Well I just returned from the grocery store, and lemme tell ya - that place was crazy. Although Austin is a 4 hour drive from the coast/Galveston.... they are saying that we could get 50 mph winds and possible tornados. And everyone is obviously taking plenty of precautions. Plus the one million evacuees are all heading to Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, so everything is jamming up.

I've never been in a hurricane, but growing up in the Dallas Ft Worth area I sure have experience with tornados. Those could be bad. And I'll have a friend in town this weekend refuging from Houston.

The Radio Shack geek in me has blessed me with possesion of a nifty portable Sangaen AM/FM/SSW radio, a groovy weatherradio, a super LED flashlight that can shine a lightbeam into the inkiest night and even a scanner.

In Texas we have a 24/7 all Texas news network run by the Belo Corp [TXCN] , and they've been providing great coverage of everything.

Right now they are saying Rita will hit the coast in Matagorda County, which is a few counties down from Houston. That part of Texas is where we grow lots of rice (Texmati) and the deliciously sweet Rio Star grapefruit.

Steve