At age 80, my Dad's in Melbourne, an hour south of Orlando, and probably in yet another hurricane's path. During one of last year's they evacuated to Biloxi, not so much an option now. Knowing the Bush brothers are "inept morons", ex-New Yorker Floridians tend to skip the beer for their emergency stocks in favor of a robust supply of gin and tonic. Bitters are optional, though bitterness is rampant.

Half of my formerly-intact parental unit has a home in Ft Myers Beach. I think this is the third hurricane that will hit the brand-new digs. Hope they make 'em like they used to.

And on a completely unrelated note, did you change your address bar icon from Bittker to Bojack?

My mother-in-law, her sister, and 3 other family members were on vacation in the Keys and evacuated. They went to the airport to check on getting their tickets changed in order to get out, and the airline is charging an additional $300.00 to get each ticket changed. If there is a mandatory evacuation, why are the airlines charging to change tickets? What if someone didn't have that money. I'm hopeful that the evacuation is going smoothly; however, I'm worried again for the working poor...this situation simply has to change.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/gmex-vis-loop.html

Speaking of disasters, did everyone see that one of the regional directors for FEMA just released a bunch of emails confirming that in fact he and others had told "Brownie" what was going on in New Orleans, only to be met with...well...

Later, on Aug. 31, Bahamonde frantically e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands are evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours."

"Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical," Bahamonde wrote.

Less than three hours later, however, Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes," wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.

"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."