It's October?

Many of you may be wondering why it has taken me so long to post. I want to assure you that I have not forgotten about this blog and all of you. It was really that I just wanted to let my last posting ((Dis)Orientation) to really set in. It was a very important post and one that I was very proud of, so I wanted to make sure that you had plenty of time to read and re-read it before moving on with my next post.

Anyways, life has been pretty good down here lately. Luckily, I am a thousand miles away from anything relating to the Chicago Cubs or else I'd probably be much more depressed. That's all I'm going to say about that. I have been super busy with work. Last weekend and this upcoming weekend (and October in general) is the busiest time of the year. We had around 25 volunteer groups working on 25 houses last weekend and it will be about the same this weekend (many of the groups work both weekends, so it's not actually 50 volunteer groups). The past couple of weeks I have been working in our warehouse getting supplies, tools (you all know who you are, kidding, I meant real tools, like saws and such), and material ready for our weekend builds. It has been pretty intense at the warehouse and at work in general to make sure the weekend builds go off without any problems. On Friday and Saturday, I was house captaining about 10 Tulane MBA volunteers each day. Our project was to caulk the exterior of the house in order to weather-proof the house (prevent water from seeping in through the sides of the house), paint over the caulked areas, and prime and paint the new framing around the windows that were recently put in. It was a great experience leading these volunteers. They didn't work as hard as I would have liked but they had a good time (at least that's what they said). The house we worked on was a double shotgun house (which means that in you have to walk through one room to get into the next room). The homeowner lived on one side and was fixing up the other side to rent out. I was able to spend sometime with Mr. Leonard Jones throughout the weekend and he was very thankful and appreciative of the job we were doing for him. I think if he could have gotten up on the ladder himself, he would have been painting right there with us (unfortuantely he was a little too old).

The most interesting conversation I had with Mr. Jones was his Katrina story. He had sent his family to Texas a few days before the storm but decided to stay back. Hours before the storm hit, he walked to the Superdome (which was probably about a mile or two) from his house and decided to leave his car behind (which he now regrets). He was at the Superdome for three days
and said he didn't think he could last in there another day. There was so much chaos, people everywhere, terrible food, and nothing to do. Luckily, he was transported to the airport and flown to Mobile, where he stayed with his sister. He didn't really say how long he was there but said when he got back that you could see the water line was all the way up past the top of his front door, which is pretty amazing. Talking to Mr. Jones and the other homeowners I have been able to so far is one of the aspects of the job I like more than anything else. In talking to these people, you really get a sense of how much these people love and care about their city and how they want it to be rebuilt back to the way it was. If you are interested in learning more about our October Build project, you can click on the following link, http://prcno.org/utilities/news/1035.

It took me a few weeks of work to start to feel settled in. I'm finally getting to a point where I don't feel exhausted everyday after work. The past couple Mondays, a bunch of people from work get together and play beach volleyball at this really cool bar that has tons of courts and cheap beer. I'm not horrible at it which is nice (a lot of the girls are worse, which doesn't make me feel totally inadequate). We also played barefoot soccer, while drinking, in City Park a couple of weeks ago. The park is really a cool park besides the mosquitos and is where the Voodoo Music Festival will be at the end of the month. I think a lot of the people in the program are still getting to know each other, so we all aren't great friends yet but are definitely becoming more comfortable around each other. Now that I feel settled, I definitely need to start looking for other activities or things to do that will make it easier to meet people. It's a new situation so I'm just trying to feel it out. It definitely hasn't been easy, but I am definitely enjoying the experience and trying to take it in as it comes. It's crazy that it's October because time feels like it's flying and it is still so freakin' hot down here. It's been 85 degrees and muggy everyday down here this week so it definitely doesn't feel like the October I'm used to. I am definitely not complaining though, because besides the past 3 days, it has been beautiful down here.

On a really important note, I also learned this weekend that it is legal to have an open container in the car as long as the driver isn't drinking, which is awesome. So on Saturday, we drove around for a little while drinking in the car, looking for a bar to go to. It's the first time I've legally been drinking in a car (wait a minute, I've never been drinking in a car before).

Anyways, I'm going to go watch highlights of John McCain from the debate last night so that I can get to sleep quickly and not be exhausted tomorrow. Talk to y'all soon (and it won't be so long next time).