Running from Rita

Running on Empty would be the theme song for that treck.

We packed the car Wednesday night and stayed up most of the night getting the house ready for us to bug out. By about 2:30 in the morning Thursday, we figured we were ready to head out, and that at that time of the night we'd be able to beat much of the traffic -- WRONG.

Traffic was looking terrible all around the freeways even at that time, so Katie mapped out a route that took us 59 south to Westpark tollway, Beltway 8 north to 249, through Tomball and then up 149 to 105 -- finally into Walden and Mom's house. On paper it looked like a good route, and it looked like the least congested route at that time, too.

Well, we hit traffic -- bumper to bumper -- once we got to the beltway. From there until we got to 105 in Conroe, it was a parking lot. Katie and I got separated right away and I didn't catch back up with her until Tomball. We average 6 MPH the whole way and ended up taking 11 hours to drive what should have been a 1.5 hr trip.

The only bright spot was while we were on 149, just outside of Montgomery. For some reason the traffic, even on that little back road, was at a standstill. Every 10 minutes, we'd move 10 car lengths -- absolutely terrible. Well, out of nowhere, a guy tapped on my window and asked if we were trying to get to 105 -- yep... "Well, this is ridiculous, follow me," he said. We signaled to as many cars behind us as we could to follow, and we whipped along some tiny back roads -- sometimes little over one lane -- and ended up popping out on the back side of Montgomery High School, and onto the first clear road we'd been on in more than 10 hours.

We made it to Mom's by 1:30, grabbed some sandwiches and unpacked. After a little rest and stretching the legs, Mom and I made the rounds to gas stations to fill up Katie's car and mine. We finally found that the Spin In in Walden had plenty, but there were 24 cars in front of us. An hour later we were filled up and done. Long day, but we're relatively safe and sound and ready to ride out the storm.

Row, Katie, Mom and I cleared all the outside items into the garage this morning and now we're just waiting. Seems the storm will drift east of us leaving us with the better / safer part of the strom. Right now, the wind is picking up out of the north east. Should be an interesting night.

Later Rita -- We're bugging out

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Katie, Jackson, Porter and I are hitting the road for Conroe to ride Hurricane Rita out with Mom and Row. Main concern is that we'll lose power in the Village area for a week or so, and I don't want to take a risk with the boys. As a younger / single man, I'd probably ride it out (of course -- I'm BRAVE, right..) but it's not about me any more -- Rule #1: Safety First.

We've packed quite a bit of essentials in the Mini and Explorer and we'll head out later. I'll set up the computers at Mom's and be back in action from there. Wish us luck.

Renew New Orleans Foundation

This is your chance to help out with a donation to the survivors of Katrina in New Orleans, and wear a visible sign of hope. Please read on to learn more about the "Renew New Orleans" Mardi Gras 'reminder bands' -- or visit http://www.renewnola.org for details.

When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, my first thought was, "There but for the grace of God go I." It could have been Houston, but thankfully it wasn't. But what about those in New Orleans and around the Mississippi / Alabama coast? What could I do to help -- how could I lend a hand in ways that others might not be able to? It was that question that got thoughts turning among a group of friends, and ended up producing The Renew New Orleans Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization we put together to focus on 'sustainable relief and renewal'. Please take a minute to read the details as told by my friend Mike Latino, in words better than I can express them. As for my part, I'm the "co-worker of mine has been volunteering his time building an e-commerce site" ...

Thanks -- Ed
 ________________

Mike writes:
"Those of you who know me well know that although I live in Dallas, my heart remains in NOLA. It’s my hometown, it’s where I grew up, it’s who I am. I’ve always said I’ll move back, and I stick by that statement today. After Katrina hit and the destruction became self-evident, I immediately started thinking of how I could play a proactive part in helping get my hometown back on her feet. Like so many others, I gave to the Red Cross. But I kept thinking that surely I could do more – more, at least, than I can in a single Red Cross donation. And knowing that the rebuilding effort will take time, I wanted to help keep the rebuilding of NOLA top-of-mind for as long as possible – because I know that long before all those shattered lives can be put back together, Katrina won’t be front-page news anymore. And when that happens, we need to find a way to remind people that New Orleans still needs our collective helping hand.
 
"What I kept thinking about were those yellow “Livestrong” bracelets, which are a key part of the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s support for cancer survivors (www.livestrong.com). Well, my hometown is a survivor, too. So, I got on the Web, found out who makes them and called them. The manufacturer agreed to make a custom purple, green and gold (think “Mardi Gras”) bracelet at cost. However, before I could place an order, I had to come up with a phrase to put on them. My family and I kicked around a bunch of different names – rebuild, save, help NOLA – until we agreed on “Renew New Orleans,” figuring, after all, that the cause going forward for NOLA is to restore the city and make it new, vibrant, and alive again.
 
