Excuse me while I go all dorky on you

Every once in a while you hear about how amazing something is, but it's not readily available.  Why not?  Conspiracy theorists say the government is holding it back because they get money by supporting the alternative we currently use.  Years ago, corn fuel (AKA ethanol) was a good example of this.  Why aren't all cars run on ethanol?  It a renewable energy source and we wouldn't have to rely on foreign countries to get it.  Of course, since then some negative side effects have become known: higher VOC's than gas and it creates more carbon dioxide during combustion.  Trade-offs, I suppose.

Thorium is the new corn fuel.  In the past decade, a lot of research has been conducted to determine if it would be a good replacement for uranium in nuclear reactors.  It's cheaper, more stable and more abundant on Earth.  Read more here if you're interested.

Apocalypse Now

I feel like there is mass chaos in my world right now. Here's a quick run down:

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  We are in the middle of a drought, which means there are burn bans.



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  Multiple power outages at the power plants in Texas City resulted in a shelter-in-place. That means there is so much pollution in the air that you are asked to stay in your house with the windows and doors closed, air off.



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  The main line of fresh water to the island has a leak. That has resulted in a water shortage for the island. No watering your yard, no washing your car and several of the labs at work had to close down due to low water pressure.



• 
  
  Yesterday, there was a water leak in the AC system at work. There was nothing but hot, humid air blowing through the buildings across campus. UTMB let us go home early because the condensation was building up on everything, resulting in a fall risk. It is much cooler today, but it's still a little humid.



• 
  
  Also yesterday, when I left work early, there was a collapse at a hotel they are currently taking down (with plans to rebuild). Hopefully the worker that was caught underneath the debris gets well.



• 
  
  There have been electrical outages across the island for the past day. Today, Aiden's daycare does not have electricity, so I have to take off from work and go get him. Travis has been struggling at work since they have limitations when the power is out.

Oh and Travis blew out a tire yesterday, so he's going to need at least one new tire. We'll probably get two though.

My mom said they have been dealing with nearly constant severe storms and tornadoes in Illinois. We've decided to meet on the coast in the case of an apocalypse. I'm getting the boat.

A Whale of a Story

Wednesday, a whale beached on the west end of Galveston Island. It is strange to me that whales come so close to Galveston. I've heard stories from fellow scuba divers that you can easily see whales if you go to the Flower Gardens about 100 miles off the coast of Galveston. I guess it's one of those, you gotta see it you believe it things.

A friend of mine from college (pictured above rescuing the whale) currently volunteers with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network here on the island. Whenever there is a beached animal, she takes off work to go help out. When this got called in, she was one of the first on the scene. She had to hold the animal out of the water for an hour and a half before the truck arrived with the appropriate transport materials. Whales have to stay wet, or else their skin dries up. Also, it is hard for the animal to breathe out of water because they don't have the buoyancy in the water to help support their weight anymore. That is why it had to stay in the water until the transport arrived.

When they originally approached the animal, they believed it to be a baby sperm whale. They were hoping to find the mother off the coast so they could reunite her with the baby. They were worried it would be a difficult task because of all the fog we've had recently, and particularly that day.

After bringing the whale back to the holding tank at the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, they realized it was an adult pygmy sperm whale. No one has ever successfully kept one of these in captivity and 90% of beached pygmy sperm whales do not survive. Generally, if a whale has beached, it is because there is something wrong with it already. At the end of the day, they decided to euthanize the animal.

Lauren said she was exhaused after a day of dealing with the 1000-pound whale. She said this was only the second time she has encountered a beached whale on the island in her 6 years volunteering with the network. They most frequently get dolphins that they rehabilitate, then either release it or give to a facility that can house the animal (think Sea World). More often, the stories end happily. This just wasn't one of those cases.

In my head, lettuce almost went extinct.

Yesterday morning, I was getting my lunch ready as Travis was about to walk out the door for work. I was slicing a cucumber wondering if it was considered a fruit or a vegetable. I voiced my thoughts to Travis and he said the same thing I thought. If it has seeds inside, then it's a fruit. But then, think of all the plants we eat with seeds inside: pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, the list goes on. Are all these fruits then?

My next thought was how do vegetables propagate if they do not have seeds? What about lettuce?! If there are no seeds in lettuce, then how do they continue on?!

Oh the things I have to worry about.

