Windstorm 2006!

The Puget Sound has been whiplashed by fierce windstorms over the evening, and the damage across the region is extensive. At The Villa Sternberg we seem to have come through the worst of it with four walls and a roof intact.

The adventure started last night when, shortly after dark, while there was a lull in the wind but the rain was coming down hard, I had to crawl out onto the garage roof and run my bare hand through muck-filled raingutters and clear them out. It only took a few minutes, but they were critical minutes as the gutters had become clogged and a wall of water was pouring off the roof right in front of the front door.

The power went out around midnight. When I awoke, I had missed an early meeting at work. Omaha and I looked around the house; one of the neighbor's Big Wheels had rolled into our driveway, and one of the cheap plastic lawnchairs had fallen over. There were pine branches everywhere. The trash and recycling bins were still where we had left them. At first, it looked like we had come through the storm more or less unscathed. That was, until I noticed that the entire back fence along the north parallel was gone. Well, it was 21-year-old 15-year fence. The new fence along the eastern side, which is only two years old, was slightly buckled. The western fence, which went in this summer, seems to be fine.

School was cancelled this morning.

I left Omaha with the girls. I have the car, so I can get back in a hurry if need be. I'm also able to get to a place with information, which we need right now just as badly as power. She'll be okay, although I hope they get the power back on soon. There are thousands of downed lines, and only about two hundred crews to repair them all. If they have a problem, all three of them know how to call me, and the cell phones do seem to be working adequately. I'll probably leave work early to join them.

Star Wars: The Real Hero

David Brin once pointed out that the real hero of the Rebellion is Chewbacca. Really. When the mission on Yavin goes to heck, who is it gets the bright idea to commandeer an AT-ST, giving the rebellion a chance to get into the communications network the Ewoks are trashing? Chewbacca. More importantly, once the force field is down who really flies the hottest, most important, most powerful medium-scale fighter in the galaxy? Chewbacca. The whole opera on the Emperor's Stage is just that, an opera, a performance, irrelevant to the course of events: It is Chewbacca who, twice in the course of the film, works with more competency than anyone else toward ensuring the death of Palpitaine. It doesn't matter that Vader, Luke, and Palpitaine are passing back pithy bon mots; Chewbacca is working hard to ensure they all die, and nothing those three can do will stop him.

Which is why this makes so much sense!. Where Chewbacca gets his skill set, what he's been doing between the third and fourth films, who his co-worker is, what he really is.