Just when the snow settles, God shakes our Globe again......or

[downhill]

Better than watching all this on the news, my friend.

Thanks for the update.

Let us know when the mail starts rolling again!!

[Randy]

Better than watching all this on the news, my friend.

Thanks for the update.

Let us know when the mail starts rolling again!!

I agree man you just dont get that kind of info from the news!

great read about sad events

[Bouncer]

RoundEye,

If anyone here PM's you about stopping you kindly forward them to me.

Regards,
-Bouncer-

[Chris]

I still can't decide whether your Alice, The Mad Hatter, or maybe the damn Rabbit.

[RoundEye]

I just can’t believe we have another major storm coming. If this thing wipes out another major metro area like Houston, we are in deep trouble. When I say “we”, I mean the U.S.

I don’t think many people realize the impact this will have on the transportation of goods. There are major shipping/transportation routes along the coast between the Houston area and New Orleans. If Houston is impacted like New Orleans, I don’t have a clue what this will do our economy. Along the river and Gulf coast we move tons of grain products for the farmers in the Midwest, plus we import tons upon tons of goods into the U.S. New Orleans is a lot smaller then Houston too, hold on everybody it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Watching the news I seen railbeds completely washed out from under the tracks, the tracks were still there, and at one point people were hanging on to them for their lives. A 12 mile long bridge for I-10 is gone, that will take years to rebuild. No major transportation route has gone unaffected, rail, highway, or water. Also the major oil companies have taken a huge hit, and they are going to ream our asses to pay for it.

I don’t know how it happened, but some where along the line everybody was fooled into thinking that the levee system was safe, even NASA. You know that huge tank under the shuttle, well guess where that’s built? In New Orleans East, one of the harder hit areas from Katrina. NASA has moved all it’s employees, from the Micoud plant, to Florida so the shuttle can stay on schedule. Most of the people that work for major companies are doing OK, yes they lost a lot or everything, but they still have a paycheck coming in. Me, I’m still not back to work, and now Rita is going to delay that even more.

I finally seen my friend that was evac’ed to San Antonio, I could right a book alone on what he has been through. The only thing he got to save from thier home was their wedding rings. He and his girlfriend bought a home together and were getting married soon. He was telling me that it took about five minutes for the water to go up to the top of the doorframe of his house, then it slowed some. At that point he had no idea two levees had broken, and they were stuck in the middle of the two. Just imagine this, he swam out of his attic, had to dive down to the dresser to get the rings, then swim back up to the attic. The man was swimming and diving in his damn home for wedding rings. Unfreakingbelievable! The reason for the rings…….. standing in rising water in his attic, during a hurricane, they said their vows to each other and put on the rings, then he started kicking out the roof. If they were going to die, they didn’t want to die unmarried. They have nothing but the rings and each other now.

One of his main complaints through all this was having to sit in a closet to take a dump. The place they were evac’ed to had no TV, radio, bathrooms or showers. The bathroom was a closet with one of those folding toilets that you would use while camping. The smell was unreal throughout the building. Out of all he had been through, he went on most about this. I could tell he was worn to a frazzle, and after listening to him for a while, he just nodded off on my sofa.

Talking about being fooled by the levee system, when they bought the house they were told that they weren’t in a flood zone, and didn’t need flood insurance (which they bought anyway). Not a flood zone?!?! By the time the storm was over they were hanging onto the hole in the roof because the water was so high. He got on the roof during the storm and all he could see was rooftops and power lines, then he got back into the hole to ride the storm out because he was being hit with so much debris.

All this has me questioning everything I’ve ever been told by our local government.

Another friend of mine found his step dad two weeks after the storm, dead. He had moved out the house long before his mom remarried and wasn’t very close to his step dad, none the less it doesn’t make it any easier. They tried like hell to get the old guy to leave, but he wouldn’t, kept going on about how many storms he’s been through, and “I ain’t going no where”. My friend said “think of it as a vacation” even offered to take him any place he wanted to go. He wasn’t budging, they almost gave him a heart attack trying to drag his ass out the house. Finally they had to go, and headed for Florida. I can tell he’s bummed out and guilt ridden about it. His mom is in her 70’s, has no home or companionship now.

