I am chilled to the bone, soaking wet and exhausted.
Got an early morning wake up call from my ex girlfriend... Her daughter & son in laws house is flooding with water... 2 foot high geisers of water coming out of all 4 toilets, all the sinks ... at the home they live in... They just closed on the house across the street on Friday, and that house ALSO is flooding!!!

Big storm here, worst rain and flooding I can recall. Water is running out of the front and back doors at a high rate. The local news guys came by & interviewed Tom, while I was trying to move some of his computers and junk.

I raced over there to help move stuff, his graphic arts business is in his basement... several computers and a server are under water, and his guitar collection - trashed (inc. a 57 Strat, Telecaster & Les Paul the Les Paul is a '56, a big white Gretch, and a "Roger McGuinn" 12 string Rickenbaker plus a couple vintage Fender amps). He used to be in a band, and still plays now and then. The guitars and amps were all in his basement office area.

Tom woke up to the sound of water rushing through the house, and when he put his feet on the floor, when getting out of bed, found that water was about 4 inches deep at that point!

I went out and got a couple big gas powered hi-velocity (3 inch) water pumps, but there isn't any use for them now, as the wqater is still literally running out of the house like a river - non stop PLUS--- in looking out the window, the rain & winds have started up again.
There is nothing that we can do except just wait for the water to stop roaring through the sewer systems in that part of town.

I am sitting next to a gas fireplace at a Starbucks taking a break... my clothes are totally soaked through including my Carhart jacket...

I guess that they are trying to find out if they have any flood insurance... (I don't THINK they do, as the house was not in a "flood plain".

It's a mess --- raw sewage floating all over the house, and it WAS a killer house.

The house they just purchased and closed - on last Friday accross the street just had all of the wood floors sanded down this weekend prior to getting sprayed. The floors are under about 6 inches of water.

Brings back memories of a flooded condo a couple years ago.

I don't know which is worse... a fire or a flood --- they both are devastating.

I gotta run. I'm counting my blessings though, and happy to be of SOME help anyway!

I read about the storm and wondered who would be affected.

I have relatives close to the coast in Oregon.....so far so good.

It rains there for months at a time so I assumed everything was 'rain-proof'.......It must be one major storm.

Best of wishes to all that are invloved.

I escaped fairly well. My garage leaked and I had to get boxes and gear off the ground.

My shop vac has been on loan all day, however. I had several friends forced out.

I considered starting an Arc.

It started as snow this weekend, turned to heavy rain and it DID NOT stop until just a few hours ago. To boot, it feels like 65 degrees out there.

We get drizzle, a consistant pattern of sporadic rain and grey skies most of the winter but usually not this.

It'a 3:00 AM... The wind is keeping me up. Just got up and unplugged my other computers in the house even though they are on surge protectors (using my laptop now).
The winds are really howling out there, and a big assed tree came crashing down in my back yard, narrowly missing the house.
The rain is back, and heavy...
Interstate 5 is shut down between Portland Oregon and Olympia Washington. There is a 7 HOUR detour set-up. Woo Hoo!
Last night my basement flooded a bit but none of my equipment or tools got wet 8>)


Pilgram - Parts of the Oregon Coast & Washington coast had winds up to 129 mph.

Gotta get some sleep - starting a big retro today.

Used to skip class in college back in the late 80's and go ski for the day.

Last time we were there we stayed in the new Rimfire Lodge and it was so f***ing loud. No one got any sleep. That new "village" concept just made that whole area an echo chamber and even a small group of people walking through there talking can be heard on any of the rooms facing the middle.

Some of the new places on both the north and south ends look nice so we may give them a shot.

yeah it can be like that in the "village" we stay at silver creek most of the time, my buddy has a couple homes up there in Cass and marlington and silver creek.

I usually go to Snowshoe or Winterplace. I hope to get a chance to go at all this year. Since it will be the first time skiing for my kids and I'll just stay on the bunny slopes for most of the day, I'll probably just bring them someplace closer to home. Looks like some good snowfall they had there.

CJ

this weekend is the time to go or next weekend. i would go this weekend but i am on standby at my real job(embarq) for next. but i will be there for new years!!!

Took a look at a really ugly retro I'm bidding on... Then stopped by to see how my flooded out friends are doing.

Their insurance claim got rejected. Probably $200k in damages.

Hey Stanley, hope you're doin' OK.

I am really sorry to hear about all the damage to you and your's property. Especially the guitar collection. Being a muso myself I can't even begin to think how devastated I would be if any of my drum rig got damaged. My partner is a classical double bassist and has an instrument worth huge $$$ and the insurance companies make it near on impossible to insure, but we have to fork out the money for it, "just in case".

Over here, we would just about kill for the rain that you are having. We are in the worst drought in history and even though we are getting some rain now and then, the problem is that the SE corner of Queensland is developing so fast, that there isn't enough water storage to keep up, so it all gets drained as soon as it comes down. Poor planning on the government's part there.

Hope things get better for you.

Robbie.

Yesterday I added a HD Cable box to an existing system. Also reprogrammed RTI T1 remote. I did this job 2 years ago. Budget job, but nice. Monitor Audio Radius Inwall’s (Front and rear), RBH inwall sub-woofer, Pioneer Receiver VSX-1016, LG DVD recorder, Infocus Projector, Da-Lite Electric Screen. Lutron Spacer Dimmer. And yes, that is a Xantech IR receiver under the center speaker. (Customer should have put RP-1 instead) Again the budget job thing!

Rescheduled an install because the home owner went into labour during the night! 2 weeks early.

I have been working on a $1.5 million house (very high-end for my city) that my (very nice)customer just bought. The previous owners bulit it and it was a "show house" for the builder and the A/V shop that did the original system.

I have respect for the shop that did the work, and I worked there several years ago. I bid against them for the re-install for my customer who bought 3 RTI remotes and 3 processors from me.

As I got into the job more, I found a few things that seemed very strange to me, cheap cables, cheap fittings, poor installation of everything I looked at. Now I am almost done and want to puke. I have never seen an install so sloppy. Total half assed and thrown together last minute.

I had to re-run a few wires to replace the CAT5e THAT WAS BEING USED AS SPEAKER WIRE, and several other equally stupid quick-fixes. I just can't believe I have to bid against this type of work and chop my prices so I can compete against such crappy installers that don't care about the customer or thier system.

Ben, I hear ya loud and clear. I have recently been doing some work on some very high-end houses on the Gold Coast and am startled by the crap that I come accross. I am an independant single operator, and by comparison, arguably affordable as far as what I charge and I know that the companies that are doing these jobs charge on average, 50% more than me.

But when I see things like racks that pinch wires everytime you slide them in and out, pencil marks on walls that WON'T come off, damage around speaker cutout holes because the installer used a sabre saw to cut the hole, crappy cables, incorrect connection of equipment and speakers etc., it makes me want to puke right along side you!

I still see 3-4 million dollar homes with one coax at the tv and one cat5 at the phone, no speakers, internet, maybe one surround...........just freaking pitiful!