More Hurricane Humor

You know you're from the Gulf Coast when...

• You have FEMA's number on your speed dialer.
• You have more than 30 'C' and 'D' batteries in your kitchen drawer.
• Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti O's.
• You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows.
• When describing your house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths and one safe hallway.
• Your SSN isn't a secret, it's written in Sharpie on your arms.
• You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.
• You are delighted to pay $4 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
• The road leading to your house has been declared a "No-Wake Zone."
• You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.
• You own more than three large coolers and need more.
• You rationalize helping a friend board up by thinking "It'll only take a gallon of gas to get there and back."
• You have 2-liter coke bottles and milk jugs filled with water in your freezer.
• Three months ago you couldn't hang a shower curtain; today you can assemble a portable generator by candlelight.
• You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner's insurance policy.
• At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chainsaw.
• You can rattle off the names of three or more meteorologists who work at the Weather Channel.
• Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.
• Ice is a valid topic of conversation.
• Your drive thru meal consists of MRE’s and bottled water (and you think the MRE’s are darn tasty.)
• Relocating to South Dakota doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea anymore.
• You've been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder or a tree worker.
• A battery powered TV is considered a home entertainment center.
• Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean it's Christmas.
• You know the difference between the "good side" of a storm and the "bad side."
• Your kids start school in August and finish in July.
• You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.
• Your garage smells like gasoline.
• You cheer when you see the Entergy/Centerpoint Energy truck drive down your street.
• You make coffee by pouring boiling water through the coffee filter and grounds of a drip maker.

Catholics Vote

A friend who works in a Catholic school sent this to me knowing that I would love it. I felt inspired to share it with everyone.



Going to their site offers you the opportunity to read their list of prayers for our Country, including this Election Prayer to Mary.

We do not know God’s plan, but we do know that he listens to our prayers, and that the collective prayers and sacrifices of millions of Americans will not go unaided.

Hurricane Humor

Lessons Learned During and After the Storms:

• No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights don't work without electricity. (We did this all the time!)
• A cell phone gives off just enough light to check on the kids without turning on the flashlight.
• Watching the water flooding your property will not make it go down quicker.
• Gas mileage is recalculated based on miles per fume.
• Lovebugs do not disappear in 80mph wind gusts. (Mosquitos also!)
• Houston without traffic lights resembles Mexico City, Rome, Los Angeles and New York City all rolled into a single snarl. (Oh my gosh! You would not believe the local traffic even now!)
• A 7 lb bag of ice will chill 6-12 oz beers to a drinkable temperature in 11 minutes, and still keep a 14 lb. turkey frozen for 8 more hours.
• There are/were a lot of really big trees around here!
• Just because you're 18 doesn't mean you can stay out as late as you want. Curfew means curfew.
• People will get into a line that has already formed without having any idea what the line is for. (LOL this is so true!)
• Calories consumed during a hurricane or power outage do not count. (I wish...)
• Most popular text message after September 12, 2008: do u hve pwr
• Twenty-seven of your neighbors are fed from a different transformer than you, and they are quick to point that out! (How else does only one side of the street get power ?)
• Dirty clothes in an unsupervised hamper multiply at an exponential rate.
• He who has the biggest generator wins.
• Tree service companies are under-appreciated, except after hurricanes. (And they'll charge you for it.)
• Water will fill underpasses, even sometimes when it is not raining.
• If you owned a store that sold only ice, chain saws, gas and generators, youwould be rich during a storm.

Thanks for a job well done!

I think many of us will agree that being without electricity really stinks (and it's not just the smell from the warm refrigerators.) Many people in the greater Houston area are still without power - 12 days after Ike.

Since I do have electricity, I want to take the time to say a great big THANK YOU to all of the people involved in restoring our power. The photo above was sent to me by Gerri S. This is her godson, Jeremy, who lives in Florida and works for Florida Power & Light. He has been somewhere in the Houston area for the past 10 days doing repair work. He is away from his family, sleeping in a tent (for a while at least) and I really can't vouch for quality of the food he's been getting. If you would like to tell Jeremy thank you please leave a comment.

