No paso na'...

Ernesto is gone. Here's a brief chronology of what transpired over the last few days, as our family prepared for the Hurricane:

Monday - My wife went to Target and bought a couple of batteries, 4 cans of Chef Boy-ar-dee, and a small box of emergency candles. Oh, she also bought a copy of the Shaggy Dog so we could watch it before the power would go out.

Tuesday - We closed up the accordian shutters. I went to Toys'R'Us to buy a birthday present for my daughter. The store was empty, so I had the run of the place.

Tuesday evening - Ernesto was heading right for us! We went to my sisters house, where my brother (in-law but really just my brother) prepared a delicious beef tenderloin, and we drank a great Cab'.

Tuesday, mid-evening - Ernesto was dropping some rain, hadn't picked up speed, and appeared to be weakening (Brian Norcross was pissed!) We broke out the dominoes and cigars and sat on the back porch, talking about Cuba, the art of the domino game, my grandfather, Cuba, and oh yeah, Cuba.

Tuesday, late evening - While Brian Norcross was in deep depression and certainly hitting a very large bottle of Grey Goose, we were feeling less stressed. The storm was becoming disorganized. We put our daughter to bed, and broke out "Shaun of the Dead". My sister had never seen a zombie movie (!), let alone a classic quaside-comedy like this one.

Wednesday - had a good nights sleep. No trees down. Very little wind. I spent the rest of the day catching up on work and last night, we went to Bahama Breeze for one more birthday celebration with our daughter. I asked the waiter to bring her a chocolate mouse with a candle, but not to sing happy birthday (she doesn't like that stuff). So, the dessert came out, her eyes lit up, and we mouthed the words to happy birthday, fake clapped, and she happily devoured the mouse (I helped her out of course).

Thanks for the good time Ernesto!