Category: Miscellaneous babble

With everyone focused on Hurricane Katrina, TD 13 has popped up east of the Lesser Antilles. This one looks like it might not be of much concern though. Still early though, and plenty of time to watch it.

A WEAK BUT LARGE SURFACE CIRCULATION HAS DEVELOPED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE TROPICAL WAVE EAST OF THE LESSER ANTILLES. THE DEEP CONVECTION IS DISORGANIZED AND IS LOCATED MOSTLY TO THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST OF THE CIRCULATION DUE TO NORTHEASTERLY SHEAR. INITIAL INTENSITY IS SET AT 25 KNOTS AND ONLY SLIGHT STRENGTHENING IS INDICATED IN THE FORECAST. THE DEPRESSION COULD REACH TROPICAL STORM STATUS DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

THE BEST ESTIMATE OF THE INITIAL MOTION IS 300 DEGREES AT 11 KNOTS. CURRENTLY THE DEPRESSION IS LOCATED ON THE SOUTHWESTERN EDGE OF THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE AND THIS PATTERN SHOULD KEEP THE CYCLONE ON A GENERAL WEST-NORTHWEST TRACK WELL NORTH OF THE LESSER ANTILLES. THE DEPRESSION WILL LIKELY TURN TO THE NORTHWEST BY THE END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD DUE TO A WEAKNESS IN THE RIDGE WHICH IS FORECAST TO BE PLACED ALONG 65 DEGREES WEST.

And a little further to the east is yet another tropical wave coming off the African coast that has potential to develop into something too. Looks like the storm conveyor belt has started back up again.

Got home the other day to see the lights on Roomba’s base station blinking and no power light on Roomba. Blinking on the base station means something’s wrong, and sure enough putting a volt meter on Roomba’s transformer brick showed fluctuating voltages. Not a good thing for something that’s supposed to be putting out DC power. I have a feeling it probably got knocked out by one of the brownouts/power surges from the storms we’ve been having lately.
Good news: I bought one of Best Buy’s 4 year service plans to go with Roomba. So I just take it in, have them fix/replace the transformer brick and Roomba’s back in action.
Bad news: Best Buy’s brick and mortar stores don’t carry Roomba, and the best they can do is issue me a refund in the form of a BestBuy gift card. But they tell me that I can use it to buy myself a brand spankin’ new Roomba from BestBuy.com!
More bad news: BestBuy.com doesn’t carry Roomba anymore.
Rats. Now all I have is a Best Buy gift card, and no Roomba. I’ll have to shell out more $ for a new Roomba from somewhere else, and find something to spend this gift card on.
Argh. If I’d known this was going to happen, I’d have just bought a replacement transformer brick to begin with.

Hurricane Katrina has its sights set on the rest of Florida now after dumping much rain and wind on the southern parts. With all that warm Gulf water to go over, Katrina will probably get even more intense.

STRENGTHENING TO A MAJOR HURRICANE IS EXPECTED. IN FACT…A RECENT DROPSONDE REPORT RECEIVED FROM THE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATES MAXIMUM WINDS ARE NOW UP TO 80 KT.

This morning as I’m puttering around getting stuff ready to head off to work, the thought pops into my head that it’s probably around that time when I need to call and schedule a routine eye exam. It’s been about 2 years since the last one so it’s time. I go to adjust my glasses on my face and pop…I hear a lens land on the floor and I suddenly have no depth perception and can’t see out of one eye.
Crap.
I’d had a problem with this when I first got the glasses and ended up having the lady at my eyeglass shop using an extra long screw and glue to hold it together. Now I have a feeling the threads are worn with age and it’s going to take some slightly more extreme measures to hold these glasses together until I can get new ones. With an eye appointment scheduled for tomorrow, that’s probably going to be at least a couple of weeks. Back to my eyeglass lady to see what she can do with them.
Maybe it’s time to ask my optometrist if that Lasik thing will work for me.
Update: My eyeglass lady was able to put my glasses back together with a new screw and a healthy application of clear nail polish. Hopefully this will keep everything together for the next couple of weeks until the new glasses come in. Maybe I’ll stop at the store and get some Crazy Glue on the way home…just in case.

An 8 AM update from the NHC upgrades TD12 to TS Katrina. Still heading through the Bahamas on the way to southern Florida.

RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT DATA INDICATES THAT TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWELVE HAS STRENGTHENED INTO TROPICAL STORM KATRINA…
SHORTLY BEFORE 8 AM EDT…REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE MAXIMUM SUSTAINED SURFACE WINDS IN THE TROPICAL DEPRESSION TWELVE HAD INCREASED TO AT LEAST 40 MPH …MAKING THE SYSTEM TROPICAL STORM KATRINA.