Well, it's another weekend watching the Weather Channel wondering how bad our collective asses will be kicked by another major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.

The weekend before last, I was finishing up repairing the damage from Ivan on my boat in Mobile Bay, Alabama. I was looking forward to another weekend of sailing on the bay when Katrina wandered in from Florida. You have to wonder what Florida did to deserve the butt kicking it has received from the hurricanes these past two years. One of my Democrat friends said it was payback for the 2000 election! I replied that it couldn't be, because if that was the case, then this time it should be Ohio or Texas getting the crap kicked out of them. So that theory is shot.

Last month it was Dennis that kicked our butts, all the way from the coast to where I live. Once again, it's another one, Katrina, that is heading my way. Once again I learned how much I depend on electricity -- the power goes off, and I'm back in the freaking stone age! Everything quits except the wired telephone and this laptop -- for about an hour and a half until the battery dies. Then I'm deaf, dumb and blind and HOT until the power is restored.

My hat always goes off to those brave individuals who climb the poles in the worst weather so I have power as soon as possible. Like Police, Firefighters and EMT's they don't get paid anything like they should. God Bless Them All!

On a lighter note, I video-taped a Judo Tournament this morning in my home town. Kids from all over came to "The Friendly City" to beat the heck out of each other! I thought Judo was all about throwing your opponent, and graceful movement. I don't know what happened, but at this level, it's more about wrestling! Grab, push, pull, kick and pin. That's it! But we got to see kids as young as six up to grown men and women participate. No one got hurt, although one guy got his lip split, and one dude was caught in a sleeper hold and almost passed out -- but from the conversations I had with the refs, this was a "mild" tournament. I guess one can't compare this level of Judo with the Olympics, or the World Championships. At that level, it's more about grace than brut force.

The most mis-match came in the 12-year-old division where this one "slightly" overweight guy won all three of his matches by charging his opponent, throwing a bear hug around the other kid, and falling on him to the floor. He won all three matches by pins! Once you got smothered by this kid, you were boned! No one was strong enough to move this dude once he was on top of them. It was Sumo meets Judo! And Sumo won every time!

That's all there is at this time -- other than watching the skies and the Weather Channel and finally the rivers and creeks to see if I have to back-stroke to work Monday. Wish us all good luck! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYBODY! BLOG OUT!