The Road to Black

Name This Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:00:00 +0000

I'm announcing a contest to name this blog. "The Road to Black" is too cryptic. It needs a new name.

Criteria:

The new name must describe one or more significant parts of this blog: a path to debt freedom, tips, stories, family. If you want ideas, you can read the archives or look over my labels.
There must be a domain name available for me to register. While I'm renaming, I might as well get rid of the "blogspot" in the URL.

The Prize:

A link in this post and in the post in which the new name is announced
200 Entrecard credits, if you use Entrecard (bloggers, join Entrecard if you haven't!)
A link in the sidebar if you don't have one already

The new name will be announced for the new year. Leave ideas in the comments. Thanks!

Five Tips for Saving Money On the Road

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:10:00 +0000

With the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays approaching, many people will be travelling — and trying to save money while doing so. Here are some money-saving tips for road trips:

1. Use cash for on-the-road purchases such as meals. It's well-documented that you spend less with cash than with debit or credit cards.

2. Check your tires and get a tune-up. A breakdown or blowout on the road will cost more than a little preventive maintenance.

3. Buy snacks ahead of time. Chips, beef jerky, sodas, and other human fuel cost a lot less at the grocery store than at convenience stores on the Interstate.

4. Know thyself when buying snacks ahead of time. In the past, with the best of intentions, I have tried to buy only healthy snacks like fruit ahead of time. Later, on the road, when I was faced with delicious salty junk food and fatty candy, expensive impulse purchases won out. If your willpower is as weak as mine is, stock up on stuff you know you will eat, not on an ideal.

5. Pack a cooler for meals. Sandwiches (your favorite sandwiches; see the tip immediately preceding) prepared in advance are just as fast as fast food, and far less expensive.

What Do You Splurge On?

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:26:00 +0000

If you are trying to save money, get out of debt, or just live frugally, you know all about buying used, shopping sales, sticking with store brands, and other tricks to spending as little money as possible.

But we all splurge on a few things that are important to us.

A splurge is not the same as impulse buying. Impulse buying will bust your budget in a hurry. Marketers would love for you to impulse-buy rather than mindfully splurge.

Mindful splurging reflects your values and your passions.

Here are some of the few things I splurge on:

Organic milk. This is one of the few areas where I am willing to pay extra for organic. In our family, only the kids drink milk, and it is important for me to offer them milk that is "clean." Also, it keeps longer, not because it's organic, but because of the way it's pasteurized.
Cage free eggs. Hens kept in cages get bored and peck their neighbors. As a result, on many farms, the hens' beaks are removed. I don't harbor any illusions that cage-free or even free range hens live active, frolicking lives, but it's important to me to know that the birds that laid my eggs at least had beaks.
Baby carrots. They cost around three times as much as regular carrots — but I don't snack on regular carrots. They're just not snackable. Even pre-cut into sticks, they are just not as good to me. Since eating vegetables is important to me, I spend extra for the baby carrots.
Brand-name diapers. With my first child, we did well with the least expensive store-brand diapers, but my current baby seems to have more sensitive skin. The name-brand ones do seem to absorb more. We use Luvs, the cheapest of the name-brands, which do a fine job.

I want to know what you splurge on. Do you have a blog on living frugally, getting out of debt, or making money? Tell us about your mindful splurges. Leave a link in the comments!

Using Cash Boldly

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:43:00 +0000

As a kid, I earned a cash allowance. Yet even so, I was conditioned against cash throughout my childhood. My mother always warned me about waving cash around where people could see it because they might try to steal it. And it was so easy to lose. Later, when I was a teenager, I was ashamed to make purchases with cash. It seemed so unsophisticated. I could not wait to have my own plastic or checks like an adult.

Now my fundamental view of cash has changed. You can't spend money you don't have with cash. No bounced checks. No credit card debt. If you can't afford it, you are incapable of buying if you use cash. It's both a method and a symbol of controlling one's spending.

But I realized I am still affected by my conditioning against cash. When I pull bills out of my envelopes to make a purchase, I tend to treat it like it's my underwear or something. I'm embarrassed that someone will actually see it.

