Carnival Triumph...Martin Savidge...Rob Kenney

CNN reporter Martin Savidge is catching a lot of flack for mentioning Hurricane Katrina to passenger Rob Kenny as a comparison to their ordeal on the Carnival Triumph.  I agree that it was an unfortunate comparison, but I understand where Mr. Savidge was coming from.

We didn’t evacuate after Hurricane Ike and several times during the Carnival Triumph event, I thought their situation was comparable to our situation.  They had no power.  They had long lines for food, as we did for gas and water.  They were disconnected from the outside world. 

Although the cruise ship passengers didn’t lose their homes as some did in Katrina, when I compare their situation to the aftermath of other unfortunate events (snow storms, tornadoes, hurricanes), they also had the added elements of possibly dying at sea while surrounded by 4000 strangers and occasionally stepping into urine and poo.  Other than dog accidents, our hurricane event was mostly urine and poo free.  We were also in the relative comfort of our own homes rather than on the open sea sleeping in a hallway...with 4000 strangers.

Good for Rob Kenny keeping things in perspective, but Martin Savidge shouldn’t beat himself up too much.  The analogy was apt.  He just chose the wrong natural disaster for his comparison.

Bah Humbug - Hurricane Sandy Benefit

First, lets be happy instead of envious for the attention and the assistance that the northeast is getting.  Good for them.

Second, for everyone upset that their own personal flood, hurricane, farmer, earthquake, fire did not get the same attention that Hurricane Sandy is getting, you need to keep in mind that the government gives the same level of attention, such as it is, to every disaster.  The media attention is directly proportional to the caliber of the celebrity who grew up in the neighborhood of the flood, hurricane, farmer, earthquake, typhoon.

If Bob Geldof, John Cougar Mellencamp or Bruce Springsteen grew up next door to you, chances are pretty good that your personal disaster would have also gotten a kick ass benefit.

So, the next time you have a flood, hurricane, earthquake, fire, mudslide, don't contact your local politician.  Contact your local celebrity.

Message to New York and New Jersey from Southeast Texas

Regarding Hurricane Sandy:

 All of us who have experienced hurricanes and the threat of hurricanes our whole lives understand what the folks in the northeast are going through.

As expected, it appears that the problems associated with living in the path of these storms are being taken more seriously now that a larger population is having to endure the hardships of no power, no water, no services.

I don't care that it took a hit on New York City to gain recognition and, hopefully, promote helpful solutions for people dealing with these storms. Whatever it takes for companies and people to actually work on making life easier after a hurricane instead of just telling people they shouldn't build or live on the coast is fine by me.

Hurricane Tracking: It's Not Your Grandmother's Tracking Chart

Remember the olden days when the only updates we received about tropical storms and hurricanes were the latitude and longitude coordinates and we had to manually plot those coordinates on tracking charts?  No spaghetti models.  No freaking cones of freaking probability.

I've always been obsessed with the weather.  I could name the types of clouds when I was 6 years old.  Now, with all of the information available I have crossed from obsessed with the weather to possessed by the weather.

I'm a Demonic Hurricane Tracker.

I need a hurricane-orcism.

The tools of my obsession:

Accuweather

Golden Triangle Weather Page

National Hurricane Center

Spaghetti Models

Stormpulse

Weather Underground

WTF?! I was only gone a day...then THIS happens...

This and That

So soon?




DirectTV again...

Yesterday at lunch, a DirectTV installation truck was parked right beside me at Chili's with the engine running. I looked at the guy sitting in the truck and he looked at me and for a brief moment I thought Saturday's whole DirectTV debacle had been a bad practical joke (see previous post) and I'd been punk'd instead of stood up. Alas, Ashton Kutcher didn't pop out of the bushes and my installation has been rescheduled to Friday...my 4th of July work holiday.

Holy War

My dad has been in the hospital since last week. He has had a recurrence of his lymphoma which is responding quite well to chemo. However, the stents which were placed several years ago have become blocked and he is a lovely yellow-orange color and, while colorful, is not a good thing. Today, the doctors decided to move him from St. Elizabeth Hospital here in Beaumont to Methodist Hospital in Houston.

When I spoke to mom this afternoon she said it took all day for the transfer to go through because of some sort of conflict between St. Elizabeth Hospital and Methodist Hospital. When I told my sister Bonnie about the conflict, I said, "I guess it's a religious thing." Bonnie said, "Oh my god! We've caused a Jihad!"

