Hurricane Katrina

Well, I apologize (Bob) for the late update. My parents had the foresight to head north to Daytona,FL to spend the night, and got out of Jupiter before it hit the east coast on Thursday afternoon. Tropical Storm Katrina became Hurricane Katrina... but only a Category-1 storm, and then moved a bit farther south before it crossed Florida. They drove home on Friday to find little damage in the area and only the nuisance of a pool full of debris. They calculated that they had lost power for no more than 12 hours. Dad had it cleaned before the sun went down Friday. Mom mentioned the interesting sight of driving south in a convoy of probably 300 utility crews who were headed south to begin restoring power to south Florida.

Somewhat ironically, my dad flew into Cincinnatti,OH today, where the storm is due to hit on Tuesday night. I trust he brought his waders!

Tropical Storm Katrina

Tropical Storm Katrina(soon to be Hurricane Katrina) is headed straight for my parents' house. They spent quite a bit of time last summer running from hurricanes (like Hurricane Frances), but they are going to have to do it again. When I talked to my dad an hour ago he was sitting in the Atlanta airport (ATL) waiting on a delayed flight home. They are likely going to be up all night pulling the hurricane shutters closed and bringing inside anything that isn't tied down. I'll try to post updates as I get them.

Late night ice cream

(Me enjoying) the kids enjoying Papa. This photo was taken on Papa's new Verizon picture phone, sent via picture mail to my phone, and forwarded to my email account. I saved out the original image and posted it for this blog entry. Oh my, the technology.

I thought this was Papa's last regular visit through the area on business travel... but he tells me he'll be back in 2 or 4 weeks. Well, come on back, 'cause it's clear the kids love having you around. (And buying them ice cream an hour after their bedtime doesn't hurt the impression you leave on them.)

Color Perception

This is an stunning example of how our magnificent brain works! And you think you can make objective observations...

Update: Liz swears that this is a hoax... but I wasn't able to debunk it. If you can confirm or refute it, please let me know in the comments below.

The "cottage" on Irish Lake

This is the "cottage" (actually a very nice mobile home) on Irish Lake near North Webster, IN where I spent many summer days as a child. I'll post more on this later, but the photos are posted for now (Courtesy of Google Maps). If you click here you'll be taken to Google Maps, two zoom levels up, where you can see the chain of lakes of which Irish Lake is a part.

Ahh! The Atmosphere

Great blast from the past. Screen capture outtakes from a great commercial for The Discovery Channel's website.