« August 2004 | Main | October 2004 »
I'm going to be changing around the templates and stylesheets over the next few days. So if you notice things looking different or messed up, that's why. Right now, the comment and trackback boxes aren't skinned, but they will be again eventually.
I want to vent about something. This is "real life" stuff, so it has nothing to do with anything that's happened in the blogging world.
I really hate it when people harangue you about how you handled a situation without offering any real, practical, hands-on help. You handled the situation the best you knew how with no help. Then someone comes along (someone who never lifted a finger to help you with the situation) and says, "You shoulda done this, you oughta do that...that's never gonna work!" However, the yapping know-it-all offers no real help. The person in question is really good at running his mouth, but it never seems to occur to him to say, "Here, let me help you." And you know better than to ask, because you know what the response would be. There would be some lame excuse as to why this person can't help you.
My point -- if all you can do to "help" me is run your big mouth, without getting up off your butt and giving me some real help, then just SHUT UP!
So, since this one is making the rounds:
YOU ARE MOLY
What herb are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
I didn't know what "moly" was, so I looked it up:
A magic herb with black roots and white flowers that was given to Odysseus by Hermes to ward off the spells of Circe.
(Via De Fidei Oboedientia, Fructus Ventris and several others.)
Via Dawn Eden I found out this interesting item -- that today is the 73rd anniversary of C.S. Lewis' conversion to Christianity. That simple motorbike ride to the zoo has certainly had far-reaching influence.
Speaking of anniversaries, I just remembered that the anniversary of my baptism was this month. I was baptized on September 19, 1993.
Today, I have run into not one but two blog posts with the same theme: women are all (or mostly) prostitutes. Naturally, I am offended by such sentiments. At the same time, I know that there are plenty of women who give men reasons to think this way. However, there are also plenty of men who want women to act like prostitutes and are downright disappointed when they don't.
What can I say? Things are hopelessly screwed up between men and women. Everything is driven by cynicism and manipulation. The concept of being a gentleman and not expecting "something else" seems to be incomprehensible to many men anymore. And so many women have no modesty and no respect for themselves. This causes women to not be respected in general.
I mean, when being a wife and mother is equated with prostitution, you know we are in big trouble. When a woman is denigrated and looked at as a "kept woman" because she does the butt-busting work of running a home and being a stay-at-home mother, then you know something has gone terribly wrong. Attitudes like this are frightening but are becoming commonplace. This is a very sick society and I don't see things getting better any time soon.
And people wonder why I reject the whole concept of dating. It's all a sick, pointless game.
Update: I need to clarify something. I realize that the above linked bloggers (Steve H. and Michael Williams) are not necessarily saying they agree with the sentiment that women are all prostitutes.
Well, I'll be going back to work tomorrow, which is good. The Pensacola area is still recovering, but things are improving. Check out the Pensacola News Journal site if you want to read about the progress made. Another blogger who rode out Ivan in Mobile, AL is Megan at Under the Juniper. She has a whole series of posts on the hurricane. Also, Steve H. at Hog on Ice posts an email and some pictures from one of his readers in Milton, FL. This reader's house was severely damaged by flooding.
Meanwhile, my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by Hurricane Jeanne.
The joke of a Supreme Court in this state has done it again -- Terri's Law has been struck down. Once again, Terri's life is in peril. As this statement on Life Matters says so eloquently, this is not just about defending Terri's life, but all human life.
Dean's World and Connexions both linked to what I guess is supposed to be some sort of joke -- that God is trying to wipe out Republicans or something. Well, let me just attest to the fact that the Ivan path is not accurate at all. In fact, if it would have taken that path, Pensacola would have been spared a lot of the destruction we suffered. The eye made landfall in Baldwin County, Alabama. This means that Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida (along with Baldwin County) got the very worst of the storm. (The strongest part is the eastern eyewall.)
Here is a map of the path Ivan actually took, and here are regional and local radar loops of the storm making landfall.
I got my landline phone back yesterday evening, and I someone from my neighborhood who has a roofing business was able to put a tarp on my roof today, so now I don't have to worry about further water damage when it rains again. Hopefully, they will be lifting the boil order from the water tomorrow. Then it will be safe to drink and wash dishes in without boiling or adding bleach first.
