Wednesday, August 29th 12:30 AM

It's after midnight now. The power has been off since just before 9pm. I knew it would go eventually, I guess I'm just grateful that it lasted as long as it did. We've been sitting in the dining room with a few candles, snacking, drinking and listening to the radio... not much else to do at the moment. The storm is creeping slowly to the north west. It came ashore around 8pm in lower Plaquemines Parrish, but then jogged back out over water (Plaquemines is basically a peninsula that juts out into the gulf). The main part of Isaac is about 65 miles due south of New Orleans right now and moving at about 7mph, which is really slow... really, really slow.

The rain, the wind, the way the house shudders against strong gusts... it's a bit unnerving. Normally the house shudders when a large truck goes by on Rampart Street, but this is definitely different.

I popped out the front door a little while ago to check on our car which is parked right out front, and it was eerie. There are basically no lights anywhere. Luckily Rupert is safe and sound where we left him. The large apartment building across the street provides a good amount of shelter from the wind and rain, although the street is a bit flooded.

Tuesday, August 28th 8:05 PM

Apparently Hurricane Isaac is a Democratic plot to: steal thunder from Romney, Play on the nations sympathies about Katrina, and Give Rush Limbaugh bragging rights about some new inanity about election 2012.  Well Rush.... you got us... it IS all planned by Obama.  And as a Democrat I'm glad to take one for the team.  So feel good in some small, small, small way you bloated bag of wind.

The waiting is the worst part. It's been like this all day. There were a few bands of rain, but in between there has been basically nothing. It is quiet, with some breeze, maybe some gusts, but relatively no rain. It makes me think, “ummmmm, what are we really in for?” But now, after waiting for a good long time, the wind is picking up and the rain is pounding. It's been about an hour since the city sent out emergency alerts via txt, phone & email. People on Facebook and Twitter have been reporting that we're about to be hit with it downtown. Dave is diligently (doing 100 things as well) checking the Entergy outage site and watching more and more of the city go into the red as far as power. A little while ago 'Coliseum Street', the house of our friends Jim & John in the Garden District lost it. Large parts of the Bywater, Treme, Mid City.... winking out.

Tuesday, August 28th 10:09:25 AM

Dave just said to me downstairs, “This whole thing has turned out to be pretty anti-climatic.” I think I'll hold off on that judgment. We're only beginning to really feel the effects. There have been some bands of rain, but for right now there isn't anything coming down. Looking south toward the river though you can see the clouds rushing to the west. The storm is still just below hurricane level, and might not even get there now, which might not be a bad thing. I'll settle for 70mph winds instead of 100mph winds. The slow moving nature of this system is going to dump a lot of rain on us over the next 24 hours though, and the storm surge here will most likely be 6-12 feet.

Morning coffee doesn't seem to taste that good today for some reason. We are about to venture out to find an ATM, as once the power goes out it will be much better to have cash on hand, so that's the last bit of preparedness that we have to take care of. No rain, but the winds are starting to pick up.

I saw this morning that poor John Sununu was complaining that the media is 'obsessed with weather!' and that more attention should be focused on the Republican Convention in Tampa! Whatever, you tired old bag of shit. Just keep your yap open and let all that whiny bitch-dom out. That's it.

Monday, August 27th, 11:25 pm

The first hurricane, if it ever actually GETS to be a hurricane, for us here in Nola. Last year's tropical storm was just a warm up. Let's hope that this doesn't turn into another 'bad time' like I'm sure it could if for any number of reasons the damn storm gains more strength than they anticipated or if it stalls and decides to dump much more rain on the city than they thought.

We are 'sheltering in place' at Barracks Street. And luckily, as everything is gaged, during Katrina this neighborhood didn't take any water. That of course says nothing about the power outages, wind damage, or anything else that is associated with hurricanes down here. We shall see. It's close to midnight, only a ½ hour to go CST and I actually expected the rain to start already, but Isaac is still about 200 miles out and slowing down. The pressure is down, but the wind speed is still just below hurricane threshold. I guess we'll just have to wait it out. As a friend said the other night, “I expected it to be faster, but you just wait and wait and wait.......”

As long as the power doesn't go out too quickly. I can handle a day or so, maybe 2-3 I guess. Check in with me on Friday when all this is said and done and I'm sure I'll feel differently. The house is somewhat comfortable now, but it's not going to drop out of the 80's so being cooped up with no ventilation is going to get pretty bad with no AC. That's what all the liquor Dave bought today is for. Thank you Rouses.

I'm not as anxious as I was last night. I think, as I said to my friend Megan today at lunch, “I was more anxious about spending 14-18 hours evacuating. It's much more comforting to know you are in your own home, even though you KNOW things are going to get bad. I remember the storm last year at this time... and the endless rain and wind. It got to be a bit unnerving. I'm sure that will happen.