What? I'd still smash.... My sis in upstate SC is dealing with closed schools, and wind advisories. Of note, the last hurricane that reached us there was Hugo, so this has everyone's tits twisted. South Carolina might have an issue with cancelling school due to bad news, or the wrong moon or someone once saw snow on a road. They are complaining of potential power outages. My new favorite old guy euphemism: I burned my hair barbecuing (forgot to open the vents, lifted the grill lid too quickly...woosh, and a gust of wind to the face did the rest). So I went to an old guy place near the office to get the wreckage repaired. The barbershop I went to had the news on, and they were talking about Irma costing $300 billion or some number comparable to moving all of Florida to the fucking moon. Some old dude said, "That's fishier than shark shit". Fantastic.
There are a bunch of Canadian that are trapped in the Turks and Cacos: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/no-opt...esperate-to-come-home-1.3583955?autoPlay=true I tend to not feel sorry for them, because who didn't know the hurricane was coming? Why the fuck would you fly into the potential path of a hurricane for a vacation? And if you opt to do that, what part of your brain makes you think that you're the victim? Am I wrong on this? Was the hurricane a big surprise that popped up with way less notice than I think it gave?
No, but international vaca's aren't cheap for most folks and it's hard to get a refund on them. My sister had the same experience with a Disney vacation.
Plus, if you roll the dice, on past experience, the storm was just as likely to fizzle or go a different way. Deciding to go a week before it hits involves a lot of them same reasoning that people don't evacuate.
I know that my cancellation insurance for Kenya was hardly anything... so I guess my (heartless) way of thinking is that if you take your chances, you can't bitch and blame other people when it goes against you. If this was some local, unexpected catastrophe of some sort, sure... but if you make a decision that has a pretty reasonable chance of going sideways, don't fucking bitch and whine when it does go sideways. Admit that you fucked up, ask for help, and be grateful. $0.02
There was plenty of notice and no shortage of willful stupidity, both in preparations and lack thereof. Still, I tend to feel sorry for these people, even if it was a string of bad decisions that got them into a bad situation. I just hope they don't expect rescue teams to risk their lives and cut corners to get them help immediately. On the other side there's people who overreact way before it's necessary or the path of the storm can be known. They're less likely to injure themselves, but are just as ridiculous.
That's kind of my point... they're going onto social media and bitching about them not being rescued and calling out the government and airlines for "stranding" them there. I liken it to the morons that go to North Korea, then get imprisoned, and then blame the Canadian Government for not getting them out. HOW ABOUT YOU DON'T BE A FUCKING DUMB-ASS IN THE FIRST PLACE AND DON'T GO TO BEST KOREA!?
Yeah we have a vacation booked to the Caribbean in November and cancellation insurance was $200 for a family of four and we can cancel up to 3 hours before we leave, no questions asked.
Oden's hall survived the brunt of the storm in tact. A lot of wind and rain at the house. My wife had to bail out the pool several times after she shut down the pool pump as we were getting rain at a rate of 5"/hr at some points. Winds didn't get as strong as we expected, probably gusting to 90 or 100 mph. Had some trees in the woods behind my house fall, a few on the pool cage but no damage to the pool cage. My neighbors in the surrounding blocks reported pool cages destroyed, missing shingles and water infiltration through the walls/slabs/ceilings jacking up their floors. All very minor stuff and everyone is very thankful for that because Houston (Harvey) and the NE Leewards/Cuba showed us just how bad it could have been. Curfews still in place around Orlando, so clean up is slow going until that is lifted.
Mother of God. I watched part of that video at the end of the link. I can't believe people like that. To make such an obviously idiotic decision and then lash out at everyone as soon as you realize that making that decision carries consequences. Oh, you're so outraged at the government for not unfucking you from your stupidity right this goddamn NYC minute. There are few things worse than that level of solipsism, wanton stupidity, arrogance, and lack of self awareness all blended together. I hope the rescue teams leave them stranded out of spite. And they're not even in danger anymore. They're "hot" and "uncomfortable". The woman who was mainly doing the video is in her early 20s and was whining that they're prioritizing children first. Unreal.
I wish someone would just call her out on it, rather than enable that behaviour. "So, knowing that there was a hurricane coming, why did you come here in the first place?" "So... people are dying, and you're upset because you're a little hot and uncomfortable? Really?"
Exactly. We had about the same scope of damage, and I'm just grateful we dodged the worst case scenario. It'll take a few days to get everything up and running again, and most of us will have to put some money and time into fixing the damages around our homes, but really, we got pretty damn lucky.
All-in-all, pretty minor around here. Like Oden said, considering what could've happened, even this far inland. Still don't have power at home, but my office does. Lots and lots of houses with trees on them, and some downed and twisted power poles. The flooding has been minor, too, but the river will have about a two-day lag, so we'll see. Two football games tonight! No power, but the TV and Dish are on the generator. <cough> priorities <cough> The beer in the garage fridge is getting warm, so I probably should drink it all tonight.
This reinforces the fact that we live in a time of massive personal irresponsibility. Sadly, I think the majority of people today want the Government to be Mommy and Daddy and take care of them.....how else do you explain the incomprehension with what's not a god (or more likely government)-given entitlement and the ground swell of support for Bernie? I think these videos are great, the more and more people begin to get reacquainted with personal responsibility and accountability for their life decisions, all the more better off we will all be. I keep saying this after every major storm hits, the Government gives people this false sense of security that when bad things happen they will be there. Look at Katrina, Sandy and Harvey. The Government can't help you and won't help you when you need them most. You need to be prepared to help yourself and that starts by making smart/informed decisions. Will that happen? Nope, people will still make fun of the people that do prepare and call them preppers.
Glad that the Southeast TiB members weathered the storm alright. In other news, Jungle Julia and I got a motion detecting camera to install on the outside of her house for security purposes. After setting it up and testing it out, she noticed some videos that didn't look like her front yard. Upon further investigation, it turns out that the camera was turned on at the factory in China, and caught footage of the workers (presumably) gossiping and joking around. Since they were speaking Chinkinese, we had no idea what they were saying, but it was odd and mildly entertaining just the same. We also saw "IT" with Li'l Bandit yesterday; I approve this movie. It was a genuinely scary movie, which says a lot coming from a guy as jaded as me. It wasn't 100% faithful to the book, but the story stayed strong all the way through.
They're not getting acquainted with personal responsibility though. They're just whining that their utterly unrealistic demands aren't being met, and that the government wasn't there immediately to extricate them from their self-made predicament. Doubtless, other idiots will get outraged for them too. At one point her sister asks if she has food and water and she's like "Some granola bars and bottled water. I honestly don't know how I'll survive..." How about you survive on the bottled water and granola bars you worthless bag of shit? You can't make this stuff up. I'd like to think you're right and most people watched that in disbelief instead of getting angry at the first responders, but who knows.