Football, Elections and Weather

In terms of football, the Texas Longhorns are #1 in the country yet again. They have a big matchup in Lubbock this weekend against Texas Tech, who I am still upset at for ripping my heart out on New Year's Day this year. Gameday will also be there.

UVa had a huge win this weekend, on the road in Atlanta, beating nerds from Georgia Tech by a touchdown. We are in the "also receiving votes" tally now, and could move up if we beat our homecoming opponent, Miami (who schedules these things??!). If you remember, last year we beat Miami 48-0 in the last game ever to be played in the Orange Bowl. Right now we're riding a 4 game win streak and in sole possession of 1st place in the Coastal Division of the ACC.

The election is also next Tuesday, and despite everyone's best efforts, it looks like we won't be putting two Mavericks in the White House, and instead voting in a Socalist. Tonight Barack had a sickening self-serving ad that ran for 30 minutes on the major networks plus some cable channels just before the World Series game 5 (which was postponed from Monday because of rain, snow, wind & cold) resumed in the 6th inning. Well, us Republicans can at least emulate the Democrats in critizing every move Obama makes. I thought about going to the polls early, however with so many people voting early, it appears that election day actually won't be that bad (let's hope!).

Finally, it's gotten really cold all of the sudden here in Atlanta (and the rest of the east). I don't know if we've officially had our first freeze, but temperatures have been in the 30's on multiple occasions, and with the winds, the days haven't been much better. The orange & blue pansies are in, and the grass is growing quite well, and will be cut for the first time on Saturday once I get my mower back (and I got my 10 week exemption which lasts through Christmas to water that grass!). Kentucky had some flurries, and some parts of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have actually gotten some decent snow!

Potential Kyle near Hispanola, Football season in full effect

There is a disbturbance vaguely around Puerto Rico and Hispanola that is bringing lots of rain to that area (but not really so much for Haiti fortunately for them), and could become Kyle at any time (or at least a tropical depression). Early word is that it may become a minimal hurricane and strike the New York or New England coast, however until it becomes a system, it is almost impossible to know where it would go.

I'm headed to Athens, Georgia (assuming there are adequate gas supplies to get me there!) for the Top 10 matchup of Alabama at Georgia this weekend. It is a "blackout" and UGa is wearing their black jerseys. Very exciting. Meanwhile UVa is struggling and is not favored against Duke (who is having, for them, a somewhat amazing season). Argh.

Gustav, possible Hanna and football season

Gustav update: The tracks for Gustav are a mess because unexpectedly, Gustav jogged south this morning and is now expected to go around the southern coast of Jamaica instead of the northern coast. New models are being run now, but basically the model tracks mean nothing. However "officially" the track has it possibly making or having made landfall somewhere between Corpus Christi and Panama City. Winds are at 70 mph and the pressure is 988, and Gustav should be a hurricane again possibly within the hour.

There are no decisions yet on evacuating New Orleans or other surrounding parishes, and the LSU game, for now is still going on schedule. Evacuations could still start as early as Saturday afternoon, and contraflow could start Sunday. This is mainly due to the fact that now it seems if the track still has Gustav headed towards NOLA or just west, it won't be until Tuesday morning, probably as a Category 3. My trip to New Orleans next week however is already cancelled.

TD-8 formed as well this morning, and it could be Hanna within the next hour. Right now the storm is pointed towards Palm Beach, however within 5 days from now (next Tuesday morning) it would still be only as close as eastern Bahamas.

Today is the start of football season, and I'm headed to the Georgia Tech v. Jacksonville State game, which should be exciting in that Ryan_Perrilloux, formerly of LSU, will be the starting QB for the JSU Gamecocks and GT is unveiling its brand new offense. Also, the Gameday tents are all set up in the middle of Centennial Olympic Park for the big Alabama v. Clemson game at the Georgia Dome on Saturday. I'm nervous for our (Virginia) game against Southern California in Charlottesville, but figure it's a win-win...either we lose big and it's as expected, or we win and our stock goes way up.

More updates through the day.

11 AM UPDATE: Gustav is still at 70 mph but could become a hurricane at any time. The track has settled out to hitting Houma/Lafourche Parish, Louisiana on Tuesday as a Category 3. Hannah has also been named, and is still headed towards Florida.

Fay is finally a thing of the past as the last advisory has been issued on her. She moved from North Jackson County, Alabama, through Niota, Tennessee, near Exit 56 of I-75, up past the Cumberland Gap at the VA/TN/KY border, and at 5 AM was located near Williamsport, Kentucky in Johnson County. Here is her path.

No update on evacuations yet, but those plans are all ready to go at any minute.

Also, John McCain will announce his VP selection today or tomorrow...I hope it's Romney.

Major update

1) Last time I checked in, I was about to head to the MTSU/UVa game in Murfreesboro...that was a barn-burner but it all worked out as UVa came away victorious with a last-second field goal. Then we won again against UConn and even more surprisingly at Maryland. Then we blew a late lead against NCSU, and as it stands now, we are 7-2, going into a game against Wake who is newly ranked and surging. We shall see...but you know what I'll be doing at noon Saturday EDT.

2) Speaking of EDT, we finally (and unfortunately) go back to Eastern Standard Time this week. This is the end of the new & improved Standard Time.

3) Atlanta still has no water. We have been under a "no outdoor watering" ban since the end of September. Now the various jurisdictions are slowly chipping away at the exemptions. I still wash my car (illegally), but I figure I'm using water from a bucket I keep in the shower and using a lot less water than the commercial car washes (which are not illegal). As it stands, supposedly our clean drinking water supply will run out sometime around 1/9/08. Some people in the metro area are already stockpiling water. It'll be very interesting (and scary) to see how this turns out.

4) Even though there is no guarantee it will grow, this weekend I aerated and then planted the winter rye. I would love to water it right now, but it's not in the cards, so I'm hoping it comes up on its own, esp. after being trampled on by kids during the Halloween madness.

5) Finally, Tropical Storm Noel could brush past extreme southeastern Florida on Wednesday or Thursday. It doesn't look it'll do more than cause beach erosion, however, it would be a minor miracle if it kept jogging left and went up through Georgia. Doesn't look like that's in the cards though. However it will almost definitely ruin Miami-Dade and Broward Halloween Trick-or-Treat plans, and Tropical Storm Watches may be posted at any time today.

Drought worsening...trip to Nashville soon!

First the good news...I'm about to leave for Nashville, where we have a party tonight with fellow UVa alums, and then we're headed down to Murfreesboro tomorrow during the day where we'll tailgate and then hopefully watch the Wahoos beat up on Middle Tennessee State.

Also, the drought is ever worsening. It looks like Athens-Clarke and some surrounding counties may not have drinking water after about December 21, based upon the current reservoir levels, the amount of rain, the forecasts, and current water usage. They have more strict programs in place than we do, not allowing car washes or some nurseries to operate. UGa may be forced to close in mid-November if there is no rain, as there will be no running water on campus. Now this is getting scary and Katrina-like.

As for hurricane season, there are many areas of interest but nothing seems looming.

NEWSFLASH: All watering banned in North Georgia

As of yesterday, northern Georgia is in a Level 4 drought, meaning NO watering, except for minor exceptions like golf course greens & 30 days to water landscaping installed by a professional. Yikes. All of the area in Georgia north of this line is affected.

I guess its sneaking around with a watering can for me...my poor yard! Now the question becomes can I overseed this winter since I won't be able to water the seeds in. We shall see.

In Hurricaneland, Melissa formed, but there is nothing else out there, and at this point Karen does not appear to be a threat. However she still bears monitoring.

Finally, GO HOOS! BEAT PITT!