Greetings from under Frances!

[FlaSoxxJim]

I found a computer so I figured I'd check in while we have power.

 

Frances chased us away from our Melbourne home Saturday morning. We boarded up and sandbagged and whatnot ovver Thursday and Friday, and then waited to get a read on the storm. Saturday we woke up around 5 to teh first heavy feeder bands coming across and turned on the news to see the track had not changed much from the night before. We figured our house was safe enough (block homne, new roof, @10 miles inland on high ground) to ride it out, but that the kids might get freaked out by 18-24 hours of howling wind shaking them up, so we boogied to the other coast.

 

And that's here we sit, getting slammed by lots of rain. We lost power at my mother-in-law's house in St. Pete BEFORE we lost it in melbourne (I kept phoning until the answering machine stopped picking up). So now we're at my bro-in-law's kid's place. Power has mostly stayed on here, but there are 3.2 million customers without power now. Statewide, 47 of 67 counties had some sort of evactuation order given due to Frances.

 

Melbournne looks clear now, and I;m anxious to get back and assess the damage. But Frances still has to clear out before us and the 4 million other displaced residents turn I-4 into a big parking lot for the return trip.

 

I'm most concerned about my place of work. It sits on a canal to the Intracoastal and is just above where the eye made landfall at Sewall's Point. One of our commercial subsidiaries raises clownfish ("Nemos") for commercial sale, and they probbably had to nuke $100K worth of inventory bacause their BBMP's say that's the only way to prevent release of exotic cultures if the big one is heading for you. That's probably just the tip of the iceberg. The building I work in is right on the canal, and has about $3 million worth of inventory in scientific journals and library holdings. We also have millions of dollars worth of frozen microbial specimens from our 'drugs from the sea' group that we can't afford to lose.

 

I'll give an update when we make it home.

[southsider2k5]

Be Safe Jim, good luck with everything.

[1549]

My thoughts go out to you and all of those in Florida right now. My grandma lives in Daytona beach and she high tailed it to my aunt's house in atlanta a few days before Frances hit.

 

The last one that hit (I cant think of its name) knocked tree's down everywhere by my Grandma's so my grandma decided not to ride out another one at home. She plans on going back at the end of the week.

 

Does your workplace have a hurricane room? My grandma's neighbor works at a building with a hurricane safe room that employees can use and important work items are kept in there.

[hammerhead johnson]

Jim,

 

I hope that, in the end, all is well. I can't even begin to imagine what you and your family are going through. We were talking about how devastating Hurricane Charlie was just the other day it seems, and now this? Terrible....

[Goldmember]

hope there's no major damage when you get back home...

[DBAHO]

Stay safe down there Jim and I hope none of your work stuff is majorly damaged.

[Texsox]

It is great to hear you are safe.

Edited September 7, 2004 by Texsox

[Goober]

It is great to here you are safe. 

you spelled hear wrong

[SoxAce]

It's great to hear from you Jim. Stay safe my friend.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

I found a computer so I figured I'd check in while we have power.

 

Frances chased us away from our Melbourne home Saturday morning.  We boarded up and sandbagged and whatnot ovver Thursday and Friday, and then waited to get a read on the storm.  Saturday we woke up around 5 to teh first heavy feeder bands coming across and turned on the news to see the track had not changed much from the night before.  We figured our house was safe enough (block homne, new roof, @10 miles inland on high ground) to ride it out, but that the kids might get freaked out by 18-24 hours of howling wind shaking them up, so we boogied to the other coast.

 

And that's here we sit, getting slammed by lots of rain.  We lost power at my mother-in-law's house in St. Pete BEFORE we lost it in melbourne (I kept phoning until the answering machine stopped picking up).  So now we're at my bro-in-law's kid's place.  Power has mostly stayed on here, but there are 3.2 million customers without power now.  Statewide, 47 of 67 counties had some sort of evactuation order given due to Frances.

