So it begins.

Oh yeah, and a temp of 97 equals a heat index of about 107.

Should be a fun few months.

Snow

I walked out of work today to find it snowing. To put this in perspective, this is only the second time this decade that it’s snowed in Houston.

And man, was it ever snowing. Big, fat white flakes were dropping – the kind that swirl in the wind and cling to your hair long after you’ve come in from the cold. People were gathered on the steps, laughing and taking pictures. A 6 year old girl was running around trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue, almost certainly for the first time ever. It made me sad to think that she’ll never get a snow day, and won’t ever know the childhood joy of making a snow angel.

It made me remember coming in from sledding in the backyard and having hot chocolate with marshmallows in front of a crackling fire. It made me remember how beautiful Truman’s campus is after a fresh snow, and how much fun we had sledding down the hill in Red Barn Park wearing trash bag ponchos. As much as I bitched about the cold then, this snow has me missing it now.

So enjoy your snow, Houston. It’s probably going to be another long while before you see it again.

Update and some pics

A quick link to some Pictures of Ike’s Aftermath in our neighborhood.

Still no power at our place, so we’re crashing at a friend’s house tonight who has electricity (and Internet!) Only minor damage from a leaky roof in our place, but a lot of damage to the area. You probably know as much as we do about the conditions down on the coast, because we haven’t had TV. Thanks for the well wishes.

Still waiting

Galveston is hosed, as is much of the coast.

Getting windy here, but the worst is yet to come. Updates via twitter as the night progresses.

Also, today’s WTF moment:

Batten down the hatches

Heather and I will be staying in Houston for the storm. We’re hoping for the best and planning for the worst, so we’ve got plenty of food and water in the house. With all my camping gear, we’re better prepared than most for a few days without utilities.

I’ll be updating the site periodically through the storm, as conditions allow. If we do find ourselves without power, I won’t be able to receive any messages, but at least I may be to push some updates to twitter via my phone. If phone service goes out, well, then I’ll be in touch when things get back up and running.

Empty bread aisle in the supermarket. I used to think it was bad before snowstorms in the midwest…

Ike-carumba

Ike is poised to seriously mess up Galveston island, and even the National Weather Service isn’t mincing words, reporting that:

PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES MAY FACE CERTAIN DEATH.

Unfazed (or maybe just crazy) some people are staying put. This guy is my favorite:

I know it sounds crazy, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do — experience a hurricane,” said Andrew Lawrence, a former convict turned builder, as he knocked back beers and shots in the bar.

“I’ve been in prison, I’ve been shot … I figure if I do this, I’ll be the Michael Phelps of travesties,”

Rock you like a Hurricane

This oughta be fun…

P.S. If we still have power, I will totally be playing “Rock You Like A Hurricane” on Guitar Hero while the storm rages outside.

Hurricane Links

• Hurricane Ike is headed our way. It’s far too early to be worried, though. My concern at the moment is that the rain might interrupt our waterpark plans this weekend. (Be sure to check out the awesome AJAX-y interface at that new site, Stormpulse)
• Hurricanes from space courtesy of the always-excellent Big Picture.

BioCamp Houston!

Houston is getting it’s own BioCamp. Sweet! I’ll see you there!

Because somebody had to say it…

Houston, we have a problem.

Retreat

On the basis of the latest (rather scary) storm predictions, I’m falling back to Dallas for few days, to ride the storm out. If you’re in Dallas and want to hang out, drop me an email. (chris at this domain name).

Check out the Houston Chronicle for all the latest coverage. It’s doing a pretty damn good job of keeping up to the minute data available.

Here’s hoping the predictions are wrong and this isn’t another Katrina, in terms of damage and loss of life.

Category 5, for now

Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble.
If I stay it will be double.

–The Clash

Third strongest hurricane ever, at present. It’s supposed to drop down to a measly high-end Category 3 by the time it hits, though.

Salt with that ‘Rita?

The forecast for Saturday?

A bit of an understatement, I’d say:

Observations about Houston

• There’s just something special about the reddish-purple haze of an ozone sunset.
• They aren’t open-air drainage ditches, they’re called “Bayous”. (Much like River Des Peres in St. Louis)
• Much of the light rail runs on the street, sharing lanes with traffic. Not only does this slow trains down during rush hour, but the idiot drivers like to make things worse by darting in front of it. That’s right, they honestly believe that playing chicken with a train sounds like a great idea.
• Turn signals? What are those?
• They aren’t speed bumps here, they’re “road humps”. They are also, on average, sixteen feet high.
• There are no zoning laws here, which is a major reason for Houston’s immense sprawl. It also leads to such oddities as residential neighborhoods with both a church and a strip club in them.

Holy Shit

Things in New Orleans are bad. In fact, they’re evacuating the entire city.

