Back online

Okay folks, we're back on the air! Power, internet, refrigeration--you name it, we got it.

I'll tell you, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, or as bad as everybody else thought it would be. I usually think of myself as a pretty tough cookie, but after hearing everyone's horror stories about how scary hurricanes are, I was a little worried that I would be spending the day hiding under the covers. But after the first couple of hours of wind and rain, I got used to it. The power went off around 9 am, hence the lack of updates all day, but even that wasn't too bad. I studied as much as I could stomach (I'm embarrassed to admit how little that was), and spent most of the rest of the day reading Twilight (I'm also pretty embarrassed to admit that, but it turned out to be the perfect storm book).

Biggest surprise of the day: Andrew stopped by! I heard voices out front around 10 and looked outside, and there was an emergency guy in a big white truck talking to my neighbor Todd. I waved, and he said, "He went around to the back door!" I said, "Uh, who did?" "Your boyfriend!" And there was Andrew! He could only stay for five minutes or so, but it was so great to see him and know that everything was ok!

Deciding that the lack of refrigeration warranted a huge lunch of perishable food items, I cooked up a massive amount of cajun sausage and settled down to stuff myself, washing it all down with a nice cold beer (beer isn't technically perishable, but warm beer is not an option). Let me tell you, one big difference between storms back home and storms down south is that in Louisiana, when the power goes out, the lack of a/c is pretty damn debilitating. Now again, like I said, tough cookie. I didn't mind the heat too much, but an icy beer went a long way.

I decided I'd take a nap around 3 (it was a very taxing day, you know), and when I woke up a couple of hours later, the power was back on! I hung out on the porch a while longer with my NOPD friend Bob from yesterday, who told me that it had been a totally quiet, peaceful twenty-four hours (relative to Katrina). I'm hoping that the aftermath is quiet as well.

Conrad also had a very taxing day inside:

Someone else that I feed:Skip just stopped by to check on me and picked up chocolate cake making supplies--I think he's trying to wheedle Maria into making cake, so I might have to stop by and visit. I'll keep updating, but it looks like the worst is past. The rest of the city fared pretty well too, except for some flooding on the west bank, and it looks like one of the levees in Plaquemines Parish is being overtopped. Wish us luck!