post wilma

Sorry to be so long posting this...today was the first day after the Hurricane that I got back to a computer. Michael and I are both fine and except for a one blown out window (small) and one bent one (large) we suffered no storm damage to our apartment. We prepared well enough to get through the first couple days, and as grocery stores have continued to get back open we have not had to worry about food or water.

Going through the storm was probably one of the most frightening experiences I've ever had. Six hours of huddling inside the hallway, listening to a battery-powered radio and feeling the air pressure inside pop our ears as the building shuddered with each 200 km/hr gust. The power of it was absolutely incredible. Watching our windows shudder and bow during the fierce, back end of the storm, we were absolutely sure that they would not withstand the wind and break. I'm still not sure how they managed to hold up. Even if we'd had shutters, they might not have helped--a lot of people had their shutters come off in the middle of the hurricane. This was definitely worse than the Tornado I rode out in 1987, even though the damage was worse--that storm took off our roof, but at least it was over within a relatively short period of time!

Our phone lines survived but both power and water were out until late Thursday/early Friday. Quite a surprise that we got back up that soon--many are still waiting and the target date for full restoration is November 22nd. Lineups for supplies were terrible the first couple of days--looks like a lot of people did not prepare like they should have!--and since there were only a few gas stations operational, lineups for gas have in some cases exceeded 6 hours. Fortunately neither Michael nor I had to go to work last week, so we could stick close to home and conserve our fuel. The first few days you can blame people for not being prepared, but after that people have to start going out to get to work, to line up for ice and water (apparently some stations won't give you supplies unles you're in a car), and you can't really blame them for needing to drive.

Of course, once you get out on the streets the traffic is a nightmare. Most traffic lights are still out--either no power or totally blown down and destroyed by the storm--and rather than being understanding and patient Florida drivers are showing their usual aggressiveness and lack of regard for traffic laws. Most intersections are four-way stops, which for this population pretty much means drive at your own risk.

I am back at work now, though we are not open to the public due to lack of a/c. Apparently FPL is afraid that if they turn on the chillers for this complex it could blow the grid in this area again. Only 5 libraries, many of them smaller branches, were able to open today, but we still all have to report to work or take annual leave now that the system is officially "open". I'm sure those few buildings will soon be wall-to-wall with staff who, like me, refuse to burn up vacation time because their libraries can't operate.

So that's the news. More updates as situations change ;)

rays of hope

I discovered something interesting today...

I was in the 290s, looking for The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle (for any non-librarians out there, the 200s are the religion section in the Dewey Decimal System). Walking down the aisle to the shelf, what should I see in the 299s but...a growing selection of openly Wiccan books! Amazing.

You see, when I first started reading up on Witchcraft, anything not under the cloak of research into god and goddess figures was relegated to the Occult section. That's still the main place to find them. It seems a major shift in policy to move these books from "Parapsychology and Occultism" to "Other Religions". And one that I, personally, can't help but be happy about. Who knows, some day we may even be legitimate enough to be boring ;)

Wilma is apparently not going to hit us until Sunday or Monday now. I'm still hopeing for the best case scenario: a three-day weekend with no power outages and nothing more pressing to do but hang around in our pajamas reading and watching Dark Shadows DVDs....

here we go again

Well, overnight, Hurricane Wilma went from a category one storm to the most powerful storm on record for this area. We have had no news about Broward County's official plans, but I assume that the libraries will be closed for the weekend, at least. The storm is supposed to make landfall Saturday, and is headed right for us by way of the west coast.

Gas stations are already running out of fuel, apparently...my tank is running on empty so hopefully I'll be able to fill up before it's all gone. It seems like every time gas prices start to go down, even a little bit, another storm comes along and oil companies jump on the chance to jack it right back up. I hesitate to think about what I'm going to be paying tonight.

At least we have lots of ice...a whole freezer full. We saved it all from the last big storm. We are expecting to lose power again, at least for a little while.

Well, all we can really do, I guess, is shop for some more food supplies, hunker down and hope for the best.

I found the first collection of Dark Shadows on our Hallowe'en display this week, so I am finally getting to watch it after hearing about it for so long. Apparently there's at least 22 collections in the series, and if they're all like the first they've got 40 episodes per collection. That's a lot of television! I only hope that the library has most of them...I haven't checked yet. Don't think Michael is enjoying it as much as I am. He definitely hates the opening and credits music!

Wasted an afternoon at a new County-mandated class yesterday...you know, if you're going to force me to go to a class about filling out a form, it would be nice if you spent some time, any time, during the class, actually, oh....talking about the form. Or something. As usual, the teacher, from County HR, admitted she knew little or nothing about Libraries Division, and couldn't answer many questions. And as usual, the most instructive outcome of the class was to find out how little Libraries Division actually knows and how much they do wrong. Frustrating? What makes you think that?

At least now I can take a deep breath and remember that it's not my problem any more, and doesn't affect me, because soon I will be Out. Of. Here.

holding pattern

Once more, long time no blog...but then, when I started this venture I didn't count on the fact that my life would sometimes be so routine and boring that I didn't have anything to share! Somehow I always pictured my entries as being much more interesting and erudite than they often seem to be. Oh well!

Michael's been out of town for a week--he went to Spokane WA to visit relatives. He'll be back on Sunday night, though, which means I guess I have to pull myself out of this exhausted-all-the-time-crash-and-burn rut that I"ve been in ever since he left. I don't know if I'm too self indulgent, too unmotivated, or just plain lazy, but I haven't been able to do much more than drag myself from bed to work to couch to bed this week. I sleep and sleep only to find that I am just as tired waking up as I was when I went to bed, and I'm holding a lot of diffuse, low-level tension in a lot of areas for no readily apparent reason. Not sure what's up with this, but hope it cycles off soon.

Still haven't dealt with the Blue Stone crap. At this point I really just want to completely dissociate myself from it all--I feel like I've been shut out, and like my life has moved on to the point that Rob and Bill and their oh-so-precious five-record deal really have no place in it. Add to this that whenever I steel myself enough to yank myself out of denial and actually call a lawyer, they don't return my calls, whether I'm working on cold calls or referrals from their family and friends.

Other than that...not much going on. One of my dance classes is on haitus this month, so I'm not as busy with that. Aziza from Montreal is coming to Miami in November to do a workshop, which I plan on registering for. I've been attending Bellydance Meetup events when I can, but many of them are quite a long drive away so I have to be picky about it.

Just overall...feeling kind of blah, and stuck, and wishing we were both somewhere else.