Ernesto

Ernesto is here. I guess. Sort of. It's pouring out. The TV shows Ernesto actually far south but the outerbands are affecting us. Whatever. It's pouring and windy.

I've done everything I can. The shutters are closed and it's dark in the house. I hate closing the shutters. I have lots of ice and water and plenty of the kind of food you can eat without cooking. The air conditioning here at home is set much colder than usual (so that when we lose power it'll take an extra hour or two to become intolerable tonight). I brought our mailbox inside (after Wilma it ended up in the backyard). I'm drinking a can of Schlitz Malt Liquor. It seemed like a good idea to buy a couple of cans when I was buying ice.

Gas stations either had long lines or were out of gas today. Most that I saw were actually out of gas. I have more than half a tank and since we're going out of town on Thursday I'm not going anywhere if this place (as in all of South Florida) gets shut down. I think the reason they run out of gas is that everyone gets 10-20 or more gallons than they need so they can run their generators. Last summer we bought three five-gallon gas containers when they were on sale at Target. It would've made sense if I'd filled them up, but I didn't. Instead, they're sitting empty in the shed. Next time, I guess. The reason we bought them even though we don't have a generator is because after Wilma there was an actual gas shortage and people like my wife who had to get to work despite the storm actually needed gas (her employer provided her with gas). So after Ernesto blows over I'll get 15 gallons of gas and store it in the shed. I think you need to put some kind of chemical treatment in there to keep it from going bad. I had no idea gas went bad until I started reading about this stuff online. Still have no idea what I need to get to keep it from going bad but I'll figure it out.

The only remaining loose end is that my wife is at work. As of now she's planning to drive home during the worst of it. Here's hoping she gets home safely.

And I even downloaded AOL so that I can go online during a power outage using dialup. Stay tuned!

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They got smart and cancelled the Friday make-up classes. That was a good idea. Thank God we had that 7 a.m. class yesterday morning, so now next Friday we only have to make up one Lit Skills class. I'd hate to have four lit skills classes next week. I guess we only have three.

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The school was eerily quiet today. I saw Professor Torts in the library. He asked me how I got in there. He didn't realize it was open until noon. I think he thought I snuck in or something. Yeah. As if I would try to sneak in the library. Actually, when I left I thought it wouldn't have been such a bad place to ride out the storm -- assuming they keep the air conditioning on. Plenty of space, power, computers. I could sleep, read, eat snacks. But I left. And now I'm home. Waiting. Waiting is the worst part of hurricanes by far, at least until the power goes out. Then that's the worst part. OK, no more complaining until there's actually something to complain about.