OK, I'm blogging from the house now. I've got a power converter plugged into the cigarette lighter of the car, and am running my laptop, DSL modem and wireless router off it. I'll have to go out periodically to start the car to keep its battery charged.

It turns out that I could have done this yesterday (and Monday, too), but when I tried it then, I couldn't get a DSL connection. Today it occurred to me that in an attempt to get phone service, someone may have plugged in a phone that didn't require AC power, and forgot to use a microfilter. Sure enough, that was the problem. Once I fixed it, I got a steady light on the DSL.

Anyway, I'm sort of back in business, with a telecon this afternoon for some consulting, and I have a computer again, for now. There's no word on when we'll get power back here, but with our recent luck, I suspect that it will be just in time to knocked out by Ivan (the Terrible?) this weekend.

Time to go out and restock the water supply.

Maybe Ivan will pull a "Crazy Ivan" and, as another commenter hoped, get himself lost. My wife and her colleagues, who are having to monitor all the rivers engorged by all the rain, are certainly hoping so.

I have no idea what you just said (vis-a-vis the DSL connection, etc.), but I'll glad to hear you all are back home safe.

Right now, the prediction is that Ivan will go into the Gulf, possible hitting the west coast of Florida. But we know how the "predictions" for Gaston (at least in the Richmond area) and Charley turned out. :-(

Hang in there, Rand. ;-)