Hurricane Day

That's right, school is canceled today due to Ike. That bad boy is supposed to reach this area during the overnight hours tonight. We are far enough from the sea that we would merely be hit with tropical storm conditions. The current forecast says we will get rain and about 50 mph winds. Of course, when Rita came in 2005, they predicted 10 inches of rain and 60 mph winds, and we didn't get much of anything. We were prepared, though, although our window-boarding skills were called into question.

Although things should be fine today, school was still called off, as a "precautionary measure." Non-essential employees also got the day off, and MacKenzie is apparently non-essential, in the eyes of the University. There are some evacuees rolling into town, so I suspect cancellation was done in part to keep people off the roads, although the University's action will allow some people the opportunity to drive home, and others (like me) the opportunity to go shopping or something. The University offered off-campus students lodging in a gym on campus if they are freaked out by all this. I think I'll decline that offer.

The exciting part of the hurricane is that I can pull out my neat emergency radio. It operates via hand crank, and has a light, siren, and cell phone charger. It receives AM/FM, TV, and weather band signals. You should get one.