The problem is not with your set . . .

I'd planned to tell you about Internet hotel booking this week. Specifically to talk about http://www.travelnow.com, http://www.travelzoo.com, http://www.travelbase.com, and http://wwwhoteline.com. If I'm on-line next week I'll resume my regularly scheduled column --- this week I'm kind of distracted by a hurricane named Floyd ---- sounds a bit like an old Johnny Cash song "A boy named Sue" doesn't it?

I lived in Charlotte when Hugo had the audacity to hit this far inland. I'm amazed by the differing perceptions of people. I once worked with a soccer mom who viewed Hugo as the high point of her life --- she'd rhapsodize about how wonderful it was that people had bar-be-qs with the contents of their freezers and how much the community "came together."

My memory is different. I recall stumbling around a small independent grocery store that the owner had been kind enough to open despite the lack of light. I saw several people take advantage of his goodness by helping themselves to cigarettes and candy --- any pocketable item.

My memory is none too clear but it seems that several of the huggy-ier columnists in my local paper extolled the general good feeling and helpfulness of the community. Again I had a different point of view --- I begin to suspect that I am just contrary. People seemed feral --- ready to kill for a bag of ice.

At the time Hugo hit, I was working for a nearby rural mental health clinic. The director of the clinic refused to allow anyone who had struggled into work to leave early even when it was evident that we had no telephones, lights, water, or patients. We sat in the darkness all day while he strode around armed with a flashlight. Eastern European bureaucracy pales beside this image.

So I am sitting here waiting to see if I am going to suffer the indignity of being assaulted by a hurricane named Floyd. I can't find it in me to panic. I mean, really --- Floyd!

However, much of Florida has been evacuated. The South Carolina coast has been evacuated. So, for those of you who are in the path of the storm --- or are just big fans of natural disasters - here's where you can get Floyd facts or track future storms ---- http://www.fema.gov/fema/trop.htm, http://www.netcreations.com/hurricane/, and http://www.hwn.org/.

After all evacuation is a form of travel and the folks at the sites listed above can tell you how to do it safely, efficiently, and effectively. I hope you don't need the information.

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