Tuesday, September 07, 2004

the cost of living

We had one of our major groceries a few hours ago. We just had our food supplies and staples depleted after Hurricane Frances gnashed her way across Florida. We practically had to save up merely to have something to eat on during that three wet/windy days (dunno what went in our minds that time, we gave litle serious concern on the magnitude of storms here, hehe). Luckily, we still had a pack of turkey breast ham and a gallon of water that we scrimped on as the storm raged in. Anyway, our supermarket raid ate up an hour and a half and one hundred and thirty seven bucks...

Sigh. Living really costs that much.

latest musing of Etchie at 20:24 0 comments

Monday, September 06, 2004

Aftermath of Frances

Frances left Florida last night after devastating almost the entire state. They say that the damage cost around ten billion dollars, but I thought so otherwise. Seems that the extent of the destruction could somehow reach around less than a hundred billion. The good thing is, we're safe. We were spared the utmost damage that Charley could have had dealt us if the hurricane swept past us (yeah, good thing God heard our prayers).

I'm planning to post some pictures of the hurricane's aftermath, but since I don't have the photo hosting software, I'll just have to describe the worst part of the storm. Sometime last night, I think, around 2AM--Sas and I were still awake (she was reviewing for her Nursing board exams), when we heard a really loud clang outside the apartment. We thought it was merely one of the monobloc chairs that our Hispanic neighbors put, but instead the wind blew off the rain gutter that ran at the side of the apartment and snapped as it fell. The twisted metal now lay outside, beneath a steady downpour and the cacophony of the roaring wind. Broken tree limbs and leaves litter every driveway, street signs hung helplessly, dancing to the quiet rhtyhm of the wind gusts.

Anyway, will try to have lunch first...

latest musing of Etchie at 11:31 0 comments

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Frances

At the time of this writing, Hurricane Frances is plowing her way into Hillsborough County towards the western part of the state. Pretty heavy wind gusts and torrential rains are gnashing the outside of our apartment. Lights started fluctuating (I hope we won't be seeing any blackouts here), and we are glued to the television waiting for any announcement if we should evacuate. Hopefully, we won't, but at this rate, I'm afraid we will be required to.

It's pretty much dark outside, at 4:09 in the afternoon, I could hear the furious howl of the wind and the loud clatter of rain. Sooner, it would probably submerge the entire county--and perhaps virtually close off the highways. We planned on going to Orlando yesterday, but since the hurricane will also plow through Orlando, we decided to stay home.

This is my baptism to the first hurricane in Florida, well, after Charley, who fortunately waylaided into another direction and spared us a probable destruction.

latest musing of Etchie at 16:24 0 comments