167 hours later...

7 days and 167 hours after Hurricane Ike. Boy how things have changed. I went for a 5 mile run this morning in League City. It seems to have weathered the storm remarkably well considering they are on the coast. It felt great to get out and stretch my legs, and forget about the "hurricane aftermath" for a while.

Half and Hour and a Flyswather later...

Since Ike decided to come ashore things haven't been the same. Walmart is closed at 6. It is powered on a generator. HEB now has milk and eggs and people have been scrambling to it like white on rice. Sam's has cold stuff, although the cheese seems to have weathered the storm (not sure I would eat it, but what ever floats your boat!). Things are nuts here!

Red lights that should be redlights are either twisted the wrong direction, not working or totally demolished. Everyone treats them as 4 way stops but at the working redlights people still treat them as 4 way stops because we are so use to them now. At night it is a journey just to go somewhere. You almost need someone else with you. One person to drive and one to look for unpowered redlights.

All of this said to point out the obvious. It took me 3 stores and half an hour to return home 4 blocks to buy a flyswater. Normally I don't have flys and I pride myself on this accomplishment. (I need to find some pride in this situation!) So I have never had a use for them. I thought CVS would have them, but alas they didn't. Went to Kroger down the street, they were closed at 5:30 so I went to Walgreens in the same parking lot. Jackpot!!!! A flyswater and a Dr. Pepper and I was in business, only to hear "we are closing in 10 minutes" you have to be kidding me? It was almost 6. Go figure.

This is our new normal kids. Stores closing at odd hours. Curfews for Webster between 10 pm and 5 am. People trying to go to work before 5 and being pulled over by great upstanding police officers trying to do their jobs.

Boy, will I ever be glad when things get back on line and I can watch Oprah without hearing about "Overcoming Ike", "Road to Recovery" and my personal favorite..."Ikes Wrath". Every station has 24/7 coverage. If I have to see the same boat on the same lawn again, or the same stretch of 45 with a couch, office chair, and 2 by 4s strewn across it again I may just loose it all together!!! A girl just wants to watch Oprah! is that too much to ask???

Ike and His Wrath!!!

I know it has been a long time since my last post. I have been engrossed with work and Football Season and that should be no excuse. I just need a place to put my thoughts about Hurricane Ike that roared ashore on Friday September 12th and lasted until Saturday September 13th.

When the storm turned toward the Texas coast we all became concerned. The meterologists couldn't tell us where it was going, how strong it would get, or when it would get here. Finally 72 hours before landfall we had an accurate (we thought) picture of what we would deal with. Big winds, big rains...period.

I was in a mandatory evacuation zip code because I am in a low-lying area. I left and went to my parents home in Baytown (30 miles east of Houston, think the top tip of Galveston Bay). I left on a Thursday (a week ago tomorrow).

Friday, me and mom when to find ice and Baytown as a ghost town. Boarded up establishments, Lowes and Home Depot had run out of everything related to the storm and closed. We went home and froze any container we could find for ice.

Friday afternoon the winds picked up and the clouds rolled in. I have never been through a strong storm before and had no idea what to expect. At about 10 pm the winds picked up and my dad went to catch a few hours of sleep, the entire house was asleep except me who was on "wind patrol" checking for breaking windows and flying debris.

About 11:00 I noticed a pair of steel french doors my parents have in the living room starting to move when the wind would pick up. Investigating this further, I found that they were bowing when the wind hit the house. Mom, Dad and I switched to "fix it" mode and tried to find a way to fix the doors from flying open and compromising the integrity of the house in 70 to 80 mile an hour winds. We found a piece of steel from my brother's dismantled bed in the garage and wedged it under the door handle. Then the wind became right down terrifying!!!

Have you ever given a kid one of those long plastic horns that make that really deep whistling sound? That was the sound the windows made when the wind kicked up. That went on until the eye passed over Baytown. I still jump when I hear a whistling sound, be it from a person or from a sound similar to it. Finally the winds changed direction almost immediately after the eye passed over.

I have never been more terrified in all my life. I was praying so hard to God and my Grandparents to watch over us that I think they got tired of me praying and were trying to tell me to let them handle it. They did and we came out of the ordeal with water leaks in my parents house, a fence down at my sisters and my screens on my patio twisted inwards.

