fidlmath

Diana the Spider Wrangler

the morning after

after Ernesto, that is.  I took these just before 7AM this morning. 

 

 

 

 

Ilightened up the one on the right and increased the contrast. Don't know if I like it as well as the original - so I'll put that one below and see.  Hmmmm.  Oh well.

posted by: mafidl at August 31, 2006 16:56 | link | comments (8) |

hurricanes revisited

Slept in this morning.  Too windy for bikeride now - maybe later.  I had forgotten that one thing that I love about South Florida is storms.  The palm trees swaying, the colors of the sky and ocean - magical.  Of course, there was Andrew.  Despite all the local pundits' insistance that it would never hit, that all such storms veered away before they hit us, HE didn't listen and, as y'all know, devastated us.  I was one of the lucky ones - just north of the demarcation line or war zone as they called it.  All my row of 5 townhouses lost was air conditioners and roofs.  Since mine was the middle one of them, not only did my part of the long sheet of roofing stay mostly in place, but my air conditioner, though knocked loose from its connection, was mostly intact.  Imagine my landlady's anger when it was the only one of the four that didn't need to be replaced, then quit about a year later so that she had to pay for it.   Slightly further north of us and Miami would have been toast, but instead Homestead and Florida City bought it.   A couple of my friends drove a pickup down the Turnpike to the Homestead/Florida City area with food and water for migrant workers.  There was a group of houses, maybe trailers where they lived.  My friends had a video camera and got footage that we never saw on TV - from ground level.  It was, perhaps, even more poignant than the footage from planes.  By the time you got only a few miles south of here nearly everything was flattened.  They couldn't find the workers, who had, thank goodness, moved to shelters before A. hit.  So yes, IML, ya never know about these hurricanes - prediction is still somewhat of an art.  And Faaraa, I loved the green card comment.  NN, I agree with you, as  you know, about the theorems - but some of the powers that be insist, so what can li'l ole me [in the pecking order of my department] do 'bout that.  I have become more self confident in some ways - and more outspoken on a couple of issues that mattered to me - one good thing about aging in a department where there isn't really seniority for instructors.

BTW there have been other hurricanes since Andrew, but for downright single mindedness, they don't compare to A.

posted by: mafidl at August 30, 2006 08:43 | link | comments (4) |

much ado about nothing

Well, nearly nothing.  We seem to be getting some rain, no longer have a hurricane watch, but have a tornado and tropical storm watch until 2AM.  So far where I live there is a bit of rain, lightning and thunder, but that's all.  So it seems that Ernesto fizzled.  The bad thing is that FIU cancelled classes today and tomorrow.  If we get a bad storm later, we've already used 2 days of the semester - which means I've lost one class for each of my courses.  These can be made up by doubling up sections - but if we have to miss more days, it becomes a problem to try and cover the necessary material.  It's early enuf in the hurricane season that we're likely to have to miss another day or 2  My department is pretty strict about covering required material, which is the way it should be, since each of the courses I'm teaching are prerequisites for subsequent ones.  Luckily, there is usually some material which can be omitted without too great consequences.
The other aspect of this is that we did, of course, buy a lot of extra non-perishable foods.  But they'll keep in case of another, worse, storm - and can be donated at Thanksgiving.
BTW thanks to all of you for your good wishes.  Maybe all that positive energy helped squelch Ernesto.

posted by: mafidl at August 29, 2006 21:42 | link | comments (4) |

windy

The wind is picking up - but no new pics or other news re Ernesto.  Anyway, here is something my colleague, Mike,  sent me - too funny to keep to myself.

posted by: mafidl at August 29, 2006 11:24 | link | comments (2) |

some before Ernesto pics

Tom Grey - funny you should ask.  These are from my little porch, which is just outside my study/music room.  They show some of the clouds and some of the tree damage left by Katrina and Wilma last year.
The ficus to the right in the right pic is my favorite.  It is the one with the palm tree growing out of the base and large vine growing up both and is just outside my fence.  It used to have a much wider and fuller canopy.  So did the one on the left.  Of course the clouds will probably get more interesting, and so will the wind.

