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| Home >> Index Pages >> Informational Pages >> Discount Computer Systems >> News >> Directron.com Hurricane Rita Blog/ Watch >> |
Hurricane Rita Blog / Watch (3)Hurricane Rita Blog / Watch: | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 |Copyright (c) Directron.com
Again, these are good before and after pictures for the insurance company later.  This is our T-1 attena on our roof. I placed a heavy, dead UPS on the base to further strengthen it. We'll need to use to process orders on Monday after the hurricane is gone. We use Airband T-1 service, which is wireless. They have been reasonably reliable; but much less expensive than the landline T-1 from SBC. We have been using them for four years. On the radio, they are talking about some animals died or almost died on the free way since the weather is so hot and the traffic is not going anywhere. 
This is Hurricane Rita approaching Texas/Lousiana. You can see the locations of Galveston and Houston. Wind, rain and other effects are already started in New Orleans area. Thank goodness we now have satelite! It saves life. But, the satelite may also have caused some people to fear the worst and the repeat of New Orleans, which is partially responsible for all the traffic jam in Houston. Now, I really wish to have a GPS that shows traffic! The AM radio just said "counter-flow" is now working on some freeways. But they are complaining the starting point is too far away from the city. Right now people can't get even to the starting point. 
I am now leaving the office, going home! I'll post again soon. Do you have any questions? How about a last-minute suggestion on what to do the day before the big one? Let's make this an interactive process. Well, I hope to get a pic of me standing in the wind to show you here.
from here in California, I am thinking plenty of rain should be expected within the next 24 hours. Sand bags will be very helpful then. am i right? bo (logisys)
Update: I called Jeff at about 4:45pm. He just arrived at his destination in Austin. It normally takes about three and half hours to drive from Houston to Austin. It took him 14 hours!!! He left Houston at around 2:00am. I wonder what happened during his trip. How did he get the gas refilled on the way? How much gas money did he spend on this trip? We'll let him answer all these questions later. I told him that the hurricane has shifted toward the east and we are now safe. We both laughed. The real problem is how does he come back to Houston? I told him he could come right back now to avoid the traffic on Monday. He said the traffic on I-10 has been reversed - the first time this has ever been done in the State of Texas. According to Jeff, George arrived at Austin too. He probably left Houston around 10pm last night. Jeff can't get hold of George yet. Paul messaged me on YIM when I was in the office. He is staying in Houston. He said he would later take and post some pictures here too. Paul is one of our well-reversed sales/CS rep/tech. On my way from our office in west Houston to Sugar Land, I saw at least 15 abandoned cars parked on the sides of the highway or the curb. Here are a few pictures as prove.  Here is an abandoned van...  Highway 59 South is actually clear until Highway 6 when it starts to jam pumper to pumper. Therefore, going 59 south is not a good choice either. What is amazing is that there are allot of big 16-wheelers stuck on the freeway. Why are those drivers worried so much? Will Hurricane Rita cause any damage to the 16-wheelers?  No car is moving and you can see no end of cars on 59 south. I guess going to Corpus Christi or Mexico is out of the question! 
I went to Jason's house on the way home. He was happy to know that we are now "safe." He and his family almost drove out last night but decided not to do that on the last minute because his wife is car-sick. Lucky them so far. "What the heck," Jason said. "This is a perfect time to practice golf since no one is on the golf course." He walked out his house with his clubs. 
I drove and dropped Jason off the near-by golf course. Indeed no one is playing golf right now. Golf courses in Texas seem to be open 24-7-365. But not when a Hurricane is visiting. Ladies and gentlemen, don't be fooled by this picture. We'll see if Jason would still be smiling on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. The monster may still be coming! There is still a chance for Rita to hit Houston and us hard. 
Well, at least some people were not "goofing" around when a major hurricane is about to hit. Jason's father-in-law took out some fruits from the fruit trees they have around their house to save them from the storm. I don't know the name of this particular fruit. It's famous in Hong Kong and Guangdong China, but I do not like this one that much. 
