"They Call the Wind Maria"

There has been a wind advisory all day today and it is still in effect until 10:00 pm tonight  We've had winds of 20-30 m.p.h. with gusts as high as 50 m.p.h.  That's windy!  In fact, Hurricane force winds begin at 70 m.p.h., just to put it into perspective!    There was no precipitation accompanying the wind.  In fact it was most sunny outside....with a lot of blowing!

Trees and shrubs are bending and whipping around, and fences are blowing down all over town.  Tree branches and yard debris litter lawns and parking lots.  Dust and dirt fill the air at times, looking very much like a dust storm that you often see in open desert-y kinds of terrain.  Street signs and stoplights are bouncing around in the wind and look none too secure.  I didn't see any that actually came loose, but it wouldn't have surprised me if it did happen!

I was having lunch in a restaurant this afternoon and the lights flickered and went out  about 5 or 6 times.  Every time the lights when out and the emergency lights came on, you could hear a chorus of groans and muffled yells of frustration coming out of the kitchen.  As I mentioned it was a mostly sunny day, so the seating areas of the restaurant were not plunged into darkness periodically.  There were lots of windows, so you could still see.  The kitchen however, is buried in the middle of the building with no windows at all.  I surely wouldn't want to be slicing, dicing, or frying something in the almost dark!  And after the sun went down, the almost dark was probably a lot darker!

The servers said that it had been happening all day.  The lights didn't stay out for long, probably no more that 30-45 seconds, but when it happens 5 or 6 times in an hour for about 5 hours, that's got to be annoying!  The servers also said that every time the lights go out, of course, that means that the computers go out too.  That was wreaking havoc on orders to the kitchen and on creating the bills for customers, because unlike light bulbs which immediately re-light when the electricity comes back on, computers took a long time to get back up and running again.  I overheard part of a conversation from a table across from me, and learned that the mini-outages had been happening in the nearby mall as well.

To give credit where due, however, my lunch was not affected at all that I could tell.  It was served in a timely manner and was piping hot just as it should have been.  Kudos to the staff of The Olive Garden.  Nice job guys!

It is frequently windy in Austin, partly due to all the hills and valleys (I think), but today was over the top.  Because of the high winds they have also issued a fire weather alert.  The wind could quickly fan the smallest spark into a major wildfire.  Since the wildfires of a couple of winters ago in several sections around Austin, everyone is aware that, yes, it could happen here again!  So they are a bit more vigilant about fire safety.

I have never much cared for wind.  I'm a small (okay....short) person and if I'm outside, some of those gusts can make me feel like I could just be picked up and blown away.  Strong winds usually mean that a cold front is moving into the area, so usually the winds are cold too.  The wind chill for today as 49F while the actual temperature was in the low 60s.   This kind of wind blows cars around on the road and that is not a great feeling either!  As I sat in my car for a few minutes after lunch, I was bouncing around just like I was flying into turbulence at 30,000 ft!  It was disconcerting!

Since I got home, the winds have died down a little.  I can still hear things outside so it's still pretty blowy out there, but it's not too bad.  The good news is I don't see any evidence that the power went out (clocks are still correct) and our fence seems to be all in one piece, thank goodness.

According a lovely musical, named Paint Your Wagon, "....the rain is Bess, the fire Joe, and  They Call the Wind Maria", but today in Austin, they just call it a pain in the rump-us room!

"Another One Bites the Dust"

WARNING:  This post is about smoking, those of us who still smoke, and those who would grind it out of existence.  If you don't like smoking or reading about smoking, then don't read this!  

I am a fairly recent transplant to Austin so I had no opportunity to cast my ballot against efforts to legislate and control smoking by adults with the city limits.  Austin prohibits smoking in restaurants, public buildings, and a bunch ofother places, including bars!

There has been all this panic about how dangerous smoking is and how second hand smoke is even worse.  And one by one cities and states have surrendered to the rabid and fanatic crusaders who seem to think that their opinion is more important than mine.

I have always found it very telling that there has been very little effort anywhere to ban the sale of cigarettes completely. This country still subsidizes tobacco growing, for Pete's sake!!  Sooo, its okay to grow tobacco and its okay to sell tobacco, but not to smoke tobacco??  How hypocritical!!  All that lovely tax revenue, advertising money, etc. is a cash cow that the government freely and expediently takes and uses with no qualms.  If cigarettes, cigars, and pipes would disappear, so would all that money!   Can't have that!   So instead, we'll just hound smokers every single day and label them pariahs and outcasts!

