Just a note to say that I’m waiting for my plane to LA, and that Fort Lauderdale airport has wireless capability throughout the terminal. They also have power outlets next to the seats so I don’t have to run down my battery, and can save it for the plane trip. Once they have wireless in the airplanes, I’ll never get away from the blogging ball and chain…

But just for a day or so. I got back yesterday, but I’m on a flight for California this afternoon, where I’ll be working, attending a workshop on DoD responsive launch initiatives, and going to the Space Frontier Conference this weekend (which you should attend as well, if you’re interested in this stuff). Blogging may be light.

I’m also keeping the house buttoned up in case Wilma pays a visit while I’m gone (though Patricia will be here). I had hoped that I could take down the shutters, and take down the ugly steel front door, and put on the pretty one, but I guess it will have to wait until the end of October now. This has been a long hurricane season.

I’m going on vacation to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I’ll have a laptop, so I can do some writing, but networking may be problematic. I’ll certainly be back by the seventeenth. Meanwhile, lots of good stuff in the blogroll to the left.

I expect that we’ll be seeing Greek alphabet names within a couple weeks–there are only four names left.

All of the computer models show Rita heading through the Florida Straights, which means just some wind and rain for Palm Beach County, but we’ll keep an eye out and be ready to shutter anyway. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that this thing has much chance of hitting New Orleans, though–all of the tracks show it heading farther south, down near the Mexico/Texas border. It might hit Texas, or even western Louisiana, but eastern Louisiana looks pretty unlikely to me.

I’ll sure be glad when this hurricane season is over.

[Update at noon eastern]

Just got our first heavy shower from the outer bands.

I’m supporting a deliverable to NASA, and will be tied up all day (and much of the evening) on it, after which I’ll be taking a red-eye flight back to Florida tonight. Probably not much posting until late tomorrow, Eastern time. There is a lot to blog about when I get time, though, if you check out the usual suspects over at The Space Review, Space Politics, Space Transport News, and Mars Blog most of which will have links to other interesting stuff.

And dodging a hurricane on the way from Fort Lauderdale to Dallas.

No posting until tonight.

For some reason, whatever was wrong with the server that caused it to act so flaky is fixed now. I may regret this, but comments are reenabled.

For some reason, whatever was wrong with the server that caused it to act so flaky is fixed now. I may regret this, but comments are reenabled.

For some reason, whatever was wrong with the server that caused it to act so flaky is fixed now. I may regret this, but comments are reenabled.

This post is to check to see if my problem is fixed yet.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Nope.

[Trying again late Wednesday morning]