"There's this woman, she's a hurricane"

The Atlantic hurricane season has officially started, something that holds some importance now that I live on the East Coast. Federal forecasters are saying there will be nine to 14 named storms, while Colorado State's annual forecast is predicting 11. If CSU is right, the last named storm of the season will be Tropical Storm or Hurricane Kate. What a dubious honor! And as long as it's not so big that the name is retired (a la Camille or Katrina), Kate will rotate back into the mix in 2015.

It's 2009, which means Charleston is due for it's once-a-decade heavy storm -- like Hugo in 1989 and Floyd in 1999.

I probably should do important stuff such as reassemble our hurricane kit, which turned into an auxiliary pantry once the '08 hurricane season passed. Hey, sometimes the hurricane kit was the only thing standing between near-death hunger and ramen noodles. Just ask Paul (a.k.a. Atlantic Hurricane Pablo, 2013).