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Hi All!
We are fine and safe in Houston, TX.
Barry (along with his mom, brother, and Logan) had a straight shot here, since they left Sunday morning at 4:30. Because of a NPR gig I was supposed to do, I didn't leave until 2:30pm. Between all the traffic and our car having overheating problems (not to mention burns I received in a radiator incident), it took me 14 hours to get here. But I'm glad we all made it out to good living conditions.
The news that we're getting for Metairie is that we can't go back to our house until Monday (and with ID only), and even then, it's only to get clothing and belongings. Then we have to leave for another month! I hear that our area isn't too bad, and everything irreplaceable we took over to a storage facility on the 3rd floor. I don't think our house has much damage, but whatever it DOES have will be compounded by a week (and then a month) of it being locked up and unattended. Barry put a friend of his (from college) on the task of finding pictures of our neighborhood. This guy is brilliant, obsessive, and has lots of free time, so he's perfect for the task. He always comes through. Unfortunately, he's also a paranoid schizophrenic, so we also have to hear his theories of how the government guided the hurricane into the gulf. LOL Anyhoo, he found a high resolution NASA photo of our neighborhood (and fairly good close-up of the house) taken on Tuesday, which shows us quite dry and missing a couple of shingles over Logan's room, but otherwise no damage. We can't tell if any windows are broken, though. A friend of Barry also reported that a friend 2 streets over (towards the lake) said that our neighborhood didn't flood. So the house is safe, as long as looters don't arrive. And if they do - whatever. Insurance will pay for whatever they take, and if they take any of Barry's video games, well, then that's less crap in the house. (Barry might have a differing opinion on that.) In any case, there is no getting to work or anything for us in NOLA until it all gets reasonably cleaned-up. It's so weird - I never thought that we would ever become refugees!
I think we will be staying at my dad's in Huntsville, AL. He's in Scotland and will be back on Wednesday (9/7). They called the other day and said that we can call a locksmith to break into the house if we need to get in before then, but my brother wrote today and passed along a message with the number of a guy who has a key to the house. At least if we go to my dad's, Barry might be able to work at Lockheed up there. Barry talked with someone at Lockheed, and they said that he will be paid through the 26th, and then they will re-evaluate the situation. That's better than nothing! I will have to get a job for a month, preferably in my field, but if not, I guess I can go back to waitressing (groan) for awhile. I talked to my boss at WWNO (the new GM) today, and he said that he is going to try to check his connections in Huntsville to find a radio job for me. He did find a job for me in Jackson, MS, but going there is not really an option for us, especially since they are so overburdened with refugees. I also heard from a freelance client who may be able to find something for me in Huntsville as well. Anyhoo, I'm multi-talented, so I'll find something.
We will have to get Logan into a school up there. It's going to be a difficult match because he's in 8th grade (middle school), but half of his classes are 9th grade (high school) courses. Maybe we can find a cheap private school that has all the grades that can accomodate him. We'll see. We do have all his schoolbooks, so he can at least he can work in those.
The only bummer is spending a month away from home. But we're pretty adaptable, so it might actually be a break that we'll enjoy. We'll at least try to make the best of it. Cleaning up our messy house was going to be a pain anyway, so what's a little more... besides, now we can get the insurance company to pay for a new roof and carpet!
The people here in Houston have been remarkable to NOLA refugees. Everyone has been so nice! We can get in free to a bunch of museums other attractions. A cinimaplex near here is letting LA residents in our hotel see movies for free all weekend, so that's what I will be doing all weekend. Mikko had to go to the vet for an abscess on his face (probably from a fight before we left), and the vet treated him for free. I also didn't have to pay the toll on the Sam Houston Tollway! There is a big Baptist church here in Houston that decided to pay the hotel bill for a week's stay for all LA residents in this hotel (a Comfort Suites). (That comes to a total of about $500 a room, and 90% of the rooms here are LA residents!) Plus, they gave each family $100 traveler's checks for expenses, and I just found out that they will be serving dinner here every day this week. They also keep bringing snacks, water, etc. ot all the rooms. That is just beyond nice. I'll have to be nicer about the fervently religious now.
What's going on in N.O. is just so sad. Watching the TV has just been so depressing. We feel so awful for all those people. Despite all of the changes we are going through, there is just no comparing our plight with the poor people who were (and still are) left in NOLA.
Scott, I took down your number and I'll call you on Sat., so you can remove your number from the board now.
-Jenni
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