A few days ago, some wonderful neighbors helped me and my mother with the large tree branches that had fallen in my back yard. One of my neighbors was going around with others from his church and chainsawing branches for people all over the neighborhood. I offered to pay them, but they would not take any money. Another neighbor helped my mother and I move the debris out to the side of the road. I appreciate all this wonderful help more than I can express. I don't know how to adequately repay such kindness.
The National Guard is here and they have been just great with helping people and bringing order to a chaotic situation. There are electric crews from all over the U.S. and as far away as Canada helping to get the power back on. The Red Cross is here helping so many people. The first few days after the storm were so awful and seemed so hopeless. But things are getting better and are very slowly returning to some sense of normalcy. The National Guard, the power crews, the Red Cross and many others -- I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
I just got my power and cable back this evening. The only thing still not working is my phone (I have to use my cell phone to make calls). My house has some damage -- the roof has missing shingles (causing some leaks) and my gate and part of my fence blew down -- but it came through very well. We are all fine -- just really stressed out. We are very fortunate, because a lot of people lost their homes and even their lives.
About riding the storm out...let me just say that while I've been through hurricanes before, this one was by far the most frightening. At the height of the storm, I stayed in the hallway behind a mattress. I did a lot of praying. I had to keep finding radio stations that were still on the air, because one after the other would lose their transmitters. The walls vibrated and you could hear a constant roar outside, with gusts that would whistle and howl.
After the storm, the power, water, phone and cable were out. In previous storms, we never lost water and phone service. I hoped that the cable would stay up so I could check in here, but it didn't. We got the water back after a couple of days. We got the power back a couple of hours ago and the cable came back about a half hour ago.
My town was hit very hard by this storm. I can't go back to work until some repairs are done at my workplace. While I'm doing okay, a lot of people are truly hurting right now. It's really sad.
I'm kind of overwhelmed right now after being offline for a week. Thank you for your comments and emails -- I may be a bit slow in responding but I appreciate them.
Sorry for the lack of blogging. Obviously, I'm very preoccupied right now. The current projection shows Ivan's eye going just west of Mobile Bay in Mobile, AL. Mobile is about an hour away. The hurricane force winds extend well out from the eye, and we are on the eastern side, so I expect things will get really bad here. It looks like it's going to come in as a category 4 storm.
Oddly enough, we got more wind on Monday than we did Tuesday. The wind will start picking up soon.
Here's a satellite image of Ivan. (Courtesy of this site recommended by to me by Dave.) The blue dot is where I'm at:
I'll update this post throughout the day to let you know what's going on.
Update (11:25am): The rain and gusts have started the last few hours. I've heard the worst part will be between 9:00 tonight and 9:00 tomorrow morning. I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm going to try and get some rest this afternoon, since I won't be sleeping tonight.
Update (3:25pm): It's getting very windy here. We also had some heavy rain a little while ago. The power flashed off for a second and came back on. I'm trying to get some rest, but without any success so far. I'll keep checking in as long as my cable holds out. My iBook is charged up, so I can use that when the power goes out.
Update (6:20pm): The power went off briefly a few minutes ago and I heard a transformer make that noise. But it's back on for now. Robin Jones at Beyond Salvage is in Mobile and is also blogging about Ivan.
Update (7:15pm): Very heavy rain and winds. It's dark outside now, but in the last light I could see the trees waving, bending and twisting. On TV, they are showing the hurricane from space (the pictures are from the space station). I can't believe the eye on this thing.
Update (7:35pm): It sounds like my house is inside of a dishwasher. They just reported that power just went out at the Pensacola Civic Center, which is one of the major shelters in town. I think they said two thousand people are staying there.
Update (9:10pm): Still more of the same -- heavy rain and lots of strong wind. Still have power, though.
Update (9:50pm): Power is out. Will shut down to conserve UPS for cable modem. I'll try to check in later.
A few days ago, I just had a feeling Hurricane Ivan would be coming to my area. Now, it's looking far more likely that he is. I'm glad that it looks like central and south Florida will be spared, because those folks have had enough trouble. However, I'm not happy with the idea of Ivan coming here. I just hope that the predictions of it weakening some before making landfall in the U.S. are correct.
