10-14-2006 Cruisetoberfest IV

[Viking]

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No, I'm not crazy: I just set up the WLAN for my Sony Playstation Portable and had to test it. But using just a joystick to punch in letters is a bit awkward. I have to get a keyboard, I guess

Talking about gas:
Last Thursday I filled up for €1.259/liter, today at the same station: 1.429, this is $6.70 per gallon or a rise of $.80 per gallon since last week

Talking about Katrina
Today our Chancellor offered to send mobile water purification plants and mobile housing units to the areas affected.
The German Red Cross today started a nationwide collection of money for the victims.
I approached my CEO's secretary and kicked off a companywide collection. Tomorrow I'll have a meeting with our CEO and will further pursue this issue. On September 14 we have Open House in my department to present our work processes to the rest of the company. I will most probably use that opportunity to set up a box for donations. Experience shows that my company usually matches every Euro donated and in the end additionally rounds up to get a nice even sum.

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

I just read on another board that Western NC has no fuel and that there is a place in GA that is charging nearly $6/gallon. They are starting to run out too. Others said they have to go to several different stations before finding gas...I think that was in TN? I know the truck stop at our exit was out of diesel fuel yesterday, got some in, but are limiting the drivers to 50 gallons. I feel a crisis coming on!

 

[Twinave]

Hi Everyone,
Lots of displaced people from the gulf coast here in Panama City. We have shelters up and running, and kids enrolling in local schools. Most of the motels are full. FL is sending police, emergency workers, utility workers, and mititary to the affected areas. It could have easily been us that got hit.
I've been out of touch lately. I've been kind of sick. In fact this is my first day out of bed since Monday. I worked all weekend, was not feeling good, but thought I had a bladder infection, so was taking antibiotics. Monday went back to job #1 and was still feeling bad. Our receptionist quit and walked out about 9 AM. By that afternoon I was in severe pain. My doc did an exam, then sent me to the hospital for an abdominal and pelvic CT. By the time I got home, my doc called and told me to go back to the hospital, that I had appendicitis, and needed an operation right away. SO... Monday night at 9 PM I had my appendicts removed. The surgeon said it was not rumptured, but close to it. I was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon, and have been in bed ever since. Finally starting to feel a little better today. Hope to go back to work on Tuesday.
Nancy, got the books. Thanks!
Take care.
Avé

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Ave! Sending BIG HUGS and Pixie Dust your way! How awful! I hope you have a quick recovery!

 

[papa]

Ave, glad that you caught it in time. ~*~*~*~*~*~**~ Pixie Dust to you. Shelters have been set up and families here are offering to open up their homes to families that are hurricane victims.

A big thank you to all that are helping with this relief effort. Our first two cruises were out of New Orleans on Carnival. Mike

 

[jeanniec]

Ave' -- Get well soon! Good thing they caught the problem before your appendix ruptured.

I am glued to CNN and just cannot believe the conditions in New Orleans. Is this the USA or what? People without food or water for days. Looters and rapists running wild. People shooting at medical staff as they are trying to evacuate patients from hospitals with barely any medical equipment. Where is the help?? Well, at least our mountain-biking leader (?) gave up two days of his long vacation and came back to Washington early.

Gas here is $3.49 for regular if you can find it. I have heard that the Gulf pipelines are functioning again and should be at about 80% of their regular production next week (hopefully). Just need enough to get to DVC's Hilton Head Island resort a week from Sunday. If we get marooned there, well that wouldn't be so bad, would it? Feel guilty even thinking about vacations when the people hit by Katrina are suffering so badly.

 

[Viking]

I am glued to CNN and just cannot believe the conditions in New Orleans. Is this the USA or what? People without food or water for days. Looters and rapists running wild. People shooting at medical staff as they are trying to evacuate patients from hospitals with barely any medical equipment. Where is the help?? Well, at least our mountain-biking leader (?) gave up two days of his long vacation and came back to Washington early.

Exactly our thoughts over here in Europe: It is so shocking to see what's happening there right now We had a huge flood in East Germany three years ago with widespread destruction (Not as bad and as widespread as in the South, but still horrible), but there was not looting, just a couple of burglaries. Everybody tried to help, help arrived fast and very well coordinated, people who had to be evacuated were evacuated fast and efficiently. Our Chancellor coordinated everything so perfectly that it even made him win the election although being hopelessly back in the polls before the flood.

Ave,
that sounds like a close call. Glad that you made it in time to the hospital.
Gute Besserung (Get well soon)

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Ave - Pixie dust to you. Glad that they caught it in time but still probably not what you had planned to do! Hope you are feeling better really soon but don't overdo it.

I can't understand the looting. Was amazed to see/hear on the TV that the first thing that a lot of them took was the guns. That's a scary thought really and the shooting at the helicopters and people trying to help just is beyond my comprehension. Everything is so devastated why not just help rather than try to hinder the people who are trying to help.

One of the girls in the office had a vacation planned for New Orleans at the end of October but I think she'll have to change her plans which is too bad.

Take care everyone.

Fiona

 

[ARLO1]

I just cant understand the mentality in new orleans..the rapes,the looting for tvs and stupid items like that, the shooting at hospitals. Looting to get products like shampoo and necessities that you lost is somewhat acceptable but stupid items-no. Watching the tv just scares/depresses me to see what is happening down there. Glad to see that other countries and companies are finally donating...what about the stars/athletes coughing up some money...

Ave-glad to see you are feeling better...

