Where's the Federal Government?

What's happening in New Orleans is absolutely insane. Where is the Louisiana National Guard? Oh yeah, they have been deployed to Iraq. Where is the Federal Government? It’s been 3 days...and no sign of help. Perhaps there is nothing that they can do...perhaps it takes time to create a plan...didn't we learn our lessons from Andrew? Why do we always look to 'police' the rest of the world and then seem completely dumbfounded when we need to help ourselves. It makes me furious and ultimately left with a sense of sadness that we live in a country where helplessness is common and we are led by a leader who thankfully cut his month long vacation short by 2 days to help with the Hurricane recovery and then promoted that to the news sources as newsworthy. I think all I can do is pray (which I never do) that a sense of normalcy returns soon to those effected by Katrina.

Devastation

Unbelievable. Catastrophic. Horrific. Just some of the adjectives being used to describe the onslaught brought about when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast states. New Orleans continues to flood and Mississippi just announced that hundreds of people are feared dead. Helicopter rescues have continued all day. Pictures of Biloxi make me speechless. I'm at awe of the power of nature.

Katrina Ain't Playin' Y'all

She's taken off her Lee Press Ons, her earrings and her extensions. She's letting 'em have it in New Orleans, Southern Louisana and Mississippi.

Thankfully Katrina weakened (it was a category 5 with sustained winds of 175 mph and a central pressure of 902 mb, stronger then Andrew and Camille!) before making its second landfall east of Grand Isle LA.

Its just about to make its Third landfall west of Biloxi. There supposedly is a breech in a Levee on the Mississippi River just South of the French Quarter. The Super Dome is losing its roof and windows have been blown out all over New Orleans. Keeping my fingers crossed that it moves away quickly and the Quarter is not flooded! Even Atlanta is under a flood watch for today and tomorrow. We don't have any rain right now, but should be an eventful night.

It's 5AM...Where Is My Boo?

Yup, I'm ghetto. After living for 6 years on the other side of the tracks, literally, I can officially use the term Boo, refer to Atlanta as A-Town and say Urr-sher. So I work up this morning...wide awake at 5AM...could not fall back to sleep at all... I just laid there thinking...where is my Boo? If I had a Boo, I could roll over and cuddle and forget about all the crazy thoughts running around in my head...What Gym should I join? Should I sell my Loft? Why are all Meteorologists Gay? Why don't Hurricanes have names like Laquisha and Shawntel? You know, all the important stuff. So I laid there and debated...turned on the radio and listened to the Bert show...got up and had a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk for breakfast (healthy) and then crashed back into my bed...it was 6:30...my alarm was set to go off at 7:00, so I had 30 minutes...for what though? To lay by myself? Hummm. That's when I decided to ask, "Where's my Boo?" I deserve one God Dammit. I had a great dinner last night with my friend Jackass and he thinks that I'm finally seeing the light. No more chasing the young ones...I need to settle down a bit. On mornings like this, I couldn't agree more.

Global Warming?

I love reading articles about how the polar ice caps continue to melt, how the ozone continues to deplete, how tropical systems are getting stronger and more frequent, how drought is impacting large portions of the world, how flooding is attacking Europe, how forest fires continue to grow in number and ferocity and how we are not impacting the weather with our fossil fuel emissions. I'm so glad that President Bush did not sign the Kyoto Protocol with the other 150 countries that did sign. He's so smart!

From a flood in Switzerland:

But don't worry...here was the caption:
"A rescuer fixes cables to the car of a 72-year-old woman stranded in her car in a river near St. Leonhard. The woman suffered shock but no injuries and her car was saved. "

Her car was saved? It's in a freaking river! I’m sure it works great…

Song on the Brain

This song is best listened to with a beer buzz, lying on your back with your eyes closed in a dark room at sunset with surround sound stereo...and don't knock it until you've tried it!

For Crying Out Loud, Meatloaf

You're Welcome.

Halloween...It's On...

When traveling to either P-Cola, P-Town, Gay Disney, etc...we always luck out with great places to stay, which always makes the trip...it has happened again. The Junior League has decided on Friday to head to New Orleans for Halloween...amazing to me that almost all of the hotels in the French Quarter have been reserved! We finally found one on North Rampart, not too far from Bourbon, but it was small and we have 5 people. So I continued my hunt...I ended up talking with a cool ass lady named Robin who had a house available on the corner of Bourbon and Dumaine (one block north of St.Ann - Oz and Bourbon Pub)... she tells me that we will pick up our keys across the street at the Cafe that has Drag Queens as wait staff...you can see our house at http://www.innthequarter.com/one_bdrm_maison_creole_courtyard.htm ... this is going to be another amazing trip!

Monotony...