I received this email yesterday and wanted to share it with everyone because it lists those companies who are working long hours far from home to restore our electricity.

Over the years, CenterPoint Energy crews have restored power to hundreds of thousands of customers across the country who have been left in the dark following severe weather. Now, the company must call on its colleagues in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, which left 2.1 million customers without power, the largest outage in CenterPoint Energy's more than 130-year history.

Line mechanics, tree trimmers and additional personnel from nearly 50 different companies are in Houston to aid in the recovery effort. More than 30 states (including Texas, Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) as well Canada have sent workers to help.

Special thanks to our partners:
Alabama Power
Allegheny Power
Asplundh (FP&L)
Asplundh (PepCo)
Baltimore Gas & Electric
Bison
Bluegrass Central Construction
BSJ Power Service
C.W. Wright Construction
City Utilities/Empire
CPS Energy San Antonio
Dillard Electric
Diversified Service
Duke Energy
Elliott
First Energy Company
Florida Power & Light
Georgia Power
Haynes Utility
High Desert Communications
J.F. Electric
J.W. Didado Electric
JBL Electric
Kansas City Power & Light Co.
L.E. Meyers
M.J. Electric
Mid America/Alliant
Midwest Energy
Midwest Power
Missouri Public Service
Musgrove Construction
Par Electric
Pike
Powerline Consultants
Progress Carolina
Progress Florida
Quanta Utility Services
Riggs Distler
Sheldon Electric
Southern Company
SPE
Tampa Electric
Team Fishel
Thiro USA
Utilicon
WE Energies
Willey Construction
Xcel Energy
Xcel/Colorado

Shrinky Dinks

Cameron received an "I Love Horses" Shrinky Dinks kit for her birthday. It made a great project while we're waiting for life to return to a normal schedule. If you're not familiar with Shrinky Dinks, they are a plastic sheet that you color and then put in the over where they shrink into hard pieces of plastic 1/3 their original size. I loved them when I was a kid, but hadn't seen them around in a very long time.

Once they're colored and cut out, you put them on a sheet of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet to bake for 1-2 minutes. Twice I have been in a store for some groceries and forgotten to buy the aluminum foil, but I remembered yesterday and we finally baked them!


Bryan came home just in time to see the last batch go in the oven!


Curling up and shrinking.


All done! Thanks Aunt Amanda for this great project. Today she'll be threading them on the charm rings and other materials. She'll also be writing thank you notes.

Cleaning Up

The photos in the Picasa album a few blog posts down are from the first day after Ike when we saw our house. We came back to the house the next day with the kids (and Dad joined us later) to work on the front yard. It was a little daunting trying to figure out where to start, but we started with the driveway. (Not because we were going to park our cars there while the branches were precariously hanging from the trees!)

I started with a handsaw- breaking some of the larger "small" branches down into managable pieces while Bryan unpacked the chain saw. Cameron wanted to saw also, and since Brenna had promptly fallen asleep in her own bed, I showed Cameron how to use it and let her do a few branches. After about an hour of stacking the limbs that could be moved relatively easily, Dad arrived to help. About the same time we realized a big obstacle: we didn't have any gasoline in a gas can for the chain saw. Neither did we have a piece of clear tubing to use to siphon any from the gas tank of the car. Off I went in the van with the gas can. (Those of you who remember Sesame Street or the Electric Company, say that line so it rhymes, in the VAN, with the CAN... or is it just me?)

Finding a place that was open was the real trick. No electricity means no power to pump the gas. Anyone who doesn't believe this country could be crippled by lack of gasoline has not been living in the Houston/Galveston area for the last five days. The only station I found open in our area was the Sam's Club at the highway and they were running the pumps off a generator (powered how? Oh, yeah, gas.) I waited in line for over two hours. When I got about five cars away from the pump this is the scene looking back. You could fill up the gas can OR the car tank. I did the can. Gasoline does the trick. Now Bryan could play with that chain saw and get rid of the larger limbs on the ground in a short amount of time.