I just finished dinner. On dinner table, we estimated that we may have about 20 family who may go to our office/warehouse to shelter from the storm tomorrow night if necessary. Last night at mid-night, I was using the restroom when I noticed that Jett, our dog, was quite nervous. I thought that he may have super sensitivity to know that something big may be coming. That was way after his sleep hours. But at that moment he was following me with his tale wrapped behind him. Later we discovered that he made a huge poo in the bedroom! Just as we are laughing, Tina mentioned, "I think Lucy Liu had a nose job." We all laughed. She is obviously not affected by the storm either. She has been watching satelite TV all day long. We just installed satelite TV last weekend after canceling cable TV. Satelite TV should really show its advantage if cable TV has problems during the storm.
Update: Johnston just got online. He said his family tried about 3 hours on the freeway to go to Dallas but they gave up, realizing that there is no way to get there by one tank of gas. Houston: We have a problem Well, we actually have three problems. Besides the hurricane, we also have a huge traffic problem and a huge gas problem. The entire city has run out of gas!!! Since all the cars are idling on the freeway, we are burning gas like crazy. The suppliers can't get the gas refilled at the gas stations. All the gas stations are closed on my way home from the office. If some one is offering $5 or $6 per gallon gas on the freeway, they will sell tanks and tanks pretty quickly. Of course the hot, hot temperature (97F) did not help either. The city of Houston is now a ghost town. All businesses are closed. Traffic is quite normal within Houston border, although traffic is still jammed once out of town. I can see the tree branches in our backyard to start to wave a little. Rita: We can now feel you in the air.
Here is a good article on the traffic problem in Houston area: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3364562 Houston Major is right now having a news conference. He is begging: (1) for those who are not in the coastal area, do not evacuate yet! (2) citizens help citizens, feed the people who are stuck on the free way with water and food if possible. I don't understand why they are not asking some of the coastal people to just give up going to Dallas or San Antonio and simply stay in west Houston.
For those who are not familiar with Houston, here is a map of Houston. You can see Sugar Land on the map. Directron.com is marked by a blue square.  Here is a larger picture of Houston showing the coastal areas, where mandatory evacuation has been issued since yesterday. 
Just got an auto phone call from City of Sugar Land. They are asking people to leave, countrary to what City of Houston Mayor said in his news conference. The message also informed us that the garbage pick up service has been canceled. Some techie must have been working hard to get that auto message sent to all Sugar Land residents. It's the IT technology in use! However, that got Vicky to panic. She is now ready to jump to the car and drive to some place. I asked where? She does not know either. The 6pm projected landfall is still in the Beaumount area. So Sugar Land should be better off than what was predicted before. We'll continue to monitor the storm to decide what to do tomorrow. If Rita lands in Eastside of Houston, we would stay in our house. If Rita shifts back to center or west Houston, we'll move tomorrow to office/warehouse. The alternative is to go to Woodlands in the North.
I honestly don't think you can go anywhere at this point. It's a good idea to either stay at home or office/warehouse depending on which model/route the storm is taking. My family and I were originally planning to leave for Dallas today. We left around 11:00am, gone about 4 hours and only went 10 miles, using up 1/4 of our tank in the process. It was then we decided to turn back as there was no way we would have enough gas to make it to Dallas. I read from earlier threads that Lee and Jacob were going to Lake Charles. I think that is one of the areas to be hit hard with the new projected path the hurricane is taking. If anyone can get a hold of them, please inform them of this information. They should perhaps move further east or start heading north of where they are.
Update I got an email from Lauren. She and her family arrived at College Station late this afternoon. It took them about 10 hours. They left Houston in the morning. There is a big debate among our friends whether to leave or not at this moment. Since the start of counter-flow the outbound traffic is much better now. Nancy called about one hour ago. They left and got out of town quickly. They are now 100 miles away from Houston, heading west. Lian called. Their family took the HOV lane on I-10 in reverse direction. They were able to speed at 50mph beyond Highway 6. They are heading to San Antonio. Eventually they want to go to Lubbock to visit a family member. It makes sense for the wives and kids to leave so that they would avoid the misery of no electricity and no running water for however long. However, I believe the risk to life we take to stay in West Houston area is low as long as Rita stays the course as it has been projected in the last 12 hours. To me, I have personal responsibility to make sure that our company and thus the jobs for our employees stay float after Rita. We would like to see the business get back and running as soon as possible beyond Sunday. So staying either at home or office makes sense. And, as always, you can post a question on the Directron Help Desk! (dxy092405) Hurricane Rita Blog / Watch: | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | |
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