katrina and the waves...

this has been one hell of a hurricane season. it looks like the portion of the gulf coast that used to be my home is about to get slammed. again. this time by hurricane katrina, and it's not even september yet!

to put some perspective on this 2005 season compared to those of my youth, i had two birthdays-by-candlelight as a kid because of power outages caused by hurricanes. those hurricanes were frederick in 1979 and elena in 1985. hurricanes are named alphabetically. my birthday is september 17th (three shopping weeks remaining!). in 1979, we were in mid-september on storm "F" (i.e., the 6th storm of the season), and in 1985, we were in mid-september with an E (the 5th storm of the season).

and so here we are, 2005, and it's the end of august. and we're already up to K on the storm list. i.e., number eleven!

and hurricane season has another two full months to go... obviously, the apocalypse is now.