b.rox

The Green Party had a media training workshop; since it was at Xavier I had to be there for the duration. Attendance was not so good; in fact it was pathetic. Blame it on Ivan, or the fact that it was an election day, or both. Besides myself and Debbie (the organizer) and Scott (the [...]

There was some confusion as to whether Xavier was open today or not, so around 8 a.m. I called campus info and learned that campus was “open for staff” but that school would not be in session until Monday. So I took my time. Xy and I went to City Park and tried to play [...]

“Hurricane editions” of the Times-Picayune for Wednesday and Thursday have appeared on my porch. THRONGS FLEE IVAN, declares one. IVAN ROARS INLAND, says the other. No sign of today’s paper yet.

I went for a jog around the bayou this morning. It’s a very pleasant day. Kind of breezy, which is nice. There’s a little debris here and there that got blown about last night, but no damage that I could see. The grass was not wet, because we didn’t really get any rain. 34,000 people [...]

I took a bike ride. The I-10 was just about empty. At Xavier they were putting some newspaper dispensers on the back of a truck. Homan came by with some hurricane mix. We made a few drinks and, with Xy, took a walk to the Bayou St. John to see what we could see before [...]

We’re now outside the projected cone of possibility. That’s nice, but it hardly means we’re safe. Hundreds of thousands of wiser people have left, but hundreds of thousands of fools remain. Fools, and of course the poor, people who have no way to get out. Xy and I moved all the potted plants in front [...]

The National Hurricane Center’s projections continue to predict Ivan will take a turn to the north. (Per M. Whybark’s request, I’ve marked the location of New Orleans with a big purple dot.) Here’s hoping they’re right. Ivan has been heading north by northwest, and if it doesn’t turn, we are in deep shit.

We’re under a hurricane storm warning now. Xy and I took a walk around the neighborhood, watched people boarding up their windows, stopped in for a drink at the Red Door. I notice that the New Orleans doomsday scenario is getting some play on the Internet. That’s the scenario wherein the hurricane sucks Lake Pontchartrain [...]

Ivan cometh. New Orleans (and much of the Gulf Coast) is under a hurricane watch. The university is closed today and tomorrow. So is NOPS. The National Hurricane Center says there’s a 20-49% chance that the eye of Ivan will pass within 75 miles of New Orleans within the next 72 hours. Panama City Beach [...]

The projections for Ivan have been drifting westward, and now New Orleans is in the cone of possibility. And it is a category five hurricane. Dang.