An uninvited guest.

Rita is here. Here being Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Fortunately for us, she's coming into town as a mild storm. No lightning, no thunder. There have been an occasional tornado watch, but not much in the way of wind or large down amounts of rain. By the time I wake up in the morning it should all be done.

In other, more joyous news my Badgers beat Michigan today! Final Score 23-20. Wisconsin hasn't beaten Michigan since 1994 so that's huge for us Badger fans. Hopefully we can keep it up and avoid another late season meltdown.

Cowboy Up.

Things are going ok, but nothing funny to report unfortunately. Last night I was in Little Rock, Arkansas which is a busier town than I had expected. Tonight I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tomorrow I think we head for Ft. Smith, Arkansas on our way back to the east coast. We'll be heading back to Tennesse and North Carolina.

Just in time too, with Rita and all..

***Edit***

I've lost 12.762 pounds today. I have a rash on my balls from dragging them on the ground. It's hot (around 100 F). It's humid (around 100%) and I just cracked open a Bud..

If I die, say nice things about me.. even if they aren't true.

Work has been pretty good for the most part.

Currently I'm home for a few days but I'll be heading to Mississippi and Oklahoma when I return. The last 2 weeks have been spent in the Atlanta area and Alabama. Good hotels are getting harder to come by the further west and south we go, because of Hurricane Katrina. The clerks tell you that there are a lot of business travelers and that's why they are full, but when you look in the lobby it'll have an extended family eating Cajun potluck which means they are displaced residents. It's interesting that the hotels won't tell you that though. Perhaps they are afraid of some sort of backlash? I've seen a few hotels that are taking the opposite approach and saving 10 rooms only for displaced people. The whole experience has been surreal. I've met a lot of FEMA folks along the way too. I feel sorry for them, with such an impossible job at hand.

Now to the part where I may or may not die and you are required to say nice things:

Friday afternoon I flew out of Memphis, TN and that went as smoothly as air transportation can go these days. I flew to Milwaukee, WI and then a rental car courtesy of Hertz, and I was home. The minute I get home, I got on the internet because I haven't been able to for almost a week and I come across a news story where the feds arrested an Egyptian going to school in Memphis. In his apartment was a pilot's uniform, maps of the airport, videos on how to fly via GPS, etc. They only arrested one man. How much would you like to bet there are others in a cell that hasn't been captured?

Friday Grumblings

Friday is here and I'm still in the Atlanta area. Conyers, GA to be exact. My partner and I had set things up so that we would be off around 2P.M. with nothing but freedom for Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday.

This Saturday is going to be probably the best weekend for college football for the next two months and we were both looking forward to some beer and television. Then our boss called to let us know that we have to go back to all 8 stores we've worked in this week to put out some equipment that didn't get shipped on time.

There goes our Saturday!

The thing that sucks most is that the equipment that we have to set up is the easiest part, and the maintenance people in the stores could easily do this, but we have to go to each store and have the manager sign off on it. We'll end up putting on 200 miles driving around the greater Atlanta area tomorrow instead of drinking suds and watching football. At least I get paid for the work I do, plus the miles I drive.

Our boss also seems to think it's a great idea to drive back to Knoxville to finish the stores we did last week before driving to Alabama. I can almost spit and hit Alabama from where I'm at now, and he wants us to drive further north to get to our southern destination.

Ugh!

Atlanta..

Well, I finally made it to Atlanta last night, and it isn't so hot for a change :) Temps right at 80 degree's, low humidity, and all is well.

My flights from Green Bay and Minneapolis went smooth, except for a minor SNAFU with the TSA folks in Green Bay. Tried to bring a banned item in my luggage, they found it.. then gave me a slap on the hand, and off I went. Oh well.

I'll be on the road until Sept 16th, then I should be home for another weekend. I'll be working in the Atlanta area mostly, but towards the end of the trip we'll be heading to Alabama and Mississippi, which should be interesting, although we'll be at the north end of each state.

Big up's to the Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn for providing free computer usage. It really helps out a guy like me who doesn't have a laptop.

Obligatory Katrina Post

So I guess I'm hopping on the bandwagon.

But with my usual twist, and I'll probably known here after as "that insensitive dick". But that's ok.

