Backpacker Magazine Highpointing

I was looking at magazines while picking up dinner and shampoo at the Kroger when I saw a guide to the southern highpoints in the latest issue of Backpacker. I ended up at their highpointing section.

Ivan heads for the mountains

Now THAT is a big hurricane:


Severe Weather Alert from the National Weather Service

...COLBERT-CULLMAN-DE KALB-FRANKLIN AL-FRANKLIN TN-JACKSON-LAUDERDALE- LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-LINCOLN-MADISON-MARSHALL-MOORE-MORGAN- 608 AM CDT WED SEP 15 2004
... SPECIAL HURRICANE IVAN STATEMENT FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE...

... AREAS AFFECTED...

THIS STATEMENT IS FOR ALL COUNTIES IN NORTH ALABAMA AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE SERVED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN HUNTSVILLE.

... WATCHES/WARNINGS...

A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE FROM 6 AM THURSDAY THROUGH MIDNIGHT EARLY SATURDAY. A HIGH WIND WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE FROM 6 PM THURSDAY THROUGH 6 PM FRIDAY.

... STORM INFORMATION... EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING... THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IVAN WAS LOCATED IN THE CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO... ABOUT 625 MILES SOUTH OF HUNTSVILLE. IVAN IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHWEST AT AROUND 12 MILES AN HOUR... AND WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. IVAN REMAINS A DANGEROUS HURRICANE... WITH THE EYE OF IVAN EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL ALONG THE EASTERN MISSISSIPPI AND WESTERN ALABAMA GULF COAST BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING.

... WIND IMPACTS... BASED UPON THE LATEST FORECAST FROM THE TROPICAL PREDICTION CENTER... WINDS OF 40 MILES AN HOUR OR MORE COULD START AFFECTING AREAS AROUND CULLMAN... MARSHALL... AND DEKALB COUNTIES AS EARLY AS EARLY THURSDAY MORNING SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. THESE WINDS WILL INCREASE AND WILL SPREAD NORTH EARLY THURSDAY... AFFECTING THE REST OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AND CONTINUING THROUGH FRIDAY.

ALTHOUGH THE PEAK WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH IVAN SHOULD START TO DIMINISH AFTER IT MAKES LANDFALL... BASED ON THE CURRENT FORECAST... IT IS LIKELY THAT TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS BETWEEN 39 AND 73 MILES AN HOUR... COULD BE FELT ACROSS NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE BY THURSDAY... CONTINUING THROUGH FRIDAY.

... RAINFALL IMPACTS... AT THIS TIME... IVAN HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE THREE TO SIX INCHES OF RAIN ACROSS NORTH ALABAMA AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE... WITH AMOUNTS EVEN HIGHER POSSIBLE ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF NORTHEAST ALABAMA AND FRANKLIN COUNTY TENNESSEE.

... CALLS TO ACTION... ALTHOUGH THERE STILL REMAINS SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH THE FINAL PATH... INTENSITY AND TIMING OF HURRICANE IVAN... THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE STORM SHOULD BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. EVERYONE ACROSS NORTH ALABAMA AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE SHOULD CONTINUE MONITORING THE PROGRESS OF HURRICANE IVAN AND ITS POTENTIAL IMPACTS ON THE TENNESSEE VALLEY REGION.

HAVE A PLAN OF ACTION... AND MAKE PREPARATIONS NOW... SO THAT YOU CAN BE READY TO ACT WHEN THE NEED ARISES. WITH THE COMBINED THREAT OF HIGH WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN... THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF SOME POWER OUTAGES....

No More NHL

Ten years ago, I was mightily peeved about the baseball strike. For some reason, though I like hockey more than baseball, I can't get so worked up about this lockout. I suppose it's because it's pretty hard to get too worked up about hockey in September. The baseballers stooped their game right at the start of the home stretch with several records and milestones looming. That's pretty much half the fun of baseball anyway, checking in every night to see how this guy or that guy is doing against history.

The special part of the NHL season is the playoffs. They have until December to save that, I'm told. As always is the case with these obnoxious labor disputes, I have some small fascination with the idea that the sport may emerge with a radically different look. It hasn't happened lately, but what if it could happen this time? Can the WHA get off the ground and challenge the NHL? Can anything move more teams back to Canada? Personally, I'd be curious to see a North American sport with a multi-tiered league system like most countries have for soccer. Who know if it could be made to work, but it would be interesting to see the local hockey teams playing for promotion. Especially since the local teams are what we're going to have to get used to watching for a while.

Bollywood

One thing I have been doing at work lately is showing Bollywood movies for a group that has been renting out theaters. A different genre of movie than the run-of-the-mill stuff that comes out in the US this time of year. So far we have had:

Kyun!...Ho Gaya Na

and

Dhoom

I had a chance to watch Kyun. There was some great imagery, though I have to admit I am not used to the musical format. I definitely look forward to seeing more films with Amitabh Bachchan in them.

Pritesh also was kind enough to let me check out Deewaar: let's bring our heroes home on DVD, though I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

Web site evolution

I've been working on a web site for the last couple of nights. I've managed to get a few random things in there. Most importantly, I've begun work on my highpointing page. I have pictures up for the Colorado hike and reports for a couple of the drive-ups.

Sadly, the site is still at Tripod.com, but one of the ad banners it creates has links to Mt. Kilimanjaro expeditions. That's kind of cool. My site will eventually move somewhere without banners, though. The current address is http://superfan66.tripod.com/superfan66/index.html, and yes, I originally created the site around the time Mario Lemieux came out of retirement.