My goal for the next week or two is to be bold when I use cash. Be obvious about it. Let people see it. Be proud of it. Using cash is counter cultural, and you can't be counter cultural if you are timid about it.

Salmonella Bacteria in Cat and Dog Food

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:00:00 +0000

All babies eat cat food, right? Well, at least all babies who share their homes with cats. Dogs are less likely to leave food behind for baby to snack on, but I suppose it's possible.

Scientific American reports that 79 people in the United States have gotten sick after eating pet food contaminated with the bacteria Salmonella enterica. Most of those are under age two, which is only to be expected, since most people over age two have the good sense not to eat pet food.

As with other food potentially contaminated with bacteria, such as raw meat and poultry, it may be a good idea to treat dry pet food as a potential source of cross contamination. Wash food bowls after every feeding, and wash your hands after feedings your cats and dogs.

No pet illnesses are reported. I could tell you the probably reason why, but that would be off-topic. This is not my science blog; this is. Suffice to say that carnivores are not very susceptible to getting sick from spoiled meat. (If you are really curious, leave a comment and perhaps I will elaborate on my science blog.)

Creating a Budget When You Don't Know Your Income

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:09:00 +0000

My husband recently took a new job with a modest raise. We are not eligible for health insurance for 90 days, so that expense won't come out of our paycheck until around January. They pay biweekly on a schedule offset from his previous job's schedule, which means his first paycheck was for only half a pay period.

It will be nearly two weeks before we know what his take-home pay will be.

How do you create a budget with that kind of uncertainty? Simple: you estimate.

I multiplied the one-week check by 1.8 to estimate the amount of the normal two-week check. Why 1.8 instead of 2? Because most payroll software calculates taxes on the amount of the check, not the annual income, so a bigger check will have a larger amount of tax deducted. I think this is a conservative approach.

The resulting November budget does not put much toward our debt snowball. On the other hand, that is because a great deal is being saved for various anticipated expenses: Christmas, the HOA fee (due January 1), vehicle registrations (both due in January), tire repair or replacement for one vehicle which keeps going flat, and doctor visits (I mentioned we won't have health insurance for 90 days, didn't I?). If our income estimate was low, we can take from one or more of these categories, and replace it in next month's budget. If the income estimate is high, we can add more to the debt snowball.

I hate the uncertainty of not knowing what our take-home pay will be. But there is no reason why we can't create and live on a zero budget in the mean time.

Halloween Humbug

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000

I confess that I am a Halloween humbug. I just don't care for the whole thing. It's not a real holiday (do people get the day off work? are the banks closed?) and it is not terribly clear what it "celebrates" (death? fear?).

We dress up the kids, take them trick-or-treating, and hand out candy to the neighbor children. We like pumpkins. But I don't go any further. No Halloween lights, no fake spider webs, no weird sound effects coming from speakers near my door.

Being a Halloween humbug means I don't appreciate other people's Halloween decorations. Autumn-themed decorations are nice, but death-themed ones, not so much. They're eyesores, to be frank.

You want your front yard to look like a cemetery? Really? You want a decaying skeleton on your mailbox? Are you sure about that?

I don't have principled reasons behind my humbuggery. It's an aesthetic thing. Halloween makes people forget their good taste. Even the colors are ugly.

Am I the only Halloween humbug? Do you enjoy creepy Halloween decor? Or would you, like me, rather skip straight to Thanksgiving cornucopias and corn stalks?

A Tour of My Purse

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Jennifer F. of Conversion Diary invented this meme: a photo tour of your purse. She seemed to think people might find it boring. Hello, Jennifer! This is teh Internets! People love being voyeurs here — and exhibitionists. Case in point: I'm sharing my purse too!

I must have cleaned it out recently, because it contains surprisingly little detritus — very unusual for my purse. An odd bit of trash or two did not make it into the photos.

