Hurricane Wilma

A quick update on the whole Hurricane Wilma thing. Well, I made it home safely from Columbus, Ohio Friday night. Saturday was a lot of unpacking and food buying. Cam and Melissa invited me over for dinner, where I got to see Cam’s mom and grandma, which was cool — with Joe that made four generations in the same room, not something you see every day. After dinner we hit the hot tub, and I was going to call it a night, but Nkosi called and I ended up hitting a bar down on Siesta Key, Gilligans. Met up with Louis and his friend from LA, Andre, as well as Eric the Yellow Cab driver. It was Goodtimes, but I think I’ve got a little hearing loss (hopefully temporary). Note to self: bring earplugs next time. Soundtrack to and from the bar? Davin (or is it AFK? Or is it ariz0na?)’s new mix on Pacific Front Sessions — an excellent breaks set, which you can download here. After getting home, chatted with Mavis for a bit over MSN and finally hit the hay around 4.
Went for lunch today with Patricia and Hugo at the Philippi Creek Oyster Bar, which was good. I got the blackened Grouper sandwich with fries and a drink, tasty stuff. Afterwards we hit Starbucks, which was closing at 3pm, to re-open at 1pm the next day. Hugo had Patricia and I over for dinner (which was great), and we passed the time away looking at his pictures from China and Japan, and watching the Blue Collar Comedy tour (among other things). Of course we also flipped it to the local channels now and again to try and figure out what was going on with this storm, because apart from a little rain and the occasional gust, it sure wasn’t showing itself. But that’s all about to change. Earlier today we were told to expect winds tonight of up to 40mph; it’s been nowhere near that. But the real winds are supposed to come overnight, where’d they’re supposed to reach up to 60; if true, those will be the strongest winds to hit this area yet. I left Hugo’s around midnight; I walked around the parking lot outside my apartment trying to locate a spot which would minimize the chances of getting hit by a fallen tree branch; unfortunately I think everyone’s had the same idea and there really weren’t any good ones left. That’s okay: I think the Altima will be just fine where it is.
As far as work goes, the building will be closed until 1pm, after which we are expected to go back to work. That’s fine, because according the SNN (one of the local news channels) winds are expected to be highest around 9am, all the way up to noon, after which they drop off sharply. Will keep you updated as things progress, but basically, so far, all’s well.