I'm back, which is more than I can say for FEMA

I'm now back online, after my notebook crashed yesterday (we still have no cable, so there's no using the desktop computer). I wiped out my hard drive and re-installed Windows last night, and this morning, I found a friend with cable, and plugged into his computer and got all of my downloads. Everything has been re-configured, cookies are re-set, and I'm back on track.

A few days ago, I mentioned that FEMA failed to show up at the FEMA community meeting in Slidell, and that I wondered if they were going to show up in Mandeville. They didn't. But they did send a FEMA contractor. People waited in line for hours and hours, then filled out applications. It turns out that these applications were useless, and the contractor apparently didn't have a clue. Everyone had to go back to square one--the telephone and the Web. I should note that the contractor is a Texas company.

FEMA says it just wasn't prepared for a big catastrophe. Well, it's not like it's a disaster management agency or anything.

I learned today that one of my friends evacuated to the same little town that we did, and I am really disappointed that I didn't know this when it mattered.

New Orleans' Director of Homeland Security says that Mayor Nagin is jumping the gun on bringing people back into the city. Tree cutters are cutting power lines that had just been restored. Our phones keep going out and I don't know why; most cell phones still do not work, and it is hard to locate people.