Yes, it looks like just 3 weeks after one destructive hurricane, we're facing another, even more destructive hurricane.

Mother nature must be mad at us... there haven't been two destructive hurricanes to hit Florida within one season since around WWI - 1915.

And here in central florida, the last really destructive hurricane to hit us was in 1960. And to get two in one year? Wowsers.

I've been here for almost 20 years, but who else is thinking about moving to another state?!

Come to Chicago (http://www.pbase.com/tanakak/millenium_park)!
No hurricanes No earthquakes No mudslides No forest fires Terrific cultural scenes Occasional small floods far from the city and sometimes under viaducts after strong storms Quality of life is high Extensive public transportation system -- the best in the country Easy to get anywhere in the world directly - although not always on-time Easy to navigate the city - it's laid-out on a simple Cartesian grid, not like Boston Four seasons Winters are not nearly as severe as popular mythology suggests

Between your great photography of the place and this spiel you're really starting to sell me. I've actually wanted really badly to at least come visit some time soon - Chicago has always intrigued me but I've never been.

What would you say is the best time of year to visit?

I just checked weather.com's recorded averages and highs/lows for Chicago, and it really does seem like a safe haven...

http://www.weather.com/weather/climatology/monthly/USIL0225

You know I was just thinking about the "Great Blizzard of 1978". (http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/climate/cli/benko.shtml) I was living in Cleveland at the time and when it hit in the early morning hours it had sustain winds of over 75mph, making it an inland hurricane. Then of course there was the "Great Chicago Fire", but I'm not telling you anything new, you were in what, the first or second grade, Ken?

Imran: From a pure weather perspective, late June/July and September/early October are the best times to visit. The prime outdoor season here runs throughout the summer, as there is a weekly succession of festivals in Grant Park throughout those months. In fact, this weekend marks the end of that annual festival season with the Chicago Jazz Festival, the largest free outdoor jazz festival in the world. As I look out my window I can see final preparations for tomorrow's opening. So if you want to flee Frances this is the perfect weekend! Next weekend is the official end-of season with Celtic Fest, a much smaller but very interesting event. But Chicago really has no season, per se. It's a big city with an endless number of things to do any day and nearly any time of day.

Jeff: I have some old cyanotype prints of the Fire that I shot when I was a kid. (Mrs. O'Leary's cow looked much better than Mrrs. O'Leary.) I was in my final year of grad school in 1978, so I was not in Chicago. But I did not escape the storm. In Champaign, IL we got a terrible ice storm that was really frightening.

Imran, I moved away from the San Francisco Bay Area because the weather was so damn perfect! ... all the time, all year round!

Now I'm really enjoying the changing of the seasons here in New York even if all the east coast people think I'm crazy.

Forget Chicago! Come to San Diego!



No hurricanes
No earthquakes - Okay, maybe some minor tremors from time to time.
No mudslides
No forest fires - Those were'nt forest fires last year, but more like brush fires.
Terrific cultural scenes
No small floods far from the city and sometimes under viaducts after strong storms. Of course it never rains and we are in a drought.
Quality of life is high - Even higher on the checkbook
Extensive public transportation system
Easy to get anywhere in the world directly
Easy to navigate the city - the COunty is whole notha' matter Four seasons - We have Fall, WInter, Spring and SUmmer but it feels like Spring and Summer
Winters are not nearly as severe as say Chicago

Hmmmm. The more I think about it, maybe I should move east. :/

San Diego is awesome. If it wasn't so expensive that would be the place to live.

Im a Native and it is indeed awesome. The housing market, though, is an insult. Just doesnt make any sense.

Here's a question... do these two states, Illinois and California, have state tax?

One of the things that makes Florida very profitable is that there's no state income tax. I'm not sure which states have it and which don't... I know that Florida, Washington, and I think Oregon don't have state tax. I know there are others, but not sure which.

Both states have income taxes. Illinois' is a flat 3%. But California's state income taxes are a rather complex matter ranging between 1% - 9% (http://www.taxesindepth.com/state-taxes-California.html) of AGI.

Washington state has no state income tax but Oregon does.

Ah, thanks for that link. It appears there are 7 states that collect no state income tax:

Alaska
Florida
Washington
Wyoming
Nevada
Texas
South Dakota

Montana has no sales tax.

Weird - according to that site there are only 7 states without it, and Montana's, it says, ranges between 2% and 11%.

Looks like Hurricane Frances won't be as bad as originally feared. Still a dangerous Hurricane, but it's going pretty slowly, and hopefully will burn itself out a bit before really making a hard landfall. We can only hope...

