An Observation
You might think that there are droves of rats in New Orleans. With all the trash everywhere, the stench, the free-reign they’d have of the city, etc. I haven’t seen a single one. In DC, I see them all the time, but none here. Before coming here, I’d heard talk about the cockroaches – I’ve seen three. Very few birds. I figure the floods and toxicity did them in. However, there are lots of cats, and some stray dogs. Lots of dogs that have been hit by cars.
A house alarm is going off somewhere in the neighborhood. It’s really loud. Obnoxious too. I wish the looter knew how to turn it off.
Driving home last night, after a long, extremely busy day creating maps and some tools for the New Orleans Public Health Department, I was talking to Hilary on the phone. I made a few comments about how surprising it was that I hadn’t been pulled over yet for curfew enforcement, as well as driving through “closed” neighborhoods. I haven’t been pulled over yet by a Humvee, and New Orleans might be one of the few opportunities where I could achieve that, since the military has been patrolling the city. Almost immediately after saying that, I noticed a strange person walking in the street about a block ahead of me. It was a little after midnight, and the person had stepped out from behind a tree, and was wearing hunting clothing. Immediately, I thought something weird was going on, and became a little nervous as I was driving down a very narrow street, and the person was at the oncoming intersection. I slowed down a little as I continued to approach, and that’s when I noticed the gun. A large, very large gun. And another person. Two men, with guns. It took some time to click, but by the time I was commanded to stop, I had just barely realized that these were two soldiers. And there were two Humvees that then blocked the road.
Luckily, they were nice guys and didn’t shoot me. I was still a little weirded out by it.
It had been a long day at the New Orleans Emergency Operation Center. People need maps for meetings, and I wanted to finish up two maps to distribute to the public. On top of all that, I didn’t want to leave the folks I was working with there high and dry. My hopes are that they’ll keep some of the maps updated after I leave, and continue to communicating with aid agencies and departments so that information is consistent and available to the public. As it was left, two of the maps will be sent to the printers for immediate, mass distribution!
Wednesday was spent with hippy kids. Houma, is turns out, wasn’t all it was hyped up to be. In fact, Houma seemed normal as we drove through. The community we ended up in was Dulac, LA. Low population density, minimal wind damage, and some flood damage. Not the large Native American population, nor the Vietnamese. There were a few, but it was just a diverse community, coping as well as they could. Most everyone had plenty of water and food. Many had their electricity and gas restored already, and were most concerned with the mud which the flood waters left in their houses. In this area, the flood waters were about four feet high. Many of the homes were already prepared, and had been built on ten foot high stilts. It’s the Mississippi flood plain after all! Everyone wanted bleach, mops, push brooms, cleansers and scrub brushes. The truck that was brought left with a few cans of food in it, and nothing else.
While most of the aid distribution was going on, I hopped back in my car and drove down the road further, assessing the damage and looking for more aid services. I found two additional locations, which is enough to make a useful map. I’ll probably do it as I sit in the airport today, waiting for my plane.
It’s been a tumultuous final set of days. Between all the hard work, I’ve been going for two weeks straight with no breaks. My head is a little full, I want to change my clothes, and I wouldn’t mind a break. I spent over three hours last night hunting for food. At first I wanted some good local food. A catfish po’boy or some gumbo. Towards the end, I was upset when McDonald’s wasn’t open. I criss-crossed New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, the east bank and the west bank. Nothing, until my second time back in downtown New Orleans someone recommended trying such and such place in Metairie – they might be open. So I sped away, and found the place. It was open. All the served, on any day, were chicken fingers, toast and fries. I ordered two boxes. I hadn’t eaten all day, and I was starving. The chicken wasn’t bad either, not great, but at that time, it was tasty. Problem was that I’m slightly allergic to chicken. After eating one, my throat began to swell up, my ears felt pressure – anaphylactic shock. I tolerated it, chocked down three more chicken fingers, and figured that if it got bad enough, I could make it to one of the military check points and they’d have an epi shot to give me. Thankfully, it didn’t get that bad. Now, I have that second box of chicken wings, toast and French fries sitting in the other room, and I’m very tempted to crack into it!
I think I was about to describe the additional pressure of the last two days. The big thing occurred on Tuesday morning. A GIS group I’d been volunteering with before coming to New Orleans, in which I was helping track down the best available and most recent data for the gulf coast region, contacted me with an opportunity. On October 8th, a day and a half after I’d leave New Orleans, they needed a GIS instructor/documentation writer for a training session with a landmine removal organization. There was a scheduling conflict, and they needed someone good right away. The training was to be in Beirut, Lebanon. So like any decent person, I jumped at it. It would be for three weeks, paid nicely each day, and all my travel would be covered. I started making the necessary phone calls, I was accepted, and while the plane tickets were being discussed and purchased on Wednesday, the training was cancelled. No need for me, and all my excitement was for naught. Yep, I was disappointed. Very disappointed. However, their chairman called me up, and requested I come by their office in Washington, DC when I returned, and introduce myself to the folks there – they’d like to see how they can fit me in to some other landmine projects they have around the world.