 

Melbournne looks clear now, and I;m anxious to get back and assess the damage.  But Frances still has to clear out before us and the 4 million other displaced residents turn I-4 into a big parking lot for the return trip.

 

I'm most concerned about my place of work.  It sits on a canal to the Intracoastal and is just above where the eye made landfall at Sewall's Point.  One of our commercial subsidiaries raises clownfish ("Nemos") for commercial sale, and they probbably had to nuke $100K worth of inventory bacause their BBMP's say that's the only way to prevent release of exotic cultures if the big one is heading for you.  That's probably just the tip of the iceberg.  The building I work in is right on the canal, and has about $3 million worth of inventory in scientific journals and library holdings.  We also have millions of dollars worth of frozen microbial specimens from our 'drugs from the sea' group that we can't afford to lose.

 

I'll give an update when we make it home.

Sorry to hear about all that. We're all pulling for ya.

[CubsSuck1]

I read the topic description very wrongly.

[MEANS]

hang in there! Hope everyone makes it through this safely.

[Queen Prawn]

Hang in there!

 

Looks like the barbados (the company I work for has a plant there) is getting hit sometime tomorrow by Ivan.

 

Prayers and thoughts to all involved in both storms.

[Goldmember]

I read the topic description very wrongly.

[FlaSoxxJim]

We're hanging in there - thanks all for the well-wishes!

 

Well, it's 11 days after Frances and still no power (or AC!!) in my neighborhood. The semi-gypsy existence of staying with various friends and family on both coasts has grown very old, but sleeping in a pitch black, 90 degree house has somehow also lost its appeal.

 

Today is my first day allowed back on my institution's campus, which took a major hit by the storm. A couple of key buildings sustained severe damage and either need major repairs or replacement. My building suffered mostly cosmetic damage (clay roof tiles and aluminum gutters and trim gone), but there is some evidence of first floor water intrusion as well.

 

There were some unanticipated generator failures and our commercial marine fish culture subsidiary did end up losing about half of its live inventory (clownfish, aquarium corals, etc.). There was an emergency relocation of much of our cryo-preserved biomedical collection when the generator went, so hopefully none of that collection has been lost.

 

I held out hope that while I was continued to be out touch that the Sox would have put a nice winning streak together, but I see by the shellacking the Angels gave Contreras that I was being unduly optimistic on that count.

 

And now, back to digging out.

 

Flaxx

[Spiff]

hang in there, hopefully you've seen the last of these things for a while.

[Chisoxfn]

All the best Jim, hopefully Ivan misses ya and that soon enough power will be back on and things will get back to normal.

[Yoda]

We're hanging in there - thanks all for the well-wishes!

 

Well, it's 11 days after Frances and still no power (or AC!!) in my neighborhood.  The semi-gypsy existence of staying with various friends and family on both coasts has grown very old, but sleeping in a pitch black, 90 degree house has somehow also lost its appeal.

 

Today is my first day allowed back on my institution's campus, which took a major hit by the storm.  A couple of key buildings sustained severe damage and either need major repairs or replacement.  My building suffered mostly cosmetic damage (clay roof tiles and aluminum gutters and trim gone), but there is some evidence of first floor water intrusion as well.

 

There were some unanticipated generator failures and our commercial marine fish culture subsidiary did end up losing about half of its live inventory (clownfish, aquarium corals, etc.).  There was an emergency relocation of much of our cryo-preserved biomedical collection when the generator went, so hopefully none of that collection has been lost.

 

I held out hope that while I was continued to be out touch that the Sox would have put a nice winning streak together, but I see by the shellacking the Angels gave Contreras that I was being unduly optimistic on that count.

 

And now, back to digging out.

 

Flaxx

Wow man, nothing but disaster. Though it’s great to see that you’re alive without any harm. Florida has been hit very hard and the last thing they’d want is back-to back -to back hurricanes. What I’m talking about is Hurricane Ivan. But hopefully it won’t reach all of Florida because it’s already killed 30+ people in the islands.

