Typing in the calm before the storm...

Lakeland is ohhhhh so quiet this early morning. The rain bands have not reached us yet, and it feels humid, sticky for so early. Guess I'll walk over to the 7-11 in a bit and load up on the Pepsi 2 liters before they run out.

Frances is still a Catagory 2 hurricane, and although the weather types are saying it could strengthen to a Cat 3 before landfall early Sunday, I frankly have my doubts. We'll see.

There will be a LOT of really PISSED OFF PEOPLE when this is over, because one phrase you will be hearing a lot about is...DOUBLE DEDUCTABLE. Those poor folks who suffered damage from Charley and after this hurricane submit claims for both storms will learn quickly that two events --- two hurricanes --- mean two deductables. And you know that considering the losses the insurance companies are experiencing because of Charley and expect to have from Frances, they will fight tooth and nail to maintain that, while consumer advocates and others will seek to help customers by asking companies to do the right thing and waive the double deductable. There is some precedent to waiving the double: A few years ago when two storms hit the US Virgin Islands only a few days apart, the insurance companies did just that.

Here are some local links to keep up with how Polk Countians are finding out the latest:

Bay News 9: Bright House Networks' regional 24 hour cable news service Based in Pinellas Park, it serves Bright House customers throughout much of the Tampa Bay area.

WFTV 9: Orlando's ABC affiliate, it is the only Orlando station we are able to receive on the local Bright House cable system (Polk County is actually in the Tampa/St. Petersburg media market). Residents in eastern Polk are actually closer to Orlando, and a number that live in northeastern Polk work at one of the area's attractions (Disney, Universial, Sea World). One of their biggest complaints with the cable company is that they should have a seperate tier to receive Orlando broadcast stations instead of those from Tampa/St. Pete.

Lakeland Ledger: Oh yes, our daily rag. Actually, it's a very good newspaper to find out what's going on. Very good detail in local hurricane coverage.

WFLA 8: Tampa/St. Pete's NBC affiliate, it's the best of the bunch in the market. Their new weather toy, VIPIR (Voulmetric Imaging and Processing of Intergrated Radar), worked rather well during Charley.

Well, today I guess when I'm not here at the 'puter or keeping up with Frances I'll be laying back enjoying Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of The Worlds (1978).