Ike

[pbwalker]

Looking to be a doozie...Might be time to revisit all preparations before it gets too bad...

[mrvmax]

I broke down and bought plywood today. I cut out panels for all 19 of my windows. With the Plylox and plywood I spent close to 375. BTW, if anyone is planning on buying Plylox, buy the stainless steel ones (the ones at the home improvement places are carbon steel and will corrode away), they are only a couple dollars more per pack and will last longer. If you live close to Friendswood you can buy them direct from their warehouse by Clover Field.
I bought a generator last month so I am ready. I filled up all my gas cans today and am just waiting for it to get closer.

[agbullet2k1]

Went to Wally World in Kemah today to get some new wiper blades, and the store associate yelled out as she was putting out new price stickers that the gas cans had just tripled in price. Good to know that price gouging is just a myth.

Managed to get gas before there was a rush, and stocked up on the essentials at the grocery store. I just hate that our trip to Florida had to get cancelled so we could take care of our stuff here. They wouldn't even let us reschedule to avoid the cancellation fee.

And as a public service, I'd like to anounce that the Spec's in Clear Lake had a run on Pat O's hurricane mix, and is down to their last few packets.

[KBCraig]

It looks a lot better now (for me, anyway!) than it did when it was aimed straight at Port Arthur. Sorry for you folks from Galveston on south.

[agbullet2k1]

Went to Wally World in Kemah today to get some new wiper blades, and the store associate yelled out as she was putting out new price stickers that the gas cans had just tripled in price. Good to know that price gouging is just a myth.

I disagree with the entire notion of "price gouging." It's capitalism at its finest, and yeah it can be a pain on the consumer side of things, but all the anti-price gouging laws do is encourage consumers to take advantage of short supply by buying more than they need, thereby using up the entire supply quite a bit faster than normal.

For example, the anti-price gouging laws that go into effect during evacuations for hotel rooms. Instead of a room going from $40 a night to $90 a night and encouraging families to get only 1 room, thereby saving rooms for additional evacuees to use, the parents will get their own room, maybe the kids will get their own room, grandma will also get a room for her own use......

The law is ignorant and is just paying lip service to ill-informed consumers, because, well, "Price gouging is bad. We need to ban it."

Sound familiar?



Edit: Btw I'm not trying to throw this thread off topic, "price gouging" is just one of those phrases that get under my skin, just like "working class" gets under my skin as well.

Well, I'm not advocating setting laws in place by any means. I just think it's dishonest business to try to make extra money off of people who are trying to plan an evacuation. I also noticed them changing prices on batteries and coolers. The Home Depot next door wasn't charging any more for plywood or batteries, or gas cans I'm sure (can't verify the last one). And if they decided to charge more, I can't believe they would have tripled the prices.

I guess I'd summarize with, I don't want gov't making sure businesses do right, but I'll take my money to places that do right of their own accord.

Edit: Just as a side note, I do think it is a perfectly reasonable alternative for businesses to ration critical items as opposed to raising price in order to keep people from hording in emergency situations.

[KBCraig]

http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnStos ... ce_gouging" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/Stor ... 352&page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Skiprr]

It looks a lot better now (for me, anyway!) than it did when it was aimed straight at Port Arthur. Sorry for you folks from Galveston on south.

P. (his wife's nickname for him; I will never reveal it) you're just a tad far north to worry much about tropical storms.

As of the 10:00 a.m. National Hurricane Center update, Ike was expected to land at San Antonio Bay and the eye scrape the west side of Victoria. As of the 4:00 p.m. update, landfall has moved about 30 miles closer to Houston, now landing right at Matagorda Bay.

An incoming low pressure system (currently near the southeast edge of Oregon) is projected to affect the high pressure dome that has been steering the storm west. At this point, it looks like a race between the advancing low and Ike's forward speed. If Ike slows down and/or the low pressure area encroaches a bit faster, landfall will move farther up the coast. It only needs to move another 100-115 miles to come in just east of Freeport, and the storm move north right over the Houston metro area.

Regardless, unless Ike pulls a Rita and really takes a right-hand turn to head back toward the Texas/Louisiana border, Greater Houston will be on the dirty side and may well experience hurricane-force winds, and Galveston a storm surge of a few feet.

What we need is a storm named Tina to come in immediately and turn Ike into a has-been...

News flash: HCTRA has evidently opened all toll lanes, meaning all lanes will be direct drive-throughs with no toll required for the duration of the event.

[Skiprr]

I sort of hope the storm is strong here in Huntsville. Not a single exciting thing has happened here since I moved here.

Be very careful, my son, about your wishes. Be very careful, indeed...

[seamusTX]

Russel, if you want some excitement, go to the rodeo or Six Flags.

It is no fun not knowing for two or three days whether you are going to live or die or have a house standing. Not fun at all. Then there's the power failure, the clean-up, and the insurance hassles.

We are making our evacuation decision in the morning, unless the mayor happens to issue an evac order during the night.

- Jim

[Rokyudai]

I went to Home Depot today. I don't plan to have a fraction of what is expected further south. I did think it would be good to get a good sized gas can and found the entire selection swiped with the exception of one 2 gallon can and a bunch of .5/1 gallon cans. Hanging on the shelves was a red flyer stating something to the effect that due to the hurricane, supplies were limited. Well, I got to thinking that they may have moved the inventory to stores that would likely sell more of them around this time rather than letting them sit up here. I'd like to think that they donated them but that's just naive on my part.

[seamusTX]

Russell, I'm not offended by your comment; but I'm not going to relax much for the next four days.

People who have not been through a tropical storm or hurricane just don't realize what it's like. That's why tourists often ending up drowning on the roof of their vacation home after their refusal to evacuate and their hurricane party..

TV reporters get excited about hurricanes because a little-known TV reporter from Houston by the name of Dan Rather launched his national career by reporting Hurricane Carla from Galveston in 1961. That ain't gonna happen again.

- Jim