Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Papers please
We returned to the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere around 1:30 pm to find the power still off. We debated for about ten to fifteen minutes about what to do, and where about to head back to the Little Pink Apartment when the power suddenly cut on.
Woo hoo!
Then it was a matter of cleaning the refridgerator and freezer of perishable items that had perished over the past three days. Then take out the garbage, take Spring to work (stopped by the bank so she could deposit money, but their computers had crashed) and then to Publix to do some shopping. The one I normally go to was still open, but it looked like only the emergency lights were on, with one checkout lane open (and the register to that one was “open” as well, leading me to question whether I could even pay with plastic. I decided not to risk it, and headed further south into Broward County (which still had power, unlike 2/3 of Palm Beach County).
There wasn't much in the way of perishable items. Frozen, yes. Canned, yes. Fresh or perishable, not so much. But I got what I could.
The Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office is extending the curfew for all unincorporated areas of Palm Beach County. The mandatory curfew will be in effect tonight (Tuesday) beginning at 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. Wednesday morning.
The Sheriffs Office will have zero tolerance for all curfew violators. There were more than 300 arrests made in Palm Beach County Monday night into Tuesday morning for curfew violation.
On the way back to the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere, I heard that Palm Beach County had extended the curfew to 10pm, but there still was a curfew. Once home, I talked to Spring at work (she gets off at 12:30 am) and asked about the curfew. About an hour later she contacted me, saying to pick her up at 9:30. Negiyo was willing to give employees a letter stating they were on the way home from work, which is all find and dandy if Spring had driven in, but she hadn't (and is Negiyo willing to post bail for hard working employees who knowingly break curfew in going home or coming to work? Somehow I'm doubtful). Fortunately, Negiyo also had to conceed that its employees might not want to break the law and couldn't hold it against them if they decided to leave early, or not come into work (although it could, and will, withhold pay. Nice, aren't they?).
So I arrived at 9:30, and we were back inside the Facility in the Middle of Nowhere by the 10:00 pm deadline.
Also, it looks like we stand a good chance of missing H urricane Ivan. Nothing certain yet, but the tracking information from the National Hurricane Center is leaving me optimistic.
