FUBAR

Well the last week has been hectic as all get out.

I had a report due in my english History class, a test in my Spanish and I worked almost everyday that I was not in school. I am still helping a group of volunteers who are searching for missing people from Hurricane Katrina.

Most of the people we are searching for are elderly people, people from nursing homes or hospitals or hospices or shelters. So far we have found 25 missing people thorugh either searching databases or working the phones or what have you.

There have been a few sad moments as we discovered that the individual we have been looking for is deceased, but at least the family knows and they can begin the process of grief and acceptance.

On a personal note, I feel that the governments response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster has been negligent in the extreme. Every day you hear more and more reports about what they knew a head of time and questions of 'If they knew this was going to happen, why did they not....'.

It is FUBAR'd in my opinion and the only way out is to roll up our sleeves and get the job done. I think they are moving in the right direction with the nomination of R. David Paulison to accting FEMA Director:

Paulison, a career firefighter with 30 years of rescue experience, said he was busy "getting brought up to speed." Bush promised him in a Monday night phone call that he would have "the full support of the federal government," Paulison said.

Source of Quote
I know that this promotion or temporary job filling gives me some hope that Mr. Paulison knows a little bit about what he is doing since he actually has experience in Emergency Response. The next few months, and dare I say years, should be very interesting.

As always I remain...

Respectfully Yours,

~Terhune

Helping Some of the Desplaced Americans

Well its been a few days since my last entry and I have been busy. I still have not been able to contact anyone about going south to help with the clean-up effort and now I hesitate to even go. According to the local papers, the National Guard down there is just sitting and those guys are not happy about it.

The United States, all the resources in the world and nothing being done.

I checked a few articles online lat night from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX..you name it I was there reading. I came across an article about emergency responders who came from FLorida the day after the hurricane hit and drove to Mississippi. The gentlemen interviewed said that they had all this equipment, fresh people and training and they were put 40 miles inland to sit for a week.

He was very frustrated, said they might as well have stayed home.

So while I am at home, I have been helping to locate missing family members by putting up a blog for a group of people that are calling area hospitals , shelters, etc. etc.

So far we have found 3 people and have rumors of maybe a 4th!

So if you are reading this and have the time and the money and are willing to help call or search the internet please go the site and extend your hand and your heart.

As always I remain...

Respectfully Yours,

~Terhune

Today and Yesterday

Well, yesterday was a bust.

I got up at like 5:45 a.m. and got ready for work. Went to work and was there like thirty minutes and I got sick.

Ok, I puked.

Needless to say I went home and got sick a few more times, crashed out from about 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. fixed me some soup and chilled on the couch watching movies.

Today I woke up and got ready for work - feeling much better. Today being Saturday, there is not a lot to do at the fire station so after going through our daily routine I sat down at the computer and started working on the report for my English History class that is due on the 8th of September. I finished the first draft about 9 tonight.

Now its all relaxation, at least it is if there is no fire or something.

As always I remain...

Respectfully Yours,

~ Terhune

Refund Day - NOT!

Well today started off peachy.

My buddy and I decided that we would volunteer to go down to Mississippi or Louisiana to help out since we are firefighters and figured the guys down there might need a break. I got 15 days of vacation saved up and I am sure that I could swap with some of the other guys if more time was needed. I talked to all my professors today and they had no problem with me maybe going south to help out the people there - cool deal.

So I get done with my last class, which he let us out of early, and I walk like a mile and a half across campus with my 60 pound backpack to the big gym type complex where they are handing out refunds. The whole way over there I am thinking, I am gonna pay for daycare 6 months in advance and put some money on my credit cards, and then if I have any left over I am gonna take my wife out to eat at a nice restaurant and maybe, just maybe get a little lucky later on.

Hot Damn!!

Well so I get to the little lady with the 1960's style glasses, you know the horn rim job with the little glitter on the corner, and I hand her my I.D.

"You’re the one we were talking about earlier." She says as she reads my I.D. I decide right then and there that this can not be a good thing.

The girl beside her looks at my I.D and agrees that it was me they were talking about earlier and she begins to rifle through this massive printout. You know the kind; its got the big perforation on the sides for the little blunted spiky wheel thingy to spin in so that the paper can be fed into the printer and its got those really neato green and white strips all over it!

Needless to say there I am standing there, sweating. Waving goodbye to my dreams of wealth and relaxation, I shed a mental tear or two. Then she speaks again and the words I have dreaded every semester I have attended college spill out of her mouth.

"Your gonna have to go over to Financial Aid and ask them about your check, cause we ain't got it."

Shit.

I take my I.D. back from her and I walk back across campus and over to the Financial Aid office. I open the door to the building, climb a small flight of stairs and turn the corner into the hallway that leads to the Financial Aid office and I stop dead in my tracks.

It is lined with chairs, the entire hallway. Each chair is filled by the butt of another student that had to see the Financial Aid Officers.

"Um, is this the line to get in to see the Financial Aid Person?" I ask with what I am sure was a bewildered look on my face.

"Yep."

"You guys been sitting here long?"

"Yep, gotta sign in on the sheet inside."

Dammit! Ok, no big deal I think. So I walk into the office and find the sheet with my last names Initial on it and...every slot is filled in. Over half the people sitting in the chairs in the hallway are here to see the same person I am. There’s not even a blank line.

Shit.

So I sign my name on the bottom of the sheet, beneath the last line, and I return to the purgatory of the hallway and I find me a seat next to a pregnant girl who looks like she swallowed a ripe melon and I wait.

I play with my cell phone, call my wife, call my brother, and call my grandparents.

Still waiting.

Talk to the pregnant girl, she's due next week sometime.

Oh, oh, they called my name - sweet action!

I go into the offices and wind my way past file cabinets and computer desks that are packed with other students filling out forms and I sit in a chair outside the Financial Aid ladies office. There are 15 people waiting to see her.

I was better off in the hallway.

An hour later...I get to go into her office and low and behold, the University lost my paperwork. So I sign a sheet, she signs the sheet and I am done. Takes like 3 minutes tops.

As I wearily climb in my car and settle my bag on the passenger seat I have to wonder. If they knew I was missing some paperwork, why didn't I get a letter saying I was missing this paperwork? But then that would make sense wouldn't it.

As I am driving home I call my buddy. Still no word on if we are going to be going south. We made the offer, and that's what counts. I hang up with him and I turn the radio on.

Siouxsie and the Banshees are playing.."Cities in Dust". I like the song but it takes on a whole new meaning for me as I am driving. Gets me to thinking.

Anyway that’s today in a nutshell. I should get my refund back next week. I hope to hear something from our local Emergency Management guy tomorrow about going south. I'm working all weekend, what could be better on a holiday weekend?

As always I remain..

Respectfully Yours,

~ Terhune