Jeff's referring to Montana's lack of a sales tax, not an income tax (which it has).

Basically, in Florida's case, various tourism taxes more than take up the slack for resident income taxes. But if the winds keep blowing down there, the tourists might become scarce. <g>

I love Florida, but being right in target (well, maybe slightly south--I live about 8 - 10 miles west of West Palm Beach, about 14-16 miles west of the Atlantic) of Frances, I'm a little nervous.

I hope to keep posting, but if I can't, I'll post after the storm!

heath

Being down by West Palm you should be mostly OK. It's a little north of you and just a hair south of me in Orlando that should mostly be worrying. Having just gone through Charley at over 100mph winds, getting through 60-70mph seems just like a windy breeze. OK, maybe a little more than that...

As I type this it looks like it's about 80-90miles east of you right now.

The real damage from Frances will be that the thing is moving so incredibly slowly. They say the eye is traveling somewhere between 6-9mph. This means it'll just be sitting and churning on Florida for over a day.

Mainly, Punta Gorda really lucked out - they were this close to getting hit again.

Tampa (Hillsborough county) just now ordered evacuation of mobile homes, RV's and manufactured homes. They're calling for 12 to 20 inches of rain in the next 24 to 36 hours for us in Pinellas county.

I just made it down here from Arlington,via Atlanta, Tampa, Naples and Alligator alley. Drove around it, and into the rain bands. At least I'm with my wife and son. This thing is gonna be a real pain in the butt, moving so slow, and still scheduled to hit the panhandle/alabama/georgia area.

Ken: that almost looks like the Holland curve. Although we probably
have a bit more rain here during the year?

The thing about these tropical storms/hurricanes is the waiting around and going stir crazy. You get so sick of watching the same reports and storm updates over and over but you keep finding yourself tuning in.

So to keep from totally losing my mind, I finished my dolly. Nothing spectactular but it was something to do. Playing with spaceships and the dolly was my therapy.

http://www.magoomedia.com/media/dolly2.wmv
(I was bored)

Just when you thought it was safe...here comes IVAN!

LOL Jim

LOve the DOLLY update and report. Flash Fordon would be jealous!

Well, out of power again and now holing up at my folks' place in an area that seems to have power and internet.

The length of this storm has been ridiculous. It started here in Orlando some time on Saturday, the winds picked up in bursts, and then it kept on raining and then not, windy and then not, all the way until yesterday late afternoon when we had a reprieve, and then it started AGAIN with strong gusts up to 50mph - which is finally what knocked my power out late last night some time. It's now Monday morning, and the winds are still intermittent, and it's raining on and off as I type.

And next comes Ivan. This is out of control.

I've been occasionally streaming the storm to show the winds and all. Of course I'm bored out of my mind so that's why I'm doing this. The gusts come out of nowhere and then it's nice for awhile. Pretty boring actually.

If anyone's interested: tv.magoomedia.com

I've lost my cable connection (Time Warner/Brighthouse) so I'm connecting via my Sprint PCS phone. Today has been the worst for us in Dunedin, so far. I've got about 3 to 4 inches of rain at least. I drained my pool about 6 inches on Thursday and it's about full. I've lost some big limbs in my trees, but nothing too serious.

Gov Bush set up a fine Jar. Anyone who mentions Ivan at the command center has to pay 5 bucks. Hey, right now most of us will try just about anything. Besides....it's Texas' turn darnit.

I lost power for 2 1/2 hours and just got both the power and electricity back on. I was lucky, last I heard there is something like 5 million households without electricity.

We lost power for 2 days, some people until Friday (like my in-laws, who live about 3 miles from us).

It was BAD where I live, in Wellington (about 10 miles from West Palm Beach), but not as bad as further east and also to the north. A bunch of trees came down out here, and we've been through many a storm and hurricane.

Irene, the "out of nowhere" hurricane on Oct. 15, 1999 brought tons of rain and floods, which Frances didn't out here in Wellington. This is worse than Charley, because so many homes and businesses were nailed (not as ravage as Charley) and this darn storm is working on the ENTIRE state!

Ivan...Ugh...

heath

ps-I'm okay and so is my condo!

I shot some footage the day/night before on the HD10, and some destruction around my town, which fared better, overall, than the rest of the county and north. I'll cut something together, maybe 5 minutes or so, and send it to Chris Hurd.

heath

It's good to hear from you, Heath. Sheesh, Floridians' nerves must be pretty frayed by now.

I've "exploded" on my fiancee too many times. And for once, and only once, I'll do a "frown face." :-( Okay, never again!

