Hurricane!

But on day three of Hurricane Jeanne, as the kids and I were out looking for gas for the generator we found a Dominoes Pizza with a huge line in front of it. They were open!

Kite Fever was born from a passion of kiteboarding in the hurricane season of 2004, in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. Miami native Karen Beber Futernick and Californian professional kiteboarder Laurel Eastman, stuck inside the hotel while Hurricane Jeanne raged outside spoke of their mutual passion for kitesurfing and a shared idea – making trendy bags out of old kites.

There was a case last year where Hurricane Jeanne came through my neck of the woods (as well as other parts of FL). An entrepreneurial individual in Alabama was going to max out his business credit cards to buy generators, rent some moving trucks, and get these generators down to FL where people needed them. However, he was notified that the price he wanted to charge for the generators would be "too high", according to state anti-gouging laws. So, he scrapped the idea.

I would like to end tonight with this cool hurricane tracker thing my dad found. To the left of the screen is every hurricane for 2004 and those that have happened for 2005. Clicking on the names shows you its path. I would like to direct your attention to Hurricane Jeanne. This was clearly named after a typical woman. Look at the freaking path she took. She’s indecisive, she’s insecure, and fuck, it looks basically like she got lost and had to ask directions. “Umm, hi, umm, yeah, I’m kind of lost, can you tell me where Florida is…well, then do you know where the United States are, I have no idea where I am…no I don’t have a map, I can’t even fold one…” Jeez.

Those of you who live or have friends and/or relatives on the East Coast will be comforted to know that the Federal Aviation Association is managing post-hurricane recovery efforts using MindManager. The agency’s National Incident Management Program uses MM to map out virtually every aspect of the work involved in managing hurricane-related damage to about 1,300 commercial airports up and down the Atlantic coast. They started using it in the middle of Hurricane Jeanne last year, liked how fast it was to learn and the kind of picture it gave them of their recovery work, and so are using it this year as well.

I know all too well about hurricanes and cruises. Last year, Jim and I boarded the Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral for what was to be a 7-night cruise to the western Caribbean. That was right in between Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne. The cruise ended up lasting 9 nights - not 7 - because Hurricane Jeanne was bearing down on the path we were to take back to port. That sounds really cool because who wouldn't like to tack on an extra couple days to your vacation ... but the atmosphere was so hectic with people trying to reschedule travel plans and deal with work issues and school problems, that I was so ready to get off that ship when it was finally able to dock in Miami (Port Canaveral sustained some damage and was unable to allow us to dock where we started out).

Today, i finally booked my this year's summer holiday. My girlfriend and I are going to Skiathos. This is a beautiful small greek island with many awesome beaches. Last year, we already wanted to there but then we had a great offer to go to the Dominican Republic. There we experienced the Hurricane Jeanne which 'destroyed' a bit our holiday and which finished it earlier...

Kathy Gudwien and her brother Mike Sadlowski, a disabled Vietnam veteran, know what it's like to be homeless after Hurricane Jeanne destroyed their Lake Wales apartment complex. They slept in their car one night and then spent three weeks in a motel before landing in what some might consider a luxury temporary housing: a vacation condominium at the Grenelefe Resort.

You can blame it on Hurricane Francis' arrival in Brevard County last September. Or blame it on Hurricane Jeanne the same month.

But if the past predicts the future, a baby boom in Brevard is on the horizon. In fact, these pregnant women can attest to it.

"I consider this my hurricane baby," said Suzanne Fox Sevel of West Melbourne. "My mom wanted me to name him Francis, but we haven't chosen a name yet."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency forked over millions of dollars in disaster relief after four hurricanes slammed our state last year. But in recent months, the agency has been asking for some of that money back.

One Riverview couple was among those asked to return the cash, much to their surprise.

The Demoss home stood strong against the wind, but Hurricane Jeanne's water nearly destroyed it.

The Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort, formerly the Adam's Mark Resort, closed in September after Hurricane Jeanne rolled over the hotel's two towers.

Sopotnick said his officers anticipate opening this weekend a tenth of a mile stretch from the Crawford Avenue beach ramp to the graffiti wall, if tides cooperate. They also hope to open another half-mile from the 27th Avenue beach ramp north. This will be the first section of beach south of Flagler Avenue open to traffic since Hurricane Jeanne hit in late September.

Taken from my balcony as Hurricane Jeanne pounded the Tampa Bay area during 2004.

"In Hurricane Jeanne, I saw in South Beach about 100-plus surfers, and you had a cop bullhorning people in. The waves were one to three-foot. They weren't big, but there was a hurricane and they think there's this crisis."

The $354 million in the storm reserve, which took 11 years to build up, was exhausted by hurricanes Charley and Frances. There was nothing left in the fund to pay for damage caused by Hurricane Jeanne. Charley, Frances and Jeanne cost FPL and its customers $890 million - leaving a $536 million shortfall.

Too many of Brevard's 160,000 barrier island residents braved Hurricane Jeanne without evacuating, Lay said.

The storms caused about $45 billion in damage and were directly responsible for more than 3,000 deaths in Haiti, all from Hurricane Jeanne, and 60 in the United States -- from storm surge, tornados, flooding wind and rip currents.

Mainly, he'll look for better ways to get people to leave when storms such as Hurricane Jeanne aim our way.

Take hurricane season, when powerful waves pound the beach. This is not a time for beginners or inexperienced surfers, Schmidt cautions. "We don't like to bring students out into waves that are over three feet.

"If you're gonna start charging bigger waves, you got to be a good swimmer," he says. "I've done 6-, 9-, 10-, 12-foot waves, and when you wipe out on a wave like that, it tends to hold you under. You gotta have lung capacity and know how to swim and stay calm in those situations.

"In Hurricane Jeanne, I saw in South Beach about 100-plus surfers, and you had a cop bullhorning people in. The waves were one- to three-foot. They weren't big, but there was a hurricane and they think there's this crisis."

Hurricanes aside, surfing is "extremely relaxing; it's spiritual ... You're on your surfboard riding some waves. What could be better than that?"

This blog has some of the most comprehensive coverage on hurricanes as they take place. Click on the link to see how many hurricane and media resources were available in one place.

Quick Summary: Hurricane Jeanne made landfall at 11:50 p.m. EDT Saturday at the southern end of Hutchinson Island – 5 miles southeast of Stuart, and within walking distance of Sewalls Point, where Hurricane Frances made landfall exactly three weeks ago. Jeanne made landfall as a Category 3 storm with 120 mph maximum sustained winds. Reports from Florida include six deaths, flooding, roof and mobile home damage, downed trees and power lines, and more than 1.1 million homes and businesses without power. Jeanne is now nearing southern Georgia as a tropical storm and is expected to move east of Atlanta before heading up to North Carolina by Tuesday. Current watches/warnings here