Hurricane Ike

We survived! Here's how it went:

Thursday: At the very end of the day, our principal came over the announcements and officially said that school would be cancelled the next day. The kids rejoiced and then he said, "This is not a time to rejoice. This is a time to seriously prepare for the incoming storm." That night I went home (Matt had gotten out at 1:00) and we got all stocked up with food, flashlights, batteries, and whatnot. Matt had something of a disaster at Sam's when he tried to get supplies but they only took Mastercard, which we don't have. So he put the ice back and left. Put the ice back! So on...

Friday: Matt had to spend 4 hours in line at a free-standing ice machine waiting for it to continually make ice. I told him that he made his bed and he had to lie in it. I stayed at the apartment and got it ready - cleaning, figuring out what food to keep, showering, etc. That evening we were basically glued to the TV watching the storm come in. I got really scared. I almost cried a couple times, but I held it in. Then, at about 9:00, our power went out and we basically had no choice but to go to bed.

Friday night: It was really hot. The hurricane came on strong at about 1:00 a.m. Matt wanted to know what a hurricane felt like so he decided to go outside. He did this multiple times throughout the night, effectively letting out all of our carefully stored up air conditioning. The whole night was loud with storm and I didn't sleep well. Matt could barely keep himself in bed, he was so excited for the hurricane.

Saturday: It was so, so hot and humid. The air in the apartment was completely stagnant. It was like living in a giant gym locker. So we got the heck out of dodge and went for a car ride because at least the car is air conditioned. We saw lots of crazy stuff. Giant trees down in the road and through roofs and in pools. People driving under street lights that had been torn off their posts and were hanging 2 feet above driving cars by one small cable, wafting back and forth in the traffic's breeze. Saturday night at midnight the front half of our apartment complex got power back. We live in the back half. The back of the back half.

Sunday: We waited in line for an hour at Burger King. That was pretty much the highlight of the day.

Monday: Repeat of Sunday, except add on completing an entire puzzle. The puzzle was a picture of a diorama. The weather started to be GORGEOUS on Monday, and should be gorgeous this whole week. Highs in the low 80s and lows in the low 60s. We haven't turned our air conditioning on since we got power because it's just so beautiful out.

Tuesday: Matt went to work for the first half of the day. He said that everyone that came in was only there to charge stuff. Then he came home to pick me up for lunch and we saw the Centerpoint truck outside. Matt basically jumped off the balcony to talk to the guys, and I woot-ed at them. You know, "Woot-woot!" Like if you were a rapper or something. I'm sure they get that a lot. When we got back from lunch, we did a once-around the apartment complex so as to not get our hopes up unnecessarily if there wasn't power. We scouted out lights and fans in our half of the apartment and there were a bunch. We basically lots our minds and got our hopes totally up, which was OK because we had power! Of course, we immediately turned the TV on. It's good to have you back, old friend. Of course the first thing we watched were pictures of Galveston and the bay... turns out it is really bad down there. We had no idea.

The one thing I actually accomplished was reading all of "Slaughter House Five," which I really liked. Now I want to read "Cat's Cradle," but Barnes & Noble is closed. I don't even know where the library is around here, but I can't imagine that it's a high-priority place to get open again.

So now you know!