I did a little research and for all of those that are just as concerned about the fruit vs vegetable debate, here is what I found:

A vegetable is any edible part of a plant that is usually a leaf, root or stem. A fruit is any edible part of a plant with sweet flavor that is also the ovary of a seed-bearing plant. One website said that all fruit are vegetables, but not all vegetables are fruit. Tricky. All vegetable plants have seeds, they just may not necessarily be IN the vegetable.

I didn't really find this to clear up much for me. It's not cut and dry the way I'd like it to be.

Lettuce in particular is very peculiar. The longer lettuce is allowed to grow, the more bitter it becomes. When lettuce is farmed, it is picked for sale before it gets bitter. BUT, if the farmer wants lettuce seeds, they have to be patient. Eventually, the lettuce grows what is called a "bolt" that grows out of the lettuce head. A flower and seeds grow, making lettuce the leaves of the flower. Voila! The seeds can then be harvested!

After writing the word vegetable this many times, it no longer looks to be spelled correctly.

Vegetable.

Vege Table?

My brain is saying veeg table.

Day 75 of BP Oil Spill

I'm sorry I've been slacking on my blogging duties. I had a really busy weekend and we have family in town. I have about a million photos to sort through before I can really get down to business.

In the meantime, look at this awesome Oil Skimmer that is on it's way to save the Gulf, despite the fact that it still needs to be approved by the EPA and Coast Guard. Hope they get on that...

A Whale Oil Skimmer

Baby Cloud

I swear to you I have not had babies on the brain, aside from Aiden. I have not gotten that itch to have another baby just yet. That said, when I was driving home from work the other day, I looked out my window to find this:

Doesn't it look like a swaddled baby with a giant head? Tropical Storm Alex sure is bringing in some strange clouds. Looks like we should get some rain today...

BP Oil Protest

This past weekend, we went to visit our friends David, Stephanie and their daughter Wednesday at their new home in New Orleans. We haven't seen them since they came here for Wednesday's first birthday party a year and a half ago! It was so great to spend some time with them again and catch up on some of the little things that don't usually get mentioned during phone and email chats.

Since I haven't had time to go through all my photos yet, I thought I would just throw up a couple from a protest we came across while walking through the French Quarter. It was a bunch of people (the most extreme hippies I've ever seen in real life - no joke) talking about how a militant-level of force may be required to get BP to solve this oil spill crisis. YIKES.

See how the eyes are little BP flowers? Ha! Clever hippies.

I know this oil spill is a HUGE mess. 'Huge' doesn't even begin to cover the vastness of this issue. BUT I do know, as an American, that we rely heavily on oil products. At this point, we just cannot function without it. However, I do think it was a little wreckless to be drilling so deep without any safety mechanisms. That said, it drives me crazy when the news anchors say they are just dealing with this situation blindly, as if it is sickening to think they don't have written plans laid out. Is there any other way to deal with this? This has NEVER happened before.

I know there are people out there who are boycotting BP gas stations. While I do not have access to any BP gas stations, I do not know that this is the best way to go about handling the situation. Take money away from a company that is using every resource to clean up this horrific mess that may affect the seafood industry in the US for decades? Doesn't seem to be the right step at this point to me. Maybe after the leak is repaired.

It is sad to think that millions of gallons of oil have been spewing daily into the Gulf for over a month now. All I can say is I hope this gets solves SOON.

Galveston County had a rough weekend

It looks like Travis and I picked a good weekend to go out of town. That storm that delayed our drive this past Friday came back again for a second hit Saturday. There was horrible flooding everywhere, including into many of the businesses in downtown Galveston that are still undergoing remodeling since they were flooded seven months ago in Ike.

Galveston as a whole took a beating. The island looked a little like it did after the hurricane in that dirt and mulch everywhere had been moved from their original home onto the sidewalks and streets. There was a gas station awning that fell over on Seawall, crushing a truck. Many trees that died in the saltwalter floods after Ike fell over in the combination of wind and flooding that ensued during the storms this weekend.

This island is being tested!

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In baby news... At 31-weeks pregnant, I think Lil Wodie may have flipped over into the head-down position. I was reading that this should be happening any day now and I think it happened. Over the last few days I've been able to feel feet! So far, it has always been something large and solid, like his back, head or butt. But starting Monday, there was a definite change. Something tiny kept moving across my belly, near my belly button. If he has flipped into the head-down position, this would explain why his feet have suddenly made a show. It was crazy because Rachel was even able to feel the foot from the outside and move it back and forth. Ha!