Mom had offered to keep the girls at her house for me while we worked, but I thought they'd remember this experience better if they pitched in as part of the family. They were in charge of carrying the limbs and stacking them in one of the piles behind them.

To get an idea of how tall the stacks were at the end of the day, this is Brenna (47") standing in front of the smaller pile.

As we were digging into the last raked pile of leaves and branches in the front yard, Bryan found a snake!! I have to confess that the possibility of there being snakes in the wet, cool, branches and leaves never even crossed my mind.

You can tell it wasn't a very big snake. Dad picked it up and threw it over the fence into the (former) golf course so it could live under the trees that fell back there. Later we looked up Texas Snakes and discovered it was a harmless Texas Brown snake.

We did hire a tree company to come and take down the large branches hanging over the roof and other parts of the yard and house. Our neighbor called us yesterday to tell us they were at work, but it wasn't until we came home after dark that we saw what they did to our front yard.

Our clean raked yard was now covered (AGAIN) with tree leaves and small branches. The driveway was covered with leaves and sawdust, and the guys left some of the cut logs (from the front yard work and back yard work) in the driveway. The "neat" piles we'd made in the front yard are twice the size and not quite so neat anymore.

When the owner (foreman?) came by this morning to be paid, I pointed out the mess in the driveway and asked him to fix it. He had his crew take care of it; so it's not entirely blocking the driveway anymore, but it's still not quite so "neat". This photo is the pile that Brenna was standing in front of earlier in this post.

Update: the girls and I have been working in the backyard, moving smaller limbs to the front piles and raking leaves into other piles to be bagged. It's too hot now to finish, but we'll get out there this afternoon.

Scenes from the family compound

In the early aftermath of Hurricane Ike, there wasn't much available for us to do. After the storm made landfall in the wee hours of the morning, and with only a few actual hours of sleep, we spent the following rainy day without power sitting in the house with 15 other people. Here are some ideas of what to do if you're ever in that situation.

Watch KHOU on battery powered television. (Remember this tv will be useless in Feb. 2009 unless they make a battery powered digital antenna box to go with it.)

Attempt to make coffee by boiling water on the gas stove and pouring it through the grounds and filter into the pot. Let's see, wasn't there such a thing as a percolator about thirty years ago?

Read, usually best if done with an outside window at your back so you have some light.

Kiss the baby.

Watch more news on the battery powered tv. (Good thing we had one!)

Sleep.

Sleep.

Oh yeah, and did I mention... sleep??


In the desire for full disclosure, you should know that not every single one of these "sleep" photos were taken on the same day.

Some photos

I've had requests to post some photos of the damage. We've been busy all day so had no time earlier.

This is what we found when we first drove down the street.

What day is this???

Seriously, because the days have all blurred together.

Saturday we had power restored, then lost it in the night storms. Saturday afternoon we all visited our homes (see Damage Report). Sunday Bryan and David stood in line at Home Depot and bought a chainsaw. We drove out to the house to start working on the front yard. Dad joined us about an hour later. I took the girls and sat in line at Sam's Club for a little over two hours to get gasoline for the chain saw. They were allowing you to fill up your car or the gas can, but not both. I had a little more than half a tank of gas, so I filled up the gas can. Bryan used it for the chain saw, then poured the remaining gas into the car tank.

We talked to neighbors who said they heard that we could stack the branches and limbs into piles for city pickup something later this week. It could only be tree debris, no trash, and the city is supposed to be putting it through the chipper to make mulch. (We'll see.) You can tell who is home and who is not on our street by whose yard is cleared.

We worked long into the late afternoon and I didn't realize how late it was until I had trouble seeing in the house. Then we rushed trying to get back in the car for the drive to Missouri City before curfew!

