Before I moved to New Orleans, I joked to my mother that I would be back before she knew it by being chased out by a hurricane. Man, how I wish I hadn't been right!

Anyway, I will be leaving early tomorrow. Hopefully I will be beating the major rush out of the city. Most people here are not taking ANY chances.

Just pray for the city. Not that Nola wishes a storm on anyone else, but the city of New Orleans cannot take another direct hit. It will simply, kill them. I have already met so many people here who have just gotten back into their homes after repairing from Katrina, and they were so happy to be home and proud of what they had done. Also, a lot of my professors had just gotten their jobs back this semester, and had not been teaching since Katrina. This is really doing a number on them psychologically.

I don't pray that much (although I have been praying more in the last 2 months than I ever have in my life), and I hardly ever ask other people to pray. But, please, pray for New Orleans and this part of the Gulf coast. They are too fragile, worked too damn hard, and have been at the mercy of the Corps who hired contractors who stuffed half of their levees with shredded newspapers instead of with the recycled rubber that they were supposed to use. They simply cannot go through this again.

Elizabeth and I pray for your safety, and hope that NO doesn't have a repeat of Katrina. Mother nature has been very angry throughout the world.

I heard on the news that a tidal surge as small as two feet could be catastrophic. Having been through a couple of hurricanes, I can say that a two-foot tidal surge is a very modest rise for such an event.

I no longer believe in God or prayer, but let it be hoped that fate is kinder to the people of New Orleans than it had been with Katrina.

I'm glad that you will be safely out, even though I know this is a major pain in the ass for you.

I've been worried about you anyway. You are one of my favorite people.

Drop me an email (rporter48@cox.net) and let me know how you're doing.

I will be lighting a small forest fire of candles for you and NOLA this afternoon as prayer is an abstract concept for me. Make sure you've got gallons of bottled water and a head start and also put your shotgun in plain sight with a round in the chamber. You've got my email.

A155MM

I was thinking about you this week when I heard about Gustav. Stay safe and keep in touch.

Three years ....Is this sort of thing going to keep happening? What I am shaking my head about is that Insurance companies can collect money but when the big one hit the issue of water or wind determined that many were not covered. Good luck, Dem. Peace be with you.

Thank you for the well wishes everyone. I left New Orleans at 5:30 Saturday morning, and beat most of the bad traffic out. I was driving across the swamp / spillway as I was headed east on I-10. The sun was just starting to rise, and you could see the cypress trees in the swamp silhoutted by the sunrise. Just as I was taking all this in, the radio started playing CCR's "Bad Moon Rising." I think I will remember that moment forever!

Keep the people of New Orleans in your thoughts. They have worked so hard to rebuild and this could undo it all. I am not sure what message is supposed to be learned from this, and I don't know if God is paying attention. I just hope those damn levees hold.