Ivan the Terrible

I'm sitting up late tonight watching Ivan roll in on Fox and CNN. It looks right now that the eye will come ashore near Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in Baldwin County, Alabama. It doesn't look good for folks down that way. Ivan is a category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds around 135 mph. Damage to property is expected to be heavy.

One of my friends from work has family from Baldwin County who came up to stay with him to ride out the storm. I got e-mail from another friend from Mobile who decided to stay down there. Here in Huntsville, we're about a 5 1/2 hour drive from the beach, and our hotels are full of people who fled Ivan's wrath. Things like this certainly make you gain respect for the power of nature, not to mention the knowledge that has allowed us to understand it better.