Coach brand handbags are all the rage in my area. I am much too cheap for Coach. It's amazing that my purse has a name brand at all (Fossil). It was on clearance, what can I say? Its predecessor came from a craft booth at some event and was replaced when it could no longer be held together with safety pins. Notice the Precious Feet pin. I'm hoping one of my pro-choice friends will ask me about them at some point.

The main compartment in the middle contains only my wallet and Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University envelope system. The wallet contains NO CREDIT CARDS (only my debit card). The envelope system contains $12, which is all we have left of our monthly food budget. Oh well; we are still working out the kinks of the budget. Confession: I used the debit card to buy food today and to get $10 of those $12.

The snap pocket is usually the least cluttered because it's not as easy to access. I have the special cleaning cloth for my glasses (I concealed the name brand, but they're the ones where the guy in the restroom hallucinates that his eyes are talking to him), and an Epipen Jr. for my older son, who is allergic to fire ants. I hope I never have to use it, but I keep it handy just in case.

Finally, my cell phone. (Oh look, I have voice mail!) I have actually been meaning to write a post about how we save money with our cell phone plan. Guess I'll save the story for another post.

Not pictured are my keys. I keep those in a designated place in the house; otherwise they would be frequently lost, variously in my pocket, in my purse, or on a random surface. I try to be very disciplined about putting those keys in the same place every time I enter the house.

Like Jennifer, I can't stand the idea of being caught waiting with nothing to do. When I think I may have to wait somewhere, I try to bring a book with me. There are usually one or two books or magazines in each vehicle. And my diaper bag currently contains not one, but two pencil puzzle magazines.

That's it for my purse. What's in yours?

First debt is paid off!

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:08:00 +0000

"If I were assured of your eventual destruction I would, in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept my own."

So said Sherlock Holmes to his nemesis Moriarty in "The Final Problem." Fortunately, destroying our Moriarty did not require anybody's destruction. It did require us to finally receive some money we have been waiting for. Using some of that money to work on getting debt free was a priority.

In fact, Moriarty is more than dead. It was overpaid by $15 due to a miscommunication with the company. And here is the evidence of his demise from my bank's website.

Goodbye, Moriarty! We won't miss you!

Shopping for Cheap, Nutritious Food

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

Bright Hub has a good article on saving money while shopping for nutrient-dense food. This is an important issue if you are trying to save on your grocery bill, since it seems the cheapest foods are often the least nutritious (think ramen noodles and boxed macaroni & cheese).

When is it worth it to spend a little extra for improved nutrition? Barilla Plus pasta, for example, is made with legumes and is higher in protein and fiber than regular pasta with a comparable taste (unlike whole wheat pasta, which is, let's admit it, gross). But it also costs twice as much. I think this is often worth it; regular pasta is quite bad for people trying to control triglycerides (a category recently joined by my dear husband), not to mention diabetics. And as the article points out, foods with better nutrient profiles are more satisfying, so you need to eat less. Of the "big three" nutrients — protein, carbohydrate, and fat — protein also keeps you feeling full the longest. My personal experience is that it works better even than high-fiber food to maintain that feeling.

Do you know of any good "deals" on cheap but nutritious foods?

OH NOES! Teh stock market is collapsing!

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:00:00 +0000

Stock prices are down. Down, down, down. And I've been surprised to hear people talking about cashing in their stocks.

The mass media seem to portray the stock market as something that reflects fundamental objective reality (like a textbook), or something that controls our destiny (like a god), or something that tells us what to do with our money (like Ann Landers). The truth is that it is a market. It's about buying and selling. And buying and selling are heavily influenced by emotion.

The stock market is ruled by the basest and most fickle human traits: greed and fear.

When the market is down, that is the worst time to cash in your investments. You're supposed to buy low and sell high, remember? This is the time to buy and hold. Buy diverse, that is, and hold for at least five to ten years.

Dave Ramsey says the stock market has never lost money on any single ten-year period. Even during the Great Depression, if you bought diverse stock at any point and held it for ten years, you would have made money.

