Blow Hard

The 2010 Hurricane Season ended yesterday. The one about the storms, not the football team. I celebrated by watching my tree trimmer, Dave of Banyan Tree Service, expertly prune the ficuses and oaks and palms that make their way over my roof.

Since I feared for the Ds lives in our collapsing house during Andrew, I never belittle hurricanes. Still, the media frenzy about them, especially in South Florida, is something to behold.

I remember when Hunter S. Thompson used to call the Hurricane Center director, Neil Frank, a "hurricane junkie." All of the media is. When storms are approaching, people watch the news and ratings soar, and people buy more newspapers, helping the Herald and Sun Sentinel.

So the season ended, and today's Herald had the typical "Whew, that was close!" article. It reminded us that we have now gone 5 years without a storm hit (the last was Wilma in '05), and our luck was unlikely to continue for much longer. Ha! In other words --start worrying now, people --details to follow next July!

I dislike living in Miami most when a storm is approaching. Duh! Everyone is anxious, and scurrying around to buy water and peanut butter, and falling off ladders while installing shutters.

After Wilma, I installed accordions on most of the house. I can prepare for the Big One in about a day here (I also lost about $4K on a company that was going to put up hurricane proof screens to obviate the need for shutters. They went bankrupt, and the Final Order from the Court just came in --I get back exactly $0 from my deposit).

Still, I admire most my office roommate Mark's approach to storms. He closes the shutters on his high rise condo, and books a flight to NYC or Chicago, and waits it out until the silliness has passed. During Wilma, his wife, a Jackson Hospital nurse, couldn't leave. No problem for Mark --he took off anyhow, explaining to her how much he despised the pre hurricane vibe! She "understood," and weathered the storm alone. Dude's my hero!

So, this weekend I'll go disconnect the generator battery, and start bringing the water bottles inside for post season consumption.

In Southern California, they live on the faultline. We live in the alley for hurricanes. Great they left us alone...for now!!!!!