"So, this is the goal: I want to use the “Renew New Orleans” bracelets as a means to raise $100,000 to give to local NOLA charities involved in the “heavy lifting” of renewing NOLA. The Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and the other large charities are great organizations and I encourage everyone to donate as much as they can to them. However, there are also a bunch of local charities – staffed by people who are proud of their hometown and have a vested interested in its rebirth – that are going to need a lot of help. For instance, the Kenner Central Lions Club (my dad is a member), the Covenant House, and Kids Smart are a few that are going to need help. Heck, I even saw last night on the news Mayor Ray Nagin talking about how the city is broke (no economy = no tax revenue) and how a special New Orleans Police Department fund – www.nopf.org -- has been set up for donations to help support the families of police officers (I also encourage everyone to donate to this fund.) My plan is to charge a $5 donation per bracelet, raise $100,000 (or more), and donate it all to local charities.
 
"In order to assure anyone who asks that my intentions are honorable (we’ve all seen those reports about fraudulent Katrina charities), I had an attorney file articles of incorporation in Texas for a 501(c)3 non-profit organization last week and submitted for an IRS tax ID #, which I received yesterday (this also makes donations tax deductible). The name of the organization is the Renew New Orleans Foundation and its sole purpose is to raise funds for local New Orleans charities. In conjunction, a co-worker of mine has been volunteering his time building an e-commerce site – www.RenewNOLA.org – which will be able to process online credit card orders.
 
"What I specifically need your help with is spreading the word. Lance has been able to raise over $50m with his “Livestrong” bracelets. My goal with “Renew New Orleans” is just a fraction of that. If I’m able to raise more money, great – but regardless, I’ll need your help in order to do it. So, please buy a bracelet, spread the word, and give me your feedback and suggestions on any other local NOLA charities you feel are also worthy of receiving donations. 
 
"Thanks in advance for your support and assistance in a cause that is near and dear to our hearts. I look forward to hearing from you."

Nice weekend

Nice weekend this go-round. I can't say that we did anything fantastic, but what we did do was nice.

We had the inside of our house painted over the past two weeks, and since the guys finished up mid-week, we've been sitting in quite a bit of clutter. Friday night was my stab at bringing some sense of order back to the living room. Stuff was everywhere -- things that had once been on the shelves in the sunroom or TV room, plus all the photos / art from the walls... all of it piled on the furniture that was pushed into the center of the room. Anyway, Friday night I started putting things back in place, sorting through things that needed to go to the attic, and piling up stacks of stuff that just needed to go away. Needless to say, I didn't finish Friday, but by this morning things were almost back to a 90% normal.

Saturday was Game Day for our little soccer players. Porter's game was the early game and Katie took him while I got Jackson ready for his later game. I wasn't really sure Jackson would play at all -- the doctor told us on Thursday that he had walking pneumonia. But I knew it was important to him to put on his uniform and go out. Plus, I'm the coach this year... so even if he didn't play, I needed to be there for the team.

When we got to the field, Porter's team had just started the second half and he was out there playing. His team had the colored pennies on, and to see it on him was a belly laugh -- it went all the way down to the end of his shorts! But it didn't stop him from playing, though -- and he did great. Their game ran late, so I wasn't able to cheer for him in the post-game salute line, but he had a blast, and we all rooted for him.

Jackson was running around playing with his friends, so I figured he'd be good for at least part of the game -- and that was a right move. I put him in as part of the first-quarter line up. He did a super job until he started running out of energy, then he got frustrated and I knew it was over for him. Katie ended up taking him home in the middle of the first half, and I stayed to coach the team for the rest of the game. Not sure if our team won or lost, but we scored several goals, and the players all looked like they were having fun, and advancing their play.

Saturday after soccer I grabbed some lunch for Katie and I at Texadelphia. We didn't do much other than straighten the house the rest of the day, although I did get my hair cut and pick up the new Clapton and Rolling Stones CDs. We went to mass last night, even though we knew the boys were going to be tired -- we just needed to go, and neither Katie or I thought it would happen if we waited until this morning.

This morning the boys got up early along with Katie -- I slept in. I had stayed up late last night watching the MTV fundraiser for Katrina victims. Sleeping in was nice. When I did get up, I pretty much just watched a little TV with the boys, then got packed for my trip. I'm in Orlando at an IBM conference through Thursday.

So now that the weekend is over, it's back to school and work for us all. I do think I need one extra day, though -- lots of activity this weekend, but I still could use a day for a break!