Katrina: Day Six (Friday)

The problem with writing these posts is that I tend to do it at the end of the day, when I'm tired and not wanting to do anything. My mind has shut down and just want to rest along with the rest of my body.

Today started at five in the a.m. I was supposed to be at work at seven, mainly just a chance to see who was here and figure out what we're going to do type thing. Sams was supposed to have gas at six this morning. I got up, brushed my teeth and managed to clean myself with a wash cloth and bowl of water. Right now two of the most precious commodities we have are water and gas.

I got to Sams at around 5:30 or so. There already was a line. I'd say there was at least sixty cars ahead of me. I parked, turned the car off and waited. I got out and started talking to the people around me. I was parked next to a Sams employee that was directing traffic. He was from out of state, I forget where now. He was part of Sams diaster team, they go in after something like this and help to get the store running. They already had a generator running and the store was opening at seven. That was also the time he told he they were supposed to start selling gas.

By seven the line had to be a couple hundred cars long behind me. He figured they had enough gas to last about four hours. Once they started it went fast. They had a lot of pumps and they had an employee working each pump. Full service gas, what a concept! He pumped it and took my money. They had it organized very well. They didn't fool around with the cents, they just took the dollar amount, saved them time with having to deal with a lot of change. The only bad thing, and I didn't think of it but I should have, was that you had to pay with cash for the gas. I hardly ever carry cash around, I'm so used to being able to use my debit card for anything. Luckily I had some cash from my trip to Houston, my per diem and gas money and etc. By then it was almost eight o'clock.

I zipped over to work. Steve was the only manager there. Darryl (the store director) was not there yet. Loretta (the district manager) was there. Right after I got there Darryl showed up. He actually showed up while I was in the back of the store shopping. I figured there was some things I needed before we opened and they all disappeared.

They were sending in a team of about twenty associates from the Texas stores in campers to actually run the store, they figured the associates had enough to do right now. The associates could work if they wanted to, but this way it enabled us to open and serve the customers. The plan is to only let in around twenty customers at a time, stay with them as they shopped. We had a generator running so we actually had lights and some air conditioning.

One nice thing Loretta told us that the company intended to keep paying the managers no matter what. Now I know that could change later, but I thought that was pretty nice of the company, especially when they're sending in other people to do our work so we can attend to personal matters.

We decided that we wouldn't open until Monday. The Texas people wouldn't be there until than, so we figured there was no way we where going to be able to do much. Steve had to bring his wife to Arkansas, she's pregnant and he wants her around doctors and a more stable enviroment. Darryl wanted to get back to his inlaws and help with the cleaning. He figures his house is gone, he lives in Chalmette which is just about all under water. I was getting some stuff from the store for my parents too, so I wanted to drive out there and give it to them and see if I could help them out some. Plus I had a lot of stuff to do at home.

I filled two buggies with stuff. I got two camp stoves, ideal for cooking inside. Darryl showed me this device that connects to a marine battery we sell and than you can plug a light or fan into it. So I got two marine batteries and these devices. I got a cooler, I don't own a cooler. I ended up getting a bunch of stuff I figured I could use.
I would have got my brother some stuff too, but he was supposed to be going to the westbank early this morning and I wasn't sure when I'd see him again with the ways things where around here.

While I was there some police officers and national guardsmen came in for some stuff. We've been letting them come in, get whatever they need and just write it down and we'll worry about the money later. That was what Darryl let me do too.

I went home, dropped the stuff off and headed back to Sams. They would take a check if you were a Sams member, which luckily I was. I wanted to get some ice more than anything and figured I could stock up on some food stuff. Of course there was a line. I have an idea that before this is all over with I'm going to stand in a lot of lines. They were only letting about two dozen people in at a time. The line moved fairly quick and wasn't that long. It took me about thirty minutes to get in.

I got a lot of canned goods and some other things that I hope will last in this heat. And my ice. I was going to get a fan, I don't have one at home, but I forgot.

Back home to drop this stuff off, empty the ice in the cooler, which only took about half my ice, so I figured I'd bring the other half to my parents. Than back in the car and over to my parents.

I was surprised when I got there to see my brother there. He had already tried to get into the westbank and couldn't. They've declared martial law there and are not letting anyone in. They said starting Monday they'll let people in. I was glad to see him, but knew he was upset about not getting in. He just wants to know what condition his house is in. He is pretty sure that there was no flood damage but a tree could have fallen through, or looters or who knows. On the radio I heard that looters burned Oakwood Shopping Mall down, which is the big mall on the westbank. It's one of the busiest malls in New Orleans. The not knowing is driving him crazy.

Than I felt bad cause I didn't get him anything. I'll go back tommorrow and try to get him some things, at least the camp stove. The good thing is that he's there for the next two days to help my parents around the house.

I visited for a little while than jumped back in my car to head home. I had a tree on my porch I wanted to try and get off. I got home, ate some spam, but I was able to cook it on my camping stove! Such small joys make us feel more human.

One of the things I got at work was a saw and axe. The entire top of this pine tree was on my porch. I'm lucky it didn't fall a little farther and go through my roof. It took me about two hours to cut it up and throw off the side, but my porch is now clear. I'm going to put my outdoor furninture back out there, so it'll clear up my living room. I still am going to have to cut the tree up into smaller pieces to get out of here. I just cut off limbs and chunks so I could move it.

The rest of the night I plan to spend watching tv (I have a little portable tv I'm sure I've already mentioned), maybe eat something else and turn on my fan and than probably to bed. Tommorrow I'm sure will be another fun day.