September 2005 Archives
So why no after effect report? Well, nothing happened. It was windy, it barely rained, and I have a lot of leaves and a branch or few in my yard. We did not lose electricity, cable, gas, nothing. So this was a typical Saturday. Except for the fact that the entire house was turned upside down in preparation for the storm.
Putting the house back together took considerably longer than turning it upside down. Spring cleaning writ large. It's amazing how much stuff you can get rid of when you realize you actually have it. Just amazing.
Saturday morning was just beautiful. Windy, a bit dry and cool. By afternoon we were back to normal. Mid 90's and humid.
It was unfortunate the local stations decided to non-stop broadcast Hurricane Rita! all day long. We've been watching this stuff for three days now. It's over. Please put the college football games on. We need a break. It just didn't happen. Every neighborhood report the same. Every question the same. Every response the same.
I was aware of the School of Communication when I was working on my mathematics degree at Boston University. It's taken a while, but I really realize what a worthless piece of paper that communications degree is. Given the intelligence of media, there must be a maximum standard instead of a minimum standard as with the other schools. Hard sciences and such. It is just mind boggling. Fox News' Shep Smith has in the past 4 weeks turned from deft studio host into blithering idiot.
Overall, broadcast media gets a D.
Fox News D (Shep, go home. Forever. You too, Greta. Get the hell out of here).
CNN F (Impossible to watch for more than 30 seconds. That bad).
Weather Channel - B (most impartial of the broadcasts. Less drama and more facts. They provided it. Thanks)
Every on the scene, in the midst reporter - Turn in your credentials. No, not your press passes. They're already a joke. Your membership in civilization. Yes, turn it in. You are vultures and ghouls.
KHOU - CBS - D (Dr. Neil Frank. Missed that one big time, didn't you. Find a new model. Yours is broken.)
KPRC - NBC - F (they have a friggin' weather dog. Yes. A weather dog. And Dominique Sachsa. I don't know which is worse).
KTRK - ABC - D (They still have Dave Ward. And he's really starting to get angry. I like it.)
KRIV - Fox - B (Only because Cecilia Sinclair seemed to be the only rational weatherperson or reporter anywhere in the city of Houston)
Thanks to 790 am ESPN radio for carrying the Astros game while their normal flagship 740 am KPRC decided to follow the mindless info overload with the rest of the local media. It seems there was more rain in the 1-1/2 hour delay in Chicago than there was anywhere west of I-45. Center of the storm as recent as yesterday. Right.
Well guess what weather prognosticators? Your amazing miss on this one will now hopelessly endanger millions who endured the evacuation. Who will never leave again.
1 am. Power is still on. Wind gusts are definitely getting stronger but still there is very little rain. Our neighbor has a titanic pecan tree in her back yard. So large her house has been altered to adjust for the diameter of the trunk. It was initially planted way too close to the house. Now it is a 70 year old 60 foot monster. And pecan trees are notorious for shedding limbs. Luckily none of its major limbs cross my property. I have a great view of it outside my kitchen window, and given the backlit sky, the wind ripping through this massive tree has been fascinating to watch.
Aside. Sirens, loud pursuit, engines revving and then halt. Someone just got busted.
Here's the photo. I wish I had film capability with digital (yes, it is available but it's friggin' expensive) so this is the best I could do given my gear.
Looting
Yep, it's a bit early to bring this up, since it's just begun, right? Not really. Our friend TxB came over about 2 pm today. The only reason he left his apartment was due to looters. Albeit gas theives. His complex was farily abandodned and these jackals were stealing gas from all of the cars.
Geting out of there without having to confront the punks, he came over for a while and went back. And parked within sight of his window. And within range.
I promised photos yesterday, but the change of web host has made this an adventure. One that I'm still learning.
This photo was taken from the front porch about 6 pm CDT. The picture cannot convey the speed at which those clouds were moving. It was something to see.
