One hell of a week

And it ain't over yet sister

Well Monday I realize the local JC hasn't told me when I can register yet but they haven't contacted me about registering. So after trying to call multiple times I get the Dean of Admissions and he says come down to work it out but we will work it out. I knew it would be a madhouse and I have a ton of stuff to buy for UMCOR So I go and oh 2-3 hours later all is supposedly good and I am setup to take a friggin English comp exam cos I guess my bachelors degree just isn't good enough for them. Prior to that I had been to the church, to the bank and basically sat on my hands while the bank took 20 minutes to find out they could not get me a Visa check card which is the EXACT opposite of what they told the church. Then I had a client whose computer I was bummed to find out was so hosed that there wasn't much I could do besides make it a bit more stable so they could reload it. The I went to the college. Then I started my shopping spree. I started at a Walmart across town and started buying the items for what I hoped would be 400 healthkits for UMCOR. The kit consists of:
" 1 hand towel (15" x 25" up to 17" x 27", No kitchen towels)
" 1 washcloth
" 1 comb (large and sturdy, not pocket-sized)
" 1 nail file or fingernail clippers (no emery boards or toenail clippers)
" 1 bath-size bar of soap (3 oz. and up)
" 1 toothbrush (single brushes only in original wrapper, No child-size brushes)
" 1 large tube of toothpaste (expiration date must be 6 months or longer
" 6 adhesive plastic strip sterile bandages

and we need all BUT the toothbrushes. Between Monday and Thursday I went to 4 walmarts in 2 states and 3 counties at least twice each and at least 2 of them 3 times. I went countless dollar stores, Kmarts, drugstores and grocery stores trying to fill the list. The clippers and combs were the hardest part.

Tuesday I went to the college, took the test and started shopping again until I got a call from a good client. So I spent a total of 4 hours with him before some more shopping and finally getting home. Yes I skipped the FSG meeting It was just too much.

Wed back to the college the freakin registrar says I cant register AFTER I WAITED IN LINE OVER AN HOUR!!!!! If I had known I would have seen the Dean of Admissions in the first 10 min I was there. He straightens it out and I HAD TO WAIT AGAIN!! for the registrar I guess the Dean couldn't register me. So she registered me and I got all that done then MORE SHOPPING!!!!!!! At this point I had about 200 of everything except the combs, handtowels and clippers. I am sick of shopping so people in my Wed night Bible Study decided to go shop. One found clippers in I swear the only store in town I had not been too (and it was cash only). 2 more went to Sam's Club to get the hand towels, I knew they were cheaper there but I don't have Discover and couldn't afford the cash. I stayed at church with 3 others and sorted the combs since the packs I bought came with 2 unusable combs in each pack. While shopping Wed I get a call from an irate customer who thinks I did not fix his PC, well I did but in saving the OS it did lose some functionality since his wife did not want it formatted. I calmed him down let him know I would take care of it, scheduled time to pick it up Wed. After church I pretty much finished the shopping EXCEPT those pesky combs. Oh yeah and I ran the choir rehearsal in there too.

Thursday was an easy day compared to Wed. I got up and went to WW on the way I stopped at Walmart and they had refilled the combs I had previously pillaged so I pillaged again. Went to WW weighed in I am just 2 weeks from lifetime. WOOHOO!!!! Go out to clients house in BFE and wife is not home, so I wait, still not home. I called him, he had her call me and she said she will be back in about an hour and a half. I turn around and go to the church drop off the rest of the goods give everything one last once over. I could not think of ANYTHING else to do to prepare SO I go out to lunch. I ate very slowly then drove BACK out to BFE she is still not there. I had some Bible study to catch up on so I sat and read. 45 min later STILL not there. I really didn't want to make a 3rd trip out. So I call her she says she is 10 min away so I wait. She finally showed up I grabbed the PC and left. Got home and thankfully it was a beauty to reload it all went perfect! Great!!