The worst part about it is not having anyone to retrieve the body. All they could do was report to the police where the body was, and wait for somebody to go get him at a later date. The only way he could describe it is “it wasn’t nothing nice”. I can’t even begin to imagine finding my dad/wife/husband/brother/sister/mom/ect. about two weeks after they had died, then turn around and leave their body there under all the debris.

If you love somebody, let them know NOW, you just never know what’s going to come along and take them away from you.

The EPA and local government is trying hard to clean the water before it’s pumped out of the city. At last report I think they said that they have removed something like 25,000 barrels of oil/gas/toxins from the water. Just a drop in the bucket in the big scheme of things, but I sure am happy they are at least trying. Not only had a large oil tank burst, the railroads evac’ed all their people out, and left thousands of railcars behind full of chemicals. Well those were flooded and spilled out too. Louisiana is now thinking about passing legislation about leaving the railcars behind during a mandatory evacuation. Why should there even have to be a law about this? I wonder what dumb ass decided to leave behind those cars in the path of a major hurricane. It’s not like they didn’t know it wasn’t coming, it’s not a frigging Earthquake. Another candidate for my Katrina Einstein club.

As I type this we are starting to get wind and rain along the outer bands of Rita. Just great, all the help we were getting just packed up and headed out. Believe it or not some of the dumb asses from F.E.M.A. headed toward Baton Rouge for safety. More in the path of the storm they are trying to get protection from. When they left the city of Slidell, they told the sheriff where they were going, he tried to tell them it wasn’t a good idea. They said that’s where they were instructed to go and left. Are these morons robots or something? These idiots can’t even change their underwear without written permission from Washington. I’m not talking about rescue teams either, I’m talking about people with laptops who were sent down here to help with paperwork.

I’m fed up with F.E.M.A. and our governor Kathleen Blanco. F.E.M.A. Has one thumb up their ass, and their other hand in their front pocket playing pocket pool. People can say what they want about Bush, but that bitch Blanco didn’t ask for help from the feds for about three days after the storm. From what I hear, we were declared a disaster zone by Bush a day before the storm even hit. I’m not a huge fan of Bush, but we need to make sure people know what really happened. Mayor Ray Nagin was screaming for help on TV for days before anybody gave him any help. People/police/fireman/Coast Guard where literally fighting for their lives in N.O. Kathleen Blanco can kiss my shiny white ass.

Let me say this, the Coast Guard risked their lives, under fire, to save the lives of 1000’s of people trapped on their roofs. In one or another I think they rescued over 20,000 people.

The police are also under ungodly amounts of stress, not only have then been working 24/7 for weeks on end, now because of Rita they have no place to stay. The city of New Orleans struck a deal with Carnival Cruise lines, who docks their ships at the wharf along the river. They would “rent” the cruise liners to the city so that essential city employees would have a place to stay. Now because of Rita they pulled the ships away from the city. Over 450 police and fireman have to find some place to stay again. Not an easy thing to do in a city, still mostly without power, water, food or houses that haven’t been flooded.
Like the famous Mr. Rogers, can we say “third world conditions” kids?

At least I have a roof over my head and electricity.

The parish of St.Bernard, who was hit the hardest (yes, there are places worse off then New Orleans), couldn’t pay their police after the 15th. It took emergency money from the state to pay them. The police chief was saying that they didn’t get paid enough in the first place and there was no way he could keep them from their family any longer, just to protect a city that has to be completely bulldozed anyway.

Well…..I have to go now, I’ve got another damn storm to get ready for. Do me another favor, call somebody you love and talk to them for a while tonight. It’s important, trust me.

[Croc]

Pour it on RE. As much as you can. The message you are sending out reflects the message of thousands.

Stay safe, you and yours.

John

[RoundEye]

Water, water go away. We didn’t get a direct hit from Rita, but the storm surge was higher then anticipated. On the news they are debating if the levee was breeched by high water or if it broke again. A guy sent in an email to the news station, he sounded fairly livid by the wording of the email, he stated that what difference does it make how the water is getting in, his house is being flooded again. At this point houses that had been pumped dry have about eight feet of water in them again.