I gather from reading the discussions on Ivan that hurricanes usually can't maintain category 5 strength for very long because they have to regenerate the eyewall -- or something like that. Right now, it's a category 4. I'm just glad I live in a sturdy house, should it come here.
Yesterday at the grocery store, people were already buying supplies. Yes, I bought supplies, too.
So, basically I'm just watching this site and this site and preparing.
This site will go black for the duration of the day on 9/11. See this post for my remembrance of that horrible day.
I haven't had a lot of time to blog or read blogs lately, but I have been following the forged documents story. Blogs broke this story, and while the mainstream media will try to ignore it, they can't do so forever. (Even Drudge, who is very disdainful of blogs, linked to the Power Line post on this that started it all.)
Two quick comments on this:
1. How dumb do you have to be to forge a document from 1973 using the default settings on Microsoft Word? They could have at least fiddled with the fonts and settings in an attempt to mimic a typewritten document, but they didn't even do that. Like Andrea Harris suggested, if they wanted to do it right, they should have procured a vintage typewriter from eBay.
2. Who forged this document? Where did it come from? Was it from within CBS, or did it come from political operatives? (Is there a difference?) If someone gave the document to CBS, did their bias against the President keep them from making any real attempt to verify the authenticity of it? (I think we know the answer to that...)
I have to admit; I'm just loving this story...
You can follow the ever-changing computer models here and here.
Most of the models now have Ivan hitting south and central Florida yet again. I feel terrible for the folks down there. This is a category 5 storm, so it's a bad one. I'm praying a front will push it away from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico and out into the ocean.
Sandman posts an email from the pastor of a church near where the Beslan terror attacks occured. Please pray for the victims and their families. (Thanks, Sandman.)
Also, if you wish, you can give to help the children who were injured or who lost their parents. (Link via the Command Post and Michelle Malkin.)
Update (9/13/04): Sandman has an update on the Beslan situation, along with a link to Russian Ministries, which also has a terror relief fund.
Computer models of Hurricane Ivan's possible course:
No matter what course he takes, it looks like he's coming into the Gulf of Mexico. Get ready, Gulf Coast.
After tearing through central Florida as a hurricane, T.S. Frances is heading into the Gulf of Mexico and will be hitting the Florida Panhandle sometime tomorrow. It may strengthen back into a hurricane by then. Here's the current projected path. The green dot is where I live. As you can see, we are just outside the projected path:
The western side of these storms is the weaker side. We may get some rain and a little wind, but unless it changes course, I don't think the Pensacola area will be affected that much.
Being on hiatus, I haven't had a chance to comment on a lot of things. One story I wanted to say something about was the horrific situation in Russia, where Islamist terrorists took hundreds of children hostage, tormented them by depriving them of food, water and sleep, and then slaughtered many of them, along with many adults (including parents who were trying to rescue their children).
The whole situation breaks my heart. I pray for the survivors and for the Russian people. I pray that those who did this evil are brought to justice. I pray that nothing like this ever happens again.
The fact that the mainstream media doesn't even want to mention the religion of the terrorists is sad evidence that too many of us don't want to face who the real enemy is.
Israel, America, Bali, Spain, Russia and others have all suffered because of Islamofascist terrorism. This is the real enemy - not American "imperialism" and "hegemony". Not President Bush. Not the "neocons". Americans, if you think something like this couldn't happen here, then you have learned absolutely nothing from 9/11. Those of you in other nations should note that it's not just America they hate. They hate any nation that stands in the way of the imperialist goals of their religion.
Although the mainstream media is afraid to say it, our enemies are radical Islamists. Those who see us as "things" to be slaughtered, conquered and subjugated are radical Islamists. (Yes, I know that not all Muslims are Islamists. I'm not talking about all Muslims. But it seems to me that more and more Muslims are being taken in by the Islamist ideology.)
Please...wake up and see who the real enemy is.
Well, this whole experience has been a big pain in the butt. A new version of MT has been released to fix the bugs in 3.1. But for reasons I really don't feel like explaining (see this thread if you want to follow this saga), I'm not quite sure if I'm in the clear or not. I think I am, but who knows.
Whatever the case, I'm just going to continue working on this blog under the assumption that the upgrade has been successful.
Update: Everything is fixed now!
