Several of the models are showing numerous storms developing...here's just one:
Two of these storms are already declared: Gustav and Hanna. Gustav is still largely on track for Lousiana, but Hanna's something of a mystery as the models don't seem to know what to do with it. Some curve it back out to see, some do a loop, so just have it meandering aimlessly - just the same way that I shop for groceries. (Note to self: get donuts.) I have a feeling from what I've seen and read that Florida may be in for another hit. Hopefully they'll get a break.
Will Gustav be a hurricane that affects everyone in the country? Some "conventional wisdom" thinks so, and it goes like his: Gustav hits New Orleans during the Republican National Convention. The media rushes to cover it, with the obligatory comparisons to Katrina. "Katrina II" is born, and the coverage becomes wall-to-wall hurricane. News. Victims. Homes floating away. The political savvy exploit the situation and a Democrat president is elected.
I'm not sure I buy any of that. Conventional wisdom is often not. But keep all that in mind as we watch what happens. And above all, everyone rush your plans to completion, buy some donuts, and be prepared for a storm, whether you're in Texas or up the east coast.
Addendum: I heard today that oil dropped. Bigfoot was cited as having bought 5,000 barrels on some pretend oil-trading website. I can't confirm or deny this. We'll see what the price is when Gustav makes landfall, and see if "investing" half a million dollars can "earn" we $20 or $30 bucks.
I was taking a look at the computer models this morning and saw this on the GFDL:
Yes, that's a huge monster storm, or Godzilla, headed straight for New Orleans. Keep in mind this is only one model, and I'm not sure it's a particularly good model. In fact, I think the other models gave it a swirly in the bathroom this morning. But the consensus developing this morning is that it will make it into the Gulf and rapid intensification will be a real risk.
If I was a gambling man I would probably load up on oil since the price will likely spike. Just for fun let's see if I lose my shirt: The light, sweet, (and delicious) crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $115.11 a barrel. So let's say I pick up, well, 5000 barrels (I only have so much room in my garage.) That would cost me $575,550 which is okay, because my great uncle three times removed on my mother's side is T. Boone Pickens. And then let's check the price whenever (and wherever) Gustav makes U.S. Landfall.*
In any event, everyone in the Gulf should pay attention to legitimate weather/monster/zombie information sources for watches, warnings, and advisories. Stay safe!
*Blog Hero's crack legal team, Sven, just called in from a Dunkin' Donuts and said that I have to put a disclaimer here about buying oil. The aforementioned blog post discussing buying oil is for entertainment value only. No one is to blame if you lose all of your money in the oil market because Gustav is actually Gamera and leaves the oil producing areas of the Gulf alone and instead flies off and destroys Tulsa. Sven also asked me to say that today's post meant to offense to the oil companies, oil traders, people who get stinking filthy rich from trading oil while we deal with $4 gas, Mr. Boone Pickens, Mr. T, zombies, giant radioactive monsters or meteorologists well that's about it. Sven had to get back to his latte and jelly donut.
Today I cleaned my daughter's room. I know, I know - what on earth am I doing? How is she going to learn any lessons that way? You have to understand that I really, really, really tried this time. I waited, and reminded, and cajoled (which isn't easy) her about the condition of her room. Oh, she would clean it - you know, the Kid Kind of Clean, but being borderline OCD it was never good enough for me. So, as things began to get lost I was more and more on edge. Finally I threw up my hands and screamed "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" and ran into the room with a garbage bag, a Swiffer Duster and a mini vac.
The family knows after many years to seek shelter when there's a Carl Cleaning Warning in effect. They usually go to the basement and find a sturdy wall and play UNO until the warning is over. Actually, they watch from a distance and feign boredom, but I know inside they're secretly jumping in glee knowing that I've broken down. It's like when Kasparov played that computer in chess, and the computer won, and you just know the geek programmers (I say that with fondness, of course) were jumping up and down and high-five-ing each other and yelling "WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!"
The final straw was asking my dear daughter where the cable to charge her cellphone was and she didn't know.
"I don't know." she said plaintively, which isn't easy for a daughter.
"Is it in your room?" I asked, vexed, which is very easy for a father and comes naturally.
So I attacked the room and found all sorts of things. Most of the things were buried under layers of stuff in the closet. I'm not going to go into most of what those things were in order to protect the guilty and quite messy, but I will list four things that were found:
1. Almost $30, which the aforementioned daughter had no idea she had. (Now I have to take her shopping; I haven't yet told her about my Finder's Fee.)