The reading says Lil Wodie should be at 4 lbs and 19 inches head-to-toe. Also very interesting, his skin is no longer translucent. So, hopefully no more crazy dreams about a see-through baby. His kicks are getting so strong that when Travis was listening to him slosh around the other night, his head was bouncing up and down from all the baby movement. It's going to be so crazy to finally meet the crazy arms and legs that have been punching away at me for the past few months. =D

The baby shower Alexa and Stephanie are throwing for me is less than 2 weeks away! I am soooo excited! Not only does that mean a bunch of baby gear in my future (I can't wait to go through everything), it also means I can start buying stuff for the nursery again. I have been postponing any purchases so that I didn't buy everything off my registry before the shower. Although that would probably be impossible - I don't know how people could have a child without a baby shower. At any rate, I would feel ridiculous if I spent all my money on decorative items right now, only to find out we still need to buy a couple more important items (namely the rocking chair and co-sleeper playard) after the shower.

I feel confident that the closets are cleared out the best I could get them. The plastic drawers are in place ready to be filled. Now all I need to do is wait out the next week and a half. Luckily, things should be pretty busy this weekend. Not to mention I have this intense need to dust the house from top to bottom...

Ice Storm

This tree is in front of my mom's garage. When we got home around 4 this afternoon, we easily pulled the car into the garage. Good thing we beat gravity's attack on the tree.

We finished the Christmas tree and put a bunch of the presents underneath. My brother is still wrapping in the other room as I type. Check out mi Madre's new do.

Ariel wrapped up Toby to put under the tree.

My dad is notorious for his inability to be photogenic. Here he is smiling off at some imaginary friend in the next room. Ariel helps balance out the beauty of this photo. This is a quick peak at my dad's new apartment.

It's Frickin Cold People!

Wow, it's cold here. It's been hovering around 0°F since we got here. Right now it is 3°F with a windchill of 15°F. This is insane. Travis has been questioning our decision to move back here in a few years. I hope he is joking. This is pretty miserable weather though. I keep trying to compare it to the stifling, humid heat of Galveston, TX in the middle of summer. I'm having trouble convincing myself that the heat is worse at this point.

Yesterday, I needed to run up to the store to grab a couple items for making Christmas cookies. Alex wanted to show off his car and told me he would drive me. We ran out to his car and tried to jump in quickly to escape the wind, but were unsuccessful. The locks were frozen. After we were able to break through that ice, the doors themselves were frozen shut. After a minute of trying, Alex got his door open. He hopped inside and pushed the inside of the passenger door while I pulled from the outside. We FINALLY got it after another minute (felt like hours) of pushing and pulling.

After all that, it took him a moment to get the car started. I think a combination of the ridiculous temperatures and his car being old made it slow to start. He finally got it running, grabbed the scraper and hopped back outside to take care of the windshield. Alex had left his gloves in his bedroom, so his fingers quickly went numb, but he managed to get a big enough circle scraped out so we could drive. The whole time he was working on the windshield I had to hold his door shut because the latch was now stuck open. Alex ended up having to lock the door to get it to stay closed for the drive to the store.

It only took five minutes to get to the store (not worth walking to in this weather), so the car wasn't even warm yet. The excitement really started when we tried to get out of the car. I got out fine, locked and closed the door. Alex could not get his door to unlock, so he tried my door. I'm thinking the locks were sticking a little in the cold and his fingers were too numb to work properly. We ended up having to roll down the window so he could give me the keys. I had to use the keys from the outside while he pulled the lock on the inside. It took another five minutes, before Alex was able to escape from his car.

We were only inside the store for a little while. Unfortunately, we didn't think to leave the door unlocked when we left the car. When we got back out, we had the same problem, only this time there was no one on the inside of the car to throw their shoulder into the door. We decided to go back inside and call our dad to come back with a crow bar. We didn't know what else to do. While we were standing there, I asked Alex if he can get from his trunk into the car if he pushed the back seats down. He wasn't sure if the seats were latched, but he thought it was worth the try. I stayed inside with the groceries while he ran back out to the car. When I saw his head pop up on the inside of the car, I ran out to meet him. Ha!