About 11 pm CDT it was time to parade the grounds. Still not a whole lot going on. Wind is definitely picking up but the rain really has not started. Deciding this was a proper time for a cigar, Mad Oilman chose a Saint Luis del Rey. From Habana. The only reason I have this cigar is a bit of a story. I sent one of my employees on his first out of country trip. Amsterdam and Jebel Ali. He knew I like a cigar now and then and he purchased three of these Cubans for me. He didn't realize my hatred for the Castro regime and he also did not realize that a good chunk of the 'Cubans' in Europe are counterfeit. And even if they are Cubans, the current production out of Honduras and the Dominican Republic crush the turds Castro is selling today.
Not wanting to offend an employee with his heartfelt gesture, I put them away and rediscovered them today, during the dismantling of the house.
It was OK. Definitely not worth the money he paid for it. A bit bitter for a mild bodied cigar.
Well, I've digressed a bit, haven't I? This is a picture of the front porch at 11 pm CDT (cigar smoking is in progress).
Pretty barren. Imagine 15-20 tropical plants littering every rail and surface. That's typical. My living room is now a greenhouse with all of that greenness.
THe lights are now starting to flicker a bit. Power may be out soon. I'll take photos and hand write future experiences if this occurs for later posting.
It's now about 10 PM. Still not much going on.
While household preparations were going on this morning, I put on the cable music stations. Commercial free music. Good stuff.
If this was the Mrs. operation, we'd be on Big Band. Nothing wrong with that. I love that music. But this was MY command. MY music. So I went straight to the Metal channel.
Unfortunately, this coincided with the rock gargler hour. A bunch of pitch shifted morons. Here's a helpful hint from Uncle Oilman. If you rely on ridiculous vocal effects you suck. Get back in your little van and figure something else out. Unless you like being a niche band loved by tens of peoples.
The immediate switch was made to the Electronica channel. Mad Oilman loves the techno almost as much as the metal (but never together, Never. Crossing the paths and all that). And they kicked butt this morning. Good mix. As much as I despise Moby he has a good new song on his hands. And who the hell is this Kelis woman? I can't get her out of my head. I now have to go to the 'clubber' record store to buy this song. Damn I hate that place. It is a descent into a world I once knew, in a fringe sort of way. I can't imagine what it is like now (but I do know where to go).
Rita. Providing the impetus for cross cultural exchanges. Yay
Ok. Hypothetical here. We're anticipating the power going off. We have a small 3" hand held television (courtesy of our Floridian relations). I have no idea how long the batteries last in this thing. So here's the dilemma.
If the power goes out, should I follow news on the TV sporadically? To learn of the situation on the ground, to receive instructions from the authorities? Or should I (my personal choice) save them all for the Sunday Pittsburgh v New England game? I mean, that is the game of the week. Should be a damn good one, too.
I hate dilemmas like this.
I thought there would be quite a bit to write about today but nothing really exciting has happened. House is as prepped as it's going to be. The storm seems to be hitting to the East which will lessen the blow.
We were told to expect winds and rain about 5 pm. Although the clouds were spectacular, there was just a bit of wind. Some really good gusts but then dead calm for a while. Weird.
Birds are obviously a bit freaked out. The doves, mockingbirds, grackles and cardinals that live in the neighborhood are definitely confused. My sunrise dove alarm clock failed to go off this morning (I'm a ridiculously light sleeper) and my evening chatter has ceased to exist.
The cicadas are still at it. Must be that insect intellect. Hardwired.
About 7:00 there's still not a whole lot of anything going on. Occasional gusts and that's it. Wait, I heard a drop of rain. Yes, there is actually a drop of rain now.
It's now approaching 9:00 pm. A bit more rain, but not that much. It's like being on the edge of a summer thunderstorm. All the mayhem, none of the results.
And about that news coverage. CNN has not been on since last night's episode. Fox News has been for the most part, a joke. Incredibly disappointing. Shep needs to stay in the studio. He's good there. In the field he reverts to local television hack. It is just embarrassingly sad to watch.
Greta, go home. I know duty in the Galleria is tough, but New York is calling. We can take care of this one ourselves.
