Hurricane Ike Aftermath

I'm fifty miles north of where the storm hit the coast, but the aftermath has been pretty lasting in our region. A week in, the majority of the town still lacks power, and FEMA is still trying to find ways to supply people with water. Living on the third floor of a fairly modern apartment building, I was mostly unaffected by the storm other than several days of having no power, just enough time to get really tired of canned beans. Seriously, I'm done.

These are some pictures I took as the storm was sweeping away. As you can see, my immediate area was fairly lightly hit, but traveling around this week, I'm realizing how incredibly lucky I am. Some friends of mine had their house destroyed by a falling tree, they'll be tearing it down to the framing over the coming months and starting over. I took some pictures today that I might post later from a much poorer community nearby. The floodwaters rose dramatically, filling most of the houses without about two feet of standing water. Driving through, the residents have dragged every bit of carpet and furniture out and left them at the curb, then gone back in and started taking sledgehammers to the walls. They're starting over with almost literally nothing, just four brick walls - sometimes less.

Here's a quick pictorial guide to my immediate area:

The approaching hurricane gave us a spectacular sunset.


Power on this side of the highway is still out.


This is the first moment I realized the storm might have hit harder than I thought.


This was not fragile-looking metalwork.


Nobody liked this restaurant, anyway.


I'll miss the Sonic, though.


If I can come up with more, I'll let you know or point you in the right direction.

It's more of a quest, really.

I made my annual trek to see my beloved Red Sox this weekend, and though it's a three and a half hour drive to Arlington (and, I can attest, just as long back again), it was worth it.

I chose center field bleachers which turned out to be an excellent choice - I got to be among the crazies, who immediately took a liking to me and asked me about the Red Sox, what I thought of the Manny deal and did I think the Red Sox would win the Series (they seemed 100% convinced that the Sox are a lock, whereas I remain skeptical. This has to be the first time a Rangers fan has out-believed me, but there it is).

Last time I merely sat back and took the game in, but this time I got to be a bit more involved, hanging out with a crew that knows all the pitchers in the bullpen and shouts helpful advice about how not to suck this time out. The Rangers bullpen, it should be noted, bears this advice with remarkably good grace.

They may have been mild fans of the Red Sox ("We like any team that's not the Yankees" - the baseline principle behind many of my friendships), but the Sox were the opposing team, and so as more and more beer was imbibed, players started getting heckled. The main object of these fans ire was of course the player closest to them, Coco Crisp, the Sox's light-hitting center fielder.

Let me tell you, after nine innings in Arlington, I can now report with certainty that a number of very insulting and occasionally disturbing things rhyme with "CoCo."

Here's video:

There was also one involving an Irish jig.

The "planned community" in which I reside has built a new plaza with a large, dramatic fountain dominating it. At some point there are supposed to be restaurants and commerce buzzing all around this plaza, but right now it's just a big lit-up fountain, the planning committee apparently subscribing to the Ray Kinsella method of economics.

I hadn't stopped by the plaza until last night and immediately regretted not seeking it out sooner. The whole plaza was picturesque and filled with plenty of mostly empty benches overlooking the fountain, but the selling point was when, about ten minutes after I'd arrived, the lights went off suddenly and a lone voice drifted out of an unseen speaker:

"Why are there so many songs about rainbows...?"

It was Kermit the Frog singing "The Rainbow Connection." And incredibly, the whole fountain was synched to do a light show corresponding to the song. I immediately commented to a friend, "I love this so much I think I unironically love it."

Here's video: