I'm sorry everyone. This is entirely my fault. You see, this past weekend, I decided to try out for a local soccer team after wanting to get back into things over the past several years. We have a game lined up for Sunday.

Yup, all my fault here. I should just wash my car to seal the deal. Then again, I could board up today and cause the storm to inexplicably steer away...

decisions, decisions...

Seems the usual round of "should I" has already started in earnest, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's better to ponder now than to ignore this storm until it's closer. For now, nobody in the peninsula is necessarily safe. As the tracks get better input and the guidance is more decisive, then we'll be able to make recommendations.

As for the "stay for Cat 3 and under", that really ought to have been qualified a little better:

If you are not in a flood prone area AND you are not in a mobile home AND you are not in an early pre-fab (newer pre-fab buildings are actually very strong), AND you are more than 10-15 feet above sea level AND you are not on the coast, THEN you should be able to ride this out at Cat 3 or lower. Don't rely on neighbors who have ridden storms out before to make your decision - use storm surge maps, SLOSH models, and every other piece of data you can find. Make an informed decision and please stock up your hurricane supplies if they are diminished.

If you're going to evacuate, make your reservations early (and confirm them), and try to not run screaming from the building (as it tends to scare small children

).

I think for the sake of levity, someone should break out Dave Barry's Hurricane preparedness article.

Dave Barry's 2001 Hurricane Preparedness Guide