And local news is, well, local news. I like Fox 26 Cecilia Sinclair. At least she knows what she is talking about. Can't watch NBC 2. Dominique Sachsa. No thanks. She too frequently has the deer in the headlights look. Which lets me look into her soul. Where I find a Reader's Digest and a box of tissues. And a puppy.
Dr. Neil Frank went against the grain this afternoon, saying Rita would take a direct path to Houston. In direct contradiction to every other weather person out there. And he was wrong. Sorry CBS.
The good stuff should start to arrive in the next few hours. It is going to be a long and most likely sleepless night.
If power goes out I'll handwrite the experience and post when the power comes back. But given the level of excitement of today, Don't expect much.
Plans for Friday
Well, it's getting near bedtime. Tomorrow there is a bit of the physical labor to attend to. And for proper disaster preparation capabilities, Mad and Mrs. Oilman must charge their batteries.
As there is a bit more that a pound of Holmes bacon in the fridge, I'll bake it all up (you've never baked bacon? Straight as an arrow and easy to clean up?), and make bacon sammies for breakfast (with your choice of cheese). Extra bacon (stop laughing) if it exists, will be stored for future consumption.
Pot of coffee and away we go. It's like spring cleaning, but with Fear! Yeah!
Just can't escape it, can I? All I was doing was surfing for some sweet, sweet metal and I inadvertently hit Headline News. And some idiot reporter, Randy Kay blah blah talking about the refineries on the ship channel. And massive toxic clouds. 20-30 mile radius.
What? What the hell fantasy world are you talking about Randy? Can you name the chemicals in this toxic cloud? Of course you can't 'cause you friggin made it up. Can you name the official you spoke to concerning this supposed toxic cloud? Of course not. Because it is fabulist fabrication. And given the make up artist did his best to separate your beady little eyes with his deft use of color, you're also too stupid to have actually actualized the words you spoke.
As an ex Shell logistics guy (and Deer Park was one of my manufacturing centers) this informed viewer knows you are utterly full of crap. Our worst nightmare was an EO self polymerization chain reaction and that was planned for. EVERY release is planned for. Forget about corporate liability, It's the friggin' LAW.
If you are going to fear monger, do it with FACT. Now take your candy ass fear mongering bullshit and take it back to Atlanta. We have no need of your kind here
My three readers may understand my callousness towards the imminent danger but the random stranger may not. For those readers this is the Mad Oilman primer/FAQ.
So why have we not abandoned Houston?
The Mad Oilman compound exists outside the 500 year flood plain. We're on really, really high ground close to downtown. And the property itself is about 3 feet higher than the street ( a kind of hill). And the house is on piers another 3 feet up. If we flood the entire State of Texas floods. Or at least a third of it does.
Why am I so nonchalant about a Category Five hurricane?
In reality, I'm not. I'm also not moving. The Mad Oilman compound was originally constructed in 1929. The majority of the glass (windows) is original. The roof (believeit or not) is original. I have to predrill holes in the ship lap to hang a picture. Nails shatter in this ancient hardened wood. This old lady has been through storm after storm after storm in her history. I trust her.
How do you prepare?
Food, water. Critical. And taken care of. Everything near a window will be moved to the interior. 250 trash bags will protect the artwork, computers, and all other water abhorrent items. Dining room table moved to the interior, with a futon placed on top and blankets around will serve as a refuge of last resort. And there will be a hand hatchet, a crowbar, and a knife to dig out from the refuge if it comes down to that (it will not).
And after the worst hits, lots of candles, a radio and a battery operated TV for info, and games to pass the time. But we'll most likely be in the neighborhood checking on our neighbors and making sure there are no shenanigans going on. Can't have those after a big storm. This is Texas. Not Louisiana.
As the Mad Oilman household wished to preserve resources, I sugested to the Mrs. that she call Star Pizza. And of course they were open and were delivering till 1 am Friday morning.
1 hour wait at lunchtime. Acceptable given the situation. When our delivery guy arrives he shares that he is the only delivery guy that showed up. Which explained the delay. Well bonus for you, sir!