When the Dow is sinking like the Titanic, don't go buying in the stock market for the short-term, and don't gamble on any single stock -- but above all don't sell the long-term investments you have. Keep the college fund and the retirement accounts! If you have liquid cash, consider buying more! It's on sale.

I Want My Laptop Back

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:46:00 +0000

The biggest inconvenience with my laptop is the power cord. To me, it looks like a black rubberized electrical cord. To my baby, it looks like a game, a treasure, and a meal all in one. He tugged on it one too many times, until the power jack inside the computer broke. It's in the shop now.

I want my laptop back. My desktop is slow, it doesn't have all my bookmarks, and it's not in the TV room. Those are all problems I could have predicted. But I didn't anticipate every troublesome aspect of using the desktop. I also have a four-legged problem.

We have a new kitten. (In LOLspeak, we can has new kitteh.) He just jumped on the keyboard and did a Google Adsense keyword search for lkjlknk.

I miss my laptop!

Sound Not Working? A Fix for Vista

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:01:00 +0000

The other day my computer crashed. I mean blue screen of death crashed. It even said "Blue Screen Error."

When I rebooted, my computer's sound didn't work anymore. The control panel said "No audio device is installed." The computer's ability to recognize the built-in speaker (which always worked before) was gone, vanished, kaput.

A Google search revealed that this is not an uncommon problem with Windows Vista. (Shocking, I know.) There were lots of questions in various forums around the web and not a whole lot of answers. People reported having reinstalled everything under the sun with no luck. I even found a YouTube video on fixing broken sound, but it was a video of a guy talking — you had to have sound to get the information on how to fix your sound.

Luckily, there was one answer to one forum post: System Restore.

I ran System Restore, and the wizard said it didn't work. But the sound on my computer works again. I'm not sure if that's a fail or a win, but the bottom line is that just trying System Restore worked when Vista declared "No audio device is installed."

I'm posting this in the hope that someone Googling for the same problem finds this solution useful someday. If that's you, post a comment!

Seven hundred billion or else

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:31:00 +0000

Here's what you could do with $700,000,000,000 (from jbreazeale, from dihard):

Give every person in the US $2,300 or give every household $6,200. (Think about it another way: this will cost each person in the US $2,300.)
Pay the income taxes of every American who makes $500,000 or less a year.
Fully fund the Defense, Treasure, Education, State Veterans Affairs and Interior departments next year, as well as NASA.
Buy gasoline for every car in the US for 16 months.
Buy every NFL, NBA, and MLB team and build each one a new stadium - and pay your players $191 million each for a year
Create the 17th largest economy in the world - roughly equal to that of the Netherlands.
Or you could pay off just 7% of the $9.8 trillion national debt

But to hear about half of Washington D.C. and most of the people I've heard on the radio talk, instead we MUST buy a bunch of bad debt with it RIGHT NOW OR THE SKY WILL FALL IN ON OUR HEADS!

I wonder what you think of Dave Ramsey's so-called "Common Sense Fix"? It certainly sounds like a better idea than what was defeated in the House yesterday.

My first child

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:50:00 +0000

I have never done a meme in Blogger before, but I was tagged by Mile Hi Mama, so how could I refuse?

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? My first child was quite deliberately adopted, so there was no moment when we first "found out" we would have a child. But there was a moment when our child went from being a "theoretical baby" to an "actual baby," when we got a referral with a photo, a name, and a history. Those who know me in person know that I am usually reserved, but I recall hugging my usually hands-off co-workers.

3. How old were you? 27

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? When we got the referral, I was at work, where the agency called me. I was helping a new employee get situated, so I wasn't at my desk, and they paged me overhead, which was pretty unusual. But it was an unusual phone call.

5. Who did you tell first? Probably whatever co-worker was standing next to me

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Keeping this a secret was not an option. We had to choose at the get-go. We said "either," so they put us on the boy list because it was shorter.

7. Due date: Once we got the referral, we knew the arrival would be several months later, but had no information beyond that. They were a tense few months, during which every phone call made us wonder if we would be heading to the airport soon.

