It's not every year we're faced with a life and death storm. Thinking back on some of the more dubious Gulf Storms from my lifetime - Gibert, Camile, Betsy (though I was a baby), Allen, Andrew - there were some bad boys. Isidore looks like he's going to be one too.

I went and read Joe B's midnight tropical post. You don't hear him talking possible Cat 4 that often. He's hinting at another serious threat with 37W. NHC's experimental wind speed product is close to 135mph at 72 hours. Somebody's gonna pay.

I'm with the TS/Cat 1 maybe 2 crowd in that a minor inconvenience and a few free days off of work drinking in the easy chair and playing with my kids is a small price to pay to witness the most awesome power nature has to offer. But a Cat 3 brings up a lot of new issues. Are all the supplies in order? Do you evacuate, and if so, what will you come back to? How lucky do you feel? It's a tradition in the hurricane prone lands to mark time with a major storm. If your area experiences a 3, 4 or 5, it will be a common experience you will share with thousands of other peope and will be an event that remains etched upon you for the rest of your life. Good luck to all of us.

Steve