Today (it IS Monday, right?) we drove back out to the house to work on the backyard. We had a tree service (from Austin) come by offering free estimates and after receiving our estimate we signed up. They'll be back within 48 hours to remove the limb threatening the roof and the other broken and dangling limbs. They'll also saw and stack the limbs in the backyard.

So we focused on the house. Before leaving we had cleaned out and unplugged the main (newer) refrigerator, but today we had to throw away everything we left in the back (much older) refrigerator. Gone are the jams and jellies. Yuck to the butter and eggs. Don't look back at the mayo. And please, please, please let the city do a round of regular trash pickup on Thursday! Ewww.

Would you believe that streets to the left of us and streets to the right of us all have power! And we don't. We saw numerous Centerpoint Energy trucks and crews out working, so we're hopeful. We're also thankful and grateful to God for the cool front that came through and made today refreshing. We opened the windows and aired out the stuffy house. We also are completely indebted to my parents for allowing us to remain at their house each evening, enjoying the AC, the television, the ability to cook food, and ICE!!!

More people returned to Clear Lake today. We were able to get calls through on cell phones with more regularity. I received a voice mail message from some friends in Rosharon. They are without power and water, but her parents (who evacuated) are returning with supplies from San Antonio in the morning. I've heard from Archivists in the Houston Area who are in very similar positions - no house damage, trees down, no power, some with power, etc. The only ones I'm concerned about now are those from Galveston and the Rosenberg Library. I hope we hear from them soon.

It's late and the Cowboys have won against Philadelphia; Bryan just kissed me and Dad says to turn off the lights when I'm finished. I'm finished. G'night all. I hope you enjoy your electricity, water, gasoline, and especially ICE!

ps - The power is restored to Brian & Lisa's home. She said that instead of cutting off the trees and repairing lines, it appears that Centerpoint strung up new lines instead. It's all about speed.

Damage Report

Yesterday we had power restored at Mom & Dad's house about 11 a.m. We lost power last night during another T-storm about 4 a.m. and it's still not back.

Yesterday we visited all our homes.
Lisa & Brian have no damage to their house, which is remarkable considering the number of large, tall, trees that had fallen on other homes and in the street. They had the most difficulty getting to their house.

Brian J.'s parents had their chimney fall away from their house.

David and Leah found two trees fallen across their back fence, but no damage to their house.

Leah's parents have no damage, though a tall, skinny, red tipped phoetina fell across the driveway and the roof.

My aunts, uncle, and grandmother are all okay; no damage to their homes.

Bryan, Brian, Dad and I drove out to Clear Lake yesterday about 2 p.m. to see our house. The roads were clear, no flooding, and we saw a good deal of roof damage, wooden fences down, street lights missing, power line posts leaning or down, and railroad crossing arms missing or broken.

Our street was a sea of green. Amazingly, our house is okay. There are no broken windows, no signs of flooding or leaks in the roof. There is a large limb on the roof over the garage and another broken limb dangling over the same side. The tree canopy covers our yard and driveway. We have no power (of course.)

Since Mom and Dad are the only ones with power we all stayed here another night. We were definitely NOT expecting the line of t-storms that cmae overnight.

Battery is almost gone on the laptop, so you may not hear from any of us again today, unless Centerpoint restores power.

Made it to the other side

Good morning from a weary, tired, hot, home in Missouri City. We have come through the worst of the night and are okay.

Lost power 11:45 p.m. after multiple flickerings. The wind was loud - very loud - at times shrieking. Different people were up and awake all the time - and I think I had about 3 hours of sleep, in different pieces.

We are still without power, though it flickered a few times at 6 a.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. I'm using my brother's laptop and Sprint wireless internet card to blog.

We know that Brian Jones' parents lost their chimney sometime in the early morning - fell out and they are taking in water. We've heard accounts of different damage, but no photos or tv at the moment. We did hear that Brennan's in Houston burned to the ground.

Gotta get off now. Hopefully they'll get our power back this morning since we've had flickerings already. If we get power and cable back I'll update again.