So far along the Gulf Coast, Alabama, all of Mississippi’s coast, all of Louisiana’s coast, and part of Texas’ coast have been or will be destroyed. The part of Texas’ and Louisiana’s coast that is being hit supply about twenty percent of the nation’s gas. There is a bunch of refineries in that area. I would be willing to bet that gas prices will be in the four to five dollar range soon. Luckily in a way, since Louisiana is in a state of emergency they can’t raise the price of gas more then fifty cents. Our gas is running from $2.60 to $2.99 right now, if you can find any.

I seen something on the news that really bothered me in a big way, in Galveston there is a facility that studies some of the most deadly viruses known to mankind. The guy that ran it went on about how the building is safe, made with ten inch, steel reinforced concrete and there is a large amount of security, but it’s all electronically controlled. He admitted that there are six known deadly viruses there now, and when pressed by the newscaster admitted that there could be more. What happens if all their generators get flooded by the storm surge, like the surge that hit here in New Orleans? I just can’t believe that they would build something like that in such a volatile area. Galveston is an island off the coast of Texas at that, it can and has been virtually wiped of the map by hurricanes, it has no coastal protection what so ever. Folks we have a ton more candidates for the Katrina/Rita Einstein club here.

Something else that has been really pissing me off, is what people that live in other parts of the country are saying about all of this. I’ve heard everything from New Orleans should be leveled and a state park built, to only rich people should live along the coast since they can afford to rebuild without help from the government. Granted there is no God given right or anything in the Constitution that states that you house or business would be rebuilt just like it was before the storm, but all we are asking for is help to protect our city, rebuilding the infrastructure and some type of temporary housing for people that have lost everything.

As small as New Orleans is, we provide a huge amount of jobs for people throughout the United States. We provide seafood for many industries and restaurants, almost all of the coffee you drink comes in through the Port of Orleans, we move tons of raw food products such as grain, corn, ect. for farmers all along the river and throughout the midwest, we also are a major importer/exporter for products coming from and going to South America and Europe, not to mention oil and gas production. There are also many small countries who’s GNP relies on product moved through the Port of Orleans. Yep, making New Orleans a big ass park would do wonders for the economics of the U.S.
Random notes:
Our power is out again, glad I’m using my laptop.

Cellphone service is also down.

Our electric company just filed for bankruptcy, they said that the storm caused on an average of $100,000 of damage per household served, plus they lost the income of over 140,000 homes that are unable to take power right now. I have no idea what happens when a major utility files for bankruptcy. Oh no, maybe that’s why I have no power right now.

This one is scary, our Governor came on TV and asked people who can’t or won’t evacuate to write their Social Security number on their arm. The reason is that our coroners are overwhelmed with all the dead bodies, and this way it’ll make it easier to ID the dead and notify your next of kin.

Gotta go now, I can barely see what I’m typing and I need to catch the rabid monkeys hiding in my closet. Hmmm, I wonder where I can get some monkey bait from?

Oh, did you let somebody know that you love them yet? I’m gonna start kicking ass if y’all don’t start making those calls soon. I know Santa Claus real well, and if you don’t call he’ll let me know.

[blacklab]

I finally seen my friend that was evac’ed to San Antonio, I could right a book alone on what he has been through.

You know this may not be a bad idea. You have a lot of interesting stuff here. It is refreshing to read something written by someone with your writing abilities, and someone who is not putting a phony spin on the story.

I would think there has to be somebody, who reads SpeedGuide, would know how to get such a book published. If it had pictures all the better. I know I would buy one. What you have written is a good start.

Good luck
blacklab

[MissTynker2]

You know this may not be a bad idea. You have a lot of interesting stuff here. It is refreshing to read something written by someone with your writing abilities, and someone who is not putting a phony spin on the story.

I would think there has to be somebody, who reads SpeedGuide, would know how to get such a book published. If it had pictures all the better. I know I would buy one. What you have written is a good start.