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Now, I might get flamed for this, but in my little naive mind, this is what I see. The poverty level in NO is very big. That is why these people were still there in the first place. They didn't have the means to get out.....no car, no money. Now that this has happend, they see it as an opportunity to get what they didn't have before. I would guess that stealing had crossed their minds at some time in their lives anyway. Desperate people do desperate things. I think it is wrong that all this is going on, BUT I have always lived in suberbia...quite bedroom communities that were safe to walk the streets at night. My vision of NO is inner city. Since they have always struggled and this has made it worse, they don't see that it can get better. Nobody has ever helped them before, so why would they expect to get help now? They are in survival of the fitest mode. I just hope that the National Guard can get in there and regain calm again. I hate to see this going on. We have a war going on in our own country. As I said, this just my honest little opinion, not meant to hurt anyone.

 

[ARLO1]

I totally agree with you....

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

They show pictures of the suffering in Sudan...New Orleans is getting to be like a third world country....I am appalled that in 2005 in the USA..the richest country in the world, we can't take care of our own in their time of need....Sam said that they are the forgotten because they are poor and have no where else to go and I told him that our dog is treated 500% times better than these people...as she sleeps under the paddle fan on a king size bed and has her water and food. This just sickens me.

Is looting ok? Of course it isn't. But to be honest with you, I have no problem with the people stealing food and water to survive...if I was in that situation, would I do it to save my family...in a heartbeat. I do not condone the stealing of tv's; jewelry; sports sneakers (that they are trying on for size), etc. and I think that those people should be shot...not killed but hurt. As far as the hospitals are concerned, as a hospital worker, I am appalled at how these employees and patients are being treated...where are the rescue people and National Guard guarding these hospitals so these patients and employees can be evacuated...this is a matter of life and death for these people...they aren't in the hospital because they had no where else to go.

Where is FEMA...where is the Red Cross....the newscasters and the people that they are interviewing say they haven't seen very many of these individuals yet....I do applaud Texas for opening up their city and hearts to these people...way to go! I think the people of New Orleans and the other gulf states are just as important if not more than the people of Iraq...we can airlift food and supplies to them so they don't starve....why not our fellow poor Americans.

And if I hear one more time how the clown (can you tell that we didn't vote for Bush) in office cut short his vacation so he could assess the damage, I am going to puke. His answer to the gas shortage....only fill up your tank when you need to??? This is a product of a Yale/Ivy League education....my dog has more brains than this!

OK...of off my soapbox for now!! Everyone have a great holiday weekend and Avé...hope you feel better real soon and so glad Katrina missed you guys...it just seems like the FEMA response was so much better when the 4 hurricanes hit Florida.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Agree too but hope that control of the city will happen quickly so that the people who need help can get it without the helpers getting shot at.

Nancy - there's a ding fare on southwest from baltimore to Orlando for $43. Purchase by 2pm cdt today.

Fiona

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

Just another note....we have started an email/fax blitz of our lawmakers here at the hospital....just imagine the response if everyone contacts their individual lawmakers to complain about the response of the federal government using our tax dollars to this crisis.....everyone can look up their individual lawmakers/governors at www.conservativeuse.org/mega-cong.htm and we should blitz them with emails or faxes...try to pass this along to your friends and co-workers.

 

[usetheforceluke]

I drift in to the tv every now and then during the day to watch a bit.

There's a lot of the CNN reporting that I don't have any reference base to understand, especially when people loot, set fire to buildings and snipe at people whom are simply trying to help or keep someone alive. And then they interview this guy who says that they've been oppressed for so long what did you expect? There's obviously a huge cultural gap because I really don't understand the connection.

The really interesting story today is that the US government has quietly asked our government to inventory any/all infection control drugs that are immediately available.


Ave: I had a ruptured appendix a few years ago. Eleven days in the hospital. I bet my scars are a lot more impressive than yours.

Jim.

 

[Viking]

And if I hear one more time how the clown (can you tell that we didn't vote for Bush) in office cut short his vacation so he could assess the damage, I am going to puke. His answer to the gas shortage....only fill up your tank when you need to??? This is a product of a Yale/Ivy League education....my dog has more brains than this!

We just saw footage of Bush visiting Biloxi: They sent rescue units into an empty area faking search and rescue operations just to serve as background for Bush-friendly journalists. He didn't talk to any victims, just made a big show and that was it

 

[bettemom]

but that's what he does best....

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Hey -- we all wanted you to vote for the other guy. He does do a great photo op though.

Gas here this morning jumped from 1.13/litre yesterday to 1.24/litre now. Not a happy camper cause, like, we actually have this stuff in our own country. I don't know how much we import but Alberta's making a killing on this at the moment. Your gas is still cheaper than ours but I admit Eric is taking the brunt of it.

Fiona

 

[Twinave]

Jim, Eleven days in the hospital! OMG, you must have been one sick puppy. No one gets to see my scars. I am enjoying a few days off from work. Just had to lose another body part to get it.
Boss lady called me yesterday. She is missing me. She told me she was going to pay me for my time off AND give me a raise. Guess I should get sick more often.
Well, DS should be home any minute, I should get out the milk and cookies.
Later,
Avé

 

[padisneyfan]

Fiona--- Thanks for the ding tip for BWI to MCO. That is so rare for their to be a discount from BWI to Orlando. We booked on Air Tran for both our trip Oct and Dec so not able to use the discount. It would have saved us about $40 which would be about 1/2 tank gas.

I filled up yesterday for $2.79/gallon on my way to work yesterday. On the way home it was $3.19. I don't care what they say it is price gouging. I have already been at the gas station filling my car and watched them change the price. With everything that is going on, I feel I should not be complaining and be glad I have a car and house.

Ave--- Sorry to hear that you had to have emergency surgery, but glad you are doing better. Extra pixie dust you way.

Monday is the holiday so have a 3 day weekend.

Nancy