We were still unable to get the door unlocked, so I had to throw the groceries in through the window and climb in through the trunk too. When I got into the back seat I said, "Who's gonna close the trunk?!" I had to lay down in the little trunk, find a hole to pull the trunk down, and yank it down hoping the entire time that I didn't get my hair or head caught somewhere. I made it into the back seat again, alive and well. A family in an SUV drove by and gave us a nasty glare. It must have looked like we were stealing the car. I was unable to get the car unlocked with my not-yet-frozen fingers.

Let's just say I was VERY thankful to get back into the delightfully wonderful heat of my dad's apartment.

The White Fluffy Stuff

It was a cold day in Galveston yesterday. I wore everything I own to keep me warm and I was still a little chilly. I could see my breath! I think the main problem lies in the fact that the temperature was hovering just above freezing and therefore it was raining, not snowing. The crappy thing about rain and cold together is that the water soaks into your clothes. Especially when for some reason it never rains straight down here - it's usually at least a 45 degree angle, ensuring complete saturation from the knees down IF you have an umbrella that can withstand turning inside out from the wind. Ya, the cold is not very fun here. Not that it is super enjoyable anywhere else, but at least in Illinois the air is dry enough that you can endure standing outside for more than a few minutes.

The rumor all day was that it would snow last night. And guess what?! IT DID! It snowed! At my house and all the way down to Galveston (Ariel confirmed that). I was on the computer when Travis starts screaming "It's snowing, it's snowing!" I ran out into the living room to see that he was watching the weather on the news. What?! Forget the weather forecast - look out the window! Sure enough...

It may not have stuck much to the ground, but it was still an exciting night in southeast Texas!

My poor oleanders!

I wonder if Travis will need to scrape his windshield before going to work?

We had snow on the roof of our house!

Travis' breath is still hovering to the left of him in this photo.

I don't think Callaway was excited about the snow as we were.

It was almost as exciting as the White Christmas in Galveston that we missed in 2004. The sad thing about that year is that it didn't snow the entire time we were in Illinois. So everyone back here in Texas had their snow fix, but we missed it.

When I saw the snow, we immediately ran over to JR and Sara's house to share the news. Sara was also not quite as ecstatic about the white fluffy stuff as I was. She was thinking about driving her paper route for hours with the windows rolled down. I'd have to agree that didn't sound very appealing. I started taking photos and then turned the task over to Travis when it got too cold for me to stand anymore. I've turned into a weenie. Alex told me it's sort of a warm up (no pun intended) for our trip to Illinois in nine days. I can't wait!

For all the smokers out there

Today is the 33rd Great American Smokeout. It is a day put together by the American Cancer Society meant to encourage smokers to kick the habit. There are many reasons not to smoke and everyone knows what they are. If you smoke, I just want to urge you to quit. Not only is it bad for you, but it affects those around you.

This video cracks me up, but if everyone smoked these, I wouldn't care who smoked! Well, that's not entirely true, but you get the idea...

New Life

I decided to ride through The Strand of Galveston yesterday after work and I have to say that it was the most depressing thing I've done in a while. It made me tear up as I drove down the street that is usually so full of life. It was like a ghost town. The only people I spied on the entire road were a group of four workers in Tyvek suits and a guy taking photographs.

That area is usually teeming with life. On a regular day you would see families crossing the streets heading to another store, or a group of friends drinking beer in front of the reggae bar, or the couple walking their dog. There was NONE of that yesterday and it really hit home for me.

Another disheartening aspect is how dirty the area looks. I know there are many people who's roofs have still not been repaired, but I can only hope that they have put up the infamous blue tarp to protect their home from the rain. Galveston is in dire need of a few heavy rains. There is still dried mud clinging to the sidewalks and lining the streets.

I also worry about the plant life on the island. The soil was saturated with salt water when the surge came in, sucking the life out of any plant it reached. Most of the UTMB campus landscaping appears to be dead, as do the beautiful oaks that line the main drag through Galveston. I hope that some heavy rain will help wash away the salt that lingers in the soil, strangling our plant life.

I did see some hope, however. Yesterday, I noticed some of the plants at UTMB springing back to life. The first photo, on the right, is of a Sago palm. ALL of the fronds fell from these palms, leaving the appearance of urban cacti throughout the campus. The second photo, on the left, is of the beautiful flowering bushes that fill many of the flower beds. You can see all the dead, brown plants surrounding the new life.

Come on rain!

Just a few randoms...