Good luck
blacklab

Absolutely!!! What a beautiful natural talent!!

[Debbie]

You know this may not be a bad idea. You have a lot of interesting stuff here. It is refreshing to read something written by someone with your writing abilities, and someone who is not putting a phony spin on the story.

I would think there has to be somebody, who reads SpeedGuide, would know how to get such a book published. If it had pictures all the better. I know I would buy one. What you have written is a good start.

Good luck
blacklab

Didn't Kip write a book?

[RoundEye]

Sorry about not updating more, but I’ve been trying to not think about what was going on around me, it was starting to get me too depressed and clouding my judgment. Plus a major fiber optic line for Bell South broke, and if I can connect at 21k it’s a miracle. Just opening Google takes about 20 seconds or so, and a thread at SpeedGuide takes about 2 minutes per page, if there aren’t any pictures. I finally got Outlook setup on my laptop to check my mail, and it took about 45 minutes to download all my mail from two accounts. Most of which was freaking spam.

Die Spammers Die!

I got to sit in traffic yesterday, which most people hate, but to me it’s a good thing. It means people are finally coming home and back to work. Most of New Orleans is still closed off though. It’s a big difference then when there was just a couple of cars here and there, it looked like a ghost town There are signs up everywhere for people wanting to rip up carpet and tear out sheetrock. We even made a few, but haven’t had any calls yet. Nasty as hell work, but at least it’s income till I can find a regular job.

My friend that had to kick his roof out to get out of his home, got to go see it. After being flooded for a month, he said there is nothing to save. They had to break the doors down to get in, there was about a foot deep muck which was a combo of mud, sewage and crude oil from the tanks that burst. All the ceiling fans and light fixtures were broken from the furniture floating up and smashing them. His motorbikes were black like they had been in a fire. All the aluminum had oxidized and the plastic was smashed from the power of the water pushing them around the garage, plus a large toolbox had flipped over on one of them. After all that I think they could only save about enough stuff to fill two five gallon buckets. Everything you every worked for your whole life, reduced to two five gallon buckets, what a bummer. We were talking on the phone and I just hear in his voice how dejected he was, after a bit he said he didn’t want to talk about it anymore and just wanted to go to bed. I really can’t blame him, sounded like he needed to escape it all for a while.
If there could be any good at all in his life, at least he credit was good. A lot of car dealers are deferring payments until the end of January next year. He was looking for a used truck and right now everybody and their grandmother wants a truck. Used trucks are just a couple of thousand dollars less then a new one right now. So he was able to get into a new Nissan with nothing down. Lucky for him the dealer couldn’t verify that he doesn’t even have a job right now. I was talking to him about being able to make the payments come January, he said by then he should be working and if he can’t make the payments so what, let them have the truck back. He’s lost everything and doesn’t care if his credit goes south. It’s not the right way to think about the matters at hand, but who am I to argue with a man who almost drowned in his attic and lost everything he’s ever owned. At least for now he has transportation to look for a job. Hell, he’s living with his mom about 90 miles from his old house, it’s not like he can jump on a bus to get to work. Plus the insurance company agreed to give him about 24 thousand for his old car and bikes that were flooded, he’s going to dump about 20 grand on the truck note. I’ll believe the insurance company when he has the check in his hand, they told my father in-law they would give him 6K for his truck only to turn around a week later and reduce it to $3200. He’s not a happy camper right now and told them to tear up the claim. That freaked out the insurance company, I’m curious how this’ll play out now. He’s a siding subcontractor and can’t do without his truck, not even for a day.

My other friend whose step-dad died is having it rough too. (I keep saying “my friend” because I don’t want to use too many names on the net without their consent)
I didn’t know it but his mom is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s. So every few days she ask to go home and they have to remind her of what happened. That has to be a living hell for his whole family. Really nice old lady and very polite, but I know along with her Alzheimer’s her eyes must be really bad. Every time we go over there she tells me how good looking I am, and she ask my wife if it’s OK that she says that. Now I know I’m no Fabio and anybody who keeps telling me that I’m attractive can’t be in their right mind and damn near blind. Don’t get mad at me on how I phrased this, I’m not making fun of his mom, I’m making fun of myself. His birthday was Oct. 1 and my wife baked a cake for him and we brought it over. It was nice to see him smile and everybody forget about the dismal bull **** going on outside for a while.

