Rita, Rita, Fo-Fita

I guess Mother Nature is pissed off from all the oil refineries in northeastern Houston because she is headed this way in the form of cyclonic winds in excess of 90 mph. That's right, Hurricane Rita is projected to hit southeast Houston(where I live right now) at some point Saturday morning. Considering it's at 90mph now, and it's going to have several days to build up in the warm Gulf of Mexico, I am getting the HELL outta here. Jason has relatives that live in Sugar Land, which is southwest Houston, so we thought about staying with them; however, several people have told me that Sugar Land will still have severe power outages and high winds. Yeh, sorry if I am not overly excited about staying in a hot, humid city without any power for several days. I talked to Eric, and he is probably going to stay with his family in Dallas; I had hoped he would offer to let us stay with him(they have extra rooms), but he never did, and I'd feel awkard asking.

That only left me with one choice. I could stay in the haven of havens, the sanctuary of sanctuaries, the garden of Eden, if you will......the Gray Center, of course!! I have been advised that leaving Wednesday night out of town would be wisest, as the Mandatory Evacuation will probably be issued Thursday, and getting out of town would be near impossible. Besides, if Rita stays the course, on Thursday morning, at approximately 0200am, Mission Control Houston will handover all control over to Mission Control Moscow. THAT means that JSC will shut down operations, and THAT means that I wont be required to report to work on Thursday or Friday. Best news? BOTH of those days(and maybe more, depending on the outcome of Rita) are paid leaves of absense. SA-WEET!

Yeh, it sucks to drive so damn far away for only a few days, but I really dont see another choice. Jason is still unsure, and even if he decides to stay here in Sugar Land, I think I'm pretty much set on going. I just reaaaaally don't want to be here when things go down. Of course, packing for this does present some packing problems.....

I'll have to pack my most important electronics, my pictures, and any necessary clothing. Everything else I will try to put up on the high shelves in my closet. Surely the water wont get that high, right!?

So, if I leave RIGHT after work on Wednesday, that'd put me at MY house around midnight. Then I'd have Thursday and Friday to chill and relax, and my rents(who are in Nashville for the week) will be there sometime Saturday. I'd return Sunday, unless conditions are worse and JSC is inactive for longer...

Eh, this whole hurricane business is annoying. I hate being displaced. On a much lighter note, though, Trevor gave me some good news on the Starkville homefront: they are building a Tiki-style bar TWO BLOCKS from Glenn Hollow(where I shall be living next semester). Tiki Bar? Not that exciting, right? Just another bar. What IS exciting? They are putting a full-size SAND VOLLEYBALL court next to the bar! How freakin' awesome is that!? Sand courts less than a 5-minute walk from my apartment! Next semester will be fun indeed :)

Speaking of Starkville, I may just drive on up there Thursday and Friday. I mean, why not?

I've been playing this new video game(well, a few months old) recently. It's entitled God of War, and it's about this mortal that is commanded by Zeus to destroy the God of War, Ares, before he destroys what is left of the city of Athens. What ensues after this introduction is nothing short of pure awesome-ness. All the Gods and Titans get into the mix, and it's just plain fun. Needless to say, this game has piqued my interest in Greek Mythology. Sadly, no such course is offered at Mississippi State. I think I may just pick up a book at Barnes&Noble...

I'm gonna go work out.... or run.... or something...

-H