I can tell you that I am really fearful for our house, especially after listening to the wind last night. We saw battery powered tv about 4 a.m. and realized we were just catching one outer side on an inner band. Clear Lake caught much worse.

The sky is lightening just now, and we're listening to a Houston/Harris County live press conference telling people to conserve water.

Photos from earlier

Here are a few photos of us waiting for Ike earlier today.

Power...

At 9 p.m. we put the older kids "to bed" on air mattresses on the floor in one room. At 9:45 p.m. the guys started falling asleep on the floor in front of the tv. Megan is asleep in the downstairs bedroom with Leah's parents. Dad is in his bed reading and probably sleeping. Mom is running around anxiously "waiting" on us. (So cute.) Brian J. went into the other bedroom with the two 2-yr olds. David and Bryan K. went upstairs to the office couch. Leah, Lisa and I are sitting up side by side on the fold out couch in front of the tv with our laptops. As soon as we get settled, the lights go out. Then come back on. Then go out. Then back on. We're on at the moment.



Within the last five minutes we can hear the wind outside. We know it will only get worse in the next two hours. Naturally, it's scarier in the dark.

Weather.

At 6:30 p.m. we finally got some blustery weather - we alternated sitting on the front porch and playing around in the driveway while the wind steadily grew to probably 30-40 mph gusts. They are showing Bacliff on the news and it is raining and really, really blowing there. The outer bands are only just now hitting Galveston Bay.

We have had the lights flicker twice and don't know how long we'll have power. My sister, who lives in Sienna Plantation, has read email from neighbors that trees are already falling on fences and houses - and only 40 mph! The roots on those trees must be very shallow. They also report one section of Sienna is without power.

Some good news, we heard that some friends who were going to ride it out on Galveston island (behind the seawall) did leave and go to Rosharon to ride it out there with family. We were very concerned for them and are relieved they'll be okay.

These next few hours... as it is growing dark outside... will be the more serious ones for all our homes.

"Certain Death"

The weather reporters are truly in their element. They're so dramatic as they stand on the seawall watching the waves crash as they report that the national weather service has issued a warning that anyone staying within Hurricane Ike's path faces "certain death".

Now the reporters safe in the studios in Houston are telling the reporters on the seawall to report this, but can you imagine the conversation going on off-camera? "Okay Rick, we want you to go stand out on the seawall and report on this "certain death" warning."
"Um, Greg, you know I'M still out here, right? I think I'll load up the camera truck and get out while I still can!"We love watching Fox News and the local news.

They are displaying "Darwinism" at its best. They are broadcasting on the internet) from the Poop Deck (a beach-front bar in Galveston) where the web cam shows a bunch of scantily clad women (and some men) drinking and chatting on their cell phones. The Fox News anchor spoke to the bartender, who says they'll be open today until the curfew is enforced or the Sheriff shuts them down. The anchor asked the bartender to convey to the partiers the message from the weather service about “certain death” and she replied that they “hope” that won’t happen. I really think they aren’t giving that statement much concern.

Michael Chertoff has now announced that Hurricane Ike is a "worst case scenario". We're howling with laughter, from Neil Cavuto reporting that Chertoff has told everyone riding out the storm to grab a permanent marker and write your social security number on your arm now, so your body can be identitified later. Apparently 220 people have requested rescuing already - and the storm doesn't make landfall until 1-2 a.m. tonight. The real danger with this storm is the surge of water, not necessarily the winds. Though, I might change my mind after 3 a.m. when we’ve experienced the winds.

Here in Missouri City we have a good breeze, it's hot, and it just started sprinkling. We grilled the steaks and the pork chops, and some of the guys are outside enjoying the quiet (the kids are so loud) and getting started on a good buzz. (Yeah, they've popped open the beers.)

