N'awlins
Damn. So yeah. I've had a very busy week. Went to New Orleans on Tuesday, and stayed until Sunday afternoon!
Work conference. Getting up early, attending many LONG presentations. I can't believe how many actuaries talk in monotone voices. WTF? How do you expect us to stay awake through "Data Sources and Methods", blah blah blah? I think maybe they're self-conscious, and wish they could just disappear. I've been there, man.
So, a busy schedule. Much mixing and mingling. Bourbon Street was an experience. Went to Fat Cats and a couple other bars, saw some great local jazz bands. To think, you can find acts like that playing every night in the Quarter.
So hmm. Up late + up early = UP UP! Not much sleep. Yes much coffee. And much alcohol. My body got used to it quickly, I was amazed. One wonders how long the body can handle that.
So let me get to the highlight of the trip. It seems almost weird to call it the highlight, but it definitely was. About 20 of us stayed the weekend to do volunteer work in the Ninth Ward, a badly damaged area. I got to know these voluneers much better! They were very friendly. It was encouraging to have real conversations with some company people.
There was this temporary center, the "cafe", where volunteers prepared 3 meals a day for the locals, and provided a shower and a place to hang out.
It was interesting to talk to volunteers that had come by themselves, and were staying there for a while, as well as the locals hanging out. Get some of the back story, and get people's perspectives on life, etc. One local guy was a riot--asking questions like: If you had two children--a son and a daughter--and you had to send one of them to war, which one would you send? And he gave some old testament quote--roughly, "world, I give thee my greatest gift--man."
So apart from some chit chat, we mainly worked on projects. Two students who were staying all week, Stefanie and Erica, wanted to go remove a dog carcass from the street. So I offered to go help them. Oh shit! Just be thankful I don't have any pictures of it. The thing was lying on the curb. The smell was bad. The remains weighed 20 or 30 pounds. We got it into a thick plastic bag, and as I was carrying it, one of the rib bones punctured through the bag. (Don't worry, it didn't touch me.) So we double-bagged it, and continued back. Luckily there was a dumpster on the way back, to put it in. I would've felt bad about throwing it on one of those debris piles. Like, who wants a bag o' dog in front of their house?
Yeah. Enough about the dead dog. His name was Fido. Just kidding. Moving on.
The markings indicate when the house was searched, and by whom, and if any dead people or pets were found at the time. Most of the weekend's work was to remove rubble and debris from flood-damaged houses. I can't even describe how much stuff. A shit ton of stuff. The following picture shows me and some others, clearing out a second story room of an apartment building. This was taken after we removed the mattress, furniture, etc. Notice, it's all still wet.
And here's me dumping stuff off the roof. Sorry none of these pictures are cropped.
And here's the pile of debris from the various rooms. It grew quite a bit larger, by the time we were done.
So. That was my weekend. It was good. I think this was my first time volunteering for anything. But I'll surely volunteer for something again. Even apart from the "doing good" aspect. The work, the talking, the whole experience had good effects on me.
Later!
Work conference. Getting up early, attending many LONG presentations. I can't believe how many actuaries talk in monotone voices. WTF? How do you expect us to stay awake through "Data Sources and Methods", blah blah blah? I think maybe they're self-conscious, and wish they could just disappear. I've been there, man.
So, a busy schedule. Much mixing and mingling. Bourbon Street was an experience. Went to Fat Cats and a couple other bars, saw some great local jazz bands. To think, you can find acts like that playing every night in the Quarter.
So hmm. Up late + up early = UP UP! Not much sleep. Yes much coffee. And much alcohol. My body got used to it quickly, I was amazed. One wonders how long the body can handle that.
So let me get to the highlight of the trip. It seems almost weird to call it the highlight, but it definitely was. About 20 of us stayed the weekend to do volunteer work in the Ninth Ward, a badly damaged area. I got to know these voluneers much better! They were very friendly. It was encouraging to have real conversations with some company people.
There was this temporary center, the "cafe", where volunteers prepared 3 meals a day for the locals, and provided a shower and a place to hang out.
It was interesting to talk to volunteers that had come by themselves, and were staying there for a while, as well as the locals hanging out. Get some of the back story, and get people's perspectives on life, etc. One local guy was a riot--asking questions like: If you had two children--a son and a daughter--and you had to send one of them to war, which one would you send? And he gave some old testament quote--roughly, "world, I give thee my greatest gift--man."
So apart from some chit chat, we mainly worked on projects. Two students who were staying all week, Stefanie and Erica, wanted to go remove a dog carcass from the street. So I offered to go help them. Oh shit! Just be thankful I don't have any pictures of it. The thing was lying on the curb. The smell was bad. The remains weighed 20 or 30 pounds. We got it into a thick plastic bag, and as I was carrying it, one of the rib bones punctured through the bag. (Don't worry, it didn't touch me.) So we double-bagged it, and continued back. Luckily there was a dumpster on the way back, to put it in. I would've felt bad about throwing it on one of those debris piles. Like, who wants a bag o' dog in front of their house?
Yeah. Enough about the dead dog. His name was Fido. Just kidding. Moving on.
The markings indicate when the house was searched, and by whom, and if any dead people or pets were found at the time. Most of the weekend's work was to remove rubble and debris from flood-damaged houses. I can't even describe how much stuff. A shit ton of stuff. The following picture shows me and some others, clearing out a second story room of an apartment building. This was taken after we removed the mattress, furniture, etc. Notice, it's all still wet.
And here's me dumping stuff off the roof. Sorry none of these pictures are cropped.
And here's the pile of debris from the various rooms. It grew quite a bit larger, by the time we were done.
So. That was my weekend. It was good. I think this was my first time volunteering for anything. But I'll surely volunteer for something again. Even apart from the "doing good" aspect. The work, the talking, the whole experience had good effects on me.
Later!