Safe from harm

Haven't really been updating this blog much, so dont expect people to read. However, I feel like screaming out to everyone about my safety. I am very proud of my decision to leave yesterday when the freeways were relatively free of jams. It took me 6 hrs to reach college station, just over an hour away in normal circumstances. A very sweet friend from Baylor gave me a ride and my journey was as comfortable as it could have been. The students who stayed back, thinking they could leave today in the morning are having a tough time finding a shelter from the hurricane. It is now too late to leave.

At best, a hurricane can be an unpleasant experience. It can be fatal to stay back too. I just had to leave. On top of it all, my profs at Baylor have made it absolutely easy for students to leave without worrying about exams originally scheduled for Friday the 23rd and Wednesday the 28th. Now, I dont have to return until the 10th of October, since holidays were supposed to follow the exam on wednesday anyway!!

My friend Anupama is one of those students who are staying back. She has a lot of students to give her company, and they are trying to get the authorities to permit them to spend the weekend at Baylor. Big ugly yellow flood gates are up all around Baylor. They should protect the underground mouse facility this time. In 2001, Allison (just a tropical storm) had completely flooded the underground mouse facility, completely destroying entire careers' worth of mice!! I empathise with the Baylor faculty and completely support their move of setting up those very expensive floodgates only on the mouse facility. I can't imagine what I would do if I spend 5 years making a transgenic mouse and it drowns in a freak flood. I'd probably quit grad school, find a job and start earning a real living .. but that's just me....