Had a brief chat today with my cousin Adi, who lives in Trinidad (small island nation just off the northeast coast of Venezuela). TS Isaac caused flooding and mudslides there, especially to the west of the country’s capital, Port of Spain.

Trinidad Express:

Moore, along with hundreds of stranded commuters, had to wait for several hours as maxi-taxis and buses stopped working.

When the Express questioned the customer service representatives about the cancellation of service, we were told with the shrug of a shoulder that “buses don’t float”.

Adi passed along a few images from the local papers (credit to Express and/or Guardian):

The latest track appears to be showing Isaac heading into the Gulf, but yesterday (Saturday) the story looked pretty different. Schools notified parents of closures Monday, and the RNC cancelled most of its Monday events in Tampa. Here’s a look at the local papers yesterday:

…and today:

All of these front pages remind me that nothing ever happens in a vacuum. RIP Neil Armstrong; your achievements won’t be forgotten. RIP also the two people shot in front of the Empire State building. Ugh. Too many shootings going on lately.

In other news, I had an awesome birthday weekend. Surprise party Thursday; day of relaxing followed by romantic dinner with Christina Friday at “The Star” Thai & Sushi (formerly “Pad Thai”); and a group birthday party at the pool & dinner/drinks over at Cam and Melissa‘s Saturday, where Christina and I tried our hand at making mom‘s chicken curry for the first time.. pretty tasty (if I may say so)!

So, right before I grabbed the latest storm track image, I was going to say it looks like predictions for TS Isaac’s track are moving toward the Gulf. Not so fast; compare to the two images below, noting their timestamps.

Notice how it’s veering back toward Florida.

FPL is putting on a strong face:

This image is floating around Facebook right now (credit: Stephen Rabow):

Now it’s just a waiting game..