After last year’s storms, I tacked to my desk at work this picture of the state of Florida fully covered by a hurricane with an arrow and the words “We Are Here.”

Last night, I saw that Allen Strum (Pensacola’s non-blonde answer to meteorologist Steve Jerve) had put a magnet graphic on his weather map, right over the Panhandle. Yeah, that’s pretty accurate.

Currently, I am here: Gulf Breeze, a little town on a barrier peninsula, sandwiched between Pensacola and Pensacola Beach (or what’s left of it).

Just for some perspective on where I’m coming from with this blog, I should tell that I grew up here and my family lives here. While I was in Tampa, my family and several friends battled Ivan, Dennis and a couple tropical storms. (When I was home for the 4th of July, we were still fishing shingles out of the bottom of my parents’ pool and their house is not yet fully repaired from Ivan’s damage. And compared to many here, they did pretty well.)

So, in short, the Panhandle is over it. Over the storms, over the plywood, over the gas station lines, over the work trucks and the piles of debris. Over it.

Katrina’s current track is pointing toward New Orleans. From a journalist’s standpoint, I probably shouldn’t express a preference for where Katrina makes landfall, especially given New Orleans’ vulnerable position below sea level, but from the perspective of a daughter/sister/aunt/friend and that of a former resident, I’m willing Katrina West.