I found another candidate for the Katrina Einstein club….ME!
We were riding around and I noticed one of those Sponge Bob space walk things in the trash. So I got out and threw it in the back of the van for my son to play with. When we got to my in-laws I pulled it out and set it up. I plugged it in and when I reached down to turn it on….. it bit me hard! I felt like I was in an electric chair. I got stiff and couldn’t let go, so everybody is standing around just staring at me, I mean hell man, the hair was standing up on my arms and I couldn’t move or talk. It took everything in my power to let go. It couldn’t have been any worse had I stuck a paper clip in the wall socket. After that I was weak in the knees, and my whole body was tingling, I think I have a few more gray hairs too. So the next day I took the motor apart and dried it out

Now here’s the kicker, after embarrassing myself in front of a bunch of people garbage digging, damn near killing myself turning it on, cleaning it off real well so it would be safe for my son, he won’t get in it. I mean he is scared ****less of it, to the point of crying his eyes out, which is rare for him. Well, as many of you know already, I’m not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but at that point I bet I could have lit up a whole neighborhood full of Christmas lights.

We took pretty good ride last night since the curfew has been lifted, the piles of trash everywhere is just unbelievable some of them are at least two stories high. We went to the wealthier neighborhoods that are near the lakefront and took most of the storm surge. They are doing pretty good at cleaning up, I guess because of their income they are able to hire private contactors to remove the debris. I seen a projection TV that was so big it wouldn’t fit in my van, I was tempted to take it, but I wasn’t killing myself over a TV that I probably couldn’t fix anyway. It sure would have been nice to play the Playstation on that TV, with my son in his room, when he gets old enough to play. Oh well.
Speaking of trash removal, before it can be picked up, private contractors from the EPA have to sort through it. They remove things such as cleaning materials, paint cans, gas cans, propane tanks, refrigerators (which later on they reclaim the freon and remove the rotten food) and any other hazardous materials, which they can’t identify. I have to give big time credit to the guys on the refrigerator duty, that has to be one hell of a nasty job. The rotten food has to be treated as a biohazard. I guess they are going to bury it somewhere far away from the general population. If they burn it, it’s going to be one of the worst smelling BBQ’s in US history. YUCK!…. sure hope it’s downwind from my home..

Some random facts:
So far 140,000 houses have been condemned, and that’s just the houses that they can get to. They have big Orange stickers on them letting the owners know, when they come back, the house has to be razed. Down to the slab and start over.

Approximately 230,000 cars have been totaled.

If I remember correctly there is 23 billon tons of trash that has to be removed, at this point they are trying to figure out where to put if all. The EPA is letting them burn the trees and non-toxic materials. We have a park that’s about 100 acres, and they are bringing trees there to be shredded, which then they load up into large trucks to bring to the dump. I would bet that when we drove by, the shredded trees were at least 60 feet high. I’m not sure how high power lines are, but it was higher then the power lines.

I’ve lost my appetite for eggs for a while. While I was taking care of my bathroom duties this morning, my son figured out how to open the refrigerator. He also figured out how to open the egg cartons. Well he decided to throw two dozen, yep 24 eggs, right over the baby gate into the hall. Wouldn’t have been too bad if we didn’t have carpet in the hall. Man was that ever a mess with all the yokes and shells broken all over the place, and soaked into the carpet. I’ll tell you what, Humpty Dumpty didn’t need all the King’s men or the King’s Horses, he needed a damn trauma center. I had a little egg war zone going on down there.

………That’s all I needed, the kids only 20 months old and the very first house he decides to egg is his own. If he puts me through just half the crap that I put my parents through, I’m going to need a straight jacket by the time I’m 50 (like I don’t need one now, but that’s a whole nother book).