And guess where a lot of those refugees are coming?

In Houston, Rusty Cornelius, a county emergency official, said at least 25,000 of them would travel in a bus convoy to Houston starting Wednesday and would be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome, which is no longer used for professional sporting events.

I live under a mile from the Astrodome. Things are about to get crazy around here. I think I’m going to see if they need volunteers to help out with the refugee camp over there.

Update: They’ve already got far more volunteers than they know what to do with around here. The Red Cross just needs cash and the local food banks are taking donataions of non-perishable stuff. Guess I’ll toss in a few bucks and sit this one out.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

So, I’m living in Texas now. (There’s something I never thought I’d say…)

I’m technically in southwest Houston, but considering the 2-dimensional structure of the city, it’s pretty much downtown. (Inside the 610 loop and just west of the Astrodome, for those in the know). I have a nice little one-bedroom place that’s nothing fancy, but more than big enough for me. This is especially true when you consider that I’ll be spending most of my time on campus once classes start.

It’s been interesting so far. Moving still sucks, as does the 14-hour drive from St. Louis. So does sleeping on the floor. I just brought down all of the essentials – clothes, cookware, and my computer and xbox – and my Dad is pulling a U-haul down next weekend with all of my crap. I feel bad that he’s doing it alone, but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than a moving truck, and I suppose he has the time, being off of school all summer and all.

Getting set up down here has gone pretty well, with the exception of getting my phone service/internet. First my phone line took three extra days to get setup/repaired, so I had no phone. Then I find out that it takes an additional week or so to get my DSL hooked up. You can’t even order DSL until you have a phone line, which seems stupid. Why not place both orders at once and send one technician for the whole she-bang? So much for efficiency…

Eh – whatever. I’m on free trial AOL dial up until I can get DSL installed next week. Ridiculously slow, but much better than the 10 minute drive to the library, where they impose a 30-minute limit on your internet activity. Couple that with their speed issues, and I was lucky to get to any of my email earlier this week. (loading… loading…)

Other than my phone SNAFU, things are good down here. The Texas Medical Center (wherein I go to school) is just a short bus/metro ride away, and my apartment is located close to just about everything I need. City life and public transportation rock! I love being able to read a book or paper during my morning commute.

School starts tomorrow, and it’ll be interesting to see what kinds of people my program attracted. If they’re anything like the people that I interviewed with, they’re extremely intelligent and a bit socially awkward. I’m not too worried, though. I’ve never had trouble finding a few drinking buddies before.

Hell, maybe I should just throw a party right now. Cleanup would be a snap. I mean, what are they going to do – puke on my non-existant couch? Pass out on my non-existant bed?

Hrmmm… This idea’s got merit.

Green Power

Texas is one confusing place. Today I went to sign up for electricity at my new place and discovered that Texas’s electric industry is deregulated. What that means is lots of choices for who your electric provider is. There are something like 20 different providers for my new apartment’s area alone.

Some of the green companies really appeal to me, as several get all of their power from wind and solar sources. I’d really like to talk with my money and get clean power, but I don’t know if there’s any difference in reliability or service.

As a result, I’m currently leaning towards just signing up for the behemoth Reliant, since they’re the biggest, and presumably have more technicians, etc. I figure it’s a safe bet, even though they get most of thier power from coal and gas (yuck!). I hope that I can can then switch farther down the road when I figure this stuff out.

Any Texans out there know anything about these companies? Is there any risk with going with a company like Green Mountain and saving the planet?

Quick Update

I’m back from Florida, Kirksville, and Lake of the Ozarks. My life is still in cardboard boxes in my parent’s garage. I’m working lots and getting shit together for apartment-hunting in Houston. Sleep is overrated. No time to talk – another hectic day tomorrow.

News Briefs

• I’ve been accepted into the computational biology program at Baylor College of Medicine, and will be moving to Downtown Houston next fall.
• The actual name of the program is “Structural and Computational
  Biology and Molecular Biophysics”, but that’s way too long, so in casual conversation, I’ll continue to call it ‘computational biology’. (Most people look rather confused even at that).
• My spring break trip was great, and I promise pictures and details, as soon as I finish writing the second half of this XML parser in Lisp. (yes, that’s about as fun as it sounds…)
• My wearing of an Omaha Royals hat should not be misconstrued as support for the Kansas City Royals. I won’t say that I hate the KC Royals. It’s really more of a pity thing. No city should have to root for a team that sucks that much.
• School is… well… crappy right now. I don’t enjoy any of my classes, as they’re the ones that I put off until the end for a reason. Thankfully, nice weather has hit K-ville, and it’s brightened my mood considerably. It’s amazing what a little soccer or frisbee with friends will do for your disposition.