The Stars That Usher Evening Rose

A professor in the Atmospheric Sciences department here said that the chances of getting hit by 3 storms here in the NC mountains was "one in a million" and that he would "shave his head and sing the star spangled banner if a third one hit here". Well if he is a man of his word than he better be getting the razor out because we are about to get hit by Jeanne the third storm for us this year. Though fortunately for us the rain and flooding is not supposed to be as bad this time around which is good news for a lot of people around here. But of course until after this storm moves on will we know for sure.

My parents are currently in Orlando and if you all have been paying attention to the news at all lately you know that Hurricane Jeanne is heading in that direction. Should actually make landfall overnight tonight. My parents had gone down there with the plans to fly out to Arizona on Sunday but due to the hurricane their flight was cancelled and they got tickets on another flight that leaves on Monday. Hopefully it will mostly spare Orlando, well shall see though.

Speaking of my parents I talked to them the other day and they tell me they are thinking about having me pay my own bills now. If they do make me start paying them they said they would still help supply money to pay them but they want me to pay them so that way I will know how to do it. They haven't made a final decision on that yet but I told them that I am fine either way.

I got a B on my Calc. test that I took last week so I am off to a hell of a lot better start this time around than I was in the Spring. I can also start sleeping in until 10am on Thursdays now since I know longer have the Library Research class since we had the final in there last Thursday, so that will be nice for a change.

Also the Atlanta Braves clinched their record 13th straight division title last night when they beat the Marlins 8-7.

Well I'll be damned. For the ones who thought that the US was done with Ivan, yes the hurricane that hit Alabama and Florida a week ago today, well he is back. Ivan is now once again a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, moving towards Texas. It has just made a huge circle and has ended up back in the Gulf and has restrenghtend again. Though luckily for Texas it should stay a tropical storm and not continue to strengthen into a hurricane. But that is still some crazy shit if you ask me.

I was reading this article about Iran planning to continue its nuclear weapons plans. After reading that it made me think about why we even have a UN. I mean it has absolutely no power at all. Its not just because of the US that they don't have any power but it is all countries. Any country can do whatever the hell it wants and there really isn't a damn thing that the UN can do about it. I mean yeah the US probably can get away with more than most countries which is wrong but I am not the one running the UN and making those decisions. I mean Iran is sitting their telling the UN that it is going to continue with its plans to produce nuclear weapons and is going to kick the UN inspectors out even though the UN is telling them not to. But, if the UN had any power Iran shouldn't be allowed to do this. Yet that is just it the UN has no power. Like I was telling Michael its like the UN is made up of a bunch of pussies who are scared shitless to stand up for themselves to any real extent. The UN needs the get their fingers out of their asses and become a whole lot more assertive and aggressive about their rules and regulations so that countries can no longer ignore them about things like the nuclear weapons. I mean if countries can just continue ignore the UN and do what they want then why the hell have the UN at all.

Being sick sucks. I was sick most of the weekend. So I didn't do a whole lot. I am doing better now though. Still feeling some of the leftover effects but definitely better than the past few days.

Though yesterday around 8pm or so my sister had a great practical joke played against her. It had as all fooled. It started with a phone call and I hear my sister trying to get the guys attention saying "Sir, Sir you have the wrong phone number" but they guy kept yelling at her about problems with a porta potty so she hung up. She felt bad about it so she tried (even though I told her she shouldn't because it was the guys problem not hers) to call him back and when she did the guy started yelling at her again about the porta potty while she tried to tell him once again that he had the wrong number. So she hung up again and then she again decided to call him back because she wanted him to know that he had the wrong number so he could in turn find the right number he needed. Once again I told her not to call back but she didn't listen to me. So she calls back and immediately tells the guy he has the wrong number but he just starts yelling at her again so she gets mad this time and tells him that if he calls there again she will call the police and she then hangs up. I then say "But, you called him more than he called you so how can you threaten him with that". Then few minutes later there is a knock at the door and it is Jennifer (one of Cathy's friends how lives a few doors down), Jeff (her brother), Kayln (sp? her almost 12 year old daughter), and the Jennifer and Jeff's mom they come in some of them sit down other stay standing. So then Cathy starts to tell them about this guy calling her and yelling at her about a porta potty and Kayln and her grandmother start laughing hard and I noticed then that they were laughing harder than would be expected which I found a little strange. Then the phone rings and its the guy again and she tells Jeff to talk to the guy and he then puts his cell phone and the house phone to his head (which I also found a little strange) and said "hello" and then claimed that he didn't hear anything and handed the phone back to Cathy while keeping his cell phone up to his ear. At that point it hit me what was going on. Cathy takes the phone and says "Hello" and Jeff says "Got ya". It was great.