The southbound lanes of Galveston Causeway finally opened up this week. They were able to get all the boats out of the way in time. Woohoo! The bridge is huge and shiny and the traffic doesn't get backed up anymore. Yes, the concrete is very shiny when the morning sun shines just right off of the lanes. If you can't tell, I'm very excited about this. I think they started the construction in 2004, so this bridge had it's time coming. Here, here to no more construction traffic!

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Speaking of boats, it looks like they (I'm not sure who "they" are) are finally removing the shrimp boat from the Willie G's parking lot. It has been leaning on the toll booth since the storm. They took the mast down yesterday. Today the lot was filled with workers, a huge crane and a truck to tote the boat off. It is amazing what people can do.

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I filled up my gas tank for only $30 yesterday! Gas was $1.99!! Travis asked me if gas prices have been under $2 since 9/11. I don't know the answer to that, but it feels like its been that long. I'm hoping this keeps up through January. Travis, Ariel, Robert and I have made the decision to drive to Illinois for the holidays and at these prices we will have money left over for more Christmas presents!

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As I mentioned before, I have been reading the Twilight series (by Stephanie Meyer) for a month now. I am on the last book at the moment and it is INSANE. I cannot recommend this book more highly. I think it is great for all ages. Everyone from my friend's teenage daughter to my chiropractor and his wife enjoyed the books. If you like fantasy, adventure and maybe even a little romance, then you should pick up a copy of Twilight. Even though it's about vampires and there are many tense moments, I can't really say they belong in the horror genre. I think all I've been talking about with Rachel lately have been these books. She finally broke down and decided to read the series, and now she is hooked. I know Travis will be happy to have me get my nose out of the books and come back to Real Life. I have gotten so attached to the main character, Bella, that I cannot wait to see how it ends. It is bittersweet though, as much as I want to know how the characters end up, I don't want the story to end. At least I still have the movies!

Recovery After Ike

I want to take a moment to give you a little bit of an update on the area since Ike. It has been 7 weeks since the hurricane hit and things are not even close to being "back to normal".

I'd like to start with my drive to work in the morning. First is the causeway onto Galveston Island. There is a sign on the way in that says there will be some lane changes starting this Monday. If that means they are opening up the new side of the bridge, then they have a busy weekend ahead of them. Those lanes are still filled with boats! I counted them and I think there are close to 20 still sitting on the road. I don't foresee them opening that up until the obstacles have been removed.

I noticed a few weeks ago that there is a barge sitting in the middle of a field right next to a group of homes. It appears that none of the homes were directly affected by the giant boat that is now their neighbor. The entire road to my work on the island is lined with fences covered in trash and trash piles of crap that has been removed from the warehouses. Oh and there is the septic tank that mowed down a fence and is now resting dangerously close to the road.

Every day when I get close to work, there is a group of people (mostly guys, but there are some women) wearing Tyvek suits walking down the road. They park their vehicles and then are lead en mass to whichever building they are gutting for the day. When I first came back to work I watched a similar group, if not the same group, pull four truck loads of flooring, drywall and ceiling tiles out of the building across the street. And that was just one day!

Downtown Galveston, dubbed The Strand, is still filled with a mixture of dirt, sand and trash. Everyday the streets are lined with construction trucks and vans that are working to get the businesses back into shape for reopening. One of the restaurants, Rudy and Paco's, is working very, very hard and they don't expect to open up until New Year's day.

The bar my sister works at is still closed and probably will be for a while. Even if they were up and running, there is still a curfew that goes from 12 to 5am. Those are not conducive to proper bar hopping hours, as the bars in Galveston don't close until 2am. In the meantime, her and her boyfriend Robert are finding construction jobs here and there to keep them above water. I know they are having a tough time at the moment.

I heard that the FEMA trailers have finally started to come in, but anyone who lived on the island will have their trailer in a neighboring town. There just isn't any room for trailers. Up until October 26th, people from the Section 8 housing were living in what was named Galveston's Tent City in the middle of a neighborhood. A resident of Tent City was shot by a local homeowner, which probably pushed the need to close it down. Several of the Section 8 housing projects have been closed and condemned. No word on whether they will be repaired and reopened.

I have many, many friends who's homes were severely damaged by the storm. As of right now, it seems like everyone in Galveston is at the point where they have drywall back up, but that's it. Working with insurance is a slow and tedious process. Plus, construction businesses are so busy at the moment that it is hard to reserve someone to do the work. Chris and Alexa still do not have their house back and it looks like it will be weeks before they do.

