I'm alive!
nspindel
Posts: 5,343
Greetings from Flood-Zone A, Tampa, FL.
Things started getting pretty spooky here on Monday, last week. By Tuesday, not much was going on other than watching the news. And at that point, things were looking as good as you could hope for. The eye of Irma was tracking up the eastern coast of Florida, and as bad as that is for the east coast, the west coast was breathing a sigh of relief.
By Wednesday, we were being told to plan for the worst, but it still looked like things would be happening on the other side of the state. I had my truck gassed up and ready to go, with an extra 12 gallons in cans. 15 gallons of water. A week's worth of nonperishable food. All our valuables and important papers were packed up and ready to go. Computers, cell phones, jewelry, all of our medications, cash... Check. We were ready to roll.
But we were being told to stay put. On Thursday Irma was making way towards Cuba and some models were starting to push it further west, but we were still told to stay put, and leave the roads and gasoline available to those who were actually being evacuated.
Then Friday came. We went from sit tight to mandatory evacuation for Flood Zone A that morning. Things started getting real. We packed up the truck and ran for Atlanta through the night on Friday. That's where we rode out the storm, and then of course Tampa ended up dodging the bullet so we drove back through the night on Monday. We got back here early on Tuesday to discover that both of the properties that we own in Tampa (we also own a rental property) were completely undamaged. Zero.
We are very fortunate, because many lost everything and there are so many out there still without power, fuel, or supplies. But the recovery is being executed with military precision and scale. Florida will be back to normal very quickly, and homes that were destroyed will be rebuilt to modern hurricane-resistant building codes. It really is impressive to see the amount of newer structures and dwellings built after the codes tightened up after Hurricane Andrew that sustained little if any damage. Roofs that remained intact and glass that remained unbroken as a Cat 4 monster makes landfall. Buildings built to higher elevation standards stay dry as the flood waters roll underneath. A lot of lives and buildings were saved because of what was learned in prior storms.
Suffice it to say it was a week filled with stories for a lifetime. I've never had to literally run for my life before. We pulled into rest stops along the way and felt like we were in refugee camps. Glad we drove through the night and didn't end up sleeping in one of them.
And the good news is, of course - the rig is safe and sound! Vinyl collection is dry as a bone. Prayers answered lol!!!
Things started getting pretty spooky here on Monday, last week. By Tuesday, not much was going on other than watching the news. And at that point, things were looking as good as you could hope for. The eye of Irma was tracking up the eastern coast of Florida, and as bad as that is for the east coast, the west coast was breathing a sigh of relief.
By Wednesday, we were being told to plan for the worst, but it still looked like things would be happening on the other side of the state. I had my truck gassed up and ready to go, with an extra 12 gallons in cans. 15 gallons of water. A week's worth of nonperishable food. All our valuables and important papers were packed up and ready to go. Computers, cell phones, jewelry, all of our medications, cash... Check. We were ready to roll.
But we were being told to stay put. On Thursday Irma was making way towards Cuba and some models were starting to push it further west, but we were still told to stay put, and leave the roads and gasoline available to those who were actually being evacuated.
Then Friday came. We went from sit tight to mandatory evacuation for Flood Zone A that morning. Things started getting real. We packed up the truck and ran for Atlanta through the night on Friday. That's where we rode out the storm, and then of course Tampa ended up dodging the bullet so we drove back through the night on Monday. We got back here early on Tuesday to discover that both of the properties that we own in Tampa (we also own a rental property) were completely undamaged. Zero.
We are very fortunate, because many lost everything and there are so many out there still without power, fuel, or supplies. But the recovery is being executed with military precision and scale. Florida will be back to normal very quickly, and homes that were destroyed will be rebuilt to modern hurricane-resistant building codes. It really is impressive to see the amount of newer structures and dwellings built after the codes tightened up after Hurricane Andrew that sustained little if any damage. Roofs that remained intact and glass that remained unbroken as a Cat 4 monster makes landfall. Buildings built to higher elevation standards stay dry as the flood waters roll underneath. A lot of lives and buildings were saved because of what was learned in prior storms.
Suffice it to say it was a week filled with stories for a lifetime. I've never had to literally run for my life before. We pulled into rest stops along the way and felt like we were in refugee camps. Glad we drove through the night and didn't end up sleeping in one of them.
And the good news is, of course - the rig is safe and sound! Vinyl collection is dry as a bone. Prayers answered lol!!!
Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
Comments
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Great news! Welcome back and thanks for letting us know you and yours are ok.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
Great job on having a plan and carrying it out when needed! Well done.
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Glad you're safe, Neil!
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glad you and the vinyl are safe! Great story with a happy ending.
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Great ro heat. Some really sad stories out there.Pio Elete Pro 520
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Not being used:
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RT25i's -2, using other 2 in shop
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CSi40
PSW 404 -
Man, i feel bad now. I didn't realize you were also in FL. I thought we had most of our brethren in that area covered. My apologies. With that said, I am glad to hear that you are okay. Hopefully we will not have to repeat threads like this for many decades to come.