It stinks, but we're okay!

heath

Mostly it feels, like never before, like we're complete sitting ducks. I'm anxious now about this Hurricane Ivan thing. I checked and it appears to be taking the same exact path as Charley.


Ivan Thus Far
http://hurricane.terrapin.com/ATL-09A/track.html

Ivan Estimated Path
http://hurricane.terrapin.com/ATL-09A/ftrack.html

Charley's Path
http://168.100.10.114/ATL-03A/track.gif


If you look at Charley's Path vs. Ivan's Estimated Path, it's pretty spookily similar.

So, is Chicago looking better (http://search.pbase.com/search?q=chicago&b=Search+Photos) every day? <g>

<<<-- Originally posted by Imran Zaidi : If you look at Charley's Path vs. Ivan's Estimated Path, it's pretty spookily similar. -->>>

Imran,

For a little while, it was quite a lot like Frances. I just hope it suddenly swings North and is wiped out in the Northern Atlantic.

heath

>>So, is Chicago looking better every day? <g>
<<
Right now the Mojave Desert is looking better.

Any jobs for experienced Delphi/Oracle developers up around there Ken?

They ordered the evaq of the FL keys starting this morning. All tourists, RVs and campers are urged to leave starting 9 a.m. All people living in Mobile homes should start tonight at around 6 p.m.
They are trying to do it in stages since there is only one road in and out of the Keys. Once again, time to fill up on Gas and water.

My son is coming over to board things up. my wife decided to go back to VA with me today. I'll talk to all of you sometime tommorrow.

In Frances, I got lucky, only lost some roof shingles. House right across the street had it much worse.

God I hope this one weakens at least some if it does indeed hit us. A Category 5 is catastrophic. I heard that down in Grenada, 90% of the homes that incurred any damage were actually completely destroyed. And right now it looks like it's making a Beeline straight for us.

Also, out of some sick twisted sense of humor, it looks like it's shadow will be right over Guantanamo in Cuba on September 11th. How odd.

http://hurricane.terrapin.com/ATL-09A/ftrack.html

Ugh...No to Ivan...One track had it going up Miami, but now the 11 am track (9-9-04) has it going up Punta Gorda, Naples, Fort Meyers area. This is so sad...

heath

This is where to get your info (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT4%2Bshtml/022031.shtml?) from until we know more. Read their forecasts and discussions and you'll see they have a lot of widely varying models more than 72 hours from now. It is too early to predict with any accuracy how Ivan will effect Florida. Maps are here. (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_astorm9+shtml/091538.shtml?) The five day forecast is just a guess after day 3. Be sure to refresh your browser to get the most current information.

Starting Sunday you can go here (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/radar/latest/DS.p20-r/si.kbyx.shtml) and track the storm on the radar at Key West. This is a long range image and shows south of Cuba and the Isle of Youth. It updates every couple of minutes and if you have Java you can select the loop mode.

Jeff,

Where exactly do you live? I'm 12 miles west and 2 miles south of downtown West Palm Beach.

heath

I'm just above Clearwater. I'm about 1 1/2 miles from the Gulf.

Did Frances do much damage over there?

hwm

A big hi-rise condo right on the gulf had it's roof ripped off and they've condemned the building because of water damage. It dropped carports on cars and toppled signs and light posts. I just had limbs off my trees to deal with.

Yahoooo! No hurricane for most of Florida.

*PHEW*

And good riddance! Cat 5 will DESTROY stuff.

heath

At least I was able to get some good footage of a very well defined eye of the hurricane directly over our area.

(very quick video shot).
http://www.magoomedia.com/media/eye.wmv

That's cool.

hwm

I finally got the internet this morning... Been climbing the walls! Power was only out for a week or so, cable never died (BrightHouse).

My wife is an RN, and got locked inside the hospital for a 3 day shift (With the healthy bonus, we got an EU1000 i Honda generator... quiet little bugger, and runs 7 hrs on .61 gallons of gas). I loaded two kids, two dogs, a cat, a bird, a lizard, and crickets into our PT Cruiser and ran to Georgia. Unfortunately, Georgia was closed, so I came back to Florida and stayed at my sister's in Daytona Bch. It was eerie being the only car on AIA...

We lost most of our fence, a lot of soffit, facia, and shingles, and the skylight in our kitchen. It's not really lost... I found parts of it in the backyard ;) Traffic lights were gone at a lot of intersections, but it wasn't too bad.

It wasn't so bad in Palm Beach County, Keith, but we've never had something THIS bad. Not even Hurricane Irene, with it's "out of the blue" turn into Florida that gave us a foot of water five years ago!

BTW, got your email, glad you're okay!

heath

ps-"Georgia was closed" cracked me up!