There are lots of other, more articulate places to read about the hurricane, than the blog of a Kansas boy in an apartment in the Northeast, but I am still going to write my thoughts.
I am tied to my computer and the cable TV, listening to a local New Orleans news feed, watching the weather channel, 24 hour cable news stations.
This seems worse than the tornadoes that I learned to deal with growing up (not that I ever had to ride out a direct hit), because there is so much time between the first issued warning and the actual hit.
The scariest projection I heard was a CNN report from the Jefferson Parish emergency management chief that said he expects Lake Ponchartrain to become Lake New Orleans. (Hmmm looks like they took down the video. Here's a link to a text version of a similar article)
On one hand, it is good that hurricanes give this much warning, allowing time to evacuate. But what if you can't drive? What if you can't afford a car? What about those people that can't evacuate?
I'm also hearing stories right now about price gouging on gas, water, hotel rooms, generators, etc.
Sigh.
At least the lawyer they are interviewing is vowing that all gouging reports will be swiftly investigated and offenders thrown in jail.
I'll probably be up for a few more hours following these news feeds, even though there doesn't seem to be any change, and they aren't projecting landfall until dawn.
I had a couple firsts today.
I sat through my first street performance in Washington Square Park today. A magician, who wasn't a great illusionist (he had nothing on that street magician I saw in New Orleans), most of his tricks were preformed props or easily seen-through. There were a couple that were good palming jobs (ones where you could tell he was palming, but his misdirection was so good that you couldn't tell when he palmed it or what he did with the object after palming it). Nonetheless, it was still a nice divertissement for half of an hour this afternoon.
The other first wasn't so entertaining. I saw my first (and second and third and fourth and fifth and possibly sixth, but I lost count) rodent in the building today. Don't worry (especially you, mom), they weren't in the apartment, they were in the trash room. And they weren't rats the size of medium sized dogs. They were just regular sized mice. But I did want to get out of there as soon as possible after seeing the first one dart across the room, then the second and the continued movement in the large garbage bag that was between me and the trash chute.
I also had that interview today, but I won't write about it until I know more... just in case.
Today was very productive.
Ok. Not in comparison to my normal, pre-move days. But compared to my last few days, today was productive.
I walked in the other direction (less of the island that way, so I couldn't walk as far) to find a giant electronics store and a CD of an outdated version of my accounting software. Now the reason this is exciting for me is that I have spent the past few years trying to figure out how to get my personal accounting software to work on the Linux side of my computer. This version of the software (not the original version I bought 4 years ago, and not the new version I bought earlier this year, but the version before the version I bought this year) finally worked the way I wanted!!! Now I can finally get myself entirely on Linux for my daily computing needs.
And I am going to have dinner with a friend who is leaving town.
And I have an interview tomorrow.
Today was productive.
As the Sondheim song "Broadway Baby" says, "Walking off my tired feet." Which is what I did today. Ok, not quite from Battery Park to Washington Heights, but I did walk from Houston Street to Central Park along 5th Avenue today. I would have walked back along Broadway, too, but I made it to Times Square and the rain started. So I ducked into the subway and rode the rest of the 40 blocks back.
I also made a Thai peanut and coconut milk sauce stirfry-like thing. But by the time I had made the rice, sauce, sauteed the spinach and cleaned up the dishes, I wasn't that hungry. So now I have a refrigerator full of, separately, peanut sauce, rice and a bowl of already made spinach-peanut-sautee-thing over rice.
I made it.
I have arrived in New York, and I've already:
I have also seen a few signs that seem to point to this move being the right choice for me:
I am out of the apartment.
Just barely under the wire, I turned in the keys to the manager, because of help from friend and family, and particularly lots of help from my uncle. Otherwise, I don't think I would ever have been able to dig myself out from under the pounds of boxes and dust.
I think I hit the loopy mark somewhere around 4:00 on Saturday. That loopy mark where none of your belongings matter anymore and every thirty seconds you think "Just throw this out, I don't need it." Loopy? Or a crash course in Buddhist detatchment to physical things?