There won't really be any direction or structure with this post, just some random storylines I've noticed.

Celebrities who've been affected. I'll be honest here, I have almost no sympathy for these folks. In this part of Wisconsin, it was all about whether Brett Favre had heard from his family. It's not like this storm popped up the day before it made landfall. If you're a celeb or star you put that financial power to use and get them out of dodge. You do the right thing for your family and it's less people for the rescue workers to worry about.

The poor masses. If I lived in New Orleans last week, I'd have been considered in this category most likely. But I say if you only have $20 in your pocket, put it in your gas tank and drive until you run out of gas. Get as far away as you can. Then get out and walk until you have blisters. If you didn't own a car in the first place you still walk. You can walk pretty far in 3 days. I know I can walk 12 miles in 3 hours with a 60 lb rucksack on my back, so my point is you can get somewhere if you really want to. 5 feet up the road is better than the spot you previously occupied. You have to at least try. If Terry Fox can do it, so can you.

Bush Hates Black People. I know a lot of people don't like Bush, and I'll admit that I like Kanye West's music, but this is probably the most ignorant thing I've ever heard. Ever. The response has been slow, and it has been unacceptable, there is no doubt about that. But if you're going to blame Bush, you have an obligation to blame every President, Congressmen, Governor, and Mayor since August 17th, 1969. Hurricane Camille served as a warning that nobody was willing to listen to.

Party Like It's Mardis Gras! If you live in a city that is 12 feet below sea level, you need to prepare for these things. Stock up non-perishable foods, but don't do it 3 days before the hurricane strikes land, you should have been stocked up years ago. Similar in ways that people used to build nuclear fallout shelters in their homes and stock them, you need to have a plan in place well before a disaster hits when you live below the fish.

Where Are The Marines? Some people have no concept of the Posse Comitatus Act. When the natives get restless, you can't just call in all of the available troops to put down civil unrest. That's the state's job. State and local police as well as the National Guard. Of course, the National Guard is controlled by the Governor, not Bush.. but we'll continue to blame him anyway.

My Dog Skip. I know people have a soft spot for their pets. In a lot of cases they are members of the family by extention. But let's get real folks. You can't take your pets into the Superdome and expect things to be peaceful. Hell, things weren't peaceful when it was filled with humans! In situations like this, pets are a very low priority and you need to accept that when you take on a pet.

Those Bastards At FEMA. FEMA has really dropped the ball on this, but they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. It doesn't make much sense to deploy them to the area prior to the damage being done. How much help will they be if they become part of the dead or stranded? Just like the nation wasn't prepared for 9/11, we weren't prepared for a hurricane and levy break. Next time we will be though.

I guess that's enough for now, but you can sort of get a picture for how I feel. It's not that I don't feel sympathy for most of the people there, because I do. Even though I don't think a lot of them did enough to help themselves, it doesn't mean I don't think we should do everything we can to clean it up. Yeah, it's easy for me to say it from the comforts of Wisconsin. I feel like we've become a hand-out nation and it shows. A lot of people didn't leave because they expected immediate help. With our technology and power I guess it's easy to feel that way, but it's just not how I'm wired. I think you always have to take care of number one and worry about the rest later. Now that the damage is done, we'll all pull together and pick up the pieces. That's what we're best at.

You didn't think I was joking about the pitchers, did you?

Out of 100-some pictures taken at the wedding, this is the only incriminating shot that could be found. Do you like my shoes?

I'm scared..

I'm in Charleston, South Carolina..

Pumps are out of gas.. people are fighting.... buildings are on fire.. I'm almost out of gas..

Haha.. just kidding. Well, I am in Charleston but there is no civil unrest yet anyway. There were rumors that all the local gas stations were going to shut down because of shortages. And of course these southern hicks are all running scared? Why would you shut down your gas station if you owned one? Run it dry while supply and price is up.

Anyway, one more jobsite to work for a few hours in the morning, then it's a 5 hour drive to catch a flight out of Atlanta, then a layover/get drunk period in Minneapolis. Hopefully Northwest has their shit together!

Talk to ya in morning perhaps, or late tomorrow night when I get back.