It's a tense time right now. A large number of Heather's family live right smack bang in the middle of the path of perhaps the biggest hurricane Florida has ever seen; Hurricane Francis. We're also moving to the very area that's about to bear the brunt of the hurricane. So, all things considered we're pretty concerned and keeping a close eye on things. This is really where great technology comes into play. First up, there's Z88.3 Positive Hits FM, a local radio station for Heather's family. It's a Christian radio station, but regardless of your beliefs, they play some nice tunes and it's so cool to be able to tune in from Media Player in Windows and hear everything that's going on. A couple of times recently we've even spoken with her family out there and known more about things going on than they did. What amazes me though is that listening over the past few days they've been telling us tales of boarding up the radio station and hunkering down for the storm. It takes a certain type of person to be able to not think of themselves but instead keep at their job because the role they play right now is so important for many millions of people around the world, and of course the many millions of Americans in the State and around the country keen to hear what's going on. Just drop into Media Player, click on the Radio Tuner link and do a search for Z88.3.
I've also been digging around for webcams, and I've come across quite a few that are still up. At the time of writing, the storm is not that far away from Miami, and the weather guys are predicting Miami is where it's going to hit first. So, in Miami we have the nambe.net webcam, which is set up in someone's home overlooking a marina on the Miami River. The storm is really beginning to make itself known there from the shots I've seen. There's also one on top of the 4 seasons hotel in Downtown Miami, which really gives a good high view of the awesome scale of the weather that's approaching.
Heather and I are more interested in Volusia County, just north of Orlando, which is where our family are and where we hope to move. There's a high quality webcam overlooking Daytona Beach (and boy does the sky look ominous right now), and another overlooking New Smyrna beach. The image goes in and out on that last one, but it does have a temperature readout and sound.
Let's hope Frances passes as quickly as possible, with absolutely no loss of life, and that the cleanup can begin in earnest as soon as possible. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone out there right now.
10:09:20 PM 
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