Well, here I am.  Recharging my laptop, blackberry and portable DVD Player at a Starbucks again today.  Thanks to everyone who has emailed me wanting to know how my family and I weathered the storm that rolled through a week ago.

It has been quite frustrating trying to keep business up and running.  Real Estate contracts do not take in to consideration stuff like Hurricanes where over 2 million people in the 4th largest City in the Nation do not have Power, Phones, Internet, Fax Lines, etc.

I still have no power at the house and likely not until next Thursday the 25th but have traveled around places to be able to hop online and try to get amendments, extensions, updates on appraisals and insurance.  Oh, insurance.  LOL. Trying to get a NEW policy written right now is not so easy.  Atleast we have power on at the office now.  Things are looking up.  Land line is up off and on, Mobile signal seems to be back to normal.

Any Houstonian that currently has current contracts out there, hang in there.  Things are looking up. 

I have a lot of blog fodder right now.  Why now is the perfect time to make green improvements to your home (including solar thermal hot water :) , why having mobile capabilities is a good thing for ANYONE in the real estate industry, maybe even how some of our state contracts need to be changed to take in to consideration timelines in cases such as this, etc. 

For now, I'm trying to keep my laptop charged and conserve the battery so that I can conduct business when I need to.

Anyone care to start a discussion?  About this? Anything.  Time to goof off a little bit, I'm bored!!!!  Here are some strange , things that have crossed my mind in the last 8 days...

• Why is paying over $50 a day for gas to run a generator worth it to run a piddly fan when the humidity and heat outside are intolerable?
• How many pounds of CO2 have NOT been released in to the atmosphere with our grids being taken offline for over a week and possible two?
• Why do people make gas appliances with Electric ignition Ex. Gas Tankless Water Heaters?
• How many Kw of Solar are equivalent to ONE Generator?
• Wondering if there are any ICF homes on the Island that would make a GREAT story as to why we need to consider this as a normal way to construct homes in Coastal Areas?
• Wondering if people still think more drilling in the Gulf is actually an intelligent thing to do considering the damage from this one single storm?
• Anyone have an update on how the Solar Arrays down South are doing right now in creating power?
• Should waster water plants run on solar to prevent waste getting in to fresh/drinking water?

All of this Crazy Green Stuff according to some people...should make more sense now.  I think it is kind of crazy, yet amusing in a way, that we rely on coal fired power plants that go out in a storm to then rely on yet another fossil fuel- Gasoline to run afterwards. Along with plastic water bottles for potable uses, etc.

One last question for discussion...

• Should Utility Companies and maybe even gas companies offer Solar incentives to areas prone to disasters such as this?  It would make their life a whole hell of a lot easier right now and there would be a lot less complaining from the general public.  Right now, I would say that with incentives I would put solar on my home before even changing the siding or windows.