Future Storms?

Looks like the National Hurricane Center is keeping a watchful eye on two systems (see map on right).

1. A TROPICAL WAVE OVER THE WINDWARD ISLANDS IS PRODUCING A LARGE BUT DISORGANIZED AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS SUGGEST THAT A BROAD SURFACE CIRCULATION COULD BE FORMING. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS APPEAR CONDUCIVE FOR SOME SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS IT MOVES GENERALLY WESTWARD AT 10 TO 15 MPH OVER THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN SEA. THIS WAVE WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE SQUALLY WEATHER OVER PORTIONS OF THE WINDWARD AND SOUTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY.

2. SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH A TROPICAL WAVE LOCATED ABOUT 800 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS HAS DECREASED THIS EVENING. UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE FORECAST TO GRADUALLY BECOME LESS CONDUCIVE...BUT SOME SLOW DEVELOPMENT OF THIS DISTURBANCE IS STILL POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS IT MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD OR NORTHWESTWARD AT ABOUT 15 MPH.

I'm just going to keep the shutters on the rear of the house closed except on the dining room side of the house so I can keep lookout over my car.

20-year old speech

After the Obama and Biden speeches that I saw on C-SPAN, I just let the channel stay on and I was treated to a "blast from the past."

It was Ann Richard's speech at the July 1988 Democrat Convention in Atlanta, GA. Listening to her, speaking to a pre-Bush, pre-Clinton audience, the speech, word-for-word could be a speech that we might hear at the convention on Monday night.

Same problems, same economic woes, even a line about the "... greatest national debt in our country's history."

What a shame that as far as Bill Clinton got in his presidency, we are now thrust into a lame-duck Regan Presidential era.

I can only hope that this election does not turn out like that election did.

Convention Coverage

I think I get too mad watching the pundits these days. They anger me. I thought it was the campaigns, but after watching this afternoon's speeches from Springfield, IL, I think it is the reporters that I get mad at. They do not report, they editorialize.

I earnestly watched the Obama and Biden speeches on C-SPAN (www.c-span.org/politics) and didn't miss the commentary at all. They followed the coverage with phone calls with phone numbers for Democrats, Republicans, and "Others." It was much more bearable.

C-Span is covering the conventions and I'm going to watch their coverage. And the best part: It is COMMERCIAL FREE!!!

The "Faux" Faux Pas

It was cute at 6:00am this morning. And I even chuckled at the rerun of the piece where a CNN reporter, in an overly rushed attempt to show excitement about the news that Obama had picked Biden to be his VP running mate, said "O'Biden."

However, it is now 20 minutes after 12 Noon and it is getting extremely old, now that every reporter for CNN and MSNBC (don't know about FOX, I have the channel blocked) are saying it, blushing, and then correcting themselves.

These reporter/actors are not fooling any of us. Get off this unprofessional behaviour that you call reporting and report the real news!

The Democratic Party

I find it very interesting that the Democratic Party Website does not list Biden in anyway attached to the ticket.


Click image for larger view

Seems someone fell asleep at the controls!

Wait finally over

While getting up for a glass of water around 3:00 this morning, I flipped on the TV and found out that Joe Biden was picked as Obama's running mate.

I really had enjoyed watching the news media squirm as someone knew something they didn't. From what I gather, CNN broke the news before the 3:00 a.m. announcement to supporters via text message. More on this news and my feelings after I completely wake up and have a pot of tea.

Storm from Hell!

Around 1:00 p. m. yesterday, we had an extreme storm blow through Hollywood. With computer and TV not working and then of course, the mandatory power failure, I sat here in the dark, with lightening, house rattling thunder and high winds cut off from the rest of the world. This storm was worse than anything I experianced with TS Fay.

I think what disturbed me so much was the fact that I could not find a radio station that would tell me what is going on. I finally used my cell phone to get a weather report and found out that I was under a sever weather, tornado and flash flood warning. The storm just seemed to come from nowhere. Power was off for about 30 minutes and my DirecTV service popped on about 5 hours later. My AT&T DSL never came back up. Needless to say, I went to bed early.

The Ghost Election

I got a huge flyer two weeks ago from Dr. Brenda C. Snipes, Broward County Supervisor of Elections. This 17" x 22" flyer contained a sample ballot written in three languages. The front of the flyer (back half of flyer) contained early voting places and times. The back showed how to use the new voting machines.

I can only imagine that the reason this flyer was in such detail was because Dr. Snipes is on the Ballot. I know, because her name was the only one I recognized. I have seen no signs up and until today, have not received any junk mail from the candidates.

There is also a proposed County Charter Amendment on the ballot, that of course, you would have to have a law degree to understand.

I'm sure that this election is important, as every seat and position on the ballot has two or more people running for it. Just who these people are I have no idea.

About 24 hours before TS Fay was suppose to impact Hollywood, I got a recorded message from Eleanor Sobel, letting me know that she was thinking about me and to make sure I knew that a tropical storm was headed for my abode. She also stated in this dinnertime message that if I needed help not to hesitate to contact her and they she would make sure that I weathered the storm in a safe environment. How sweet!