8. Did you deliver your child early or late? We missed the Chinese New Year, during which our child's home country essentially closes down for a month. So I would say "late."

9. Did you have morning sickness? No.

10. What did you crave? Same old things. The advantage to doing it my way is that I got to keep drinking alcohol throughout the whole "pregnancy."

11. Who irritated you the most? Internet trolls.

12. What was your first child's sex? Male. Still is.

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? I maintained a svelte figure the whole time!

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? The whole process of adoption is complicated to begin with. We had to get fingerprinted by two different agencies and get visas from two different governments. We had to have a home study and almost needed a follow-up home study (expensive) because the delay was so long, the original one nearly expired. We had to undergo 20 hours of special training to be adoptive parents. There were more complications after arrival, including a misspelled birth certificate, a lost passport, and a three-year delay in getting a Social Security card.

15. Where did you give birth? The municipal airport

16. How many hours were you in labor? I can't even remember how long it was between the plane's scheduled arrival and the time the escort brought our child to us. It seemed like it was over an hour, but maybe it was less. Between the referral and arrival dates, five very long months. The total time from our first talk with the agency to arrival was just under 14 months.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? I don't remember who drove to the airport.

18. Who watched? My extended family.

19. Was it vaginal or c-section? Aviational.

20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Ah, no.

21. How much did your child weigh? 18 pounds. Now that's a big firstborn!

22. What did you name him/her? His first name is after a contemporary saint, one middle name is shared with his adoptive father and grandfather, and the other middle name is his birth surname.

23. How old is your first child today? Four

I tag Kimberly, Tammy, Katie, Susan, and Anna. And anyone else who may happen to read this post and who wants to participate. Leave a comment to link to your answers!

Hurricane Ike: Aftermath

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:58:00 +0000

In the area of northwest Houston and Spring where we live, enormous 100-foot Loblolly pines were snapped in two. Limbs the size of whole trees were scattered about.

Every yard was littered with fresh green tree limbs and branches. One neighbor's gutter was ripped off; another's ceiling collapsed after the roof sprung a leak; and a third had a huge limb fall on it, opening a large hole in the roof. We lost a single panel of trellis fencing, so I am considering us very lucky.

Our neighborhood has no power and our street is typically the last to have power restored when there is an outage. After hearing quotes ranging from two to four weeks for electricity restoration, we migrated to my sister Milehimama's house, also in the Houston area. Hers is a newer neighborhood with underground power lines and they have had electricity since earlier today.

Countless fences are down. But in northwest Houston, the damage is far less than that experienced by those on Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula. Some in the news media are making loud noises about not being allowed to see West Galveston or the Bolivar Peninsula. Bolivar was completely submerged by storm surge. The official death toll according to the TV news is nine in Texas, but that will doubtless rise.

Thanks be to God, we are all safe.

Hurricane Ike blog: Back after almost 48 hours

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:33:00 +0000

We lost power in pretty short order Friday night. Our house still needs power but we made it to my sister's house, which does have power. I only have a moment to update but will add more later — stay tuned!

Hurricane Ike: 9:45 p.m. local time

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:45:00 +0000

Live blogging Hurricane Ike continues. The outer eye wall is approaching the coast and should make landfall in a few hours. Here in northwest Houston, perhaps 50 miles inland, the wind is not yet intense. The effect is eerie, tree limbs waving against a dark sky. Sustained winds of 75-110 are expected right here from midnight until the early morning hours.

Eyewitness 13 news has their poor sports reporter out in the field. I imagine the most dangerous thing he expected to experience in his job was a flying baseball. Actually, flying objects are currently the most dangerous thing for him.

Chambers County, located east of Houston, is expected to be entirely inundated. Galveston Island, Port Bolivar and the Bolivar Peninsula, and High Island will experience sustained winds from 100-120 mph, and gusting hurricane force winds are reported from Galveston right now.

I will be keeping this up as long as I can. You can subscribe to make sure you get updates immediately. Over a million people are anticipated to lose power before this is over.

