Wastin' Away in 'Rita-ville"

I can't ever tell if Jimmy Buffet says "wastin' " or "wasted." Whatever, right? So...yeah. Another evacuation, courtesy of Rita. I have some friends in both Galveston and the Houston area, so I hope they make it out of that area safely and patiently. I just saw on tv that some lady phoned in to one of the news stations here in Texas saying that it took her 6.5 hours just to travel 8 miles out of the area. Sheesh. Thank God, I live smack dab in the middle of the state. The worst we'll get here from that is alot of rain, some flooding, quite a lof of power outages and strong winds. Oh, we also get to look forward to tornadoes. That's another thing to worry about.

It's my day off today. There were 3 of us RNs on the evening shift last night (3-11) and we stayed 2 hours after our shift was over to finish charting. It was very busy for that shift. I didn't get home until almost 2 am. I'm off for the next 4 days actually, which is damn good after working 6 days straight. Plus, I don't want to be driving around in 60+ mph winds and rain coming at my car this weekend. I'm on call though for one day this weekend though, just in case extra nurses are needed at the hospital, with the influx of patients being transferred from Houston/Galveston. I don't mind going to work. I'm kind of at a loss for what to do after having more than 2 days off in a row.

And in other Rita-related happenings, I filled up on gas this morning while I can still get some for $2.53 and not have to wait in line for 2 hours. You know those gas prices are going to hike up like a mutha. My mom just called me a few minutes ago to suggest I get some cash from the ATM because of possible power outages. Meh. I highly doubt we'll be without power for a long time. I already stocked up on the necessities though, just in case. I heard that some of area HEBs and Wal-marts are completely out of bottled water but are at least still getting shipments in.

At least I live in an area where the natural disasters can be detected and come with warnings. If I still lived in Seattle, I'd have to face the eruption of Mt. Rainier, likely to erupt at any time. If I still lived in California, there's the whole earthquake issue. You're not safe anywhere really, except for maybe...I don't know. Kentucky?

Anyway, I hope my fellow Texans ride this hurricane out safely.

ETA 9/24/05: What happened to all the strong winds and rain we're supposed to be getting in the area today from the remnants of the hurricane? It's 100 outside, sunny, and a little breezy.... I was kind of counting on the rain to wash my car for me, too :-p