Music for Riding a Storm Out?

Rachel

Obviously you speak without knowledge. So let me correct you:
1) my wife, PhD and the smartest person I've ever met, has been glued to the very admirable local TV news & the National Hurricane Center (www.nhc.noaa.gov), apprising me every 5 minutes since Wed afternoon re: the risk that west houston faced. all models have always pointed us to be subject to the much-weaker west side of the storm. we've never been a direct target.
2) we are > 60mi inland
3) we are not located in a flood zone. in fact, our area hasn't flooded in 20yrs+.
4) all the windows (the greatest risk in the path we are in is high winds @75-100mph) are boarded. couple that with the fact that our house is 1 story, highly aerodynamic (architects will know what i mean), and complete with a 1 month old roof, means we're personally in great shape.

5) houston, as a city, went nuts. people as far north as the woodlands (!) were evacuating, contributing to the problem(!!!) of fuel shortages & the infamous traffic congestion (3hr trips lasting 15 hrs) from yesterday. these people who unnecessarily evacuated (as a number of them did unnecessarily!), absorbed precious resources that those in real danger needed...open roads, gasoline, hotel rooms, diapers, etc etc etc.

(one person posted to a local TV news blog that she was so proud she was able to evacuate from conroe with her family, loaded into FOUR SUVs, complete with everything needed to leave for a month...such as her fine china, her computer, etc etc. my wife ripper her one on the board, along with similar sentiments from other reasonable people).

My guess is if you'd have been in our place, with our knowledge, you'd have done the same & stayed. Difference is the # of batteries we'd have bought (person 2 in front at the hardware store bought 7 pair of batteries, i bought 2 as i thought about exactly how much i would need for a few days, concerned with what my fellow storm-rider might need).

rhyno

Rachel

You don't get it, do you?

Loss of power is irrelevant. If that's all that happens, and I'm w/o power for a few days, so what? People on the W/NW side of greater H-town & beyond shouldn't have left, as the traffic / fuel problem yesterday was terrible for those WHO NEEDED TO LEAVE, and there's already a mini-furor locally re: the problem those evacuees caused, and where to assign blame (media, local pols). My being inconvenienced to help those truly in need (via not consuming limited resources) is a trade my wife & I will make any day (and so will lots of others on our side of town, sharing the same statistically-insignificant risk). Your irrational-self-preservation-at-all-cost is quite the trait you possess. Are you as stubborn as you are ignorant, or vice versa? Its following the path projected since yesterday 5pm, looks extremely likely to land at the projected Cat-3 (w/ outside chance of Cat4), and won't cause damage to the vast majority of houston beyond a few splintered trees. I know this for fact (as based on latest / best info), as I need to know. Funnny thing is, most of Houston panicked and left their homes (unnecessarily), without boarding up their windows (which is really the only personal property risk for most). Just goes to show that conventional wisdom rarely is, and that the uninformed populace here is living up to the state's rank as one of the least educated states in the US...at least these people got good hearts, with the way they welcomed the Katrina evacuees...

Rhyno

the johnny cash rec is actually "5 feet high & rising". great song too. local college radio played it yesterday, along w/ lots of other flood oriented songs, such as SRV's "weather" (FM is out, as i'm not interested in keeping a lightning rod antenna plugged in at the moment)---but no matter how relevant, college radio still wouldn't bring themselves to play REO Speedwagon...gotta love those college kids.

already listened to GD's "wake of the flood" (optmistic?) CD and live "row jimmmy". think i might have a lil lyle lovett "if i had a boat". derek & dominoes live from fillmore, w/ greatest ever "let it rain" (20min, with great drum solo and with incredible venue ambiance) is up next.

don't worry bout me, worry bout those truly in trouble (coastal folks, esp those poor dumb bastards that didn't leave!). seems likely i'm in for a big nasty rain / wind, but that's pretty common in texas anyways...

Another one i had to pull out:

Led Zeppelin: When the Levee Breaks.

Rhyno

west side of houston is just fine. i unplugged everything last night as it was rolling in, but we never lost power (!), and i don't think i got even 1" of rain. wind gusts can be heard, but slept like a baby. as did my brother (10mi east) and parents (20mi north). took a look around this AM outside; not even 1 tree branch down on my block.

these houstonians should be ashamed of themselves: first they rush to evacuate unnecessarily, and now the news is showing cars backing up on INBOUND traffic (i.e. returning home), when the mayor is on every local TV / Radio station begging people to stay away a few days so as to give EMT room / resources to work unobstructed (there's still winds up to 75mph in select areas of town, with obvious attendant risk to motorists). but no, houstonians got to rush back now that their own personal asses are not in danger, to hell w/ those poor folks on the LA/TX border who need the real help.

raquel, you really should get a grip. not all people share the same risk in a hurricane. for those with a marginal risk, such as myself, i and my fellow low-risk citizens are a menace to those who are at risk. i'm not making light of a hurricane; i am trying to clarify that there is a stratification of risk that people face with natural disasters, and for most in houston, ESPECIALLY those on the NW / W side, it was marginal. coastal residents anywhere in LA/TX suffer a much greater risk than i, and rightly should evacuate, and not be interrupted or obstructed by pansy-assed sheeple that evacuate unnecessarily. once you grasp that point, you'll understand my position, and why my wife & i had every intention to ride the storm out, and make the best of it (steaks on the grille tonight, windows unboarded tomorrow).

(fwiw, we had planned to evacuate at 3am Fri if the storm turned towards us, but with the day's data under analysis, it became a 3 sigma event)

live led zeppelin (how the west was won) up soon. great live set. once my wife gets up (she barely slept, but that's routine) i may put on Sgt Peppers & see how she takes "lovely rita" & SRV "texas flood"----almost a palpable sense of relief on the block / local TV at this point. the bitch rita finally came in, but really, she sputtered out quite a bit and did everyone in her path a great favor by losing a LOT of steam over the gulf coastal area and turning east (though i have a hard time in taking comfort in her turn, as my benefit is someone else's loss).

this could've been a lot worse; what i fear most now is not for rita fallout, but for rita to deflect attention from those poor people in NO who lost everything, and still have nothing---not even time on the evening news any longer.

rhyno

freejazz

totally w/ you on the pet issue. my wife & i have 2 cats, and it was never a consideration---we share the same fate, no matter what. does it color our actions? sure! we lectured a neighbor before she (unnecessarily) evacuated that she better have water available for her dog and she was welcome to some of our bottled H2O if needed for the pup.

any person who'd leave a pet in a disaster is an animal themselves.

rhyno

thinking about this topic again...

local record store (the vinal edge) sent an email & rec'd 'hunky dory' by david bowie

i'm going for live dead, one from the vault.

anything else? sure hope i keep power, else its onto the guitar by candlelight (sure wish i had an acoustic right now).

(pray for those on the coast who stayed. they're goners)