Hey everybody!!!! HAPPY HURRICANE SEASON!!!!!

Here we go again. But, I'm a little better prepared this year than I have been in the past.

I hope all of us survive it. All the assholes who keep saying that the people of Nawlins should have left, forget that when the good people of Houston tried to leave, it was a fucking gridlock. Jammed traffic. Running out of gas. No hotel rooms.

Here in the Tampa Bay area, on a good normal day, I-4 is slower than the LA Freeway. A virtual parking lot. Traffic jams all the way to Orlando. Never mind an evacuation. I-75 is not much better.

I have plenty of bottled water, and canned tuna. I'll just ride it out.

have no plan...oh wait except the one where they will attempt to wrest control of the state and cities and declare Martial law.....

/sarcasm

I haven't unwrapped mine yet -- I hope it's that video I asked for, of the president strumming a guitar and eating cake last year!

But seriously. I haven't bought anything yet, but I will be setting aside a couple of hundred bucks (wish I could afford more, only I got laid off last month) as aid money. I hope it won't be necessary. If no place in the Gulf, Caribbean, or Atlantic coast gets walloped, I'll give it to the New Orleans aquarium or someplace.

Along with the Dixie Chicks new CD, And I got Neil Young's new CD!

I've talked to TWO different couples this past week who have told me they are going to the Caribbean next month and the first thought I had each time was "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HURRICANE SEASON?!!??" I didn't say anything because I know that the people involved are smart enough to look up the weather forecasts before they go (and I know I'll be checking weatherunderground.com right before they leave). I just couldn't help my knee jerk reaction.

Funny you'd mention Debbie Downer, because I was just thinking about that SNL sketch yesterday!

In my line of work, I study climate change, and I have to be really careful about bumming out people (even fellow climatologists and resource managers). I've learned the hard way that not everyone wants to hear the latest impacts forecasts for wildfires. Several of my colleagues have found new research topics because they feel so depressed finding out about this stuff.

He does research for the University of TX...our kids were in the same kindergarten class together this year. I know what he does from talking with his wife, but when I see him at the kiddie events, he doesn't say much. I'm facinated by what little I know of his work but I have no idea what to say to put him at ease. He always looks so uncomfortable.

So how does one break the ice with a introverted climate researcher? :D

-- or tree rings or ice cores -- or is he more on the modelling side? (Making mathematical models to simulate what might happen to rainfall patterns, etc.)

I have noticed that (generalizing wildly here) the modelling people tend to be a bit more reserved -- they spend a lot of time at the computer. I know a couple of the guys who worked at the Canadian Climate Centre on their general circulation model, and they were a bit shy at first, but very nice. The dendrochronology (tree ring) people in my building have a lot of cool stories about their field work. And as for the impacts/policy types like me, you can't get us to shut up!

In all cases, though, I bet that NOT saying hearing stuff like "oh global warming is science fiction" is such a refreshing change that it's an "icebreaker" all on its own! Most of the researchers I know, even the really intense lab folks, will happily talk about their work as soon as they sense that people are genuinely interested and won't ridicule them.

I'm trying to remember the conversation I had with his wife 6 months ago...damn. I really don't know if it's paleo or modelling but based on your previous experience, I would assume he does modelling. ;) I bet if I ask he'll finally open up to me a little. Thanks!

don't make small talk, just plunge right in and ask them abt their area of expertise

you will get the goods and they will actually enjoy talking to you

so it's all good

if my call is wrong and they are simply introverted/snot, they'll make a snotty remark and you can go on w. your life

but my call is not wrong, the majority of modeling/computer wonks who are severely uncomfortable at social events have either aspergers or social anxiety and just asking them about something "real" (to them) instead of making social noises really puts them at their ease and gives them a chance to shine

so you can get some inside information and also help a nerd type enjoy a party, your good deed for the night

he's introverted, but not comfortably so. He's definately not snotty about it and I can tell he tries his hardest to "hang out" at the kid parties...which means he stands near the other parents but doesn't say anything. I love the big talk nerd types though...they're far more facinating than the small talk average types.

He was the sort of person who would just sit quietly in a corner at departmental gatherings. Didn't have a girlfriend, but he had a cat he was devoted to, who lived to be 20 years old (a vet friend tells me that this was a lot less usual then than it is now, so Howard definitely looked after him well). He wasn't fond of drinking and carousing like most of the department (not snobby, just didn't fancy it).

Anyway, after I asked for his opinion on cloud albedo feedbacks, he talked happily about it for hours! I learned a lot from him about how to approach difficult problems, because (unlike some of the other atmospheric physics experts) he didn't mind the fact that I was starting out at a very basic level of knowledge. His officemates used to joke that once you got him onto his postdoc topic, he would continue "at a very high volume and baud rate". I moved to another school to do my grad work, and I didn't see him again for 5 years, at a conference in Vancouver ... but he remembered me. And when I admired one of the intricate graphs he'd made on transparency (this was in the pre-Powerpoint days) he presented me with a whole bundle of figures and told me to keep them, with full permission to use them in my classes.

Always gets my attention.

I could be way off on my memory, but I do believe it was verified that Jeff Masters, Hurricane Information God Extraordinare had visited DU and posted on several hurricane threads. If you read his blog, it's clear that he's not a fan of the Bush Administration.

I love their site and I hope they can keep it running for this season and years to come.

he's cool

sounds like the jet stream is putting down an "arm" that is protecting the gulf coast/nawlins area

i think we'll be okay at least for june

Keep a bag packed, your car gassed up, and your TV tuned to the Weather Channel.

Every TV, in every bar and restaurant is tuned to the Weather Channel until about X-mas.

Rita was a clusterfvck of epic proportions, and I doubt evacuation will be any smoother and better-organized this year (I stayed put last year).

I am plannning on riding it out this year, as well.

Good luck to all on the Hurricane Coasts!

Keep me in mind Lady Effingbroke. If you need a place to evacuate, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm in Austin so the drive is short.

I hope that evacuation, if necessary, is better organized this year, but I'm not counting on it! :hi:

"on the scene" weather reporters leaning sideways into the wind and rain just to show us there's some bad weather coming. I have always doubted the sensibilities of people like that.

I live in Louisiana and boy, we can't wait.

I live on the eastern seaboard (20 miles from the ocean) and I would be leaving town the day before some idiot Gov tells the citizens to leave. I'll pack up the kids and the pets and go. I'll bring my important papers and if the wicked thing turns in another direction then I will just consider it a short vacation.

Did you guys see this federal govt in action last year? You really want to ride it out?
Good luck to you. Me, and my family will be burning up a credit card at the motel 6 200 miles inland.

I'm as prepared as I can be. Hope they miss all of us.