O.K. I just wanted to say that after driving around New Orleans yesterday and seeing the devastation, I feel just a little silly about worrying about how they are going to remove the refrigerators.

Behind Credit Cards and Realtors, I believe the third most evil thing in the world is probably the Scrabble Dictionary. Anyway, with that thought out of my head... I have been back recently to my place in New Orleans. The power came on two days ago in the Marigny, but I'm still staying with my parents on the North Shore for two reasons: 1. My work is still temporarily on the north shore and 2. New Orleans really stinks. It's only going to get worse in the next few days unless garbage pick-up gets its act together. Most people who have come back have just taken their whole refrigerator full of rotten food, duct taped it, and place it out for garbage pick-up. That seems to me a pretty heavy thing for the city to pick up. I have no idea how they plan to remove all that weight on such a massive scale. Many have just piled garbage bags in front of their house, covered in flys and maggots. Did I mention it really stinks in New Orleans? Hardly anyone is back yet, so like I said, the stink will probably get worse as people start removing their rot and placing it all on the street. New Orleans is still a ghost town. I've heard the Quarter is lively, but even in the Marigny, right next to the Quarter, I only see a person every now and then. It should start picking up soon though, I'm sure.
Again, I want to say thank you to everyone who tried to contact me and sorry I haven't contacted everyone back individually. My cell phone is just starting to work again. My little blue car, that I left in the hurricane, that had flooding inside the car, started up almost immediately. I'm so proud of it. I drained all the water filled oil out of it and fed it some more. I was about to sell it before the storm to get a more reliable car, but now I've changed my mind.