Hurricane Ivan
September 18, 2004 
3:24 am
Well, Ivan whipped through Atlanta with a vengeance. The weather wasn't so bad at 9:30am or so when we went in for my bloodwork, but when I went back out at 1:30pm to drop off a urine sample, the rain was picking up and the wind was starting to do some damage.
Now of course, I'm a transplant from Florida, so I'm used to driving in tropical weather, and it's quite easy for me to compensate for winds and heavy rain. But a lot of Atlantans have never really been in heavy tropical weather, and it showed-- cars were being blown into other lanes of traffic, people were driving way below the speed limit (actually more dangerous than driving normally), people driving without their headlights on, etc.
I had a book I wanted to buy for research for a story/novel and I decided that a little rainy weather wasn't going to stop me! So I zipped first to Borders next to my doctor's office, but when they couldn't find their asses with both hands and a flashlight, let alone a book of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, I got back in the car and drove to Barnes & Nobles. (I should have just gone there in the first place, but Borders is closer to home.)
The weather was just AMAZING. Trees bending, branches snapping off and flying everywhere, rain that felt like needles, and yet no thunder or lightning. It was odd, because storms like that are common in my part of Florida, but always with hideous amounts of ground-to-cloud lightning and crashing, deafening thunder. Hurricanes are unique in their lack of electrical activity.
Two detours and about 30 minutes later, I made it the 7 miles home from B&N and safely into the apartment... just in time for the worst of the storm to hit. We're on a great grid (right next to water works and GaTech), so we didn't lose power, and we'd parked the cars in the lee of the building so we avoided broken windows there. By 7am this morning the rain had dropped to a drizzle, and by 9am the sun was shining and the skies were clear.
What amazed me was that only one county canceled school yesterday, but all of them canceled school for today. WTF?? I guess they just wanted three day weekends. However, I do know a parent in the county that DID cancel school, and she spent the day bitching about the "inconvenience" it caused her (none at all, since her fiance took the kid, but she needed something to bitch about). Me, I would have been HAPPY that my kid wasn't out in that mess, but then, I'm more concerned with safety than whether or not I have "me" time. (A quote from this person: "Of course, [child] is at home, because the idiots in charge of DeKalb County have decided to cancel school for a hurricane that isn't even here yet." That was at 8am, when the skies were still dark as midnight and the clouds were swirling low in the sky. Uhm, let ME point out who the "idiot" here is, okay?) I just couldn't believe that people were mad at the county for looking out the window instead of listening to a forecaster. Yes, they SAID it would hit on Friday, but Ivan was here Thursday morning, and anyone who knows what "wind" and "rain" and "damaging floods" are could have told you that.
Sorry, mild rant there. Stupidity pisses me off.
Anyway. Gorgeous weather today, and J and I spent the morning driving around the outskirts of the Metro area, looking for places to relocate. We took a kitty to the vet for her booster shots, ate at IHOP, and just generally had a wonderful day together in the sunshine and wind.
