So, I'm just sittin' here at Drinks on a Friday evening. Just finished some updates to the club's site, and have been visiting with some of my many friends here. Last night, I watched a DVD of some "home-made" camera footage, taken by a friend of mine as he was journeying down to the New Orleans area taking some of his family members back to their homes. The footage was NOT at all what you see on TV. The utter devastation; homes literally "floated" off their foundations and laying in the streets (obvious, as they were being driven around). This is the state of things there NOW too. Several months AFTER Katrina visited her devastation on the area.

I visited New Orleans in 2004 for a conference... walked the streets of the French Quarter, and the surrounding area... and was at the convention center by the Superdome. Granted, my friend's video was taken in St. Bernard's Parish, not N.O. proper... but still; the total loss of EVERY home in every neighborhood they went through; walls blown in, blown out, houses completely put underwater and washed down the street by the water as it inundated the area... it really makes you think, and feel.

I count myself lucky that I don't have relatives in the area, and at the same time, I feel for my friends that DO have family and relatives suffering through this disaster.

The evening news focuses on the wrong aspects of this disaster... even a couple of months after the event. People are the story. Not the response of the government, or the police, or the riots and looting. Normal people, their lives shattered, possessions, keepsakes, family mementos, and pictures, gone. And not just in N.O., but over the ENTIRE area.

Well, enough of this... I think I'll have another cold beer. And thanks the stars for all the blessings bestowed on me.
(And darn it, I still have to get ready for jury duty on Monday!)

Good night all...