I got my power back on last night. My house made it through Ivan with flying colors. Only house damage was two of the pillars that hold up the front porch were pushed in 2 inches or so, and the shed was lost (it was here when I bought the house, and I never used it so no real personal loss there.) Lost my smaller trees that provided shade to my AC unit and my kitchen window. An old wooden fence between my neighbor and me went down as well.
I've got everything back working at the house except that I don't think they've lifted the "boil water" order yet. Hopefully soon on that, but I've still got plenty of pre hurricane water, and of course can boil it now that I have power. Gas water heater, so I had hot water the whole time, but electric cook top and oven, so no boiling capabilities. (no grill either! shame on me for living in Florida and not having a grill, but I wanted my DLP TV more than a grill!)
For the few non-Mongrels that might have been looking forward to meeting me at the Con... Sorry, but can't make it now. I've had to use up the vacation time set aside for the Con as I'm gonna miss almost 40 hrs of work for the storm, and we either take vacation time or unpaid leave. I can't afford not to get paid. Also, the airport is closed for probably two weeks so I couldn't have flown out anyways.
anyways, the Mongrels were extremely worried about me, so I figured a few non-Mongrels probably were too. Just wanted you all to know I'm doing really well considering the circumstances.