Hurricane Party! You're All Invited!

[Keer]

Hey, who's bringing the candles?

Seriously, take a look here, then click to enlarge the map.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT ... 1503W5.gif

Here's how we Floridians pay for all that nice winter weather.

These things are totally unpredictable, but I'm in the "footprint". The authorities and citizens are still anxious and smarting from Hurricane Charley 3 weeks ago that oddly went under Florida, hung out in the Gulf of Mexico, then turned back east, went overland for 200 miles and sucker-punched Orlando wayy on the opposite coast. It did more acrobatics than JFK's "Magic Bullet".

So, depending on where this nice lady hits (the worse ones usually have friendly names *shrug*), Frances may have me either incommunicado or on an airplane by Saturday morning. My luck has usually been good with things like this so I'm not scared just prudent. I fully expect to be cool and comfy Sunday night for Club Midnight's opening. But, if I'm not I thought I'd better let everyone know.

Regardless, I'll have my final input on my Casino game posted by Friday night latest. Sorry for the delay there. It's been a hectic week.

[Lok'i Vidaar]

oh man Hope everything turns out for the better and you don't get pounded on too bad..

But I'm with you dude. if that sucker was gonna hit hard I'd have my ass on a plane fast...

[Keer]

Greetings folks. For any wondering, I'm safe so far about 35 more miles inland than my where my home is (10 mins from the beach).

The evacuation of my area began Thursday morning, but it looks like Hurricane Frances has down-shifted some slowing to an agonizing 5-7 mph at times. She must be checking for the address to my house
Outside looks like the Ep 2 shots of Camino. Splish splash.

So now I'm at one of my boss's houses. He's got a couple and was gracious enough to allow some of us sanctuary (I been like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible thinking whether I should install Galaxies on his computer...then I think about keeping my job ).

Basically, we are all just "getting ready to get ready" *shrug*. Hopefully, the need will pass. Anyway, I'll catch you all on the flipflop as soon as possible.

[Dwilah]

Stay safe!!! Was thinking about you yesterday when the parents were talking about our relatives down there. Hang in there!

[Seret Sajet]

I hope everything goes well. So just sit back, have a margarita and play "Rock me like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions really loud on your stereo!

[Ekade]

I hope everything goes well. So just sit back, have a margarita and play "Rock me like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions really loud on your stereo!

Or better get, construct a cage in the backyard and try to recreate the video.

[Rye]

thats the bad thing about living in florida

[Keer]

What if I played the disco song "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor....?

Not saying that I did, but just ...what if?

Anyway people, I MADE IT! Wheeewww!

That sucked! It just came and parked it's butt over the area for about 24 hours. Would you rather have a Category 4 150mph Hurricane that comes and goes in 3-4 hours or a Cat 2-3 with 90 mph winds that lasts for 36 hours? Frances was the latter. No power, no phone.

Some "Fun Facts" knowledge gained from my experience:

- you can play about 14 games of Monopoly before you start thinking like Donald Trump and doing the "Funky Cobra" with your hand, "firing" people from the board.

- you can eat about 12 cans of Chef Boyardi meat & ravioli before you start speaking Italian.

- you can sleep 18 hours out of the day before you think real life is the dreamworld and being awake is the dream.

And many many more...

But, I REALLY can't complain. It seems that most of the hard times were north and south of my area. Serious damage to the north of me (West Palm Beach and Orlando) and major flooding to the south of me (Fort Lauderdale). I really am lucky to tell the truth. I did a check of my home and nothing got wet or damaged. Just alot of spoiled food. No biggie.

I'm now at a buddy's house who has power now so I figured I'd say "Yo!"

I'm sick about missing Club Midnight grand opening. After I dropped those last messages on Saturday power dropped in the middle of a post. Still no joy at my own place, grrr.

[Ekade]

Glad to have you back sweetie!!!

*BIG HUGS*

[Seret Sajet]

Glad to here everything is fine. Welcome back.

But one thing puzzles me...

How in the holy $@#% did you play 14 games of Monopoly? After one painfully long game of Monopoly I was ready to take a sledgehammer to the board and raise the flames of hell upon earth burning every ounce of Monopoly off the face of the planet. But maybe I'm just hyperactive.

[Lok'i Vidaar]

Glad to hear everything is ok man! Ready for Ivan bleh... hurricane season man.. it sucks...

so in reply to seret's monopoly.. I can play about 3 games, then get fed upm even if I am winning...

[Keer]

But one thing puzzles me...

How in the holy $@#% did you play 14 games of Monopoly?

First off, consider:

- I was in the same place for 50 hours and change.

- No electricity = no TV or computer and no recharge for mobile phone batteries to talk or play phone-based games.

- No telephone land line = no long conversations to pass the time again.

Lack of those things for that period of time will drive you to see Monopoly as a joyous occasion!

And then after playing your "traditional" game you start making house rules. I always liked a fast Monopoly game myself, but when players get to add in stuff for special reasons it can get really fun and unbalanced, such as:

- "first player to get a Monopoly gets a +/- move on any roll" or

- "cut through the ghetto" : going from the Jail House square to the "Go To Jail" square diagonally across the board (usually it happens the other way around). This move is designed to skip an opponent's property on that part of the board. For $20 times 2D6 you "cut through the ghetto" to avoid paying rent (the money that you do pay is for getting "mugged").

And any other little thing you can think of to keep you from finger-writing "REDRUM" a million times in the window condensation...

[Dwilah]

Glad you made it through safely Keer. =)

[Snewpy]

When we had the electricity problems in california, I played Monopoly with my friends, and we started having loans, and if you bought the crappy appartments, every turn you got a little something extra from drugs being sold out of your crappy house. We also had a loan shark that went around the board, and if he landed on the smae square as you and you owed money to the bank, you lost 2 turns and had to pay 100 for the hospital bills.

[Keer]

When we had the electricity problems in california, I played Monopoly with my friends, and we started having loans, and if you bought the crappy appartments, every turn you got a little something extra from drugs being sold out of your crappy house. We also had a loan shark that went around the board, and if he landed on the smae square as you and you owed money to the bank, you lost 2 turns and had to pay 100 for the hospital bills.

*takes notes from Snewpy's rules*

/sigh Hopefully, I won't have cause to use them.

Well, if you are watching the news things may not be over just yet. Hurricane Ivan now is forecast to go straight up the middle of Florida. While it is still a long ways away, people are still flipping out.

Not too long ago I might have rolled my eyes at them , but after those last two, I just don't know. Ivan is headed for Cuba now and I keep getting this vision of Fidel Castro, beard flowing, standing on the Cuban beaches like Gandalf shouting "You shall not pass!"

Still no power at my own home. Power company says tomorrow. I'm at my friend's now watching the NFL opening game. Hopefully, I'll be back to contribute soon.

Wish me luck.