Of Hurricane Ike and Ruined Birthdays

Tomorrow is my wife's birthday. My birthday was last month, and our anniversary is next month. Due to the proximity of all of these prestigious dates, and money being tight and getting every tighter, we had long ago decided to buy one gift for the both of us, instead of spending more money on many separate gifts.

This year, we agreed on a new HDTV and table for it.

To give her a little bit of a surprise, I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning pulling out the old TV and entertainment center and building and setting up the new TV and stand. When she got up and saw all the work had been done, the look on her face made the lack of sleep worth it.

Then Hurricane Ike ruined her birthday despite my best efforts.

The main plant of the company she works for is based in Houston, which of course was pulverized by Hurricane Ike. Due to the evacuation and the fact that they are still without electricity, and food and water being scarce, the main plant was and is still closed down.

My wife was told this morning that her plant will close down at the end of the week, and she will be laid off indefinitely, until the main plant is up and running and can start sending things up her again. She said that the amount of work that will be available locally isn't enough to pay to keep her plant open.

Good thing I was already planning on making her favorite dinner tomorrow anyway.