yes, I am in houston.

when you've got the material, you've got to use it.

so, yesterday evening rebecca and I drove from austin to houston as a part of our week of research in texas. while we knew that hurricane rita was supposed to begin hitting the coast friday afternoon as a class two hurricane, we thought, 'ah, we're fine. we'll do our work, fly out on thursday night, all will be well.' well people, hurricane rita is now a class five hurricane. while it is not expected to hit until saturday a.m., the city of houston is evacuation mode. I was in one of the clerk's office when the staff was told to start packing up their belongings and preparing the office for disaster conditions. so, as I sat about searching for docket documents, people were scurrying about packing up their personal belongings and getting home to prepare their homes and families.

after basically being kicked out of all of the offices that we were to do work in this afternoon and tomorrow, rebecca and I went to chevron to experience our first gas line. the good preperation of the gas station meant that we only waited for twenty minutes, so nothing overly drastic there. nevertheless, the air is filled with a bit of fear and anticipation for what could happen. being very much the midwesterner that I am, I have no real idea of what is to come to this city. lots of rain, lots of wind, undoubtedly, but to what extent I have no idea.

while there is no way that we can do any record work now, we aren't leaving texas until tomorrow evening. it will be quite the experience to leave this city as the entire galveston coast area is forced to evacuate.