Something else that is interesting is that the abandoned homes and properties stick out like sore thumbs. There is a house down the street from where I live that still has a yard filled with palm frond and branch debris. It doesn't look like anyone has been there to clean up since the hurricane. On the island there are many homes with yards just like that one.

I am grateful that Travis and I live in an area with minimal flooding. And for the fact that we both have good jobs that pay us well. For me it's a good job that will pay even during times like these when we can't work. I'm thankful for friends who will help us in a time of need and the ability to help friends who are in need. It may not be in the media, but southeast Texas is still rebuilding after Ike.

I added MORE photos to my Ike album on Flickr because I didn't realized they weren't online yet. They are mostly pictures of Galveston (at the end of the album).

PS - Happy Halloween!

Back to Work

Brrr! It was 60 degrees in my house when I got up this morning! Talk about making it difficult to get out of bed. When it came time to get dressed, I grabbed all my clothes and got back into bed to warm them up before putting them on. It reminded me of when I lived at home with my dad in Illinois. We lived in an old Victorian (which some idiot painted pink - yuck) home with no central heating or air, just space heaters. I always picked out my outfit the night before and set the clothes next to my bed so they would be within arms reach in the morning. I remember some days it was so cold in my bedroom (because the heater wasn't turned up high enough) that I could see my breath. INSIDE the house.

Well, it wasn't that bad this morning, but it was still a shock. It's been so nice to have the air and heat off with the windows open that it was like pulling teeth to get myself to close the windows last night. And then again this morning when I tried to convince Travis to let me set the heat at 65 degrees. I don't want my poor animals to freeze while I'm gone!!

Yesterday was my first "real" day back to work. I came to work a week ago, but it was only to clean up the lab, and then I had last week off again. But now I'm back to normal hours. Our lab got approved to begin research, but it will be weeks before we can have all our projects back up and running. Just in time for the holidays. Ugh.

I went for a walk with Callaway yesterday after work. I forgot how horrible that is. He's never been very good on a leash and I know that's our fault for not walking him more regularly. He gets side tracked easily and wants to go smell EVERYTHING. Then, whenever we pass a yard with a dog in it he gets all worked up and I get yanked around as a result. To top things off, a gang of mini-dogs showed up to harass Callaway. At first I held him in close trying to make him behave and I tried to shoo off the ankle biters. But when they didn't go, I let the leash out so Callaway could chase them back a little. Lol! It only chased them off for a minute before they would come right back for more.

THEN! There was a yellow lab loose in the street two blocks away. You have got to be kidding me. That stress-relieving walk went right out the window! I know that labs are not generally aggressive dogs, but I didn't feel like testing the waters. So I turned around and back tracked a little to avoid the possible confrontation. That meant I had that much more time to walk with the mini-dog gang before we got out of their territory. Gah!

Monster Machinery

The monster crane came through our neighborhood the other day. It amazes me at how efficient these people are getting. Last time the debris pick up came through, they took branches only. This time they were taking everything, fences and all. Everyone now has a dead spot of grass in the front lawn. Ours is about the size fo a mattress. =( Looks like they gave up on the wussy Bobcat cranes and went for the big one. This sucker even has brace-feet below the guy in the red part.

Funny story: Our neighbor was using his lawn mower to tow large pieces of tree trunk from his back yard out to the curb. Smart idea. Still funny.

**PS - HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!!!**

Galveston Dump

I drove into Galveston yesterday to meet three girls from work for lunch. It was nice to catch up with all of them in person and spend some time on the water. The beaches have been empty since the storm. It's probably a cross between everyone being busy cleaning up with no free time and the risk you run going in the ocean with all the runoff from Galveston after the storm.

After lunch, I stopped by where Ariel and Travis are each working. First, I brought Travis and his work buddy some Gatorade. That proved to be a a task in itself. Many businesses still do not have functioning credit card machines. It took me a couple tries to find a store that would take my Visa (and I got some cash back to be prepared the next time). Travis was working at an apartment complex on the east end of the island and it had about five feet of water. All the AC units and breaker boxes were messed up and needed to be replaced.

Once I had gotten a tour of that place, I headed over to where Ariel was working in the middle of the island. That particular area got about nine feet of water. The house she is helping to gut is about 3 1/2 feet above the ground on pilings, so the inside got about five feet of water. They have to take out EVERYTHING: 4 layers of flooring, sheet rock, wood paneling, cabinets, appliances and all electrical. That neighborhood smelled like crap too. The mold and mildew is out of control. I feel for all the people who have to rebuild.

