. Also, New Orleans is 20 feet below sea level. Houston is at least 20 feet above sea level, not to mention about 20 miles inland. That being said, this will not be a walk in the park. There will be some serious damage in Houston, especially the area in which I live which is closer to the coast.
Most of the communities in this area have imposed mandatory evacuations. My neighborhood has not though if I cross the street from my apartment I'd pretty much be in one of those zones. As you can tell, an imaginary line separating one zone from another is not going to save my apartment. I live on the second floor so I'm not concerned about flooding. I see to worst case scenarios: 1) flying debris smashes my windows, soaking everything in the apartment and 2) the incredibly strong winds blow the roof of my questionably well built apartment complex, causing water to cascade from the 3rd floor to my apartment. A third scenario does exist, being the combination of the two, but it's too tragic to even think about so I won't mention it.
And for those of you who think that I'd be stupid enough to ride out the storm you should have more faith in my. Two million Houstonians can't be wrong, and if they're heading out of town, who am I to argue with them? As a fortunate coincidence, I was already planning on heading to Austin this weekend for the annual Austin City Limits festival. The good news is that I have a hotel for Friday and Saturday night's already. The bad news is that I have nothing for tonight or tomorrow and, although the concert will go on, it's going to be mighty wet. Throw in the fact that I've been working the midnight shift this week (the Johnson Space Center has been officially evacuated so no more work for me this week) and I've been so busy with departure preparations that I've only gotten about one hour of sleep in the past 24 hours. The plan right now is to finish up packing, take a little nap, and leave. Where I go, I'm not entirely sure. I'll probably head to Austin and find myself a place to stay. It's really not planned out so well. However, I can bum a hotel room tomorrow night and then I'm good to go.
This may be the last entry I write in some time, depending on how this plays out. The computer will be with me but will be quite useless, seeing how it'll be in the trunk of my car. If all goes to plan, I'll come back late Sunday evening and my apartment will still be here. I haven't begun to think of the alternatives.
The important part, though, is that you should now I'll be safe. Assuming, of course, that I get through the traffic out of Houston. I know this really isn't the best way of telling everyone but I'm a little rushed to get out of here and time is limited. I'll try to make a few calls during the guaranteed long car ride I have ahead of me. Feel free to call me and keep me awake. All I know it's going to be an interesting weekend. Until next time...
-Dave
As you know I live in the questionably justifiable city of Houston, TX. As you may have noticed, heading in our direction is the incarnation of the wrath of God, otherwise known as Hurricane Rita. Don't worry your pretty little heads off over me. As we speak I am in the process of moving most of my worldly possessions into the trunk of my VW Jetta. Sadly, the actually do fit into the trunk of a VW Jetta.
Now, Rita is currently a category 4 storm heading straight for downtown Galveston with an eye on really fucking up Houston. Even hurricanes hate Houston. Are we looking at another New Orleans type disaster? I hope not. For one, that was a category 5 storm and, with any luck, we won't reach that point. Also, New Orleans is 20 feet below sea level. Houston is at least 20 feet above sea level, not to mention about 20 miles inland. That being said, this will not be a walk in the park. There will be some serious damage in Houston, especially the area in which I live which is closer to the coast.
Most of the communities in this area have imposed mandatory evacuations. My neighborhood has not though if I cross the street from my apartment I'd pretty much be in one of those zones. As you can tell, an imaginary line separating one zone from another is not going to save my apartment. I live on the second floor so I'm not concerned about flooding. I see to worst case scenarios: 1) flying debris smashes my windows, soaking everything in the apartment and 2) the incredibly strong winds blow the roof of my questionably well built apartment complex, causing water to cascade from the 3rd floor to my apartment. A third scenario does exist, being the combination of the two, but it's too tragic to even think about so I won't mention it.
And for those of you who think that I'd be stupid enough to ride out the storm you should have more faith in my. Two million Houstonians can't be wrong, and if they're heading out of town, who am I to argue with them? As a fortunate coincidence, I was already planning on heading to Austin this weekend for the annual Austin City Limits festival. The good news is that I have a hotel for Friday and Saturday night's already. The bad news is that I have nothing for tonight or tomorrow and, although the concert will go on, it's going to be mighty wet. Throw in the fact that I've been working the midnight shift this week (the Johnson Space Center has been officially evacuated so no more work for me this week) and I've been so busy with departure preparations that I've only gotten about one hour of sleep in the past 24 hours. The plan right now is to finish up packing, take a little nap, and leave. Where I go, I'm not entirely sure. I'll probably head to Austin and find myself a place to stay. It's really not planned out so well. However, I can bum a hotel room tomorrow night and then I'm good to go.
This may be the last entry I write in some time, depending on how this plays out. The computer will be with me but will be quite useless, seeing how it'll be in the trunk of my car. If all goes to plan, I'll come back late Sunday evening and my apartment will still be here. I haven't begun to think of the alternatives.
The important part, though, is that you should now I'll be safe. Assuming, of course, that I get through the traffic out of Houston. I know this really isn't the best way of telling everyone but I'm a little rushed to get out of here and time is limited. I'll try to make a few calls during the guaranteed long car ride I have ahead of me. Feel free to call me and keep me awake. All I know it's going to be an interesting weekend. Until next time...
-Dave
posted by The Rube at Wednesday, September 21, 2005
2 Comments:
Good luck and be safe, Rubinator. We're all thinking of you during this time.
Maybe this is the impetus for you to return to the East Coast sometime in the future.
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