BTW - no bikeride today, maybe for several days - getting too windy.  However, I recall that the day after Hurricane Andrew, younger daughter, L, and I rode all around our neighborhood to view the chaos.  Older daughter, J, drove  down into the worst area - never did find out how she was able to do that - because several of her friends and their assorted pets had spent the night there.  Their house was destroyed, but they survived by gathering in small bathroom, with pets, and pressing hard against the door to keep it from blowing in.  I believe the bathroom was just about all that remained.

posted by: mafidl at August 29, 2006 10:46 | link | comments (3) |

storm update

Oops - just lost my, luckily short, post.  My fault.  I just wanted to say that I got up a little while ago, turned on the TV, and Ernesto looks rather wimpy - but only time will tell. There is some wind and lovely clouds.  I'll have to take some before and after cloud pics.  BTW when I publish a post, I usually open my blog in another browser to see it - keeping the post window with the little window that allows me to continue writing, etc.  That way if I don't like what I wrote, I can still go back without having to go to edit blog.  Might save a few nanoseconds - haha.  However, yesterday, I still had to go out of Motime and come back in before the new post appeared.  Those Gremlins are still around.

posted by: mafidl at August 29, 2006 09:17 | link | comments (1) |

an update

My school is cancelled tomorrow and Wednesday.  Whooppee - oops - Ernesto lurks.  I'll get my act together, anyhow.

posted by: mafidl at August 28, 2006 14:22 | link | comments (3) |

Hurricanes

and now we have, entering from stage south ---ERRRRNNNNNESSSSTTO!!!.  Whoppee -here we go again!!!  Wonder if my poor little trees in the back patio will survive this one - should have had them trimmed back - but nooo, didn't get around toit.  Did I say I procrastinated?  So this midday I waited on line for gas for my carbeast - and instead of going and waiting on another line to get a propane tank filled, l exchanged it.  For more money and will have to exchange from now on - and it was making funny little crackling noises when I lugged it in to my yard.  Friend N says that's normal when the tanks are in the heat - the little gassy molecules are bouncing all around and against the side of the tank.  Hope they settle down before they explode! 
So the good news about Ernesto is that it won't be hitting New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.  Just so it doesn't do toooo much harm here.  The Miami Dade public schools are closed tomorrow and Wednesday.  My school, FIU, hasn't announced closing yet - but I can always hope.  Who was that idiot woman who asked for [did you get that *asked for* ]a 7:40AM class Tues and Thursday?  Surely that was not I?  NOT LOL.  What a dumb thing to do - I hate to get up early - hate it, hate it, HATE IT!!! Oh well - so if FIU doesn;t cancel classes for tomorrow - I will have to be there before  7:30.  GRRRRR.  Also, I still haven't organized my notes for my 1:15 class tomorrow - so better get crackin'.  If classes get cancelled tomorrow you may hear more from me then. 

posted by: mafidl at August 28, 2006 14:05 | link | comments (2) |

Another day at the Zoo

After a 7 1/3 mile bikeride, I went to the Zoo where I was day captain today.  One of the perks of being a day captain is driving [in an electric cart] around the Zoo and seeing what's changing.  Since it was 90 degrees in the shade - which felt like 99, I can only imagine what it was in the sun.  Some of the volunteers and one or more staff member went out into the undeveloped area to catch butterflies - it's a wonder they didn't all suffer from heat stroke.  Anyhoo, our Zoo is very successful as a breeding zoo as the pictures below show.  The first is of mama warthog [She-ra no less - papa is He-man - and I loved He-man and Battle Cat] and her 3 maybe 1 mo old babies.  The second is of our, maybe 6 mo old Black Rhino, Andasi and mom.  BTW, Andasi means donut in Swahili.  Our other young black rhino is Jello.  Next one should be Coffee, right?

I've never appreciated warthogs - still don't, really, but these little ones are adorable.

posted by: mafidl at August 28, 2006 00:09 | link | comments (3) |

This morning friend and I took the 4th bikeride in 5 days - worked our way up from 5 1/2 mi to 8 mi today  - awesome.  Then went down to pick up my repaired bass guitar.  This second break left it with a buzz on the bottom string if it's struck/plucked too hard - so have to go easy.  It's a short scale, for you who know what that is.  My hand isn't very big and I have some arthritis and carpal tunnel - but I want to learn to play it.  Short scale means the spacing on the frets is smaller than on, say, a jazz bass, so doesn't strain the hand as much.  Of course, going to a music store is dangerous.  Found a used Fender jazz bass that I could afford - but it's not short scale and the guy, Jim, who repaired mine talked me out of it.  I did buy a new amplifier - we'll see how that works out.  Jim is not primarily a salesman - which is good.  He understands that I'd like a new bass, but also that I'm not rich - and he thinks that mine sounds pretty good with the new amplifier - so I should wait until I get better on mine.  How's that - not trying to sell me a new bass - I wouldn't have expected that. 

posted by: mafidl at August 26, 2006 17:52 | link | comments (5) |

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