Save the Old Quarter in Galveston

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Abbey Luckenbach Texas

830-997-3224 x 29

abbey@luckenbachtexas.com

http://www.myspace.com/savetheoldquarter

http://www.oldquarteracousticccafe.com/

Radio Free Texas and Concert for the Coast Benefit Presents

“Save the Old Quarter Acoustic Café”

Fredericksburg, Texas -

On Sunday, October 26th, Radio Free Texas along with notable members of the Texas music community will host a “Save the Old Quarter Acoustic Café” benefit. In September, Hurricane Ike destroyed the historic Galveston venue and later this month musical friends of Old Quarter will gather to raise money for owner Rex “Wrecks” Bell to rebuild in an all-day event.

Austin’s Band of Heathens will headline the benefit at Luckenbach Texas, another of Texas' historic music venues.“Wrecks’ Old Quarter is a unique listening room that we’ve enjoyed playing for a number of years," said Gordy Quist of the Band of Heathens. "Few people have taken so much interest in seeing artists grow as Wrecks has, and it seems that few venues exist specifically for the love of song as the Old Quarter. Hopefully we can help Wrecks get the place up and running again.”

Some of the performers who have offered to donate their time to this event include Gary P Nunn, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Owen Temple, Jason Eady, Adam Caroll, The Gougers, Liz and Lincoln, Quincy Harper, Susan Gibson, The McKay Bros and more. The event will run from noon until 8PM and will include a silent auction, exclusive merchandise and opportunities for patrons to give donations. All proceeds from the event benefit the Old Quarter and rebuilding efforts.

This show is part of the overall Radio Free Texas "Concert For The Coast" (http://www.concertforthecoast.com/) event which will include concerts at more than a dozen venues with over 100 artists held simultaneously throughout Texas.“It is very important to Cheatham St. Warehouse and Luckenbach Texas to help The Old Quarter in this manner," said Abbey, Event Manager for Luckenbach. "There are very few truly historical LIVE music venues left. Each of the venues have helped raise or spawn a unique type of Texas Music, The Old Quarter had Townes, Cheatham St. had George Strait, Luckenbach is home to Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie and Waylon. The relationships, careers and tremendous history that these LIVE music venues represent cannot be reproduced anywhere.”

The Old Quarter Acoustic Café and owner Rex “Wrecks” Bell has hosted the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blaze Foley, Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and many more. The club took on nine feet of water from Ike’s surge. Although the building remains, everything inside was completely lost including Wrecks’ collection of musical memorabilia. Bell, a musician himself, played bass guitar for Townes Van Zandt, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Lucinda Williams. Having been a vocal supporter of many Texas musicians early in their careers, the outpouring of support and numerous offers to lend a hand to help Wrecks rebuild has, at least in central Texas, culminated in this special event at Luckenbach.

Sponsored by Cheatham St Warehouse, Luckenbach Texas, Shiner Beer, The Band of Heathens and Friends

**All proceeds to help rebuild the Old Quarter Acoustic Café in Galveston, TX**

Edited to add:

Click here for information on Beaumont venue for "Concerts for the Coast."

Hayes Carll Houston Chronicle Article

Click here to read a Houston Chronicle article about Hayes Carll and the Bolivar Peninsula.

Snakes!

Think you could spot a snake in a pile of leaves? Snakes and alligators have become a big problem in parts of southeast Texas since Hurricane Ike.

There's a snake in the first picture. Study it closely before you look at the second picture where the snake is circled.



Here's another word of caution (besides watch out for snakes and gators). Watch out for all those huge broken branches that haven't fallen, yet. Go into your yard and look up. Scary, right?

Now, here's the snake...


Did you see it in the first picture?

It's Called a Hurricane Fence for a Reason

When I was growing up in Port Arthur, everyone had chain link fences. Nobody had wooden privacy fences. Those came later, in he '80s I think. We had another name for the chain link fences: hurricane fence.

I never gave the name hurricane fence much thought until after Hurricane Ike. My sister Bonnie recently bought a house and her backyard doesn't have a wooden privacy fence. It has a hurricane fence.

After Hurricane Ike lots of wooden fences went down. After Hurricane Rita, practically all of the wooden fences in the area went down. As Bonnie and I were driving around Beaumont after Hurricane Ike looking at all the downed fences, I told her, "I bet you're glad you have a hurricane fence...."

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in my brain. All my life, I had referred to chain link fences as hurricane fences not really appreciating the significance of the "hurricane" part of the name.

Of course, people will fix their wooden fences and subdivisions all along the gulf coast will continue to erect new wooden fences. People think chain link fences are ugly. People want privacy. People are stupid.

Hurricane Rita Anniversary

Three years ago today, most of my family and I were in Arkansas at my brother's house evacuated for Hurricane Rita. Today, southeast Texas is in the very beginning of its recovery after Hurricane Ike. My brain is still fuzzy from Ike and also still has a few cobwebs left over from Rita.

