Just Before Hurricane Wilma Last Year

I can't believe I forgot about this and didn't mention it in my previous blog. But about a month prior, I had been looking for a new apartment. I had seen some places I wasn't interested in, one I was, but it was too expensive and then I came across the apartment I'm in now. The floor plan is exactly the same as my old apartment except that EVERYTHING was new. New paint, new boiler, new taps, new electric wiring, new fridge....new stove!!! So I decided to take it. It has great energy and it is clean.....no one else's gunk or funk is in there.

I made it so that I would have a window of 15 days to move into the new place. I didn't have a lot to move because I wasn't moving a lot of furniture, but it was enough to stress you out.

I signed the contract and paid so that I could move in on the 15th of October, 2005. The date I had to be out of my old apartment was October 31st...so I figured I could take my time about it all.

But here I was, presented with these images on the internet and talk of Wilma hitting us and being the biggest storm in the Atlantic. I could either remain in my current apartment at this point, or move.

I decided to move and I guess if we skip back a year I would have moved in last night. I did it all by myself, had the movers come and that evening I was in the new place. I remember telling the mover that I was sorry it was such short notice but since we didn't know what was going to happen with the storm I figured it was best to get it over and done with. Thank god for that.

(Special mention goes to Joyce at this time. When we were chatting about the hurricane the other night we were able to put the proper timeline in. Joyce remembers eating at Laguna Grill and feeling guilty that I was moving and she wasn't helping. It really was ok. I did have help but I sent it to hell. Because you know, in the end, "Soy el hombre de la casa" anyways. So thanks Joyce.)

So literally, I moved in about a day and a half before Wilma hit. I used that extra time to unpack and situate everything and also made a couple/several trips to the supermarket.

Actually, I think I hit a couple of supermarkets, Costco and the Oxxo a few times. You just really don't know how to prepare unless you've been in the situation previously. And previously we had over-prepared for no reason with Ivan and with Emily, while it was a bit of a pain, it certainly was not Wilma.

I remember the supermarkets being interestingly different. It was almost a silent stress. All bread and water was pretty much cleared out. People moving about in a slow quiet panic since they don't know what to buy just as much as I don't know what to buy.

Since I thought I was pretty much stalked up (I live alone but grew up in a family of 5...I don't know how to buy for one person. I buy in bulk. It's what I know. So as a result, I have lots of everything...ask Becky. She saw!), I went around and got an odd assortment of items. I remember finding canned ravioli at Soriana and no one else seemed interested in it but I felt like I had hit the gold mine. I also bought crackers and chips which I never usually buy. Cookies, apples, and any sort of non-perishable snack food. Mostly though, that canned ravioli sticks out the most. It ended up being the topic of an argument, breakfast and a gourmet meal to a guest of mine. So I suppose thats why all I can think of is that stupid RAVIOLI!

I also remember people looking at what everyone else was buying. It's almost as thought people had drawn a blank and that all they could think of was water, bread, candles and tape. So if you looked into other people's carts, you might just get an idea.

Oh, I forgot. Amazingly enough, you wouldn't believe how important beer and alcohol is when a major storm is to hit. I think I've seen less beer in tourist shopping carts. Because getting wasted will make it all go away and CERTAINLY hydrate you during desperate times....not to mention, lets add a lot of really salty chips to the mix.

You could see people boarding and taping up their windows. I remember that I should probably go buy a phone card and I did so for Kelly as well and also picked up some tape for her. I did tape up the windows in my old apartment. They were the slat kind, but I didn't do it in my new apartment because they were new windows with little squares that were all enforced.

I had just made the assumption that the bf wouldn't do much, but he actually did make an effort and bought some water and some other things which he contributed to. He's not much for taking things seriously. Just try to phone him when you really need to get ahold of him and you'll understand what I mean! But I digress....

LOL. That's all I can really remember in terms of my preparations. Since I am the bulk queen and all, once I was moved in there was really not much that I did.

Now it was just checking the satellite..........


......and waiting....waiting......watching....looking out the window.....and waiting......