 

Stay safe Jim.

[kapkomet]

Indeed! Sorry to hear about all this stuff. Are you going to be able to recoup anything with the labs?

[FlaSoxxJim]

Still no Power at FlaSoxx Acres... :angry:

 

We moved into a hotel room last night - a major feat in and of itself because there are still 30K+ without power in my county and also several thousand relief and emergency workers packed into the hotels.

 

On the bright side, with no cable and no Extra Innings package, I didn't have to suffer through that 'statement game' (*cough cough*) last night.

 

Now my friends from Mobile who have been calling us to see how we're doing are themselves on the run from Ivan, which is shaping up to be a badass mutha.

 

Oh yeah, Jeanne is lookong to make an appearance at my doorstep Monday unless she remembers that HURRICANES ARE SUPPOSED TO TURN BEFORE THEY GET HERE!!!

 

Kap, we will likely recover most lab data and specimens. We had a generator failure that put some stuff in jeopardy, but I think it was rescued and relocated in time.

 

This forwarded message below may only be funny to those who have gone through this, but I can tell you the observations below are just about 100% accurate.

 

Subject: FW: 30 Things Hurricanes Teach Us

 

 1. An oak tree on the ground looks four times bigger than it did standing up.

 2. Even after all these years it is still nice to spend time with Col. Mustard in the ballroom with the lead pipe.    Mustard in the ballroom with the lead pipe.

 3. When house hunting look for closets with lots of leg room.

 4. Water from the shower is much colder than water from the kitchen sink--and tastes just as bad.

 5. AA, C and D are the only alphabet we need ( batteries )

 6. The four-way stop is still an ingenious reflection of civility.

 7. Radio can be the best way to watch television.

 8. Chain-saw wielding men are n! othing to be afraid of.

 9. SUV's are the best makeshift tents on the market.

10. You can use your washing machine as a cooler.

11. It's your God given right to sit on your back porch and eat Chinese takeout by candlelight in your underwear.

12. We shouldn't complain about "useless" tools in the garage-- we actually DO need a generator

13. You can' t spell "priceless" without I-C-E.

14. Downed power lines make excellent security systems.

15. Lakes can generate waves.

16. Gasoline is a value at any price 

17. Cell phones: Breaking up isn't hard to do.

18. The life blood of any disaster recovery is COFFEE

19. The need for your dog to go out and take care of business is inversely proportional to the severity of the storm.

20. Candlelight is better than Botox--- it takes years off your appearance

21. Air Conditioning: BEST. INVENTION. EVER.

22. Water is a comfort food. But 3-day-old Cheetos are too.

23. Shadow animals on the wall---still fun.

24. No matter how hard the wind blows, roadside campaign signs will survive.

25. You should never admit to having power at your house in the presence of co-workers or neighbors who do not.

26. There's a plus to having NOTHING in the refrigerator.

27. Getting through the day should be an Olympic event.

28. The movie theater can be a most pleasant place, even if the feature is Alien vs. Predator

29. Somebody's got it worse.

30. Somebody's got it better. Obviously, they're getting preferential treatment.

[Queen Prawn]

Glad to hear you are okay Jim.

[kapkomet]

Me too. Hopefully you get your power back shortly, and Jeanne will go away like it's forecast to.

 

We have a vendor who must live in the same neighborhood as you because they are still out of power. Y'all need power because I need to get some SQL reports written!

 

Stay safe - and hopefully you get home soon - WITH power.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Yippee! Our power came back on last night, and we checked out of the hotel this morning. Now it's time to slowly get things back to normal, starting with trying to find an affordable car to replace my Toyota that decided to blow up in the middle of all the Frances madness.

[southsider2k5]

Yippee!  Our power came back on last night, and we checked out of the hotel this morning.  Now it's time to slowly get things back to normal, starting with trying to find an affordable car to replace my Toyota that decided to blow up in the middle of all the Frances madness.

Good to hear that something is getting back to normal, and that everyone has safely survived.