Some Thoughts...

My sister sometimes creates lists of things on her blog. I don't know if I can reach 10 in this post, but we'll see where it goes.

1) The Hurricane Ike frenzy here in Texas is reaching epic proportions. I actually read on the net today that Galvestonians living in certain low-lying parts of the city were warned by the National Weather Service that refusing to evacuate Galveston means certain death.

Certain death?? DEATH??? Isn't that a bit...uh...extreme? I thought so at first, but after doing a little research on Galveston, it seems that things really are bad. I'm just not used to hearing the NWS say things like "certain death". Usually it's stuff like "Tornado Warning" or "Flash Flood Watch". Then they go on to explain that a tornado watch means the conditions are right for the formation of tornadoes. I wonder how they explain the "Certain Death" alert? "We've just issued a Certain Death alert for Galveston County until 10 PM this evening. This means that conditions are right for YOU TO DIE!!!!"

Ha. I just made myself laugh trying to visualize that weather bulletin.

2) Not all people are insensitive, ignorant blow hards. (But alot of them are). I was in the drive through at Starbucks today, waiting for my latte (yes, sugar free, with nonfat milk, so its only 75 calories - and very good!). I was at the window waiting, and I saw some kid walkin across the drive thru in front of me. He was 18-20 or so. I watched him stop at the trash bin - you know. the one they locate along the drive thru so people can throw out trash? Well, apparently, people had been throwing out ALOT of trash today, because the trash bin was brimming over with trash - no room for any more. Anyway, I assumed the kid was going to toss something in as he walked up to the trash - but he didn't. Instead, he pushed on the overflowing trash (causing some water to spew forth - ewww...garbage water (Homer fans should catch that reference)). He managed to push the extruding trash down into the barrel, clearing the entryway for more trash from peeps' cars. Watching this, I assumed he worked there and was coming in for his shift (he wasn't in Starbucks uniform yet)
I got my latte, pulled forward and said something to the kid about getting the garbage water all over himself while clearing the trash. He nodded and said "Yeah, man, I don't even work here, but I can't believe how insensitive and uncaring some people are, making a mess of things and not even trying to clean up. So I thought I'd do it for them."
I was suitably impressed. For his good deed, he got garbage water all over himself. But I thought it was still a nice thing to do. Alot of us "old fogies" (I can just hear Gil laughing right now - one of my coworkers, he is. Gil is 70-something years old, and he calls me "just a pup" sometimes.) -- anyway, alot of old fogies have a negative impression of today's youth. This rep isnt ENTIRELY undeserved, but the old peeps tend to generalize and apply this negative impression to all the kids today. It was nice to see one of these kids doing a nice thing for no reason, and not for some reward. He didn't even know anyone was watching.

3) I have always liked Charlie Gibson on ABC News. While alot of the other 'big-wig' anchors are pretty liberal (even thought they porport to be objective - but the liberal bias does come through often), Gibson, while a liberal, has always manged to not let it affect his news-telling. However, in his interview with Governor Palin (part of which was aired yesterday) he revealed a shockingly biased approach to Palin. Gibson did ask some tough questions - and he should. I have no problem with that. But several times he asked some loaded trap questions, attempting to either catch her in a mistake, or put words in her mouth. I have never seen him do that with anyone else he's interviewed. I hate to say it, but the liberally-biased mainstream media has been engaged in a fortified campaign to smear and belittle Palin. Since these liberals think of themselves as the progressive, enlightened ones, I would have thought that they would be championing a woman with the chance to be our new vice president. But they are trying to throw her under the proverbial bus - except Palin refuses to go down. I like her - the way she handled Gibson last night was superb. And I've lost several points of respect for Charlie Gibson.

4) Palin lost a few respect points with me last night as well. When talking about nuclear weapons, he pronounces 'nuclear' as 'nook-yular'. -5 points for you, Governor.

5) Mob Wars is adddictive. And I need more people to join my mob. Please, please please send me an invite. My Facebook profile is here. You can add me as a friend, then send me an invite for Mob Wars if you've already started playing, or I can send you an invite to play Mob Wars and join my mob.

6) Following on the heels of my first observation (see #1 above) about the NWS, here's another bizarre tidbit. NWS officials in Galvestion are recommending to the stay-puts that they write their social security number on their arm using a permanent marker, in order that will be able to identify the bodies.

!!!!!!WOW!!!!!!!! These NWS guys are hard-core.

7) Watching a hurricane make landfall is something I'd like to do someday. But not this weekend.

8) Dang, I'm out of things to add to the list. So eight is all you get this time.