Today was spent doing relief work at the Lubbock Coliseum setting up for evacuees to arrive tomorrow. They were supposed to arrive today but for some reason not all of the transport planes made it out here.

We are desperate for baby supplies. A local Albertson’s manager that we contacted told me to come in and he would help us out. We showed up and he grabbed some shopping carts and asked us, “What do you need”. He then proceeded to fill the carts with formula, baby diapers, baby wipes, bottles, baby food, and bottled water. It was a true sign of what people are willing to give to help others.

If you would like to help with the baby supplies you can contact the Lubbock Red Cross at:

2201 19th Street

Lubbock, TX 79411

Phone: (806) 765-8534

We still do not know the devastation that Katrina has wreaked on the southern states. It will probably be weeks before we have any kind of idea as to what the actual toll is. The situation is dire now and it is amazing to me the road that some people have chosen to take. This article just about made me sick to my stomach. How can people have the nerve to say that this is “the man sticking it to the African Americans of this region”? In my meteorology classes I don’t remember hurricanes being on the list of weather events that are racist (apparently tornadoes hate people in trailer parks).

Everyone in that region has been effected by this storm. Everyone is suffering. Even the people who have shelter are suffering. Yes, the conditions are bad in New Orleans but shooting at helicopters and ripping off TVs from appliance stores does not help the situation.

The evacuation order was given a full day before the storm. In that day people could have walked, yes walked out of the path of this storm and been better off.

Please, do not take this post as being unsympathetic because I am. I feel horrible for these people and cannot imagine the pain that they are experiencing. I just cannot understand why some people choose to rape, pillage, and loot while people die in the streets. I do not understand why there is already a lawsuit being talked about because of “race” issues. It all seems a little ludicrous to me.

Visit Redcross.org to donate money to help these people in need. Any amount will help.

Things in Lubbock are going well, classes have been speeding along and I am finally get into the “groove”.

My desk came yesterday so that is definitely going to help with the organization of my room. This is great since I have my mentoring position coming up next week and a lot of job stuff happening.

I have a lot to say about hurricane Katrina but I’ll save that for a time when I am not about to head out the door for class.

I finally arrived back in Lubbock on Monday and started moving in. I came down with the flu on Wednesday so things have somewhat slowed down and I am just starting to feel better.

I have put up some of the house so far… You can find them here.

School starts on Monday so this will probably be the last you hear from me for a while.

Bathroom

Kitchen

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

Living Room

I leave tomorrow morning at 7 to move back to Lubbock. I am not sure what my internet connectivity will be like so if you need to get ahold of me my cellphone will be your best bet.

It will be about an eight hour drive and with the way that Highway 36 is looking with construction it may take a little longer.

I will post about the end of my internship when I am finished moving in and getting settled (and hopefully have internet).

Jeremy Boles has put up somewhat of a challenge called Photography Calisthenics. It is a challenge to take 50 pictures a day for a week, trying new techniques, experimenting, and just getting out and taking pictures.

I have decided I will try to take 50 pictures a day and it is already turning out to be pretty tough. I take my camera with me almost everywhere I go but don’t always pull it out and take a picture. This will be a good exercise for me to stop being camera lazy and get out and take some shots.

Jeremy has started a flickr group called Photography Calisthenics (appropriately). Check it out and if you have a camera that’s sitting around, participate.

I have not made a political post in a while so I thought I’d heat things up a bit.

Israeli soldiers have begun to forcibly evict settlers in the Gaza Strip. Ariel Sharon has said that the pull out from Gaza will bring peace to the region, I beg to differ. I would wager a good sum of money that we will see an attack by one of the Palestinian groups (Hamas, Hezbollah, etc.) some time in the next 2-3 months.

This pullout, nor any of the future planned pullouts will satisfy Palestinian organizations. They will move into Gaza and then complain that there is not enough water or there is famine. To me it sounds like a personal problem. You wanted the Israelis out and you got what you wanted, now you are on your own.

Yes the Gaza pullout looks good for the short-term, but is anyone thinking long term? The Palestinian people will not be satisfied until Israel is given to them, which will not happen.

I was looking for a band on iTunes today and I could not for the life of me remember the name. I had looked them up on Sunday after hearing a sample on an indie website. Not being able to find the band really frustrated me and since there is no ‘Recently Viewed’ functionality with iTunes like there is with Amazon and eBay I still have not found the band.

So they lost a sale and I won’t be able to share the band with others. The name will more than likely come to me sometime next week and I’ll finally be able to buy the album but until then I’m going to be completely frustrated.

Sadly I have to give Jackson away. The house I am living in does not allow pets and the person I had lined up to take him suddenly backed out.

I do not know how to go about giving him up but I am going to call the vet and see if they know of anyone who was looking for a dog. If anyone out there wants to give a 1yr. old Terrier/Basenji mix a good home, e-mail me at s [at] badice dot com. He has a great personality, loves to go on walks, is house trained, and behaves very well. He loves children, most other dogs, and throwing ball in the backyard.

If you are interested just send me an e-mail and I’ll get right back to you.

I was listening to Mudhoney this morning and heard a lot of where the riffs on Nevermind came from. It’s weird to hear the intro from “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on a different album, at a different tempo, and with different lyrics.

Just one of those weird things I came upon this morning.