2. Moose antlers
3. Bigfoot
4. A cellphone cable to charge a cellphone
Bigfoot was cowering in the closet under a pile of dirty laundry. I'm not sure how he got in there; I checked and he definitely was not a rubber suit. When I went to get my digital camera and came back I found the window open and no sign of him anywhere. Oddly enough, the moose antlers were gone as well. Draw your own conclusions.
So now I have one really clean and organized room in the house which I can enjoy for another, oh, three or four hours. But it's clean, darn it. And that makes me really exultant.
And that's not easy for an OCDish-neat-freak-Dad. Really.
Genetic tests are in on the supposed Bigfoot find that Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer presented on Friday. You've no doubt seen the photo of "Bigfoot" stuck in a large freezer. The tests revealed that one sample of DNA was human and the other sample of DNA was 96% opossum. This leads me to two obvious conclusions:
1. Someone should check the fridge, because Bigfoot could be, you know, just pretending he's dead.
2. Bigfoot continues to elude mankind by cleverly hiding in dense forests and shopping at Wal-Mart after 1 am.
You have to give these guys credit for trying though. An autopsy is still planned, which should reveal if the Opossum Man is alive or not, and if not, how he died. Look for the video special on FOX this fall.
Just a heads up that a lot of the models are showing some tropical trouble developing in the next week or so. There's still a lot of variance, but I think people from Texas to the Carolinas need to pay close attention. Here are only three model shows that show some impressive storms:
Everyone stay safe! Check out AccuWeather.com for the latest. I'll try to post an occasional update here.
There's been a running joke about "Alert Reader Tammy, who may or may not be my wife" on my blog(s) for some time, and I don't know that I've ever explained that. As we just celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary, which I told her was the "LEGO" anniversary but let's just say I'm still waiting, I thought I should explain where that came from. It's not an exciting story, although I'm tempted to make one up. But my point here is to describe why I had appeared to be reluctant to just say "wife!" and be done with it.
When I first started blogging I wrestled with a lot of common blogger things. These involved being broke, spending time on something that would enhance my brokeness, writing to no one in particular about nothing in particular (and then getting hate email for it), and most importantly privacy and how closely to guard it. I was hesitant to identify members of my family and legal team and so the first few times I mentioned Tammy it was in the context, "who may or may not be my wife." I figured there was some deniability built in there, in case someone might had preferred to remained anonymous.
Of course this very quickly degenerated into a joke that I had to use every single time Tammy came up. In fact she was brought up a few times just so I could use the joke.
The "Alert Reader" thing was a bit of irony, since early on Tammy didn't read the blog much, if at all. She still isn't a big reader, although she's since gotten on Facebook which may be a sign of the end times, I'm not sure yet.
That's the gist of the story. We celebrated 18 years of wedded bliss. I'm very blessed to have met Tammy and thank God often. Meeting your future spouse on the Internet 20 years ago was still something of a feat, and I'd guess that most people who managed to meet that way back then, and then get married, are probably no longer together. But that's just a guess. The biggest tip I can offer on marriage, and it's not terribly unique or deep, is that marriage isn't a 50-50 deal. Marriage is a 100-100 arrangement. There are times and seasons in life that will require each spouse to, for a time, give more than they may feel is "fair" or "equitable;" they may have to give sacrificially, beyond what is comfortable, and without rest. For a time. If you instead believe all effort is split in half things will break down pretty quickly. Love is patient, and it keeps no records of wrongs.
Hopefully my dysfunctional body will hold up for another 18. By then the LEGOs really start to accumulate.
(This is a duplication of my post at 37below, but with bonus colons in the blog title.)
I'm sure this has been blogged to death elsewhere, elsewhere being other More Sophisticated Blogs, but it's hard to resist this many eights. This Friday will be August (08) Eighth (08), 2008 (08). And if that wasn't enough to make your head spin, you can throw the time on top of that, 08:08:08 (which is eight minutes and eight seconds after eight o'clock in the morning.) What does all of this mean? Absolutely nothing, I'm sure - but as one who gets excited when the car's odometer turns to some even number, like 10,000, I have to point all of this out and comment on it.
So what will I be doing during the Big Second? Normally I would be in the midst of the morning Getting Ready For Work Ritual, but I plan to pause and yell "WOO HOO!" to no one in particular. Then I'll go back to brushing my teeth or whatever.
What will YOU be doing to celebrate the Big Second? Leave a comment - and make sure to set all of your clocks and watches to the Official Atomic Time. We wouldn't want anyone Woo Hooing a second or two late. And if you end up doing something crazy and exciting, consider snapping a cellphone or digital camera pic and email it over. I'll be happy to post the most interesting, colon-free photos here. Bonus points for any zombies celebrating the Big Second in some way.
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