windsrprk’s BodyBlog

Wow, what a mess of a weekend! Patrick and I live on a third floor apartment and we were not sure how well the complex would handle a storm. During the night, we lost power around 3am. We could feel the building twist in the wind…a scary feeling to be sure! The wind howled and I heard a couple of car alarms go off, probably due to flying debris. We got up at 5:30am to peek out the window and could see the trees whipping around. The sun provided enough daylight to see around 7:30am. So far so good…no visible damage on any of the other apartment buildings, and no downed trees that we could see. Things seemed to calm down around 9am so we ventured outside for a quick look. There were a lot of leaves and small branches scattered all over the ground. Luckily, no trees landed on anyone’s car!

We went for a proper look around the complex about 12noon. This is when we discovered that there was quite a bit of damage. There were numerous roof shingles on the ground, and some of the buildings lost their hardiplank. One couple was inspecting the damage on their car. The driver’s side mirror was destroyed, probably by a flying roof shingle. Considering the severity of the storm, it is pretty lucky to have just minor damage! One building suffered major damage when the siding and everything underneath was torn off. There was a giant hole in the wall! We later saw a carpet cleaner van outside this apartment. We can only hope no one was home at the time of the storm.

We were without power for 18 hours. Patrick and I ate most of the food from the refridgerator. Fortunately our food supply was low since we typically shop on Sundays. This means we didn’t lose a lot of food, thank goodness! While our power is back on we are working with a different problem…no running water. Patrick suggested we use water from the nearby swimming pool to flush the toilets. He just finished boiling some of the pool water so we can somewhat bathe. This is preferable to no shower at all! hehe

It sounds like there were very few casualties from Hurricane Ike. There were some humorous moments like The Bear, The Chicken, and Geraldo losing his Blackberry to The Surge. We hope everyone affected by the storm is safe and sound!

Not much going on here show-wise. I have settled into the offseason, deciding not to compete for the remainder of the year. I will look at doing an INBF show in the late spring or early summer, depending on what is out there. The biggest news is Patrick and I got married! We went to Florida from August 17-24th and got married on the beach on August 19, 2008. Tropical Storm Fay didn’t bother us at all. There was off and on rain on Monday and Tuesday, then beautiful blue skies for the rest of the week. We enjoyed some sightseeing and shopping in South Beach and honeymooned in Key West. I’m not sure what gave us away as out-of-towners but every shop we walked into, we’d get asked the question "Where are you from?" Florida is so pretty and we’ll definitely go back there for another vacation. We have our sights set on attending the Arnold Classic in 2009. Can’t wait!