Evacuated

We're safe at Mom and Dad's house. They have a two-story, no big trees, and no danger of flooding or storm surge. Ike has now turned a little more to the east, placing the eye directly over our house. It appears that the storm surge will be the worst we've had in recent memory - is this comparable to Alicia in 1983 or Carla in 1961? The news is non-stop live footage of Galveston west end being inundated, Harborside is flooding, Kemah Boardwalk is taking on water. And the outer bands aren't expected for another 3-4 hours.

Our house is on the edge of the storm surge warning. Models predict water on our street only in a Cat 4-Cat 5 storm. I'm really concerned about the wind and the trees. There's nothing to do but wait and the not knowing is definitely the hardest part.

We had very little traffic coming into Missouri City, though there were very long lines for gasoline and several stations were out of gas. Ft. Bend schools were open yesterday and we had dinner at our regular Mexican restaurant. This morning we took the girls for a 2+ mile walk around the neighborhood. We're waiting for the rest of the family to arrive; there will be 17 here tonight.

Ike Likes Us More....

Yesterday Ike returned to his original path and puts us squarely in the bullseye. We're closing up the house and heading to my parents house to ride it out. This just might put us right in the eye of the storm, but they have fewer trees, a second story, and we're pretty sure we can get there on one tank of gas in under 14 hours. When it's all over, we'll be able to get back to the house to check on the damage. Our neighbors are riding out the storm at home and will keep an eye on the house for us. At best I'm expecting a lot of tree limbs down, maybe a broken window or two, and possibly some roof damage.

While writing this I just found out our zip code is now under a mandatory evacuation mainly because of the storm surge. Bryan left for the office this morning and after 90 minutes on the road was just now arriving; he says the roads are getting bad. He'll get organized and head back home within the hour.

I'll have to blog again when we get settled. We have a lot of work to do now.
Please pray for all our safety - for those evacuating and those riding it out.

We like Ike...

...especially when it's heading for the King Ranch!

Yesterday all the talk was whether Galveston/Houston would evacuate for Hurricane Ike. Last night the 5-day track lined us up for a direct hit.

We started discussing our options since we live in a mandatory evacuation zone. Naturally, no one wants a repeat of the Rita Evacuation Fiasco. The girls asked me about Ike during dinner last night and I calmly explained that if the hurricane comes here we'll leave. Cameron became very upset over the idea of losing her personal things in the hurricane. (I'm still not entirely sure where she got the idea that the house would be completely destroyed.)

Brenna quietly watched me dealing with Cameron. After I sent Cameron to take her shower, Brenna looked at me and stated very matter-of-factly. "Don't worry Mom, I said a prayer about it." I smiled at her, because this is not my "religious" child. For her saying Grace is something that "has" to be done and Mass is a boring event to barely be endured.

This morning Bryan and I awoke to the news that Ike has continued in a westerly direction and now it appears to be headed for the King Ranch area of Texas. Immediately I remembered Brenna's words at the dinner table the night before.

When she woke up, I showed her the news and told her that Prayer is very powerful - even from a little girl. God hears all our prayers and she should always turn to Him when she is worried or feels small or needs help. Bryan receives a subscription to the Upper Room devotional and it cannot be coincidence that today's message is God Knows Us. Your Father knows what you need before you ask. -Matthew 6:8 (NRSV)

Birthdays

Sunday after returning from SBR and SF, we gathered at Lisa's house to celebrate the girls' birthdays. We had a hot dogs, cake, and they opened their presents from the family.

(Lisa I had to use this photo because I was going through them and saw this look on Ashley's face and I could not stop laughing. I'm not even sure what was going on at the time with her.)

I'm told that Cameron spent the entire time at the ranch taking care of Megan (4 mos). Tonight in the car coming back from dinner Cameron worked herself into tears begging me to have another baby.

Since we missed Brenna's birthday we let her open presents on Monday morning.

She got a 2-wheel Razor scooter just like Camerons. She loved it, if you couldn't tell from the expression on her face. We've had it in the garage for months now, just waiting.

