The impact of hurricane Katrina really is unfathomable. Here in northeast Louisiana, we were on the very edge of the storm. Other than a few limbs down here and there and some telephone issues, Monday was like any other day. The impact on us is just starting to sink in. The only economic impact felt so far, is in the already swelling gas prices - it went up as much as 25 cents yesterday alone, in addition to the locals, people from Mississippi are heading into north Louisiana to get gas for themselves, so the fear of running out is evident in the long lines at the pumps. Apparently, Monroe has 3 main suppliers of gasoline, but 2 of them are in the New Orleans area and of course, disabled.
Our city is housing thousands of evacuees, which is typical for us during a hurricane evacuation. What is not typical is the length of time they will need to stay here. Apparently, the local Red Cross is looking for more permanent housing for the 1,600+/- people currently staying at our civic center and planning to have at least another 1,500 to house in the coming weeks. Of course, there is not a hotel room available, and I would think, since many of these folks have nothing left except what they might have in their savings accounts, they will be forced from the hotels into Red Cross shelters, etc. I know they have already begun transporting medical patients to our hospitals. I've heard (on good authority) that some evacuees have decided to put their children to our local schools. I saw in the paper that our local Catholic schools are accepting students from other Catholic schools until the other schools can re-open. They are even talking of setting up tent-cities in our area. The impact will certainly be far reaching for quite some time.
Obviously, the Red Cross needs volunteers and donations. I'm hoping to go volunteer at least one day next week. My company has been good enough to offer regular pay for those who go volunteer, as well as matching donations to relief organizations. The person I know at the Red Cross said by next week, they will have more capabilities of dealing with clothing donations.
Kathleen Blanco, the governor of Louisiana, has declared today to be a statewide Day of Prayer. Our state certainly needs it. Though the devestation is unbelievable, imagine the loss of life if we didn't have both the satellite and transportation technology that we have.
*On a personal note, my internet service is out (or questionable at best), so if you sent an e-mail to me at hotmail or gmail, I can't get it. Please send it to my work e-mail address or give me a call.
Thursday - Realization : everytime I'm swarmed with crazy people in my office, I joke to myself that it must be a full moon. I'm always right. There's something to that.
Friday - "You can get a pack of Mavericks for less than a gallon of gas."
"If only I could get my car to run on cigarettes."
Saturday - new sparkly red shoes
Sunday - peace
Monday - "I have a confession to make: we've lived here for over a year and I still have no clue where these bowls go."
Tuesday - Trying to think of a word more expressive than "dysfunctional" - Thesaurus says: abortive, bootless, counterproductive, disadvantageous, dysfunctional, expendable, feckless, fruitless, futile, good-for-nothing, hopeless, idle, impracticable, impractical, incompetent, ineffective, ineffectual, inept, inoperative, inutile, meaningless, no good, nonfunctional, pointless, profitless, purposeless, scrap, stupid, unavailable, unavailing, unfunctional, unproductive, unprofitable, unpurposed, unusable, unworkable, vain, valueless, waste, weak, worthless
I say we go with "bootless".
Wednesday - Arguing over which is worse: "fair" or "middlin'". (I say "middlin'")
*This time last year, I was moving and fixing my broken car. Thankfully, I'm doing neither of those things this year. It's too hot to do much of anything right now.
*The wedding went well last weekend - at least from my perspective - all the things I was responsible for worked out. Plus, they're married, so I guess it worked out anyway you look at it, since that was the goal.
*Just got finished reading A Return to Modesty by Wendy Shalit, which, oddly enough, has a naked person on the front of it. It's not so much about wearing clothes up-to-here and down-to-there as it is about the tactless culture we have gained by the so-called sexual revolution. Good stuff.
*T minus 25 days and counting until I'm on vacation.
*To your right, you'll notice a new link to PrayForZach.com. Zach is a friend of mine from way back who has been battling cancer for over a year. The website will give more details about his current status. Please keep him in your prayers.
I'm beginning to think I have a chemical imbalance that makes air conditioners brake when I'm around. Our a/c at home broke yesterday and the guy wouldn't come fix it until today, which I can hardly blame him for since our a/c unit is in the attic which, on an August afternoon, would not make a bad substitute for an oven (maybe not a brick oven, but at least an EZ bake). He's supposed to be fixing it today but as of noon, it still wasn't fixed. I spent the night at A&A's because even though I think I could have slept in the heat, the thought of drying my hair in a 90 degree house sounded horrible.
At least I can avoid the heat of the house by being at work all day...or I could if the a/c at the office wasn't malfunctioning.
The good news is, we're having slightly cooler weather than usual. Even though it still in the mid 90's during the days, it's getting down to about 70 at night, which is bearable - even pleasant.
In other news, life is good. I'm helping coordinate Katherine's wedding reception and so far, so good. I'm taking a day off on Friday so we can do some serious decorating before the blessed event that evening.
I'm having dinner tonight with someone I went to college with. I never knew her very well, but it will be a good opportunity to get to know her better.
Every day that goes by, I get more ready to go on vacation - just over a month away!
::a/c update - we're calling in the B team. The first guy bowed out of fixing it because of health concerns complicated by climbing the rickety attic stairs and working in a kiln. I'm glad the guy quit because honestly, he was out of breath walking up the sidewalk to the front door and I was a little afraid of the guy having a heart attack in my attic - talk about not cool::