Hurricane Ike: 9:00 local time

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:02:00 +0000

Winds outside are ranging around 41-46 mph, according to the news.

This storm is flirting with Category 3, but the storm surge will be that of a Category 4 or Category 5 storm.

The eye is very wide, about 60 miles across. If the eye narrows, the winds in the eye wall will become much faster due to the conservation of momentum. Let's hope the eye stays large!

I wish so, so badly that we had had an opportunity to make plywood shutters. The windows are all taped so that in case of damage, flying glass will be lessened.

Our older child doesn't know what a hurricane is, but he is excited and doesn't want to go to bed. Our younger child is still a baby. The animals are spooked, but that could be attributed to the fact that a new kitten joined our household this week.

Hurricane Ike: Video of the winds before the storm

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:43:00 +0000

I took this video to show the wind intensity in northwest Houston about 7:00 p.m. This is the amount of wind you would expect from a run-of-the-mill thunderstorm. Hurricane force winds are yet to come, but will be here overnight so I won't be able to film them (even though we have unboarded windows).

Hurricane Ike: Photo post

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:02:00 +0000

I took these photographs around 7:00 p.m. local time.

I felt I was foolhardy to be driving around at that hour, as the wind was picking up quite a bit. This even more foolhardy person was taking advantage of the wind to fly a kite.

Many local business have boarded up their windows, and they have some choice words to say about Hurricane Ike.

"Friendly Donuts Open" (I doubt it.)
"Don't Like Ike Wife Beater!"

"Bring it on"
"Just Like... Ike and Tina..." (with picture of a hurricane)
"We're rollin' down the river" (with picture of a boat)

"Take A Hike IKE!" with picture of hurricane track

This neighbor created some art in their driveway for the storm.

Hurricane Ike: Texas Governor Rick Perry

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:45:00 +0000

Notes from the press converence with Texas Senator John Cornyn and Texas Governor Rick Perry:

The governor's office has urged the federal government to expand the federal disaster area from 25 Texas counties to 88 counties. They are asking for federal government to take over responsibility for debris removal, water pumping, and individual homeowner assistance.

Hurricane Ike will have a big effect on the national economy because 25% of refining capacity is expected to be lost. (No matter where you are in the country, go fill up all your vehicles!)

Hospital and nursing home residents from Brownsville, Texas, near the Mexico border, to Louisiana have already been evacuated.

***

Meanwhile, the clouds are getting darker outside our northwest Houston home. I prefer not to give out my address, but we are located in the vicinity of FM 1960 West and Kuykendahl Road. You can Google Map this. Hurricane-force winds will arrive here around midnight. The eye will arrive here around 5:00 a.m.

Hurricane Ike bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:59:00 +0000

Are you live-blogging Hurricane Ike? Leave a comment and I'll link to you in a future post.

Hurricane Ike: 4:45 local time

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:45:00 +0000

East Houston is beginning to flood near the East Freeway and Uvalde. See map for location. This flooding is due entirely to storm surge.
In Quintana, at least two houses, have been washed away. Quintana is due south of Houston and southeast of Galveston, on the coast near Freeport.
A huge warehouse fire has broken out in a building which normally stores and repairs boats. on the east end of Galveston Island. Firefighters have had difficulty getting ther. It reportedly contains two 500 gallon diesel fuel tanks.

Source: Channel 13 Eyewitness News

Hurricane Ike: 4:10 p.m. local time

noreply@blogger.com (Ginkgo100) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:10:00 +0000

It's cloudy outside with light breezes — no sign of the storm yet. That will change soon.

It has been reported that 10,000 people are already without power closer to the coast. Eight- to ten-foot storm surge is reported, and is expected to increase by ten more feet. Storm surge is nothing more than the rise of sea level. Waves are expected on top of the surge, which will do damage to buildings. Already a buoy off Galveston Island indicated 17 foot waves.

Blackhawk helicopters are evacuating residents near the coast.

Storm surge is not a big worry in our area. We are high enough above sea level, as well as high off street level.

Coming: What to expect from winds.