Is there a Client/Matter Number for Hurricane Research?

As an attorney (even one with an asterisk), I have to keep track of everything I do all day and enter in my time spent on each client. Today I think I did 4 hours of actual corporate m&a or capital markets work. I spent 1.5 at lunch with a flyback interviewee (so weird to be on the other side of that table and filling in the evaluation form afterward). And I went home at 5:15, so that leaves 3 hours unaccounted for- unless I can figure out a way to bill the firm for my hurricane watching time. Maybe I was looking out for the Houston office? Maybe I was pondering how this would affect our Energy practice? But really I was just refreshing this meteorologist's blog, this page, and this hurricane tracker, and wondering why on earth my parents weren't safely in my guestroom instead of "hunkering down" in their house directly in the path of the hurricane. They're not in a coastal community, they weren't under a mandatory evacuation, and they couldn't leave my grandparents who live nearby and refused to evacuate, but still, I feel like a parent fretting over their child. I had to stop myself from demanding hourly updates by text message (I can't call because all circuits are busy over the cell phone lines). I know they'll be fine but I hate not knowing exactly what is happening every second. If they can't be here, then I want to be there watching it happen as it comes.

I just turned the TV on to The Weather Channel and there's a guy in an LL Bean rain jacket reporting from one of the evacuated coastal towns. Rain is pouring down, he's straining to stand up straight in the wind, what looks like a large tree is blowing across the street behind him, and he says, "the wind is really picking up... it's going to be a difficult night, but luckily we've got some protection from this... [rests hand on a thin post behind him] gazebo here." I was expecting something more along the lines of "concrete bunker" but apparently he thinks this flimsy wood, open roofed, gazebo is going to keep him and the camera crew safe.

I hope they are safe, even if I question their intelligence for relying on a gazebo to shelter them from a hurricane with more power, water, and diameter than Katrina. I hope everyone in Houston and anywhere else in Ike's path is safe. I'm praying for you all.

Update, Saturday at 5pm: FINALLY heard from my parents. They're fine, house is standing, lots of branches and trees down all around them. I had a horrible, horrible day with a screaming, teething Landon waiting for my phone to ring and wishing JP didn't have to study on campus. We're having some friends over for dinner and I'm looking forward to eating my delicious chicken enchiladas (which Landon stopped screaming long enough to let me make), drinking a margarita or two, and releasing my irrational anger at JP and my parents for daring to NOT BE IN MY LIVING ROOM ALL DAY. And then I'm going to bed early because Landon was up every hour last night crying and stuffing his hands in my mouth and I'm exhausted. My prayers continue for all those affected by the storm; I'm so very glad the surge was less devastating than anticipated.