Recovering still....

It's sad, seeing Galveston and its neighboring towns in total ruin. It's been 4 days since Ike hit us. There's a lot of mess in a lot of places, still. Power was restored at my parents' house just 22 hours after it went out. I consider that very lucky. The power came back on at my apartment the next day (on Sunday), but I didn't have the internet until this morning (Tuesday). Even so, I consider myself lucky.

There are lots of people that I know that are still without power right now. I feel for them. I don't consider myself a survivor of Ike - more like a spectator. My home wasn't destroyed, and I only lost power for two days. I didn't have to "tough it out" like the millions that had to evacuate and come back to nothing. If I had to, I could live without power for a while. Just gather around a lot of reading material, friends, games, food, and water and I'd be set.

Even though I think I could handle going without power for a few days, I certainly didn't look like it on Saturday night. A friend came over to my parents' to hang out and on the spur of the moment, my sister, friend and I took off to College Station for dinner. Yes, we traveled an hour and 1/2 one way just to get some dinner. The power was out and the night was still young - so why not? We ate at one of the best mexican places that a friend introduced me to - Rosa's Cafe. You haven't lived until you've had their fresh tortillas. There aren't any locations in Houston - which sucks - but College Station isn't too far away. My mouth is already watering and looking forward to the next time I'll eat there - in just a few weeks.

It's still a mess around here. Grocery stores are still closed. If they're open, they're only selling canned items. I imagine they took a bit of a loss with all the dairy, meat and frozen foods. They probably had to toss them all out.

It's sad to see Galveston on the news. My sister heard on the radio that 1500 historical buildings were destroyed. Although I wasn't around in 1900, it seems like this was as dangerous as the one back then. Everything in Ike's direct path over on the coast is gone. The only difference now is that the seawall was constructed and that people were evacuated. At last count, only 21 people died in this storm in the whole area. I'm sure the number will climb, but I don't think it'll go up too much.

I guess I'd have to say that this an interesting way to end an interesting summer...

The aftermath...

I slept like a baby. After watching the news for a while, I went to
sleep at 1am. And I didn't wake up until 11. I guess I could say I
missed the storm.

There's no power at my parents' house, which sucks. But I have my trusty
Sidekick so I can keep in touch with people, check the news on the
Internet and of course, write my blog. Later on today, I'm going to
check my apartment out.

There isn't much damage around here. Just a couple of big branches that
broke from trees. The neighbor lost his fence. There's a dog roaming
the streets. I wonder if he had shelter overnight. If he didn't,
obviously he's ok.

The storm was overrated, just as I thought. Sure, Houston might be a
mess and there's no power (2 to 3 million without power), the storm
itself wasn't too destructive. My current challenge is to figure out
how to pass my time until the power comes back on.

It's time to go back to our roots. To live by candlelight and actually
engage in conversation with people to pass the time. It would be a good
time to get a bunch of friends together, play party games and chat....
The kids here are not having any problems with boredom. They're taking
turns putting a bicycle air pump in their belly buttons and pumping air
into it. Whatever floats your boat.

For breakfast, I had a couple of mini-cans of fruit and a few Kudos
bars. For lunch, I suppose I'll have a peanut butter sandwich. Maybe
some apples with the peanut butter.

Not much news here, just that we're all ok. I've been in touch with
more people this morning than I have all week, checking on each other to
make sure we're all ok.

Ike, thanks for visiting, but don't come back.

Making it through a storm

Say hello to Ike.

I'd like to say that this is my first major storm - ever. At least, one that I will remember. Back in 1983, Houston faced Hurricane Alicia. She hit Galveston and Houston as a Category 3 storm; with winds up to 96 mph. The gusts were recorded at 127 mph. I was just a year old then, so I don't remember anything. I've heard it was pretty crazy.

Then there was Rita in 2005. Also a Category 3 but fairly small, in my opinion. We lost power for 3 days but the storm itself wasn't that bad. I considered it more of a mean tropical storm. There was some damage but nothing to the extremes.

Now we're facing yet another major hurricane. Ike is about to make landfall in 3 hours. Ike is rearing his nasty head and is barreling head on for Galveston and Houston. I guess he heard Houston was just awesome so he decided to check it out. He's just a Category 2 storm, but may make it to Category 3 (but not expected). BUT winds are already close to 110 mph or so. The radius of the whole storm expands more than 250 miles at last report. So this is a pretty huge storm....

