GLORIA

News about Ivan brings back memories of my own brush with Hurricane Gloria in 1985. The storm snapped or uprooted most of the trees in our back yard. Over the course of the next year, I learned how to swing an axe and how to stack wood. I also developed an unfortunate fear of strong breezes. . .

The NOAA has uploaded this enhanced satellite image of Gloria lumbering through Connecticut. If you look really really closely, you can see my family and me huddled at the northeastern edge of the red storm band around the eye.

SPEAKING AS A GIANTS FAN OF SORTS. . .

Speaking as a San Francisco Giants fan of sorts -- I've fallen in love with the city after two lovely trips there with Anita -- let me just say that I am glad that the Giants are facing their opponents in Miller park right now so that they won't have to face them at home.

Or something like that.

(Hint for those who haven't been paying attention to the idiotification of anti-terrorism discourse recently: this post has nothing to do with baseball, really. And, yes, indeed: the Giants want to play at home, and will be forced to do so before the week is out. Hmmmm.)