Anyways, its something to look forward to. Just like my two or three hour drive to the airport. Speaking of that, I got to get a move on!
A house alarm is going off somewhere in the neighborhood. It’s really loud. Obnoxious too. I wish the looter knew how to turn it off.
Driving home last night, after a long, extremely busy day creating maps and some tools for the New Orleans Public Health Department, I was talking to Hilary on the phone. I made a few comments about how surprising it was that I hadn’t been pulled over yet for curfew enforcement, as well as driving through “closed” neighborhoods. I haven’t been pulled over yet by a Humvee, and New Orleans might be one of the few opportunities where I could achieve that, since the military has been patrolling the city. Almost immediately after saying that, I noticed a strange person walking in the street about a block ahead of me. It was a little after midnight, and the person had stepped out from behind a tree, and was wearing hunting clothing. Immediately, I thought something weird was going on, and became a little nervous as I was driving down a very narrow street, and the person was at the oncoming intersection. I slowed down a little as I continued to approach, and that’s when I noticed the gun. A large, very large gun. And another person. Two men, with guns. It took some time to click, but by the time I was commanded to stop, I had just barely realized that these were two soldiers. And there were two Humvees that then blocked the road.
Luckily, they were nice guys and didn’t shoot me. I was still a little weirded out by it.
It had been a long day at the New Orleans Emergency Operation Center. People need maps for meetings, and I wanted to finish up two maps to distribute to the public. On top of all that, I didn’t want to leave the folks I was working with there high and dry. My hopes are that they’ll keep some of the maps updated after I leave, and continue to communicating with aid agencies and departments so that information is consistent and available to the public. As it was left, two of the maps will be sent to the printers for immediate, mass distribution!
Wednesday was spent with hippy kids. Houma, is turns out, wasn’t all it was hyped up to be. In fact, Houma seemed normal as we drove through. The community we ended up in was Dulac, LA. Low population density, minimal wind damage, and some flood damage. Not the large Native American population, nor the Vietnamese. There were a few, but it was just a diverse community, coping as well as they could. Most everyone had plenty of water and food. Many had their electricity and gas restored already, and were most concerned with the mud which the flood waters left in their houses. In this area, the flood waters were about four feet high. Many of the homes were already prepared, and had been built on ten foot high stilts. It’s the Mississippi flood plain after all! Everyone wanted bleach, mops, push brooms, cleansers and scrub brushes. The truck that was brought left with a few cans of food in it, and nothing else.
While most of the aid distribution was going on, I hopped back in my car and drove down the road further, assessing the damage and looking for more aid services. I found two additional locations, which is enough to make a useful map. I’ll probably do it as I sit in the airport today, waiting for my plane.
It’s been a tumultuous final set of days. Between all the hard work, I’ve been going for two weeks straight with no breaks. My head is a little full, I want to change my clothes, and I wouldn’t mind a break. I spent over three hours last night hunting for food. At first I wanted some good local food. A catfish po’boy or some gumbo. Towards the end, I was upset when McDonald’s wasn’t open. I criss-crossed New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, the east bank and the west bank. Nothing, until my second time back in downtown New Orleans someone recommended trying such and such place in Metairie – they might be open. So I sped away, and found the place. It was open. All the served, on any day, were chicken fingers, toast and fries. I ordered two boxes. I hadn’t eaten all day, and I was starving. The chicken wasn’t bad either, not great, but at that time, it was tasty. Problem was that I’m slightly allergic to chicken. After eating one, my throat began to swell up, my ears felt pressure – anaphylactic shock. I tolerated it, chocked down three more chicken fingers, and figured that if it got bad enough, I could make it to one of the military check points and they’d have an epi shot to give me. Thankfully, it didn’t get that bad. Now, I have that second box of chicken wings, toast and French fries sitting in the other room, and I’m very tempted to crack into it!
I think I was about to describe the additional pressure of the last two days. The big thing occurred on Tuesday morning. A GIS group I’d been volunteering with before coming to New Orleans, in which I was helping track down the best available and most recent data for the gulf coast region, contacted me with an opportunity. On October 8th, a day and a half after I’d leave New Orleans, they needed a GIS instructor/documentation writer for a training session with a landmine removal organization. There was a scheduling conflict, and they needed someone good right away. The training was to be in Beirut, Lebanon. So like any decent person, I jumped at it. It would be for three weeks, paid nicely each day, and all my travel would be covered. I started making the necessary phone calls, I was accepted, and while the plane tickets were being discussed and purchased on Wednesday, the training was cancelled. No need for me, and all my excitement was for naught. Yep, I was disappointed. Very disappointed. However, their chairman called me up, and requested I come by their office in Washington, DC when I returned, and introduce myself to the folks there – they’d like to see how they can fit me in to some other landmine projects they have around the world.
Anyways, its something to look forward to. Just like my two or three hour drive to the airport. Speaking of that, I got to get a move on!
posted by B at
8:23 AM
