…a blog post, at the very least. heh.
It’s amazing, all the places my blogging on Rita has gotten mentioned. From other blogs, to Times Online (UK), to ShopTalk: The TV News Industry’s Insider Newsletter…
Recently, an article at ShopTalk (third article from top, about Six Lessons From Online Coverage of Rita, I’m in lesson five) mentioned myself, and a couple of other Houston bloggers (including the famed Lawrence Simon).
Thursday, after a break of more than a year and a half from psychiatric treatment, I go to see a psychiatrist. Originally, in April of 2002, I was diagnosed as Bipolar II-NOS. I underwent medication-maintenance treatment (i.e. no “therapy”) through the
Since that time, I have been struggling daily with issues related to bipolar disorder, and other issues which – currently – remain undiagnosed. I have my suspicion as to what those issues are, but I am reluctant to share them until a diagnosis has been specified by a trained diagnostician. Over time, I have gotten to the point that just functioning on a day-to-day level is getting nearer and nearer to impossible. If I’m to make my relationship work, start a life with my girlfriend, keep my business operational, and actually have an existence outside of staring at the wall one moment and biting someone’s head off the next, I have to seek help.
heh.
I’ve been reporting via call-in for This Week in Houston, who has been posting my reports via poscastable mp3s on both their website, and the Houston MetroBlog. The latest post sounds quite professional, more-so than most podcasts. I’m very impressed. Hell, I even sound like a legitimate, for-real reporter. Proper cadence, and everything. Maybe someone will discover me. Being a radio reporter has always been a dream of mine (well, being in radio, somehow.. reporting, or DJ talent), especially since noone wants to see my fat mug on TV – heh. Who knows, maybe I’ll luck out, and I’ll have C-Dog and all the folks at This Week in Houston to thank for it.
It actually took us less time to un-prepare than it did to prepare for this storm. Well, granted we haven’t eaten all the food, yet (it’s enough to last through at least one – if not two – nuclear winters)… but the water has been dumped (we just bought containers), and the containers stored, the tubs drained, the buckets drained, the towels cleaned and put away, the cardboard on the cracked window taken down, the patio furniture moved out of the garage, the broken limps and one poor little shrub tossed down by the road for collection, etc… All of this in about six hours. How long did it take us to prep? Probably around twenty, or so, all told… not including shopping.
*shrug*
By the time my parents leave Houston, they’ll be old hands at this, I’m sure. Then again, we’ve been here for thirteen years, and haven’t had to do it but this one time. Who knows. Personally, I may be hoofing it out of here to Asheville, North Carolina, by this time next year. It all depends on where my girlfriend gets a job. We might stay in Houston, but it would be nice to be back in the mountains, again. All she knows is that she wants out of central Georgia. I don’t blame her.
Someone has already set up a website to help people from Sabine Pass find aswsistance post-storm. More information will appear on the site as it comes in.
Rita is over, for my portion of the area, although some high wind remainds. We’re getting gusts to 30mph, although the normal gusts seem to each around 15 – 20 mph. It’s nothing spectacular by any means, and just enough to help clear debris from the yards.
The only destruction around here was the squirrel nest in our oak tree in the back of the house. In fact, a cigarette pack I put in the bed of my pick-up, for the specific purpose of seeing how bad the winds got, remains – albeit pushed over to the side, slightly.
So, after sleeping for four hours, I’m back – most likely for the duration of the night, and on into tomorrow. I’ve lost power twice, for precisely ten seconds, each time. I think we’re losing transformers or fuses around the area, and the power grid is re-pathing itsself. Once a couple more go, we’ll be sunk. I still don’t anticipate losing power for more than a few hours at the most, though. Even that is doubtful.
The wind isn’t blowing anywhere near as hard as promised. We’re experiencing some sustained winds, maybe near 15 – 20mph, and the gusts might reach 40mph… but I doubt it. It’s reminiscent of just another bad storm blowing through Houston… Nothing like I expected. I guess that’s what happens when you evacuate millions from an area… the hurricane goes elsewhere.
The irony, is that whenever my mother says the full statement of “Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite,” there’s a rather bad storm, that night. Tonight, I guess it doesn’t matter, as we’re expecting a lot of wind, and some rain.
My portion of the Houston area – far West Harris County/far NorthEast Ft. Bend County – is expected to reach 60mph winds, sustained, and 75mph gusts. They’re not quite sure WHEN we’ll get that, but evidentally sometime, tonight.
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