Soon, the constant worrying that is on the edge of my thoughts will gradually recede and I will go back to being the non-worrying, always in denial Laurie that I was before Rita and that I was in those brief three years between Rita and Ike and before Humberto...and Eduoard...and Gustav...and let's not forget Katrina.

Luckily my brain has a low tolerance for seeing the possibility of doom and gloom in every possible situation and the backhoe of optimism will scoop away the dark thoughts of negative possibilities lurking around every corner and replace them with the bright happy thoughts of the perpetually blooming dimwit, nincompoop that is the real me.

Come on backhoe of happiness. Sock it to me.

Crystal Beach Texas and Bolivar Peninsula 2007

I can't bear to post "after" pictures of Crystal Beach Texas and Bolivar Peninsula showing Hurricane Ike's heavy hand. Here's a slideshow of pics I took while driving around Crystal Beach in April 2007. Crystal Beach will be back. Definitely.

I'm home

If I remember correctly, "I'm Home" was the title of my first blog post after Hurricane Rita. We're all fine. All of our houses are fine (including family in Port Arthur). Things didn't go so well for my beautiful Crystal Beach or the lovely Galveston or the delightful Orange, Texas and Bridge City, Texas. My mom had more back surgery four days after the storm and she's doing great, too. We're truly blessed. I'm on my way to meet a friend for my first after hurricane cocktail. More later.

Ike...I No Like

It occurs to me that some might be curious about our hurricane plans. We were just alerted that the storm surge could possibly overtop the levee system in Port Arthur. We should be fine here in Beaumont (we're riding out the storm at my mom's house), but I have lots of friends and family in Port Arthur and the mid-county area who will probably get water in their homes.

Cory and Jamie are headed back to Alexandria, since we're possibly going to be without power for a week or so. The Grand-Fabulous Ava needs her air conditioned comfort.

Invasion of the Sanity Snatchers

Every time I go to sleep, bad things happen...in the Gulf of Mexico. I go to sleep and wake up several hours later and everything has changed. I hate hurricanes. I don't want to go to sleep.

New Orleans Television Stations

Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, I did a post with a link to one of the local New Orleans television stations. I didn't remember the post, but I've noticed a lot of people arriving at this blog after doing a search for live feeds of New Orleans television stations.

The problem is, the link in the post doesn't work anymore. However, while reading some New Orleans blogs today one blog led to another and I found this link which allows you to see all four local New Orleans television stations on one page.

Click here.

Texas Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus Emergency Information System

This is a fantastic resource which I only found out about this morning. When we evacuated for Hurricane Rita, we were competing for hotel rooms with the population of the Houston and Galveston area which were also evacuating. All hotel rooms were booked all the way to Dallas.

Click here to see hotel room availability in Texas during emergency situations. I can't vouch for the accuracy, of course, but I'm going to assume it's a good indication of room availability.

Update on our evacuation plans: My mom, dad and sisters and I are staying put. My aunt and cousins in Port Arthur are going to Dallas. I don't know, yet, what my cousins in mid-county are doing. My guess is they won't be evacuating either.

In case you're wondering about my hurricane plans...

My son, daughter-in-law and grand fabulous daughter have evacuated with my daughter-in-law's family to a safe location.

Tomorrow, I'm going to my mom's with my sisters to help her and dad get things off their patio. Mom recently had back surgery, so we're hoping we don't have to evacuate. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for our county, but we'll see what happens overnight. At least this time, they're letting us use Interstate 10, which should help matters tremendously...I hope.

If we leave, we'll be going to Dallas where we have family and a few hotel rooms booked. I bought a laptop, but updates after Monday night will depend on power and internet connectivity issues.

Hurri-Schizo-Cania

As a coastal dweller, when a hurricane is headed toward the Gulf of Mexico my brain begins to split into several pieces. The biggest part of my brain doesn't want the hurricane to go towards my little piece of the gulf coast and fuck up my life for weeks or months or, possibly, years.

However, there's another part of my brain that feels bad when I realize that wishing the storm doesn't hit me equals wishing it will hit someone else. I justify my wishing the storm on others by knowing that they are also wishing the storm on me. Bastards.

Then, I also have a part of my brain that enjoys the anticipation of the small storms so I can miss a day or two of work and hang out with family and friends watching the wind and the rain. Of course, when the small storm turns into a big storm I feel guilty for having accidentally willed the big sunovabitch into existence.

I also have a mental double standard when it comes to weathermen. If the forecasted path of a hurricane is away from me, then I think the weatherman is a genius. However, if the path looks like it's headed straight toward my front door, then all weathermen are assholes and don't know what they're talking about. I believe in staying in denial as long as possible.

Hurricane? I don't see no stinkin' hurricane.

Hold on to your ass

Click here for details.