Raf

Yeah, Pirate, come on. Stand up and deliver the name of this movie for us.

The Doctrinal section was the ideal place for the PFAL Review and Blue Book threads, back in the day. It was also the location of a real dragout fight between Jerry Barrax and me on the validity of the epistle of James. I think we both got a lot out of that one.

Some pics...

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

That's me.

I'm okay, family's okay. Just tired. Oh, and we stink. :)

I killed him. His body's decomposing in my lockerrrrrrr.

Let's bottom line this: If you didn't think LCM was standing on the Word, you left when you got that letter, because it was clear that he was using the ministry as a bully pulpit and had no intention of changing. If you did think LCM was sincere in his efforts to change, you stayed, figuring the people who were leaving were not giving him a fair shake, and that the demands for "change" were too vague anyway, and there was work to do that was not getting done. I think history proved the first group was correct, but I can't blame anyone in the second group for drawing that conclusion. It was reasonable, given the absence of information. However, I can't see how anyone could look back, knowing what we know now, and think staying was the right thing to do. That's just blissfull, in my opinion.

Guys, my car windshield got taken out by a palm frond. Yeah, putting out the garbage for collection is... funny. Not "dork of the year" funny, but funny. Dork of the year has to go to the guy who was arrested for armed robbery, including shooting a clerk. Police were interrogating him and told him they had a test to show if he had fired a gun. Then they left him alone, but videotaped him. The guy started licking his hands frantically, then (true story) his some of the money he had stolen. Where did he hide it? Umm, well, the sun doesn't shine there, and let's leave it at that. Doctors found $40. No one wants to remove it from the evidence bag during trial, though. :)

Come on, Ron, think BIG. For number 5, make it a rooster!

It could have been worse. I can't post long, because I am at work and there's much to do. But I made it. My car got smashed by, of all things, a palm frond (proving that mass times velocity equals holy crap get out of the way. Our Fort Lauderdale office is not passing fire safety code. Downtown Fort Lauderdale is... I can't describe it. It's unusual to see traffic lights that are not working. It's more common to see intersections where the lights are missing entirely. The enormity of what we've been through here prevents tears. One lady in my neighborhood introduced herself to me twice. I wanted some of what she was smoking until I realized she had lost her roof. Trees uprooted. Windows blown out. Power lines down. Me? No power. No water. Smashed windshield. And I'm one of the lucky ones. Very lucky.

That could have been it, considering where we were at the time.

Yeah, I found out that my source on hurricane collisions was mistaken. Oh well. That's why I'm not on the weather page. :)

Blame hurricane fatigue. Can someone else post the next one?

You'll understand if the coverage IN Florida is about Florida. I can't speak for the rest of the country. But yes, it would be nice if American media understood that when hurricanes hit Latin American countries, it's a story. Some of us are trying to change that.

Correct. See you on the other side of Wilma.

The Wait Begins Looks like this storm is finally moving away from Mexico and is heading toward Florida. I don't know how many chances I'll have to post. We're under a hurricane warning, which means we should expect to experience hurricane conditions within 24 hours. It's an admittedly premature warning this time, but they wanted to make sure everyone was ready. I have no idea how bad it will be for us. Once again, the models show it well to the north of us, but that did not stop Frances and Jeanne from hitting us hard last year, or Dennis and Rita hitting us hard this year (though the latter two were well to our south). I won't be posting much, so don't get jittery if you don't hear from me. My prayers are with Hope and Jon, Belle and others to my north. Let's be able to laugh about this one next week, okay? See you guys on the other side of the storm. Raf

We've had more cones than Sue Grafton novels, which is really saying something.

From what I'm hearing, you can bank on that. Hurricanes apparently don't collide (Don't ask me why). So if Wilma holds to the predictions, Alpha won't come anywhere near us. The way things have gone this year, I'd bank on getting to Gamma, possibly even Delta. Season goes until Nov. 30, but November's typically not very active.

It's official. Alpha has formed, making this the busiest storm season since records have been kept.

Oh my God, it's headed right for us!

This is not a drill. Tropical Storm Alpha is forming.

No problem, Lifted. I'd have gone on to the next one, but we've had a little hurricane fatigue going on here... New quote: "Do you know how to use that thing?" "Of course. The pointy end goes into the other man." and... "The lady and I were trying to dance." "You were trying. She was succeeding."

If they can understand each other.