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
Glad to hear the good news Neil.Home Theater
Parasound Halo A 31 OnkyoTX-NR838 Sony XBR55X850B 55" 4K RtiA9 Fronts CsiA6 Center RtiA3 Rears FxiA6 Side Surrounds Dual Psw 111's Oppo 105D Signal Ultra Speaker Cables & IC's Signal Magic Power Cable Technics SL Q300 Panamax MR4300 Audioquest Chocolate HDMI Cables Audioquest Forest USB Cable
2 Channel
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Shower & Off the beaten path Rigs
Polk Audio Boom Swimmer, Polk Audio Urchin -
I came home and the first thing I did was blast Riders On The Storm on vinyl!Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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Glad to hear!VA HT HK AVR20II, Sony S9000ES CD/DVD/SACD, Polk Audio RC80i / Polk Audio CSi3, 60" Panasonic Plasma, Nordost / Signal Cable A2 / Wireworld / Pangea / Magic Power
VA 2 Channel Focal Electra 926 speakers, Pass Labs X150.5 Amp, Eastern Electric MiniMax Preamp (Tutay mods), Eastern Electric Minimax CDP (Scott Nixon mods), Music Hall mmf 5.1 Turntable, Parks Audio Budgie Phono Pre , Audioengine B1 streamer, MIT S3 IC's / MIT Shotgun S3 Speaker Cables / PS Audio power cables
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Signal Cable Silver Resolution IC's -
Well done, Neil!
Very sensible planning and execution.
Great news that you and your family, as well as your property and possessions, came through unscathed.
You will, indeed, have stories to tell for a lifetime.Family Room, Innuos Statement streamer (Roon Core) with Morrow Audio USB cable to McIntosh MC 2700 pre with DC2 Digital Audio Module; AQ Sky XLRs to CAT 600.2 dualmono amp, Morrow Elite Speaker Cables to NOLA Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 speakers. Power source for all components: Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One with dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel.
Exercise Room, Innuos Streamer via Cat 6 cable connection to PS Audio PerfectWave MkII DAC w/Bridge II, AQ King Cobra RCAs to Perreaux PMF3150 amp (fully restored and upgraded by Jeffrey Jackson, Precision Audio Labs), Supra Rondo 4x2.5 Speaker Cables to SDA 1Cs (Vr3 Mods Xovers and other mods.), Dreadnaught with Supra Rondo 4x2.5 interconnect cables by Vr3 Mods. Power for each component from dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel, except Innuos Statement powered from Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One. -
Great news Neil
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stay safe.
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Great news! Those improved codes since Andrew really did make a huge difference. Friends in Naples lost some trees, but the home survived intact!
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Thanks for sharing the first hand report . Peace. DMIT Magnum MH-750, Monster HTS 5100MKII, Sony 77" Class - A80CJ Series - 4K UHD OLED,PS4, Def Tech 15” sub,LSIM 706c, Sunfire Signature Grand 425 x 4,Parasound hca 120, LSiM 702 x 4, Oppo 103D, SDA SRS 1.2, Pioneer Elite SC63 , Pioneer Elite BDP-05 “Why did you get married if you wanted big speakers?”
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Glad you made it through.
When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music -
Glad all is well! That must have been a very scary experience.Carl
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The scariest part was going to sleep on Sunday night not knowing how bad the news would be in the morning. But then waking up to the news that Tampa had dodged the bullet yet again, and other than the power outages hadn't really sustained much damage. That was shortly followed up by confirmation from people here that my home had not been harmed. That was a good moment...
For those who watched it unfold in the news, the storm actually drained Tampa Bay dry, rather than flooding it. They will talk about this storm for hundreds of years in this area, I've never seen anything in my life like this before. I simply have no other explanation to offer for what happened here other than it's just a miracle from God. Ain't nothing else you can say...
The 7th most likely place on the planet and most likely place in the US to sustain a catastrophic flood. Drained dry. As the hurricane rolled through. And the tidal wave that was supposed to follow on the other side of the storm, and bring decimation to the region and flood my home... never came, because Irma couldn't pack the punch to do it after she weakened on the way through here.
Yup. Miracles do happen.Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
Good stuff !
I saw on some of the coverage where some manatees had become stranded when the waters had left Tampa Bay, but had been rescued.
Nice to see the folks pulling together and helping each other, both man and beast.Sal Palooza -
Great to hear you're safe Neil!Home Theater/2 Channel:
Front: SDA-2ATL forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/143984/my-2as-finally-finished-almost/p1
Center: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/150760/my-center-channel-project/p1
Surrounds & Rears: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/151647/my-surround-project/p1
Sonicaps, Mills, RDO-194s-198s, Dynamat, Hurricane Nuts, Blackhole5
Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV, Carver PM-600, SVS PB2-Plus Subwoofer
dhsspeakerservice.com/ -
mrbigbluelight wrote: »Good stuff !
I saw on some of the coverage where some manatees had become stranded when the waters had left Tampa Bay, but had been rescued.
Nice to see the folks pulling together and helping each other, both man and beast.
Correct. There were two manatees rescued I believe. There was a dolphin rescue as well.
Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
mrbigbluelight wrote: »I saw on some of the coverage where some manatees had become stranded
I saw a LOT of manatees being air lifted after Harvey. Irma, not so much.
We're talking about obese individuals...right?Where’s the KABOOM?!?! There’s supposed to be an Earth shattering KABOOM!!! -
Thanks for checking in, glad all is well."Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!