I've gone back and forth on the storm all day yesterday and today. I kept a close watch on the storm on the Internet and on TV. I shopped for the basic necessities and I taped up my windows. I packed what was important to me and brought them with me to my parents to "hunker down." But really, I think it's all overrated. People are getting all paranoid over a little storm. But then I tell myself, I don't really know how bad it is out there. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

I've never been one to worry myself to death. I take precautions (usually) and then I just wait. Whatever will happen, will happen. No point in worrying yourself to death. If you're the type of person to worry, maybe it's best for you to just evacuate instead of obsessing over whether the storm will take you down with it. Whining or stressing out to other people is just going to stress them out so - it's not really recommended.

Since Ike is causing such a stir (pun intended), I figured I'd record what I was doing and the conditions of the weather throughout the day. Mostly for my own benefit - so I can remember this day, but I figured it'd be interesting for those of you who wasn't in Houston....

September 11, 2008
First off - It's the 7-year anniversary of 9/11. I thought it was interesting that I was preparing for the storm on this particular day...

I went to work as usual but was released at 11am. I decided to run to Sam's Club (no way I was going to Wal-Mart or another grocery store) and got enough water and canned food to feed a couple of people for a few days, probably a week.

I ran a bunch of errands that I really needed to do but kept putting off. I ended up back home and intended to work my part-time job but got too involved in watching the news. I watched two movies. It was nice to have my mind taken off the storm; however, the second movie kind of spooked me. The movie itself was good and not particularly scary - it's just the ending. It was a typical sci-fi "space mission" movie where a crew went up into space to save mankind. They had to re-energize the sun because it was dying. Anyway, the point is, as I watched these people just standing there, just waiting to die, knowing what was about to happen - I couldn't help but think about Ike. We're all sitting ducks here, waiting for the inevitable to happen. Of course, I could have evacuated but then (and now), I didn't think it would be serious.

September 12, 2008
9AM:
It was a beautiful morning. Bright and sunny. By just looking at the weather, you would have had absolutely no idea that a massive storm was coming our way. I took my dog outside to pee. My son came with me in nothing but a t-shirt and a diaper. My son and the dog was roaming the area behind my apartment, running around on the grass with lots of clouds and sunlight behind them. It was a perfect Kodak moment. Too bad I didn't have my camera. I planned to stay home. I wanted to stay home. But eventually, I ended up going to my parents with my kids and dog.

1pm:
I was out driving around. I took time to notice what was happening around me. As I was driving by Bear Creek park, I saw a lone jogger. Some roads were absolutely bare, while others were busy. Gas stations were full with cars waiting their turn for gas. Other stations had signs saying they were out of gas. The stores were deserted, even Wal-Mart. Shocking. Wal-Mart never closes! The sun disappeared somewhat. It became a little overcast - lots of clouds in the sky. There was an Asian woman trying to board up her business with 2x4s. Talk about waiting until the last minute.

1:30pm:
I was watching the news, looking for an update when I saw a pier partially collapse in Galveston. Others were already starting to fall apart. It wouldn't be long before these piers are completely gone. This is about 14 hours before the storm was due to hit.

There are still quite a bit of people in Galveston, a full day after the officials ordered mandatory evacuation. Stupid people. There was a woman on the news with her two kids saying she didn't want to leave her house, mostly because she had too many animals. Now she wants to leave but she's trapped. The roadways between the island and the mainland are flooded. I wonder where they are now....

In the background, there was somebody in a big bear suit skipping along the beach. He looked a lot like Winnie the Pooh. There were others snapping pictures of the pier and the waves.

On the walls of houses or boarded up windows, there are jokes. "Go away Ike, Tina isn't here" is my favorite.

3pm:
I decided to head back home. It was still a fairly calm day. I wasn't about to waste it just sitting around doing nothing at my parents house. There were plenty of other people on the road, some were even walking. I saw a few people still trying to board up their windows.

8pm:
After doing what I wanted at my apartment, I started to head back to my parents. Only because my parents were obsessing over how the storm was getting stronger. At that time, I thought it was still pretty mild. Mostly calm with a few gusts of wind. I saw people STILL trying to board up their windows (different people, different buildings). Wow.

10pm:
I sat outside in the backyard with my dog. Eating what may be my last hot meal for the next few days. It is still quite calm outside. A couple bursts of wind every now and then but still pretty quiet considering what I'm seeing on the news. Galveston is flooded, winds are bad and lots of rain. And Ike is still 4 hours away at this point.

11:30pm
I'm sitting here writing this blog. No problems with electricity so far. Keeping my phone fully charged until the power goes out. Then I'll have access to the Internet, email, text and im. I can't imagine ever living without a cellphone now. It would make the next few days bearable.

The storm isn't expected to fully pass us until after 2pm tomorrow afternoon. After the storm passes, I plan go home and check it out...

Signing off now - will post more updates as the night goes on. Best of luck to us all.