Thursday hurricane preparations involved pizza, beer, and the Astros v. Pirates game. And a bit of anxiety. A bit.
Well, I really did not think I would be doing this, but as I live near downtown Houston, and I have chosen not to leave, I'll share the last day or two, and the next day or two (as power permits).
Wednesday
Left the office normal time (4:30 pm. You think that's early, right? Not if you show up at 6 am). Take the Westpark tollway into town to avoid the freeways. Take a quick shortcut and I'm at Central Market. One of, if not the premier grocery store in the city.
Now this place is pretty popular. I'm a regular and I know what a weekday looks like. I know what a weekend looks like (suburban tourist paradise). And Sunday morning at 10 am.
Well, this Wednesday afternoon (4:45pm) was deader than Sunday morning. I was pretty shocked. All through the store were pallets of water at very reasonable prices. I loaded up 6 gallons and grabbed a lot of non-perishable foodstuffs. The meat and seafood guys were begging for attention.
I was fully planning to go in to work Thursday morning untilI got the call to not bother. Now this is serious. Time for preparations. Making the list and making an inventory of assets, I knew we would be OK. Plenty of non-perishables, an abundance of water, and an adequate supply of insect repellant. Looter repellant too.
So Wednesday night I'm watching the news to get the latest details of the hurricane and the Jet Blue saga unfolds. I'm watching Fox News and throughout the entire landing I wanted to throttle every Fox talking head. They had a previous head of the National Transportation Safety Bureau on and HE was dumbfounded by the idiotic questions he was being pestered with as this dramatic situation unfolded. As soon as I saw the situation I told the Mrs. "Burn off fuel, land as slow as possible and keep the nose up on the roll as long as possible to bleed energy. Only at that time do you make contact with the front gear".
The television discussion came to fuel dumping. The question (I believe by Alan Colmes) was to the effect "how do you know how much fuel to dump and how much fuel to keep?" There was silence on the TV as the former NTSB director contemplated such and ignorant question, but there was no silence in my house. I was shouting at the screen "IT'S FRIGGIN' CALCULATED YOU FRIGGIN' MORON! AND PROVEN IN FLIGHT TESTS! AND APROVED BY CERTIFYING AUTHORITIES YOU JACKASS!"
Thursday started a bit better. A bit of an anxious day. Extra coffee was a bad idea this morning. Makes you even more anxious. But lots to do. Mrs. Oilman locates more candles, lighters, beer, wine, and ice. Good woman.
Financial records and critical computer files backed up on the portable hard drive. Check.
Really important stuff emailed to the office. Check.
Aquariums cleaned, water changed and prepared for a week of no power. Check.
Interior digital photos taken, burned to CD and sent to a remote internet backup site. Check.
Fantasy Football teams properly staffed for Sunday combat. Check.
There's a lot more to do but it really does not feel like disaster time. Tomorrow will be a different story.
After relaxing to Harry Potter 3, I made the mistake of putting on the local Fox news channel. Moronic Mike Barajas and a nameless automaton next to him. I watched for about fifteen minutes before the Mrs. took the remote from my hands. THIS is the reason I do not watch local news. This was not news, it was fantasy. It was the creation of the reporters own reality without any evidence whatsoever to support their exclamations. Despicable. Baited by Barajas, weatherwoman Cecilia Sinclair gave him the most diplomatic on air bitch slap I have ever seen. I was cheering for her to take her weather screen clicker and smash Mike in the face but it did not happen. Damn. That would have been good disaster television.
Rita Part Two to continue Friday! With Pictures!
John at Wuzzadem serves it up solid:
Before I even review this book, I'll let my 3 readers know that I'm really not that much of a fan of Tom Friedman. Although intelligent and well written, I agree with at most 1 out of 20 of his columns in the New York Times. On rare occasions he knocks one so out of the park it is stunning. Unfortunately, this book is weak tapper back to the pitcher.
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century initially pisses me off because it is again written by a journalist. This is a 200 page book padded to 473 pages with endless example after example. WE GET IT!