This past weekend was just that...cookie cutter ATL...so much so that I found myself home by 11 each night. How many times can one go to Jungle, Red Chair, Blake’s etc...this past weekend I just felt very content to be sitting on my couch and watching the 11 o'clock news. Guess I'm finally beginning to feel my 32 years catching up to me or just realizing that monotony is actually mind numbing. No wonder the Chinese invented water torture...continuous repetitive action will drive humans mad. We need to shake things up from time to time...do something different...the one good thing that happened this weekend was the fact that I booked 3 trips this fall. One to DC, one to NYC and one to New Orleans for Halloween. I'm looking forward to those. And I did have a great 8 mile run on Saturday up at the Silver Comet, although, I'd have to say, it was hot as a MF out there! Damn! I ended up drinking a full gallon of Gatorade after my run and was still thirsty...not too smart to run with heat indices of 105, but I do like to sweat, and sweat I did. I always get these doldrums...its just who I am...it’s the hazy, cranky donkey days of summer...

Holy Shit...

I was checking out a blog on Genex's site and dug a bit deeper... let's hear it for the boy...

http://www.lewispayton.com/

Dreams

As I was flying back from Denver yesterday, I fell asleep in my deluxe First Class seat...what the hell am I going to do without Gold Medallion status next year?...anyway...I had a dream that I was back in Ithaca and doing one of my favorite runs...a 5 mile run from Cayuga Lake up to Ithaca College, with the last 2 miles up hill and I'm talking, up hill. It was always a great run. I get off the plane and pick up a message from my friend Jeff who was in Ithaca on business and was asking me for a good run to do...that was freaky. I often wonder what are dreams all about. I think that we have to listen to our dreams and focus on what they tell us. Are dreams an outlet to thoughts we push down during our busy lives? If you ask somebody about their dreams and then walk through what the meaning could be, you always get an "a-ha" moment. If we only use 10% of our minds when we are awake, is it possible, the other 90% works when we are asleep? I'm going to start thinking more about my dreams, what they mean and how they relate to my life. Dreams are like a screenplay that you write yourself, every night...enjoy the show.

Greetings from 10,000 feet

I've been up in Keystone for 2 days now and still am amazed at how hard it is to acclimate to the elevation. I went out for a run yesterday and was really surprised at how hard it was to breathe...I guess it takes a few days to get used to it...just in time for me to leave. Denver was fun, but I'm very tired of traveling. Saturday night I met a cute plain clothes detective with a Jeep Wrangler and Sugarland in the CD player. Hum. It was fun. Very. I'm back in Atlanta tomorrow night and not traveling for a while...I need to put my feet up and relax a bit.

What's Newsworthy

On CNN.com, when there is breaking news they place a bright red banner on the top of the main page, so all can see. This was used when Sandra Day O'Conner resigned, when London was Bombed, when the Pope died, etc...here is the current use of this Urgent method to spread newsworthy information by CNN:

BREAKING NEWS:
Large tree branch falls at PGA championship in New Jersey, injuring at least one person.

Is this newsworthy? Who is the Editor/Producer at CNN.com that made that call..."Yes, use the bright red banner on the main page! We have to let the world know of this travesty!"

Thumbs down on this one...I really like CNN, much better than Fox News...but I often wonder who is at the helm of these decisions and am amazed at how sensationalized news reporting can be.

A list a la Frank Green:

• I'm sick of the rain
• I'm glad I'm done with traveling after this weekend, although Denver will be fun
• I'd like to get a house in Blue Ridge for a weekend
• Fall is coming...which means Tech Football & Oktoberfests!
• I have my first Blog crush
• Big ass pizza slices with friends
• The mini donuts @ Lakewood
• Sondre Lerche
• House hunting
• Loft selling
• Getting my lazy ass back in the gym
• Lunch with JJ @ Pig and Chick

Running Scared

Does this scare you too?

Ronald McDonald freaks me out.

In the Mail

Our final application and video is in the mail to The Amazing Race Producers, only 2 weeks late! If we hear anything, I'll be sure to post it here!

IKEA

I was driving home from work yesterday and I decided to make a detour into the new IKEA, since you can't get near that place on the weekends. My first impression...it smelled really good...were they cooking Swedish meatballs...perhaps, but that gave me a good first impression. Then I got lost in the maze of do-it-yourself furniture and $2 candles. I was ok at first, being forced to go up the escalator, grab a big yellow bag and be set loose. But then after about 15 mins, I couldn't find my way out. They have these doorways they call short cuts...but it’s just a short cut to more crappy $2 umbrellas and $2 calculators. I gently put down my big yellow bag and begin to make it my mission to escape IKEA. After finding myself in the cafeteria, (they were making Swedish meatballs - amongst other Swedish food), I ended up in the container area. I actually found some bowls that I could use, but still could not find the check-out area...ugh...after walking through a warehouse full of lumber...there they were...the cashiers! I should have known that they would be on the complete opposite side of where I went in...I guess that is their ingenious tactic...many people just buy, buy, buy...but it was just a lot of junk. The furniture didn't look too bad, but since I'm all furnished in the Loft, didn't really need anything. I'm kind of disappointed in my visit and don't understand why middle America is going gaga over IKEA...oh wait, that's right, I don't get middle America anyways, so just add this to the list.

