Hi, everyone.

Yes, I’m alive.

I’m sorry I’ve been so absent from the blogstead. What can I say? Between the non-weather-related drama of Rita, some unexpected computer woes and an even more unexpected busy period at work, I lost momentum with my blogging activities. Bad on me, I know.

First of all, thanks to those who left comments and sent such nice emails this week (i.e., “where the hell are you?” heh.). Although I’d been meaning to update all week (really, I promise!), the comments/emails were a great motivator and a reminder that hey - people actually visit my little slice of cyber-heaven. yay.

Ok, enough fluff. On to the update(s):

Surviving Texodus:

Well, reporting on this now seems rather anti-climatic, but hey. In fact, after 4 hours in gridlocked traffic otherwise known as Texodus and the subsequent tiny puffs of wind otherwise known as Hurricane Rita, “anti-climatic” became my theme word for the weekend.

My destination for the weekend was Kingwood, Texas - a quiet suburb about 30 miles north of Houston. Kingwood is referred to as “The Livable Forest” - a description whose meaning escaped me until someone pointed out that Kingwood was called “The Livable Forest” because of all the trees up there. Very tall trees. The kind that fall onto houses during hurricanes. Oops. Well, I decided to head up anyways, joining 2.5 million of my fellow paranoid Gulf Coast residents on Houston highways.

Those photos of the insane traffic jams shown all over the news were no joke. It was that bad.
My usual 30 minute drive to Kingwood turned into a 4 hour adventure….but I was one of the lucky ones. After spending 3 hours to cover 2 miles, I decided I needed to get off the highway ASAP. I was already down 1/4 a tank of gas, I was rationing my air conditioning, had two whining cats in the backseat, and the radio reports weren’t getting any prettier. It took me another hour to make it through the exit, but once I got on the local roads, it was smoooooooth sailing. I was in Kingwood in 30 minutes with only a few other cars sharing the roads. The key was staying off the highways, I guess.

Anyways, the weekend was uneventful. It didn’t even rain. Yet, we still lost power and water. How does that work? A few key moments from the weekend:

- Getting tired of Neil Frank’s crew cut and his obsession with Rita’s “wobble”
- Waking up to discover that the bathtub we had filled with water had completely drained empty.
- Trying to figure out whether I could go jogging during the hurricane.
- Receiving “are you OK?” calls all weekend.
- Being completely bored.
- After losing power, starting a fire in my new BBQ grill using charcoal, newspaper and rubbing alcohol.
- Cooking hotdogs, beans and cheese quesadillas on the grill (indigestion for 2 days, yo).
- Eating lots and lots and lots of crackers, chips and dry cereal.
- My friend’s bitter disappointment that the weekend wasn’t more dramatic.
- Driving around Kingwood, searching for “destruction.” We found a branch on the road.

On Sunday, despite the Mayor’s orders for Houstonians not to return to the city, I went back home. As it turns out, I never lost power. My Kingwood friend came with me (since he had no power), and we spent time searching the city for gasoline. On Tuesday he had power restored, and the Hurricane Rita adventure came to a close.

So, that’s my Rita story. I’m definitely grateful nothing terrible happened to me or anyone I know. My heart goes out to the people in Jasper and Beaumont, though.

Some things I learned from the weekend:

- In the event of a mass evacuation, take the local roads.
- Hot dogs are not good survival food.
- Rita Cosby is still incredibly annoying.
- Taking cold showers in the dark is no fun.
- Duct tape is a pain to remove cleanly from windows.
- Even during a hurricane, you can always count on your local Chinese restaurant to remain open.

Computer Woes:

For about a week after Rita, my desktop computer wouldn’t boot up. To make matters worse, my laptop died so I was without Internet access for some time. It was torture, I tell you.
I’m happy to report, however, that I somehow fixed the desktop (don’t ask me how) and I just purchased a new Latitude D610 laptop from Dell. yay.

Running:

I’m still running, but missed a week of training due to Rita. Last Saturday, I ran 9 miles then did the Komen Race for the Cure 5K (had to meet my 12 mile quota). It was a really difficult run, and my 5K time was terrible. I spent this week getting back on schedule, and I’m feeling good.

Tomorrow morning is a 9-mile run. Funny how 9 miles seems easy now compared to just a month ago.

My new shoes have been giving me trouble, namely blisters. I went into Luke’s Locker today to ask about it. Felix looked up my shoe history in their database and said that my shoes were a size too small. He said I could return them on Sunday, and they’d give me a new pair in the correct size, even though I’ve been running in them for a month. Luke’s Locker rocks.

I’ve also decided that the next time I join a marathon training program, it’ll be with the Houston Striders. Even though the program I’m in now has definitely been helpful.

Other:

GO ‘STROS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!