Given Mr. Friedman is an employee of the New York Times, it is interesting that three of the five book reviews on the back jacket are from the Times or Times owned companies. Now thats not a real good sign is it? Couldn't find anyone else?
The endless shameless plugging of the NYT, Discovery Times network, etc. is also unfortunate.
The first part of the book is interesting. His chapters on Wal-Mart and UPS are fascinating. I had no idea they were as sophisticated as they are. His premise is a world of globalism and that the United States is not doing enough to maintain our proper place in the globalized marketplace.
He is quite right to implicate many countries in harboring counterproductive regulations and impediments to capitalistic growth. Unfortunately, in the second half of the book we find his prescription for the US keeping pace with the world in this global market to dictate that very same stifling regulation. And what a list it is.
Universal health care
A warped version of a living wage
Guaranteed college education for every US citizen
Is that enough? Thats a small part of his prescription for competition. How many trillions of dollars are wasted in this small list? I could argue in depth against each topic but better people have already done so.
It is interesting that Mr. Friedman cites the Progressive Policy Institute for many of his ideas in this book. Well, that basically says it all. No input from the American Enterprise Institute, CATO, etc. Just the PPI. Socialists.
Sorry Mr. Friedman. The answer to global competitive advantage is not socialism. Europe is proving that quite nicely.
The way to TRUE global competition is the elimination of all trade barriers and subsidies. Period. I think our President challenged the world to such a radical plan only a few days ago.
Walking through the History section of my local Border's , I saw this intriguing new title: An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power. As I realy like history about things other than government and politics I picked it up immediately.
Mr. Gordon does a fantastic job of making this book a page turner. From the invention of the corporation in early Holland to current events, he weaves a wonderful narative of the financial machinations which underpin our country. A new found respect for Alexander Hamilton emerges, as well as another black mark against Thomas Jefferson.
This is not an in depth intensive analysis of the financial history of the United States. It is, however, a brilliantly assembled and delightful read. An extensive bibliography will allow for further investigation into areas of interest. Overall a damn good book.
Unfortuantely, this is rare in history books. Too often I read names, dates and facts. The historian that can provide that most crude and basic information and weave it into a story, a true story is a rare bird indeed. And most appreciated.
So I'm working at home on Friday and our stupid cat continuously presses her wet nose into my calf, begging to be petted. I know this battle can't be won so I relent. 5 minutes of this is enough for me but not her, no. So I go to grab her by the belly and lift her up for a belly rub. Mistake.
Cat is fat and my angle was bad. The lift was not as dextrous as would be desired. Cat starts to freak out and immediately sinks a claw into my forearm. Deep. Really deep. I start screaming which freaks the cat out even more. Claw sunk even deeper. And yeah, I'm still holding the cat in the air.
Well it was one hell of a maneuver to extract the cat from my forearm without ripping apart major arteries. Cat lands hard and is begining to move out. Until I start screaming at the top of my lungs and chase her through the house. That'll stop that damn petting. And if Cat Scratch Fever really exists, I'll be dead in a day or two.
Damn. Just Damn.
Katrina. I wish I had the time to convey my feelings about this tragedy and the exploitation of tragedy for political gain that is increasingly force. It is sickening. I wish I had the time to defend the oil industry, my industry, against charges of pricegouging. I've made my positions well known on other blogs and I don't have the will or energy to repeat them. I am left utterly dumbfounded by the ignorance of not only the general population, but also intelligentpeople when it comes to the economics of energy. It just baffles me. And it disgusts me.
Add on to that the Roberts Supreme Court nomination which should be a slam dunk as he has a flawless resume and history. That is being fought severely, And now Chief Justice Rhenquist has died. Holy crap. The biggest natural disaster in 100 years, a foreign war, a truly, truly divided country, and now there are two vacancies on the Supreme Court? We're approaching a major breaking point in this country. Race, Religion, politics, everything. I say bring it on. It's about time. And hopefully at the end all this politically correct crap and multicultural nonsense will be tossed aside as it needs to be.
Technical dificulties
