Today marks a safe point for Texas vis-a-vis hurricane season. Since the 1850s, only three hurricanes have ever struck Texas after Sept. 24. Of course, since 1989, zero hurricanes had struck where I lived before now, so we can’t say we’re completely in the clear, but we can breathe easier.
Ike probably isn’t a topic of conversation for many people outside of the region, but it’s still the number one thing on people’s minds around here. One of my coworkers just had her power restored last night, and over half a million people are still without power. On top of that, a quarter of a million people in the region don’t have running water. One of the things that made the early days after the storm more tolerable was the fact that we didn’t have to worry about water. We could drink it, and thanks to a gas-powered hot water heater, could take hot showers. I had filled our tub before the storm in case we lost water and needed it to flush the toilet, but I drained it the day after the power came back on.
It may be November before all of the traffic signals in Houston are working again. 1200 signals are still out—dark, not flashing red—making parts of the city hazardous to drive in, especially after dark. If you don’t know an area, you could zoom right through an intersection without realizing it has a signal.
Residents start returning to Galveston today to look and leave. They are advised to beware of mosquitos, rats and poisonous snakes, and should have tetanus shots before starting to explore their properties. There are absolutely no resources on the island. Last I heard there was one working gas pump at one station. No water, power, food, etc. Residents will need to hire electricians to certify their buildings ready for power and then get permits from the city before there’s any hope of being reconnected. Ditto for gas—all gas meters were destroyed and will have to be replaced. It’s hard to believe that a city that’s only 75 miles away is basically dead at the moment. On life support, at least.
I watched Boston Legal from tape, and it looks like the season is off to a rousing if uninnovative beginning. Tackling big tobacco isn’t exactly ground-breaking. The preview for next week looks interesting though.
Tuesday nights are busy nights for TV and DVR. I decided to tape House, Fringe, and SVU and watch the CBS trio. I also taped the mid-season finale of Eureka, and I missed last week’s episode so I need to wait for that one to go online first. NCIS found an intriguing way to solve the “let’s break up the team” cliffhanger, though there will be at least one more week before they’re all back on dry land together. I guessed the surprise ending after the scene in the store room. I wonder if that will be an ongoing part of the season or just something that comes up every now and then.
The Mentalist was pretty much what I expected. The lead actor is going to carry this show. The story itself wasn’t all that challenging. As soon as the main character started noticing things in the doctor’s office, I knew who the culprit was. Also, the fact that the part was given to a recognizable actor made it unlikely it was a bit part. I really liked the ending, because it said an awful lot about the character—more than we’d learned during the rest of the episode.
Steven Webber joined Without a Trace as the problem fixer. It’s unclear what Jack’s role is any more. Has he been demoted to being a peer with his former team? It’s clear they will all continue to treat him as if he was their boss (the same way McGee continued to think of Gibbs as “boss” on NCIS). I like his scenes with the therapist. She’s an excellent character, unafraid to call “B.S.” on Malloy. The case was an interesting one, too. They packed a lot of story into the episode. Webber isn’t my favorite actor, but he seems okay in this role. He has to play it absolutely straight, no mugging or clowning and he pulled it off.
I haven’t been writing much lately. I get up and spend my mornings doing paperwork more than anything else. I had one story returned to me last night that has been out for a long, long, time, so I reread it this morning before researching a new market for it. I only changed a few words, then printed it out, prepared the cover letter and SASE, the printing labels, etc. and that pretty much took up my time. I have three things on my to-do list with hard deadlines, but they’re all far enough away that I haven’t done much with them yet. I have ideas for at least two of them, but this hurricane disruption put me off my game for a while and I’m only slowly finding my way back. What I really want to do is start the next novel, but I haven’t heard back from my agent yet on the current one, and I fully expect there will be work to do on that one shortly and I don’t want to get too deep into something new only to have to put it aside for weeks or months.
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