Thursday, September 26, 2002

Hello everybody! Well, TS Isadore is only a few hours away now (<100 miles away) and the rain has picked up a bit. It poured earlier today and the roads around my place were completely flooded. For those who know how short I am, the water was up to my knees (about a foot or so). Yet, after dinner (I ate chicken parmesean at Tristan & Shannon's place), Tristan, noticed that all that water had mysteriously disappeared. Turns out the pump system had caught up in the brief period of light rain. So we took the opportunity to park in the structure by TGI Fridays. Tristan decided that in times of emergency, it doesn't matter that it's a structure that requires a pass because he lifted the gate and we drove our cars in and up to the 2nd floor. It's on an angle so our cars should be fine provided they don't get towed (knock on wood). It was kind of fun playing out there in the rain. We tried to move the cars earlier today but before we tried, we took a little walk in the rain and flooded street to see how far we could safely get but when we realized that the water was up to even Tristan's knees, we stopped that plan and had fun in the water. Dad, there weren't any snakes swimming around that I could see and no alligators either. It looks like the rain is beating the pumps again since the lot looks like it's flooding again. Here's one thing I can't figure out. The city has closed all its flood gates which should keep the waves from bringing more water into the city and then we have these pumps that take additional water out at the mind shattering rate of 0.5 inch of water /hour (too bad it comes down at a significantly higher rate). Won't that water just end up back in the city via waves that crash over the gates from time to time? I guess it helps buy some extra time. Earlier the interstate flooded out (8 ft of water at its lowest point in the road) and the cops had to turn the cars around 1 car at a time. Here's a thought, why were they even driving on the freeway at all? Hey, the cable just went out...oh wait, it came back...whew! I probably could be getting a lot of those learning objectives done today and tomorrow but I feel like listening to the weather channel say the same things over and over and over and over again is helpful. Oh no, not again. Oh, a storm up date. Hmmm. A tornado has formed in the southern tip of louisiana. As if floods, torrential rainfall, winds up to 75 mph wasn't enough, mother nature decides to add more fun to the mix. This is like some sick version of those SimCity games. You know, God builds a city and sees it grow and prosper and then tests his design by tossing in some natural disasters. This must be one of those random acts of God that warranties never cover your property against.
Let's see, what else is new...Last week we had the second block exams. We were supposed to find out our pathology grades monday but those slackers didn't get them to us then or tuesday and well, since school was officially cancelled at 2 pm yesterday, I guess I won't find out until next week sometime. It's going to be a mess this block since we lost a lot of precious lecture time. There were 44 pathology lectures scheduled for this block and some of them were way more important than others and I don't think there is additional time slots to reschedule those classes. By the way, if I don't have cable or electricity for some reason, I may call one of you people out there to tape the shows tomorrow night so be on alert! I can't miss those episodes! I got a bruise (aka ecchymosis) from playing flag football. The 3rd years cheat so now we know how we need to play against them when the real games start. We were supposed to play them on Sunday but I guess Isadore will cancel that game. darn, we're out for blood...okay revenge will probably suffice. Well, I think I'll head off to bed. The worst of the storm is almost coming and I think if I'm sleeping that will be better. If you're worried, email me and I'll call you after the storm. If not, I'm hurt...do I mean nothing to you heartless people? I'm so glad I live on the 3rd floor since the idiots who take care of the grounds decided that draining the pool was unnecessary...perhaps common sense is something they lack. They told one of the 1st floor residents that the water wouldn't get that bad here. Stupid. The pool could have served as a barrier to those apartments. I mean, it would've had to be cleaned regardless of whether or not there was emptied. It looks disgusting. I don't think I would like to be a tv journalist if it means I have to stand outside in hurricane type weather just to tell folks that it's raining and flooding. Isn't it dangerous to be standing in water with rain falling and holding equipment like a microphone and a video camera. There's idiots out there playing in the waves at the lakefront. WHY?!? I mean, it's one thing to be playing in the parking lot like I did but to play by a lake? And here's another thought: this past summer, we were told to prevent standing pools of water to prevent attracting the mosquitos that carry West Nile Virus. Let's think about this...after the rains leave, there will be a lot of standing water...get the idea? I better go get some insect repellant. OH, here's something funny. The chief of police gave some warnings about driving slowly and not to go out if there's no need and that the cops will be running 12 hour shifts and patrolling shopping malls and stores and that criminals out there shouldn't even think about it. Yes, he actually directed comments at criminals who probably weren't even watching tv. How easy would it be to carry away goods from a store in a torrential rainfall and windy conditions? But I guess there's always someone willing to try. I love these newscasters "witty" comments. There's a curfew in effect now. We aren't allowed to be outside driving until 6 am tomorrow. Interesting, the storm update was brought to me by Jeep dealers. I'm rambling now so I'm going to bed.

~me~ at 12:14 AM