Fri I SLEPT IN!!!!!!!!! I got to sleep till 9 and a lil after 10 I called the client, took my time dropped off the PC, went to WALMART (I swear they should know me by now) bought me jeans that fit. WOOHOO!!!!! Drove to base did my shoppin at the Com-misery and came home. I was home by 2 and I did jack the rest of the day, some Bible study some posting but just relaxed.

Tomorrow I have to getup at 6 and be at church at 7:45 to make the kits. Then I have to finish my Bible Study before class Sun evenin. It is still all a lil crazy but it could be worse :)

I am looking for the quote but Michael Brown Director of FEMA gave a run down of why he is qualified by listing the disasters that have occured since he entered the office.

Woohoo this yahoo got some great on the job training. One thing he listed was the California Wildfires. I assume he meant the wildfires of October 2003. Lives were lost and acres burned while FEMA sat with its collective head up its ass and made the US Marines at Camp Pendleton and USMCAS Mirramar PROVE they were capable of helping in the aerial firefight. I mean their experience putting out fires on their bases means nothing. They also took their sweet ass time getting resources into the area from all over the state and country. Not to mention the fact that they would not let anyone fly after dusk even though there were still 2 hours of light in the sky AND some of the aircraft was designed to fly at night. Yeah that lil bit on his resume makes me fucking ecstatic and feeling so safe that he is the head of FEMA. oh yeah I forgot to add that people died during that fire because they called for help and they were told to sit tight no reason to evac or help is on the way when the help never came or it was too late, sound familiar? What a fucking joke

yeah I am a news whore I watch it constantly and this situation hasnt changed that. Why does this hurricane seem to have such a slow relief effort? Last year it seemed like it was practically instantaneous but these people now aren't getting much. why are the churches the first to respond? What is going on? Where is our government? I mean I know it is bad but is it sooooo bad that there is nothing our government can do? I mean we were able to drop food on bombed out cities in WWII why cant we drop MREs on people on rooftops? Why arent these centers getting help? Where is their relief?

I wonder what the long lasting affects of this will be on our nation and government. Will Bush lose what lil support he has left as he takes the blame for yet another fuck up? He will try to push it off but I see it as a chain of command and he is at the top. Will the Republican party suffer? Are we going t go back to a Democrat majority. In the past we have done well with that in the past.

Good news I heard they are doing chopper drops of fod and water in New Orleans. About freakin time. Also good to hear most of the looting is people who are getting what they need to survive. Bad news is thousands who were turned away from the superdome are at the convention center. There is no relief or support there and officials wont go there because they are outnumbered. At least they got food and water drops but that is bullshit, they are outnumbered. Get the people on buses make sure you have enough and then give them stuff once they are onboard.

Hurricane

Things are crazy. The news from New Orleans is scary but I know that it is just a few being evil bastards. the majority are decent peple who just need help. I wish there is more I could do to help. I am trying to be a major player in my church with getting together flood buckets for UMCOR.org Hopefully I can get some goods donated too but I am sure the local businesses will be getting hit by alot. We will try to get our buckets together and delivered to another church who will deliver them to the distribution center in Lousiana.

Thankfully it sounds like everyone I know seems to have faired well. There is one person on the website I hang out on has yet to be heard from. We hope and pray they are ok.

I hope the government is really helping these people as much as they can. I just dont beleive it when I see all these people stranded in New Orleans. It sounds like even in Mississippi and Alabama things arent really happening. Of course with all of the violence I am not inclined to want to help them either.

A big part of me wonders if the Levy system was really as good as it should have been. I mean they were ready for a Cat 3 but it is the Gulf. Why didnt they have contigency plans? What is going on there? Why the hell are we seeing all of thee damn press conferences and no action? Is this another one of those situations where the media is twisting things and only showing us the worst possible OR is nothing really happening? Why are news crews giving out water? These poor people dying and dehydrated when they are surrounded by water. It is terrible and scary I just feel fr them and wish I could do more

Gas

WTF is wrong with people. Yesterday we had a run on gas here. People fillin up who have no reason. Shit there was a disaster we know fuel will go up but if we have a fuckin run on gas it is going to make it shoot higher. Gas went up from 2.45-2.50 to 3.29+ overnight. It is ridiculous this is not what we need right now.