Hoping this Ike doesn't do H-town like the other Ike did Tina...

So with all the crazy "Ike" hype going on, I can't help but think back to the weekend of Sept 24, 2005 when people were saying "they'll be a 30 foot storm surge in Austin!!" and all the panic and mayhem that surrounded Rita.

I then recall quite clearly that although the fan rental place refused to supply fans to Laguna Gloria (because the "high winds would damage their fans if we attempted to run them") there was not a breath of a breeze nor a drop of rain... in fact, there was a helluva lot of humidity... as I stood there (and later danced) at Matt & Kim's wedding.

Back to Ike-

I have to admit, though, the radar and satellite pictures of Ike that almost completely cover the entire Gulf of Mexico do seem a bit ominous. And the path and the wind speeds and such...

We were going to Threadgill's tonight for dinner (Thursday night date night) up on Lamar. While at -actually turning right in the middle- of the intersection of Lamar and 38th, we saw ambulances barrelling down Lamar towards us. Of course we stopped as did everyone else.... But I really can't describe how completely eerie it was to watch what was literally a stream of a dozen ambulances -lights and sirens blaring- wheeling around the corner past us, headed for Seton. In the middle was an emergency mini-ambulance-type-car that said "Organ Transplant" (never seen one of those before!) Of course, at that point, we weren't realizing they were hospital transfers from the Houston area that had been evacuated. Once they finished, our light had already turned red and the other side started going ...nice, people... so we just reversed back so traffic could get through. But to look around the intersection, you could see every one's eyes wide open, mouths gaping open... it was quite a site. Another mile up Lamar and another stream of about 5-6 ambulances passed us.

For all the chatter and warnings and precautions - as much as I might have rolled my eyes as the rediculous reports of people stocking up on water and TP (you know, the basics) If I had to pick... I'm going to side with the let's over-react, even if it is an excercise in futility.

My hope is that in a couple months we can talk about how silly it was that they cancelled the UT/Arkansas game for some silly little storm with the short name that was all bark and no bite. Yep, that would be great.

In sum, I think the brilliant Morgan W Garvey said it best. She just "wants hurricanes to take a chill pill."