• When power goes out (which I think is soon), I’ll be posting updates on Twitter.  Follow me @escapevelocity.
• The Houston Chronicle Blogwatch picked up my posts via Twitter.
• Uploaded some hurricane videos to YouTube
• Ike is hitting hard here in the Med Center.  I’ve never seen or heard wind gusts so strong.  The house feels like it’s shaking and my patio windows are bending back and forth.  A few times I was sure they’d crack.  I put duct tape on them, but I think that was an exercise in mental preparation than anything else.
• One of my windows in the dining room is leaking.  A tree outside is scraping loudly against it….I put a towel and some bins down, and hoping the tree doesn’t come through the window.
• My fireplace flue is flapping !!
• Power is flickering on and off here, and it’s a miracle we still have electricity (knock on wood).  Looking outside, the sky it lit up with flashes of red and blue and green - apparently from transformers blowing out.  Centerpoint energy is saying to prepare for 18 days of no power.

Signing out.  Big power surge.  Moving away from the windows might be a good idea right now.

#ike power still on in med center on ost. But winds crazy and transformers going out

1:40am, approx 1 hour after landfall.  Lights are flickering.  Centerpoint says approximately 1 million in Houston without power.  Brennan’s in Midtown has burned down.

We keep eating crap.  My sis says next time, our hurricane emergency stash should include pepto bismol.

#ike wind really picking up in the Med Center

the wind’s really picking up, and it’s starting to rain. lights are flickering on and off. ike’s coming!

Video taken outside my condo, about 1.5 hrs before Hurricane Ike’s estimated landfall.

The lights flashing in the sky are transformers blowing out.

It’s Friday night, and my sis and I are waiting as Hurricane Ike makes his way up I-45.  As of 10:30pm, Ike’s path seems to be headed straight towards the Med Center.  Great.  But at least we’re stocked up on all kinds of chips and crackers and cake and other carb-goodness, so if my condo buckles under Ike’s winds at least we’ll be sleepy and bloated as we float away.

hurricane ration goodness

Looks like power’s going out around town.  I’m trying to learn Twitter, so maybe I can post updates through that.