As for school were are starting back again tomorrow because Asheville did not get hit near as hard as they predicted it would. Only real problems where some downed trees and power lines that did knock out power or a while. So I left Charlotte around 3pm and arrived here around 5:30pm unpacked the car and then went to work at 6pm.

Here we go again. They are canceling classes as of 12:15pm tomorrow and are closing all the dorms at 4pm tomorrow. So I will be leaving again this time going to Charlotte because Atlanta will be getting the brunt of it tomorrow. This is all thanks to Ivan who is within a few hours of making landfall near Mobile, Alabama. Ivan is forecasted to stall out almost right on top of us and dumb heavy rains on us for about 3 days and they are forecasting what they call a "catastrophic flood" for this area. So who in the hell knows when school will reopen. Right now they plan to reopen on Monday but if the forecast is right I will be surprised if we are back on Monday.

My roommate pissed the hell out of me last night. He comes in the room at 2:30am, and I am already in bed half asleep since I had to be up before 9am, him coming in that late is no big deal. But, just after he laid down a phone rings and it is not even his phone it was a friend of his phone that had been left in here. He talks to that person just for a minute and hangs up and not one minute later the same phone rang again. This time as he talks to the person he turns on the big overhead light and starts looking or something and then another one of his friends walks in the room and they start talking and then not far behind that guy two girls come in the room and they all start talking for about 5 minutes before they finally leave. Except when they left they left the big overhead light on. So today he and I had a little talk and this wont be happening again.

Well I have gotten word today that the water is now considered safe to drink again. So hopefully we are back to normall again, but Ivan might have something to say about that by the end of the week. So our soda machines will finally work again and we can stop using paper plates and plastic forks, knives, and spoons. Thanks to Frances my Calc. test has been pushed back to next week so that is a plus.

While In Atlanta I did get my car fixed the water pump had a leak in it so I had to get it replaced and it cost me over $800 which I personally believe is insane but oh well atleast it is fixed now and I don't have to worry about overheating anymore.

In the cafe I walked by this table and heard a guy say "my ass hurts" and I am thinking "that is not something you say outloud, because people start wondering". Now that I have wasted the last 60 or so seconds of your time on reading the boring post I shall shut up.

From what I have heard the city of Asheville's water was finally restored this evening. Though they still advise not to drink the water untill they are sure its completely safe, but it should be ok for bathing and flushing toilets. So therefore, I am assuming that school will resume as planned on Monday but I will find out for sure in the morning. Even if for some reason school does not start back on Monday I still will have to return to campus tomorrow for the 4pm meeting at work, plus I have to work at 6pm tomorrow as well.

Even though we should be starting back on Monday who knows how long it will last with Hurricane Ivan, a Cat. 5 hurricane with 165mph winds out there. The current track has it headed for the Florida panhandle then up through Georgia and North Carolina which means here in the NC mountians we could be looking at another round of flooding by the end of the week, especially since we are still waterlogged from Frances. Atleast it seems for now anyway that Orlando should miss this one.

Well we still have no water this morning and I have been told that we could have water back as early as tomorrow or as late as the middle of next week. So who knows we might not be back in classes until late next week for all we know. So I am going to go ahead and leave and go back to Atlanta until Sunday when I have to be back whether we have water or not because I have a meeting for work that we still have to go to and I still have to work that Evening. They have Porta potties set up everywhere now they have six of them out in front of this dorm and several more in other locations around campus. They are giving bottled water to us by our mailboxs they are putting 3 times a day. They are also giving out bottled water at the cafe. At the cafe they have hand santizer for us to use since we can not exactly wash our hands.

While in Atlanta I am going to try and see if I can get my radiator fixed but it all depends on whether or not they will have enough time to fix it since I have to be back Sunday. So hopefully they will be able to fix it on time so I don't have to worry about this overheating problem.

