As a healthcare provider, one facet of the job is learning ways to do what we do without all the usual bells and whistles. Like computers, for instance. Heck, my internet service goes out every time there's a thunderstorm! So it's sort of a grumbly bad thing when I go back to killin' trees at work until the geeks get us hooked up. We are on backup generator power, mostly. If there's an earthquake, we won't be there so go on down the road. Lake County and all the rest of us will be in a very deep hole.

Like everyone else, I'm watching in horror as Gustav heads straight toward a Gulf Coast that hasn't yet recovered from Katrina. As a country, we've learned a lot since then about bad things happening to good people. My EMT cousin is on the way to Louisiana now for his tour of duty with the refugees. The evacuation, though with a few glitches, has gone well in stark contrast to the corporate calm that preceded Katrina and the mayhem that followed.

I don't rant about the Bush administration anymore because I can see a glimmer of light at the end of a damn long tunnel. Four years ago I fretted and fumed as the horror unfolded, pounding on the keys in defiance at the *balls* of some people's kids. It got old after a while, quite tiring. I acted like an angry child who pushes the envelope against her parents when things aren't fair. I mourned Terri Schiavo as if she were a personal friend and I gasped at the treatment of US citizens following a natural disaster that nobody was prepared for. Now, I just read blogs and get some sort of validation when I experience thoughts that sorta jive with mine. Like here.

A friend of mine is the 911 emergency response co-ordinator for the 'burg. He and the city fathers have had foresight enough to equip a mobile command center. More likely than not, we will need it in my lifetime when some wild ass tornado comes rippin' across the river or something. You just never know.

I'm off for two days, and I'm weary. Please don't labor too hard tomorrow. It would make me tired just hearing about it.

^j^