(no subject)

Well, I'm inexplicably up. I left work early, came home, drank too much tea and got buzzed, managed a small nap anyway, watched a movie with hub, shagged, and just.... didn't go to sleep. I'm watching the clusterfuck with the NOLA folks on the various news sites and wishing for the best. Already people seem to be getting really angry- why is gas so high, why didn't those folks just leave when they were told, why are other countries not helping out America, blah blah blah. I know I've talked about how anger is a good thing, but in this case I think people are using it to either avoid being sad, which is kind of pointless... I guess angry feels better, but come on... or to avoid taking a good hard look (and useful action) at the situation by focusing on minutia or desperately searching for someone to blame.

I got my first paycheck since they decided it was time we had a cost of living raise after four years. It's not much, and I've decided to dump most of it on the Red Cross. Lowe's seems to be doing a matching thing, the first million or so dollars donated at their stores they will match. I don't know if more money actually will get donated if I dump it at Lowe's versus online. I can't imagine Lowe's would say "well, only $400,000 was donated so that's all we're sending, screw you" even if that did happen- in other words, I think they might be giving the million regardless. But just in case, that's my plan.

I also had my eye on a trinket on eBay. An absurdly ornate necklace that is not exactly going-to-the-store jewelry. The lady listed it a couple of times and no one bid on it; she had lowered her price a couple of bucks each time. Her latest listing came and went last week, and I wondered if she would re-list it yet again, and if I had any reason to buy it if she did. And lo, she listed it at a slightly higher price, with 25% of it going to the Red Cross. Huzzah, a rationale! So now I will have an absurdly ornate necklace to wear while vacuuming and cleaning the cat box and swimming at Hippie Hollow.

(no subject)

I've had about an hour of sleep; I'm going to run to Lowe's and do what I promised before I try to go back to sleep.

Here's why. It's tough to listen to, especially at the end. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin tells the feds to get off their asses and breaks down crying. ( transcript )

(no subject)

Bleeeeh. I'm so tired I can barely see straight. I was going to go to Lowe's, and saw content's post about some random guy who's organizing (kinda) a bunch of stuff from his apartment. They said they needed food and drinks and transportation. I figured I could make at least one run somewhere. So I went to Costco and got a big pack of those little cereals, and they had 35 1/2 liters of water for less than 5 bucks so I picked up a couple of those. Someone had dumped a case of Ensure on top of the water display, so I grabbed that too, remembering when my mom was really ill, that was all she could eat and it's like a meal in a can. The shit's expensive though; the one case cost over twice what the 2 cases of water cost, I discovered at the register. But like I said, meal in a can... I just hope they don't hand it out randomly like soda.

In any event, I drove down to the guy's place and was directed to load stuff by a big RV parked behind the apartment. Other people were streaming in with cases of water, food, clothes, and baby stuff. There were several people manning phones and Content was keeping folks updated on a laptop. I sat around amidst the chaos for awhile, and eventually got the impression that there's not a real need for transportation *now*, but there probably will be later. I left my number, but I am still running on one hour of sleep and I am going to crash. They seem to have a lot of people offering to help right now but not a lot of folks have made it up to Austin yet who need it- caravans are being organized. The guy running it said he had 1200 (or maybe it was 1500) homes in Austin ready to take folks in. That is great.

I came back up north and stopped off at the Lowe's to make my contribution. Now, off to bed. Good night, guys.

Cold Watch 2005

For those who want a non-Katrina post, here's the latest update on my cold.

My sleep schedule's all messed up, but I think I'm on the other side of it. My voice still sounds all gravelly and sexy, which would be fun if I didn't have so little energy.

I went to the same Walgreen's to get more Dayquil, since they would only sell me one 10oz. bottle last time I went "because of the new laws" and I was going to be running low. They had 2 10oz. bottles held together with tape... which I was allowed to buy. Let's review:

2 10oz. bottles of Dayquil held together with tape: cold sufferer
2 seperate 10oz. bottles of Dayquil: meth lab assistant

*shakes head*