Also we now have a new major hurricane out there and that is Hurricane Ivan it is now a Cat. 5 with winds of 160mph. Jamaica is its next target then Cuba and unfortunitly Florida looks to be its other target. If Florida hasn't seen enough already with Charley and Frances now it has to worry about Ivan. And to make matters worse Ivan is currently projected to hit Florida in the same exact spot and I do mean same exact spot that Charley hit early last month. Which means it could also effect Orlando. Orlando before this year had not been hit by a hurricane in over 20 years and now it could be looking at its third one of the year.

It has been one insanely fucked up day so far. Yesturday and today the North Carolina mountians has gotten record rainfall. This has inturned cause moderate to major flooding problems throughout. Last I heard the French Broad River here in Asheville was 6.53 feet over flood stage and still rising, which currently ranks it as the 4th worst flood in the history of that river here in Asheville. This morning started as any other day but has since quickly gone down hill. At around 12:30pm they cancelled all evening classes starting after 5pm. Then one hour later they decided to cancel the rest of the classes today from that point on. Then later I used the restroom and went to flush the toilet only to find it didn't flush. At first I just thought maybe the toilet was broke but I then realized that the sinks did not work either. Come to find out all of Asheville is without water because the water has become contaminated due to the flooding. So because of not having water and the flooding the school has decided to cancel classes untill Monday morning. They have urged that anyone who can to leave campus and go home. Which many students, including my roommate, have done. Unfortunitly though I work in the new game room in the new the Highsmith Union building which is going to stay open so therefore I cannot leave because I have to work.

Before coming to work, where I now type this up, I went to go eat dinner and because of not having any water we had a very small selection of food to choose from and an even smaller choice of drink, only tea and milk. Since plates cannot be cleaned we have to use paper plates. Also they have been bringing in bottled water for the students and faculty that have stayed to drink and prota potties to use since we cannot use the toilets. They do not expect the water to return for at least 24 hours and probably longer. If anything new happens or if anything changes I will keep you updated.

This weekend was quiet interesting. I will not go into detail since Michael has already posted about the whole weekend. Though Sunday afternoon and night has been an adventure. First of all we went to the mall before Michael left and we got there around 3pm even though Michael had to be gone by 4pm. So after only being there about 40 minutes I had to leave and take him back to the house so he could leave but he didn't end up getting out until 4:30pm. Then I headed back to the mall getting lost on the way. Finally I found them and at 5:30pm we left and headed to the store to pick up some food that Cathy and the kids needed for the upcoming week. Then we went over to one of Cathy's friends houses for dinner which was originally supposed to be a cookout but since I was supposed to be gone at 7pm we decided to get Chinese instead. Ended up not even eating until after 7. So I ended up not leaving until about 8:15pm even though I was supposed to be at work at 10pm and it takes 2 and half hours to get from Charlotte to Asheville so I obviously wasn't going to make it, luckily I knew this ahead of time and had actually called work before 7pm and told them I would be late. I ended up arriving here around 11pm and was at work by 11:15pm, so therefore I only worked for a hour.

As for the update on what Hurricane Frances leftover I have gotten good news so far in that my Uncle Kenny's house made it through fine so we hope that means my parents made it through it as well. But now that Frances has left Florida it is now making its way towards us here in Asheville were we could get close to 10 inches of rain in the next two days so they are worrying about flooding, especially along the French Broad River.

Been having Problems with my computer lately. I haven't had internet for part of yesterday and most of today. My problem started about two weeks ago when Internet Explorer starting acting up, in that whenever it was opened it would just continuously have pop ups popping up. So to try and fix it I went to download.com and downloaded a spyware removing program. After installing the program I ran it and it found several things of spyware so I had it remove all of them. After doing that my internet stopped working all together. Tonight when Michael called me, to ask for directions to my sister's place, I asked him about it and he wasn't really sure but we messed around with it and finally with his help I was able to atleast get internet back up again except now I can't get Internet Explorer to work at all. So this weekend when I go to my sisters I will probably take it with me and have Michael look at it and see if he can do anything with it.

As I just mentioned I will be going to Charlotte to stay at my sisters place this weekend. Hopefully my car will not overheat along the way since I have yet to get that problem fixed and wont get it fixed till October, I think it will be ok though. Since I will be gone I probably will not be posting again until I get back on Monday. If anything interesting happens I will post about it.

As for Hurricane Frances it seems to have recently weakened which is a good thing but the forecast does have it restrenghten back into a Cat. 4 Hurricane. The track still takes it close to Orlando so as before when it passes and when I hear something I will keep everyone updated.