leighblack | (no subject)

I really need to stop reading/watching the Katrina coverage. At first, it was kind of entertaining, as I'm always amused by the talking heads trying to deliver news reports in Hurricane-force winds while trying to dodge debris. But now everything is just heart breaking. So many people dead. So many thousands, maybe even millions, who have lost everything. It doesn't make for the usual pleasant day of goofing off at work when you're reading all their stories. Still, I can't keep away from

neworleans or WWLT. Thankfully, the one person I do (sort-of) know in AL seems to be safe.

American Red Cross - if you can afford to donate, please do so! (give it time to load, it's understandably busy)

Last night, I slept in my bed for the first time since last Wed. Of course, it's not like it was horrible sleeping on my couch while I gave

rockerlee by bed. Or that the hotel in Clear Lake was terrible. Or that staying at my parent's was that bad, even though I never sleep very well there since I'm not using to having the dogs curled right up next to me so I can't move. But still, there's nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed. I didn't wake up once during the night, as I have been doing a lot of recently.

I'm having a viewing of the awesomely bad movie The Transporter at my place on Wed night, in preparation for the upcoming release of The Transporter 2. Everyone is invited! Just let me know if you're coming and I'll give you the details.

I was unpacking my bag last night, since I hadn't really unpacked it from Chicago, just switched out clothes to take to Iowa last weekend. Then I realized I shouldn't really be unpacking it, since I'll be leaving for the cabin on Friday. Sometimes it feels like I'm in a neverending cycle.

I guess that's all. I thought I had more to add, but I seem to have forgotten it. Oh! I did want to thank Lana for the lovely card. It really made my day yesterday, especially since the rest of my mail was all bills. =)

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It makes me actually want to call that semi-wretched guy in New Orleans just to see how he is. I don't think he's on the road with anybody, so I think he's been home. Damn me for actually caring a bit about people I don't necessarily like all that much.

The city will recover. You'd be astonished at how quickly the city will recover. We've had several seriously bad storms in Melbourne - admittedly not a hurricane, but the most recent one was actually cyclonic.

We've got a river that runs through most of Melbourne - the Yarra - and when that floods, you'd better fucking start swimming.

This was a small flood one in 1934 - it doesn't look like much, but see the "Heyington Railway Bridge" that's flooded out? I go over that every day to work - and it's 10 meters above the Yarra River when it's high tide. The Yarra actually rose 14 meters above normal water levels that day.

this is another, better view. Yes, those circles you can see off to the side are a stadium and a massive football ground - both of which are above the yarra by several meters, and nearly a kilometer away from her normal path. That was in the 70's. (comparison here) - this is what happened to a street in the middle of the CBD (Elizabeth Street)

this was another minor floor in St. Kilda in 1989.

And of course, we ended up with this, earlier this year... (bad pic, for some reason I can't find better ones)

We're still here. Mind you, we are crazy, after all :P

New Orleans has a flood history like ours. And they do know how to cover for it, recover from it, and the city will recover. I promise.

...I just wish I could say the same about the people :(

I'm fully confident that the city will survive and rebuild. It's just SO awful right now. The conditions are perfect for a terrible plague of disease to hit and kill more people than the hurricane itself. SO SO SO many of the people in the city are already poor, and now they have absolutely nothing. It's just not a good situation.

I can't help but to watch the coverage. I have an Uncle that lives right on Royal...and the last thing he did was of all things....send everyone on his list one of his really lame jokes with the preceeding message..."Wanted to get this out to you before the hurricane hits." So no one really knows if he stayed, if he evacuated or if he is all right.

So I read online....watch the coverage....and keep trying his phone.....

dev

Is it a cell phone you're trying to reach? Because folks are saying that text messages are having a better time getting through, rather than calls. If you don't have a cell to text him with, try one of the online ways.

neworleans had a post with links a couple hours ago.

My thoughts are with your family.