Live From the Eye

This is gonna be a quickie, since it’s after 2 am here. Rita and I have officially met, now. She’s kinda mean. It’s been CRAZY winds and mad rain all day. We were pretty much stuck inside, except for the little breaks in the "outer rings" as they swirled around. We now know rather conclusively that our roof does not, in fact, leak, which is a plus. We wrapped the RV in a giant tarp, so it should stay pretty dry, too. It’s rather incredible out there. The rain is nothing new, but this WIND. Stuff is blowing all over the place. The giant 16’ box truck we have outside with all our stuff in it was just ROCKING away. I made Joe go turn it sideways so it was more aerodynamic. We were pretty convinced the thing was going to blow over. We also saw what I THOUGHT was lightning, except way blue. Turns out the power transformer on the telephone pole across the street decided to blow up and put on a bit of a fireworks show. That side of the street doesn’t have power now. We’re pretty much just bunkered down and riding it out. The building creaks and makes other strange noises, but has held up remarkably well, considering this is its second hurricane this month. Within the next 24 hours Rita should blow over and we can get back to work here. On a side note, there are some pictures posted now. Thanks to Kelly Wildman for putting those up for me. I have about 700 pictures total, none of which I have taken. I hope to eventually get most of them up there. Joe and I also spent the last couple of evenings building the "Part-15 Emergency Communications Team Weather Station." We’ve managed to weatherproof a cheap webcam and laptop computer, and will try to put them somewhere interesting. I have it outside now, testing the seals, but you can’t see anything in the dark. It’s a pretty cheap one. But if it’s dry tomorrow, I’m going to try to take it up to the roof of the 35-story hotel/casino we have access to. Might see some interesting stuff during the day. ‘Night, all. Stay dry for me.
- Matt (currently in: Rita)