'Some days go on forever, sometimes the weatherman says rain'

1. Isabel, 2. Ivan, 3. Cindy, 4. Katrina, 5. Rita, 6. Ernesto, 7. Humberto, 8. Fay, 9. Gustav

Tomorrow is a special day. It's my blog's first birthday. It's also the day that Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to douse the eastern seaboard. One of the biggest pitfalls of living in subtropical paradise was the likelihood for violent storms to roll through the region, wreaking havoc, flooding my apartments, leaving death and destruction in their wakes. When I left New Orleans in the spring, I was quite happy at the thought of getting out of Dodge before another hurricane season. And with Gustav's pummeling the region earlier this week, I can see that I left not a moment too soon.

But now, come hurricane season, I've been lulled into a false sense of security on the east coast -- thinking I'm safe and secure in my high-ish ground, miles inland position. Yeah, not so much. I should have known it was too good to be true. Hurricanes have been following me all over southeastern coastlines -- and inland mountain valleys (thanks, Isabel '03) -- for the past five years.

So now it's time to batten down the hatches and hunker down. Here's hoping this apartment doesn't flood!