i've been pretty pensive recently. mostly because of hurricane katrina, i think. it's weird. i lived outside of NO in '92 - which if you know your hurricane history was the year andrew struck - and i remember it being a pretty wild ride, though it was only a TS when it hit louisiana, not the cat5 hurricane it had been thru florida. but still, having lived there for 2 and almost a half years during my childhood i know the lay of the land, i have many memories of that city and its amazing waterfront aquarium and the french quarter and the superdome and my dad's office off poydras. and now that is all under 15 feet of water and it just seems surreal.

the thing that makes me so mad is the revelation that the feds have red-lighted several projects to improve levees and shifted their focus away from hurricane preparedness. it's all a part of the integration of FEMA into the department of homeland security. and the shifting of all "available" funds to the iraq war. it's absolute, utter bullshit.