Infinity and Beyond?

I began thinking about Space this morning at 4:45am while I was waiting to hear the Sonic Boom from the Space Shuttle Discovery entering our atmosphere to land at Kennedy Space Center. I was in Melbourne Florida visiting my friend Carlos and had to get up early to head to Orlando for a 7am flight...but alas, no Boom...the landing was scraped. So I was awake and when your mind begins to wander/wonder about what’s out there...it can get overwhelming very quickly. Maybe this is the same problem that I had in Calculus when they tried to teach me about imaginary numbers...if they are imaginary, what the hell are we talking about? However, I get it, infinity is infinite...but where does it end? By the nature of its definition it doesn’t: “Unbounded space, time, or quantity”…but is the Universe truly an infinite space? We really do not know. To every beginning there must be an end...for those who chose to believe in infinity, they are taking the easy way out...for what we do not fully understand or have the capability to comprehend, we tag with infinity...who knows, just beyond our powerful telescopes and rovers sent out to explore the solar system, there could be an end? And if there is, what's on the other side of the boundary? Will we ever truly know? I don’t think we will want to know…I’m going to go back to reading about Missy Elliott’s new album.

Booty Texts?

As technology advances and we continue to become more and more isolated and lose our ability to communicate interpersonally, I think that I have experienced a by-product of this revolution late on Tuesday night. I have enjoyed the ability to text family and friends and avoid having to talk to them. Isn't that really what texting is...letting somebody know your thinking about them, but not enough to actually talk to them? Does life move so fast that we can't pick up a phone for a quick hello? I remember trying to win tickets on the radio for a concert when I was 13 and my parents had an old rotary phone on the wall, remember those? Look how far we have come...have we turned into a society that consists primarily of data bits and bytes. How impersonal to receive a text @ 11PM from a ‘random’ that says "Are you still a btm?"...what does this mean? Is he trying to make light conversation? Is he conducting a survey? Is he just curious? OR is this the new dreaded Booty Text? How do I respond? First off, the answer is no and never. But do I play coy? Do I call? Text? Email? Page? Send Smoke Signals? What ever happened to Booty Calls!!! Have they been discarded in the technology dump with wall rotary phones and Atari 2600s? Life and technology move so fast...sometimes I long for that note passed from your friend in Math Class that reads..."meet me by the Swingset"...call me old fashioned, a non-technophile and always, always, always, call me if you want booty...no texts please.

Aunt Martha

She looks so innocent. I want her to make me pancakes...from stratch, no Bisquik or Aunt Jemima, although I do love me some Auntie every now and again...just add water...but talk about a crazy brand image:

I wonder what Martha thinks of Jemima? I'd like to see Martha dress up like Jemima with the head wrap and the hanky around the neck. I can just see Auntie Martha talking to the Federal investigators..."Hell no, I didn't have any inside info...bitch...shut yo' mouth and eat my pancakes!"

BTW, I like mine with Blueberries.

Maui State of Mind

I bought a Maui necklace in of all places, Denver Colorado. I bought it because I had just returned from a trip to Maui, where I could not believe that a place like this actually existed. People get up, go surfing, hang out, maybe work a bartending job or at an art gallery and then head out for the night. I'm sure there are professionals there, but really it is all travel industry related. The island is an amazing place in general and in spirituality. There was one night when my friend BioBoy and I went to watch a sunset on 'Little Beach'... (in the picture above, Big Beach is on the right and Little Beach is the cove on the Left) ...it seriously was an enlightening experience and one that made me realize life is beautiful, magical and there is no reason to be so uptight and stressed out. Picture this...the sound of a drum circle, people dancing around and swimming, whales breeching in the ocean (seriously), the sun setting behind Lanai (another Hawaiian island) and realizing that you are sitting on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean...amazing. Therefore when I get stressed or notice myself getting anxious about work or anything, I return myself to my 'Maui state of mind'. I think that you need to have experiences like this in life and thankfully I've had at least one and hope to have many more.

Taking NY out of the Boy?

I'm back from upstate NY and sitting in my office...I really don't want to be here right now. First off, I woke up at 4:45 to catch my 6:15 flight back and its catching up to me...back in the day, I'd be hitting the pillow ~4:45, now I'm getting up at that time to catch a flight...when did I grow up? Or have I? On the outside it sometimes appears that I have, but then again, I just spent the weekend in NY asking if I could borrow my parent’s car to meet up with some High School friends. Have 15 years really passed? In 15 more I'll be 47...holy fucking shit! I need to start figuring this life thing out...where's my big house, my boat, my long-term relationship, my independence from the Man? And then my boss emails me to update a document...first off...do it your freaking self you lazy fuck...secondarily, there is no need to update the doc, it was done correctly the first time...ok, sorry, I digress…I think my 5 days in New York has brought back my 'NY angst'...dropping the F-bomb up there is just commonplace...its true, you can take the boy out of NY, but you can’t take NY out of the boy.