Cameron begged to open her presents on Monday night, before her birthday Tuesday. So we let her open one then, and the other Tuesday night. She got a little manicure set and a really nice matching brown pants and hoodie. There's something to be said for having birthdays right after the "back to school" sales.

Gustav wreaks havoc

Wreaks havoc in the Archives that is! While away in San Francisco, Hurricane Gustav threatened the Gulf Coast. Even though it ultimately landed east of us in Lousiana, on Friday mid-day no one knew exactly where it would go. So the university initiated our hurricane plan. In the Archives that means moving items out of the workroom (the only room with a window), covering computers and equipment and the stacks with plastic to prevent potential water leaking from the ceiling. My co-worker had to do this on her own, with quite a bit of help from other librarians in Technical Services.


This is what I found when I returned to work on Tuesday.

Thankfully, we had some help getting it all down and rolled back up. (It's in the storeroom until we know about Ike... and hopefully we'll leave it there until Dec 1, the end of hurricane season.) We finished just in time for my 10 a.m. meeting with a donor family.

Catching up the week

Yikes, lest anyone think we're still in San Francisco, we're home!

I spent day four in sessions all morning, with the Certified Archivists business meeting in the evening followed by a reception. Bryan and I snuck away during the afternoon to hop the ferry to Alcatraz and take the audio tour. This is an impressive island, with many historical layers of construction. We climbed the hill to the cell block and actually it was smaller than I expected. The cells are only 5 feet x 9 feet and the two long sides are concrete - very claustraphobic. The audio tour includes the sounds and noises that were common while the prison was active, and the tour guide is a retired guard, with commentary from other former guides and inmates. I could do an entire, lengthy, post about all that we learned on Alcatraz. It's a "must-see" if you visit SF.

In the gift shop, there was a former inmate (1959-1963, for bank robbery) signing copies of his autobiography. (Of course I bought it!)

Friday morning we watched McCain announce the fantastic news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would be his running mate. It appears to have shocked everyone, but I was thrilled! I had noticed her a few weeks before in an article of possible women. She wasn't high on the "considered" list, but I thought she had everything McCain needed to get people excited about this election. You really couldn't hear me screaming from San Francisco?

I had arranged to meet a friend, Gerri, from 10-noon to visit before our section meeting. Gerri moved from San Antonio to Maryland last year. Traditionally we buddy up as roommates at conferences, but we haven't for the last two so we haven't caught up. She wanted to get out of the hotel, so we hopped a cab and rode to Golden Gate Park. The cabbie dropped us off at the DeYoung and we wanted to see the Pacific, so we started walking and talking. An hour later, we absolutely had to go back to the hotel, but were still deep in the Eucalyptus. So we called the cabby and left Bryan with the camera to find the Pacific, which he did and then he took the bus back.

Section meetings and sessions again all afternoon. Then Bryan and I headed out to the Oakland A's game by taking the BART underground. The stadium is nothing special to look at from the outside, and while older, still perfectly functional inside. We had fantastic seats in the bottom level, row 17. Unfortunately we appear to be a jinx to the MLB home team. The A's lost to the Twins 2-12. I shot a quick video of Jack Cust at bat (since his bobblehead was the giveaway that night) and he hit a homerun, bringing in the guy on 1st; their only score of the entire evening.

Saturday was a long travel day, and then we came home to an empty house, since Mom and Dad took the girls to SBR for the weekend. This was the first time we have been away from one of the girls on their birthday - even though we skipped the last day of sessions to fly home on Saturday for Brenna, she wasn't here! We'd just spent the last week walking all over SF, and Sat. we just sat on the plane, so we thought we'd get out and bike to our favorite place. We quickly discovered why you can't walk or bike comfortably in Houston. Humidity, Heat, and Mosquitos.

Got the girls on Sunday. Let Brenna open her presents on Monday. Went back to work Tuesday. Celebrated Cameron's 9th birthday. And here it is the end of another exhausting week. Brenna's birthday party is tomorrow afternoon.

So there - all caught up? If I ever upload the photos I'll be sure to post a link.