I have been in Brewton, AL now for roughly a week. Exactly how long, I'm not 100% sure - it all runs together. The better hotel I wrote about was much better, but I was only there for 2 nights. After that I moved to Brewton and have been here since.
The rumors that I have heard about being on incidents in the south have panned out except for one. Bugs, mammals, reptiles, and hotel sleeping only. Guess which one was false - that's right, the hotel. Technically I could be sleeping in the dorms, but they are hot, confined, and have been unused for several years.
We have camped at Southern Normal School which is actuially a fairly nice setup. It was built in 1911 and recently the State of Alabama purchased it and have been using it some while they bring it up to 21st Century standards.
All in all, it has been a good assignment, but I am ready for it to be over. The good news is that we will be flying out of New Orleans and I have managed to extend my stay there by 2 days. Me and several other people are going to sight-see and rubber neck. It should be fun. I'll clue y'all in when I get home.
At this point, I probably won't write until next week, but you never know...
Status Update:
From Alabama, this is Joat, signing off.
Okay, so we flew into Atlanta when? I can't remember...I know I'm day 5 and this is Monday, so that would mean it was Thursday. Well, I just slept for the second night in the third hotel I've been in since I started this trek.
Two nights in Atlanta, Georgia and then I mobilized (mobed) to Clanton, Alabama to support the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) as the state recovers from Ivan. Granted a hurricane just did go through the southern portion of the state, and the resources in the northern part were taxed giving aid, but the place I'm in is a dump. I'm hoping to move out and over to a large chain operated hotel today, we'll see.
It's gonna be a long process for them (the fine folks in AL) and unfortunately FEMA is not helping the way you'd think they would. This is the second time I've worked this closely with FEMA. I'm gonna reserve comment till I see more.
On the plus side, the food is excellent (when I can escape The Bunker before the sidewalks roll up). Maybe during the week it'll be better. My first night I had my first authentic Southern Pit BBQ. I can still taste it.
I hope to post more later, but I'm unsure of my access. To date I have had a measley 21K connection speed. The only reason I'm posting this now is because I woke up at 4-freakin'-AM in he morning and couldn't get back to sleep. Too many things running through my skull. Speakin' of time, I gotta go. It's 5:40 and I have to be ready by 6:15AM.
Morning person I do not endeavor to be...
Heading to Georgia to stage prior to hurricane Ivan or possibly the next one to hit: Jean. More later. I gotta go to bed so I can get up in 90 minutes to get ready for my flight.
Check out these directions for making a plane that flaps. I haven't tried it yet, but am going to soon.
I haven't posted anything for a while because I've been busy. Took the family to Denali on Monday & Tuesday. While there we saw caribou, bears, sheep (or were they mountain goats), bears, a golden eagle, and some bears. The best view (of the bears) was from about 200 feet away. We saw a sow and two cubs chowing down on the remains of a caribou. We did some "End-Of-The-Season" gift shopping the next day, and then I put the family on the train and then boogied back to Fairbanks. I made it in almost exactly two hours (without exceeding the limit too much).
The plan was to get back to Fairbanks, watch Bourne Supremacy, however, the times didn't work out they way I thought they would. I still haven't seen it. Maybe I'll take Dad when I get home.
In the meantime, I call my boss to remind her that I will be late in the morning because of a Doctor's appointment, and she asks if a co-worker had gotten a hold of me yet. Immediately the red-flag warning goes off. I reply in the negative and she then tells me that I'm needed in Tok yet again.
So I headed out yesterday to lovely Tok. The most exciting part about this trip is that it's getting down to 10° above zero at night. I stayed warm in my 3 sleeping bags (one below, one around, and one above), but trying to get dress in the tent with hoarfrost on the sides without touching the stuff or being rained upon is quite a challenge. Now add the fact that my bladder is quite full and screaming for some relief...what a great way to wake up in the morning. I wish I could have stoked up a nice big campfire. Probably not a good idea in a fire camp. Even if you can see your breath.
Mom & Dad flew in last night (technically it was this morning). In the past we let (make) our parent sleep in our bed, but Mom is not able to handle stairs very well and all our rooms are upstairs. Therefore, we go to Plan B - set them up with their own bedroom in the garage. It's actually pretty cozy, but the stigma of making my parents sleep in the garage is a bit unsettling. Being from the desert, I hope they don't freeze -on the flip side, if they get hot, they can use the garage door opener to open and close the worlds largest french door!
I hate doing electrical work.
I get really frustrated...especially when things start going wrong. Like the first switch breaks, the second switch bends, there's too many wire in the tiny little box, the ground wires become disconnected, the switches won't go in, then they won't go in straight, and then the box that you are trying to shove, I mean put, said switches and wires into ends up being pushed 2 inches into the wall. When that gets all squared away (minus the patch job that you now have to do on the wallboard), you put the freaking' plate on and stuff don't line up so it cracks and then you have to start over! Somewhere along the way, you lose control over your emotions (tongue) and you share with everyone who is within earshot exactly what you think of the situation.
I hate doing electrical work.