A Change of Scenery

Because it's Mrs. Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk's birthday, we've decided to get out of town for a quick weekend. The goal was to go somewhere where we'd never been and didn't know anybody. In this case, that meant Minneapolis--we wanted to see how it had survived the Republican onslaught. We'll play it by ear to see how we spend the rest of the weekend (anybody got any tourist ideas--the guy at the car rental place was nonplussed when I asked him).

We'll also be keeping an eye on Ike in the Gulf. I can't vouch for this in any way, but while we were waiting for the plane to take off at about 6:30, a woman behind us was on the phone to a friend, and she told of a phone message she'd received a few minutes earlier. She'd been planning to visit a friend in Galveston next weekend, but he'd called her sobbing, saying that his house--only a block from the seawall--was gone. I don't know whether it was because of flooding or wind, but the main storm itself was still more than a hundred miles from landfall. Certainly. Our thoughts tonight are with those in Galveston and Houston and surroundings. If you happen to actually know anyone (and having spent my college career in Texas, I certainly do), then your attention is focused even more so. Whether they evacuated or not, they're likely in for a rough few days.