This message ended with: "This has been a paid political advertisement."

I took out Dr. Snipes' only political advertisement, paid for by the taxpayers of Broward Country and found out that Ms. Sobel was indeed running for office. She is running in the Democratic Party Primary for State Senator District 31.

Then, last night, at Dinnertime, I got another recorded message from Ms. Sobel hoping that I had not drowned in TS Fay. I didn't even let the message complete itself. I hung up.

Today, I got my first political flyer in the mail for the August 26th election. It was in the form of a postcard that was so flimsy, that I thought it was part of the Publix sale flyer. It was from the Broward county Democratic Committee telling me that Joanne Witherspoon and Helen Chervin were on the ballot and that I should vote for them, because of their proven record. Well, perhaps Ms. Witherspoon and Ms. Chervin should contact their fellow democrat, Dr. Snipes, since among the 70 people listed on the Democrat side of the ballot, they are not on it.

I think from now on, I will call this election the "Ghost Election." I don't think the 150 people running even know when it is and they obviously don't care if anyone votes for them or not.

I think I will go, just to learn how to use the new voting machines, which from the instructions, I not only need to have my voter registration, but I will have to "swipe" my driver's licence then sign a computer pad, that looks like I'm "paying" to vote using my license rather than a credit card and then when the licence and signature are matched electronically, I will get a voter's pass which I will had to another person who will give me a pen and a blue or red piece of paper that I must give to another worker who will give me a ballot and escort me to the booth. It doesn't say if I have to raise my hand or yell and someone to escort me to the machine that looks like a papershredder to insert it, or whether I can just chance it and find that machine by my own lonesome. I do know that I cannot use my own pen.

I feel a nightmare coming on!

An Entry to add to my "People are Stupid" File

Full Story Here

This story has two problems other than stupidity. One is a very, irresponsible grandmother who left her two grandchildren in a locked car while she was in a Broward County casino. They are in the car for an hour and 15 minutes before authorities were alerted.

The other problem is why a 14-year boy didn't have the good sense to get out of the car. For the life of me, I don't know why these things surprise me, but they do.

Glorious Sunset

Getting ready for bed, but just had to remark that we had a beautiful sunset Tuesday evening. Bright reds and oranges offset by a few Fay remnant clouds.

We have really needed the rain, so I think this weather event was very helpful. It also made me check my shutters to make sure they all locked, since I didn't use them last year.

Well.. Squeaky is waiting for his old man to crawl into bed with him, so I say good night.

TS Fay Update

Well... it looks like TS Fay has landed on the West Coast, away from any heavy population. We here in Hollywood are still getting squals with heavy rain and light wind and will continue to until TS Fay moves Northward. I've removed the shutter on Squeaky's door and except for one time early last night, he has not had any desire to go out. Since there was no wind nor heavy rain, I openned the back door and he went out for about five minutes.

Hunkered Down

I got the last minute things done this morning. Took the stool and wheelbarrow off of the patio and into the shed. After the garbage was picked up, I put the garbage bins and recycle bin into the "cage" in front of my front door and closed all of the accordion shutters. I also shuttered Squeaky's door.

I then made a quick run to Publix and got cat food and bread. I'm all ready.

I am a bit disturbed by the fact that today was the beginning of our monthly commingled garbage pick-up that continues through the week. People have mattresses, old chairs, furniture and appliance sitting on their swales or alleys. If the winds increase, these items will be very dangerous. I'm glad I closed the shutters for this very reason.

Tropical Weather Coverage

As I listen to TWC on TV (on constantly today), I have added two more tools for seeing what is going on in the tropics. To the right, I have a Hurrican Center radar map that will update as things change.

On the bottom of this page, I have added Doppler Radar in full color. On my computer, it seems this is very tempermental, but if you hover over the little map, it will expand. Please comment if these features are not working.

Batteries and Butter

On Thursday, I received my first order from Batteries and Butter (see link in My Links). The order came in a timely manner, as I made my order on Sunday. I was looking for a AA battery charger, as my wireless mouse is going through two AA Batteries every two weeks.

I found a nice charger that included four batteries for only $8.00. Their shipping policy is a $10 shipping fee for all orders under $25.00, so I decided to look around.

They seem to have every conceivable battery in stock in their NYC warehouse. They also had disposable cigarette lighters manufactured by Libertyfor an unbelievable price. I purchased 100 lighters for $15.00. These lighters cost about $1.00-$1.99 in convenience stores. The lighters come in five colors: Green, Red, Purple, Blue and orange.

I couldn't be more pleased with the service and I plan to order more from them.

National Hurricane Center

As TS Fay churns just South of Cuba, I have added a RSS Feed from The National Hurricane Center.

I've been busy this afternoon clearing off the patio. The BBQ pit has been broken down, Clothesline removed and placed in the shed and I've picked up small items and brought them in.

The fountain statue and pump are currently drying out. Unless TS Fay changes course and/or strengthens, I'm going to leave the washing machine out. I might, however, move the washer to under the counter.