Impending doom

Today is August 25th. I have a feeling of impending doom. Earlier this summer we had that tornado in Springfield (MA). A couple of days ago we had an earthquake. Now hurricane Irene is heading this way.
My daughter got her driver's license a half an hour ago. "I see trouble on the way..."

I can hear CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" in my head.

update August 27th:

"I hear earthquakes and lightnin'..."
Just got back from Madison, Connecticut. We had to stormproof my wife's grandfather's (Grandpa Ben) cottage.
We covered the windows and pushed the grill between the shed and the fence. There was definitely a calm before the storm. Air was humid.
"I fear rivers overflowing..."
There might be some flooding...it is a low lying area about half a mile from the ocean. I am sure the cottage can survive the wind. One of the neighbors clearly wasn't feeling as confident about his cottage. He was emptying his cottage. He put everything in a rented truck and hauled it away. This cottage got destroyed by the 1938 hurricane like everything else in the area. Only the icebox and the floor survived. Grandpa Ben picked up the pieces and rebuilt it.
"I hear Hurricanes ablowing..."
The eye of the hurricane is in New Jersey right now. There are some tornado warnings down there. Things are gonna get pretty nasty in next few hours.

Update August 28th

8:45 AM We finally lost electricity.
9:30 AM I woke up and went to the front porch to check out the situation. I didn't see any flooding on my street. It was pouring though.... I guess you could call that torrential rain.
I was ready for breakfast. I was thinking whether I should I start the wood stove or get the camping stove from the cellar?
10:30 AM Yeah. The electricity came back. I am starting to make oatmeal and tea. The wife is checking the news from southern Connecticut. The situation down there looks pretty bad. They have some flooding. The newscasters are comparing this to the 1938 hurricane. Ouch!
Up here in Massachusetts we do have rain but no wind yet.
"And I wonder still I wonder who'll stop the rain"
John Fogerty sure has captured the mood of the day.
5:30 PM The wind finally came, but it didn't amount to much. I drove around town to see if there was anything to see. Some small branches were down. Ron's fields on Glendale Street had been turned into Ron's lake. I guess we survived Irene.

Update August 31st

We might have survived Irene, but our neighbors in Vermont got hit really hard. The rivers are really overflowing up there. I haven't been able to get to Madison,Ct. to see if the cottage survived. Too many roads down in Connecticut are still closed. Also too many electric lines are down. This coming weekend is a long weekend. Hopefully then we can cruise down and survey the damage.

Earthquake, August 23rd 2011

About half an hour ago my house was shaking. My wife was making lunch and the stove was moving enough to bump her hip. The house was gently rocking and swaying. There was no sound. In the past when I have experienced minor earthquakes there has been some kind of cracking sound, but this one was silent. I felt kind of dizzy. I have felt this kind of movement in the past in boats - never inside a house. After the movement stopped I looked into the dining room and the crystals in the chandelier were still swinging. Wow! This was pretty cool.
I turned on the TV. MSNBC reported an 5.9 earthquake in Virginia. According to MSNBC The Pentagon and the Capitol were being evacuated and the quake was felt in Manhattan. Well, the quake was felt in Western Massachusetts too.

A couple of hours later I saw on TV that the reporters were waiting for the President to make a comment. President Obama was vacationing at Martha's Vineyard so he probably felt the quake too.
Do we really need a comment? What is he gonna say? "Let me be clear: My administration has always strongly opposed earthquakes." ???
There has been no major damage and no casualties. Let Obama enjoy his vacation. Let Joe Biden handle this.

Dalai Lama in Finland

Today as I am writing this, the Dalai Lama is visiting Finland. The situation in Finland is the same as every time His Holiness the Dalai Lama has visited Finland. All the government officials are hiding and making excuses for not meeting His Holiness. Especially hypocritical are the politicians who pride themselves for being supporters of human rights, and yet are conspicuously missing in action. I am referring to sissies and wimps like our Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja and our president Mrs. Tarja Halonen. Why are these pussies hiding? Because if they didn't hide, the human rights abusers in the Red China would get upset and probably yell at them.
I am a Finn myself and I find it disheartening that Finland has become a nation of candy-assed cowards. There are some bright exceptions though. Ms. Heidi Hautala (MEP, Green Party) is one of them. Even though I often (not always) find myself disagreeing with the positions of the Green Party I have to give credit where credit is due. I am proud to say that in 2000 I voted for Ms. Hautala for President of Finland. Right now we need more politicians with a spine.

Here is a rare picture of President Halonen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja keeping a close eye on human rights.


( Added June 15th, 2014. Even though I voted for Ms. Hautala for president in 2000, I probably would not do it now. Back then she appeared to have a brain and a spine, but unfortunately she has done and said dumb things since.)

More about Mohegan Sun

I have to make a couple of comments about the way the Mohegan Sun casino handled the distribution of the tickets. As I mentioned in my first entry the tickets were free, but I had to wait in line for one hour and fifty minutes to get my ticket. After I finally got my ticket I was assigned to a seat on the side because the good tickets were reserved for the "high rollers".
Sure, it does make some business sense to give the good tickets to the "high rollers", after all they are the best customers of the casino. However, while me and hundreds of other Thin Lizzy fans were standing in line we were not spending any money. We were not buying any food. We were not buying any drinks. We were not gambling. We were just standing around for a couple of hours.
If you are running a casino it is in your best interest to have people spending money instead just standing in line. You don't really need an MBA to figure this out.
Why didn't the business geniuses at Mohegan Sun give the tickets to those who wanted them and then set them free in the casino to spend money and have fun? The casino could have made more money and me and hundreds of other customers could have been happier.