Let me tell you a few things about Houstonians and Galvestonians:

• We handle things ourselves and try not to lean on others.
• We volunteer to help a neighbor we may not know.
• We come together without fanfare or praise for what we are doing.
• We rebuild what is ours because that is what it is...ours.
• We do not blame others for our choice of location to live.
• We accept that hurricane season is part of our lives and there isn't a person down here who doesn't know when hurricane season starts or ends.
• We all have "hurricane kits" with emergency supplies (or we do now)
• We do not ask for government assistance or blast the government on TV...we are too busy cleaning up afterwards.
• We look forward to the future...what will rise from the ashes.
• We do not whine on TV for help, what you see are Texans helping Texans.
• We are patient with our first responders and help feed them when they have no food or water.
• We help our communities even if our properties are damaged or we haven't seen them yet.
• We know that our elected leaders are doing just that...leading us to safety and security afterwards.
• We house our neighbors without electricity, or run extension cords over roads to power their freezers so all is not lost.
• We volunteer at POD's to provide basic necessities to our friends we do or do not know because it is the right thing to do.

We are Texans, we will rise from the ashes of this tragedy and rebuild our communities bigger and better understanding that we live on Mother Nature's property. We just rent from her and she can take it back when she has the desire.

A couple of Sudafed, a dead computer, a dead pair of running shoes, and this list goes on!!

Okay, I have had sinus and allergy trouble for about a week now (living in Houston will do that to a person). So my old allergy med's put me to sleep all day when I didn't want to sleep, so Doc switched me to Zyrtec, which keeps me up all night. Gees! Cannot get it right to save my life. Sudafed seems to be doing the trick right now so I continue on with that.

One big thing I learned on my 4 mile run this morning...SUDAFED AND RUNNING DO NOT MIX...EVER!!! I have never felt so light headed, giggly, exhausted, and headachey as I did this morning! I was singing to my iPod (never have the energy to do), headache creeped up at mile 3 so I walked the rest of the way in with a friend and never felt guilty for doing it. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body, even if your mind says something else. My shoes are now officially retired. I got 8 good months out of them so I am pleased. Not pleased that they don't make my style anymore, but building a bridge to get over it!

I am also taking 2 master's level classes in 4 weeks. It is a version of academic h**l! Papers, projects, group projects, reading... Wow! But it will be over soon and I just keep looking to the future. My computer died this week (mourning a bit on all fronts, now that I think about it!)
It was 8 years old (in computer land, I hear that is retirement home age). I now have a fancy smancy computer that can do everything but find me a date!

Anyways, going to work on a terrible project on Microsoft Access. I hate that program!!!!!

Who knew????

Okay, I started this little blog for me to reflect on my running and triathloning. Little did I know that some people actually read it besides me. I am so sorry to say that I didn't look at the posts I already had and didn't know that people commented. I cannot believe that people read my ramblings and find something. So now I will look from time to time.

I also don't post as often as I should. But I have football season coming up and trying to write 9 minutes of straight Flag Corps choreography can get hairraising. But I plan to run and swim and bike at the gym after practice and classes....

Oh yea!!!!! I forgot...I am finishing my Masters in Educational Leadership in a year and 1/2. I have 12 hours completed already and taking 6 more starting tomorrow. Will be busy!!!

Wednesday game and a dollar hot dog come at a price!

Last week i was in dallas attending a conference for the teaching position I accepted at my school. AVID is Advancement Via Individual Determination. It teaches 1st generation college students how to get into college, study, work in a study group and write. I was there from Sunday to Friday, which was eventful in itself. Monday started with a wonderful 2 mile run on a track outside at a 13 minute pace. I was so beside myself I was so excited! Nikki and I went back inside to find the entire guest list of the hotel downstairs and no elevator working. Apparently there was a fire on my floor, the 14th no less. So I did 2 miles and 14 flights of stairs back to my room. I was exhausted just from the workout alone! :)

Tuesday was just fine. But Wednesday...glorious Wednesday!!!

The Texas Rangers are having a stellar season to say the least. They were also having a special for educators. Free tickets!!!! So my friends Teresa and Ryan, and my principal Mr. Stock load up in Teresa's car for a ballgame! We ask for the best seats we can get for our free tickets. They gave up 35 dollar seats between home and first. And....drum roll please...dollar hotdogs!!! Since the district was paying for dinner, I was getting the most bang for my buck. I had 2 hotdogs (You really didn't think I could eat 13 hotdogs and a coke right?) Anyways, bottom of the ninth Rangers are 1 run down, 1 man on and two outs and Hamilton came up to bat and hit a two run homerun to win the game!!! It was amazing! He is a former alcoholic who sobered up so he could play the game he loves. His comeback story is amazing! His idol is Roy Hobbs and his favorite line is "I just want to play baseball, because I love the game!" (tear tear!)

The week in a nutshell...fantastic!

Feeling so froggy lately!

Who knew? I really like training but lately...not so much. I need to get off my ever growing rear and get out there. I haven't swam since COMBAT and I have Summertime Blues in a few weeks. I need to get on my bike and ride but that has been two weeks. The only bright side is that I ran last week. I need to start recommitting to running during the week. Period. End of story. I need to work on my nutrition. I have to start eating something before I run. Yuck...hate doing that but there is no other alternative. Sorry for the ranting.