We finally started getting some TV stations back on line, and the ones that have been
online from the beginning have stopped the 24/7 hurricane coverage and started showing
some regular network programming again. Network TV sucks donkey nads. I’m more of
a History, Discovery channel type of person. Daytime soap operas drive me nuts, it’s not
like I don’t have enough problems of my own, I’m going to sit down and watch
somebody else’s drama?!?! Yeah Right, I’d rather clamp my nuts in a vice (tight).

It’s times like this that I have to close my eyes and think back in time some. The last real vacation was when we flew to Detroit to the see The Who. We met up Noeveo, BMED
and one other guy from SpeedGuide, whose name I can’t remember (sorry). Anyway we went to the concert with Noeveo and his wife and after that my wife and I rented a car and drove through Canada to Niagara Falls. A good ways downstream of the falls is some steps that lead down to the river. After a decent little hike we climbed over some large stones and sat on a big flat rock for a couple of hours. Didn’t talk much at all, just sat there enjoying the sun and the sound of the river rushing over the rocks. As loud as the water was, it was peaceful and relaxing. That’s what I think about to escape my surroundings for a while.

I also think about my next vacation, which hopefully we’ll be to go white water rafting in the Grand Canyon or go to bike week in Sturgis and see Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills. I know that’ll be years away but that is what keeps me going, at this point all I can do is dream about my next adventure. If I try hard enough I can make it happen, all I can do is try. My hopes and dreams is what help me make it through the low points in life.

As bad as things get, they won’t stay that way forever if you just try to fight your way out of it. I’ve been through too much to know it doesn’t last forever. I’ve had more help from family and friends then I ever had before, so I know it won’t last very long this time.

[RoundEye]

I'm going to play a little show and tell of what it looked like at my house after the storm. If you have any questions about a picture, please DO NOT quote the picture, right now I'm only connected at 14k and it took forever to upload the pics, aand if they are quoted too many times I won't be able to open the thread.

Picture #1, Here's the levee that protects a big portion of South Louisiana. When the snow melts up North the water comes up pretty high around here. that's why on the backside of the levee is cement. It keeps the water from eroding away at the levee. Just think, as high as this levee is, the storm surge pushed water over it in some areas. The blacktop on top of is for people to ride thier bikes and skate if they want to.




Picture #2, Here's just one of the trees that blew down across my driveway. It took almost three days to even make a hole big enough for us to get a car out of our drive way.




Picture #3 Another shot looking down the driveway towards my house, believe me, my house is back there, about another 500 feet back.




picture #4 Here's another pic showing how the wind just pushed everything over to one side. Again blocking my driveway. I have no clue where the white tin came from.




Picture #4, My wife and son standing by the roots of another damn tree that blew across my driveway.




Picture #5, My back yard. If look at the right you can see the corner of my house, those green specks are leaves that impregnated themselves into the siding from the wind.




....more pics later.

[RoundEye]

Here's my wife's car, once we got the tree off of it, the damage wasn't has bad as I thought it would be.



This is the shed where we had a lot of stuff stored. In the back left is an old two piece bar that my dad has been saving for years, I bet the thing was well over 150 years old. My wife also had her great grandmothers china in there. I also kept extra PC stuff and all my bussiness inventory in there. We all took a hit in one way or another when that tree crashed through it.

[Humboldt]

Damn

I'd still be in a daze from it all. What kind of condition is the rest of your house in RoundEye?

[Mad_Haggis]

Torn trees...

I have a fact...

Nice Pic=Your Still Alive!

Cause you posted a pic cause, Cuzz?

16 years ago they used to call it wet rott

they stopped using copper comium arsenate five years ago, AC?DC?

[knightmare]

shocking Round Eye,
My heart goes out to you. Took guts & courage to write/relive the events there, plus post pics.
Prayers go out to you.

[Zerohero]

Prayers go out too you!

[Joint Chiefs of Staff]

RoundEye and family...

Please try and have a Happy and Merry Christmas this year. Surround yourselves around friends and family.

God Bless,
Patrick

[thechemgeek]

So, what's the lastest?

[sito]

My guess would be he picked up the pieces and moved on.