About 30 years ago, after Koop's diatribe against smoking, we smokers began accommodating the escalating demands of non-smokers. Since then we have graciously given up smoking in our offices, our businesses, stores, restaurants, bars, and indoors in general so as not to offend anyone. Many smokers have even stopped smoking in their own homes lest the "taint" that a smoker lived there adversely affect the resale of those homes! (Including me, I only smoke in my garage or outdoors at home!)  And am I the only one who finds it fascinating to note how many people are smoking in cars!  Unfortunately, in an effort to avoid "offending" others and to be "cooperative" and a "good guy", smokers have pretty much given up without a fight.

I recognize the rights of non-smokers to choose not to smoke, but I do not believe that means smokers have no rights at all.


Smokers' willingness to completely bend to the will of others has only fed the endlessly increasing demands by non-smokers! Like all bullies, the more non-smokers can intimidate others, the stronger and more unreasonable their demands become. It is time to stop this onslaught of one group of individuals' rights at the expense of anothers'.

Now I am not naive.  I know we lost the war, the very first time some smoker agreed to put out his cigarette at the demand of someone else without protest.  What doesn't make sense to me is that no matter what "victory" the non-smokers win, it is NEVER enough.  Lots and lots of people do not frequent bars, taverns, saloons, bowling alleys, poolhalls, cocktail lounges, or casinos.  In fact, a lot don't even frequent restaurants much at all.  Never mind, some of them still voted to ban smoking in all those places!  Why??  What earthly difference could it make to them? 

While sitting in a legal smoking section usually in the bar, I have personally seen restaurant patrons separated by a glass wall and sitting as far away as possible, start to cough and fan themselves as soon as they see me pick up a cigarette....before its even lit!!!  That is absurd!  Truly!  (I can't help but laugh, I mean, really!)

Now in Austin there is only one place left for us to go. Hooter's!  No other place where it is still possible to have a meal, a drink, and a cigarette indoors, sitting down, and in peace!  Great choice!!  Excuse me, but I find Hooter's offensive.  I don't want to support a place that treats women so horribly!  I have been there.  I have watched a bunch of drunken louts sit and ogle and insult  the  waitstaff women with their breasts spilling out of their "uniforms".

That's it though, only Hooter's is left of those places which were "grandfathered" out of required compliance.  One, in a city of approximately 5,000 restaurants/bars!

If non-smokers don't like having smokers in the same building with them, then they should go somewhere else, just like smokers have had to do for years. Believe me, there are scores of places that are completely smoke-free! There are plenty of choices.  One by one we smokers have watched as smoking sections have disappeared from their favorite restaurants.  If an establishment is willing to accommodate the gazillion restrictions requiring separate ventilation, separate rooms, separate everything, let them do it in peace!


But no.  We've all let the bullies take over.   I really think they could have figured out that being in the proximity of a smoker is NOT an automatic death sentence.  Even the experts agree that breathing in second-hand smoke becomes dangerous after exposure over a long period of time, NOT after spending an hour or so in a restaurant that has a completely separate smoking section!  

Just outside of Austin, in the town of Cedar Park, TX. there is a Chili's restaurant and bar.  Cedar Park appears not to have a no smoking ordinance.  I have been driving the approximate 15 miles from my house to that restaurant for lunch several times a week for the past 2-3 years.  I drive past about 50 other restaurants on my way, including another Chili's.  Why??  They still have smoking allowed in the bar and it is legal.  There is a separate ventilation device and a wall separating the bar from the restaurant.  But as we all know (ha!) those measures are totally ineffective and folks who brave the smoky, smelly, unhealthy restaurant air will curl up and die of lung cancer before they can consume their dessert!

Last week Chili's posted a single piece of paper on the exit door, "As of March 1, 2010 Chili's will become a non-smoking restaurant."  Based on complaints received and the abuse the waitstaff had to take, the Corporate Office decided to cave in.

So "Another One Bites the Dust."  AAArrrrrgggghhhh!    And  again, the smokers go down without a whimper!

I wonder if anyone ever told all the fanatics the unpleasant truth.  It's easy to avoid facing the facts, but no matter how much you bully others and ignore reality, the truth is....
 

100% of Non-Smokers Die!

And all those bullies, fanatics, rabid, frothing busybodies should beware.  Losing freedoms is an extremely slippery slope, and sooner or later something you enjoy will be targeted by a different group of bullies and know-it-alls and YOU will become evil incarnate!!  I can hardly wait!