Still waiting for the "All Clear"

Well, the 2 readers I had have probably given up on me by now...

Where to start? First of all, I was very fortunate. No damage to my home (although the ants came out en masse after the storm) and I was only without juice for 4 days. I did lose everything in the freezer, but so what?

Unfortunately, work is still fried. Because the company I work for supplies the guys who put the power lines back up, the Department of Homeland Security has deemed us important enough to have a secret handshake to expedite getting our shit back in order so we can help them help you get your power back. Inasmuch as that gives you a warm and cozy (I'm serious - you actually do begin to feel like you are helping, even if you're not stringing cable) it means nothing in the grand scheme. It really was like a nuke had airburst over us and EMP'd us back into the Victorian era.

Here's an important safety tip: When the salesman tells you that your network can be re-routed from New Orleans through Memphis at the flick of a switch, go ahead and kick his ass because he is lying his ass off. It took us a week to get anything resembling connectivity back to our branches. I'm sure we had guys writing invoices on napkins just to get the stuff on the way! We finally got back to normal from that, and then we take a (non-disaster related) hit to our main server that we are still recovering from.

But enough about me!

I'm happy to say that all of my friends are alive, and relatively few had major damage. A couple evacuated their homes in N.O. and have just decided to "abandon in place" and start over somewhere else. Some friends in Gulfport had a tree visit one of their closets, but the house is tough and habitable. Some other friends in Ocean Springs just had wind damage. I don't know anyone within my close circle that lost everything. I am thankful for that!

And all my friends in Hattiesburg survived, none the worse for wear. One of my friend's apartments tried to develop a skylight in her roommate's room, but that was the worst there. Of course no one had power, water, gas or food for a week either! Btu everyone is accounted for and classes started back yesterday.

Now, on to some random bullshit...

1. Isn't it okay to call someone a refugee if they are actually seeking refuge? And what is it about the word "refugee" that makes people think of 3rd world countries?
2. I'm really starting to get tired of every asshole clogging my Inbox with pictures of storms in Kansas (or somewhere in the midwest) saying they are cool pictures of Katrina. Even my cat knows that Katrina made landfall at dawn, that hurricanes don't have delineated edges, and that the bayous of south Louisiana don't have cornfields.
3. A picture of a car from a New Orleans traffic cam being blown across the screen at 133mph is an even bigger piece of shit!
4. I agree with deadpananne when she talks about the the bastards bragging about their corporate generosity although I could never have expressed myself so adroitly. But now I am trying to figure out what makes a ventriloquist-toting car salesman think he can get into this game as well?
5. I am certainly not a fan of Bush or his administration, but from where I sit it looks like everyone had a hand in fucking this one up! The crybaby democrats and republicans just need to shut the fuck up! Go sleep in a gym or a tent next to a slab that was a home for a couple of months of summer in the south if you really need an attitude adjustment. Get everyone help before you go about telling me why you can't possibly be to blame for any of this...
6. Sean Penn = bad... Harry Connick Jr. = good
7. Rude fuckers in gas lines = bad... Every lineman in the country = good
8. The owner of the Raju Food Market on highway 80 in Pearl... I suggest every person that paid $3.00/gallon in fuel on the night of 9/1 (when his credit card machine was conveniently not working) should take the time to go tell him what a piece of shit he is!
9. Houston - just because someone lived in New Orleans AND is poor and/or black doesn't automatically make them criminals.

Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest. It's good to be alive.