I also drove by the new garbage dump on the island. It's huge. They have an area sectioned off that they are filling with vehicles that have been towed. In this first photo you can see part of the tow lot, then the trash pile, then the Galveston Courthouse in the distance.

I don't know when or where this stuff is going to be moved, but it is going to be a long process.

Bad Neighborhood?

I seriously think I heard gunshots last night. I woke up to the sound of screaching tires around 1:30AM. It was constant screaching, like when people do that drifting crap, or maybe it was one long donut. It sounded like it was just down the street from our house. It freaked me out to the point that I couldn't go back to sleep because I was afraid they might come down our way and run into our house, killing us in our sleep. I know, paranoid, right?

I was drifting back to sleep about 10 minutes after the screaching tires stopped, when *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP*! It sounded like gunshots! Again, it freaked me out, but I didn't want to wake up Travis. I got up and looked out the window expecting to see some guy running through our yard with a helicopter spotlight on him. When that didn't happen, I got back in bed.

Then, not 20 seconds after the shots, a squad car and ambulance shoot off down our street with lights on and sirens blaring. There was another loud *POP* and I got worried enough at this point to wake Travis. He jumped out of bed in time to see the cop car drive by. We could hear more sirens in the distance. I was debating calling the cops, but then decided it sounded like they had everything under control.

I tried searching the web for anything that might confirm my belief that a gun was shot off just blocks from my house, but I couldn't find anything. It could be because it's too early, so I'll keep checking...

Please Stay, Chilly Weather

It rained yesterday for the first time since Ike hit. I could almost hear the people of Galveston and Harris county biting their nails as their roof tarps and new roofs were put to the test. That rain meant that my insurance adjuster had to postpone her visit until Thursday. That's not too bad though, since I don't have work to go back to yet and can deal with a change in appointment. I am tentatively set to go back October 20th, over a month after the hurricane.

The rain did bring in something exciting - cold weather! I guess it's more chilly, than cold, but I still love it. I opened the windows yesterday after I let Callaway outside and realized it was colder outside than it was in my air conditioned house. It is 67 degrees inside right now and I'm loving it. We usually keep the thermostat set around 76-78 degrees, so this is a delight. It is probably a short lived cool bout, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm sure that everyone in who is still without power is enjoying this.

After I opened my windows yesterday, I started cleaning the house. I also like being able to open the windows when I clean so all the cleaner fumes don't stay in the house. Again - LOVE IT. Anyhoo, after cleaning I headed down to Galveston to hang out with Ariel for the rest of the day. We went grocery shopping. Twice. Ariel and Robert invited Travis and I over for dinner that night and she needed to buy the food. When we got to the first grocery store she realized she had forgotten her list. We sat at the front of the store while she tried to remember everything and re-write it. She did pretty good and only forgot three items, which meant back to the grocery store for us. Neither of us had anywhere to go, so it wasn't a big deal. The second trip we just walked to the store across the street from her apartment and made sure to keep our eyes peeled for muggers.

The island is still in complete disarray. Many of the stoplights are still not working. There are still boats lining the interstate and sporadically across the island. There is more and more trash everyday as people work to gut their property. Ariel told me that they have started a new trash dump right when you first enter the island. I'm going to drive by today and see if I can get a photo. Here is a pic I took with my camera phone of the existing trash pile. It takes up a lot more space than my little phone could capture, but you get the idea. See the crane on top of the pile? It smells horrible all over Galveston.

Robert said that a 65-year old man that is working with him to gut a business in downtown Galveston got sick a couple days ago with some respiratory infection. It's probably related to the mold spores and who-knows-what-else in the air. That place really scares me right now.

Ariel's apartment complex is working on rebuilding the first floor. There are refrigerators lining the parking lot that need to be carted off. At least her building has been gutted from the floor up to 4 feet (that's height of one sheet of drywall). Ariel was mad because she walked around her building and picked up all the trash only to have her downstairs neighbor throw every piece of trash that they had out the back patio, plus their washer and dryer. Another guy threw out his red velvet couch, without cushions. I know people are mad about what happened to them, but the least they could do is bring their trash out to the street. And in bags maybe? The island looks like crap as it is, can't they just do their part to help it along?