Time to get wet...

The Closeup...,
originally uploaded by The Imp;-).

The tail-end of September is my least favourite time of the year. I'm always right in the middle of our fiscal year end, which means that all the stress in the world is happening at work. Long hours, sadistic management, quotas from hell, that sort of thing.

That is why it is pretty much guaranteed that I will have booked a fall / winter scuba trip by this point... really, it's cheaper than therapy! ;)

November 26th to December 3rd... Exumas!

www.aquacatcruises.com

102' luxury yacht, 5 dives a day, nitrox, and all you can eat and drink.

Life is good, don't forget to live it.

Regards,

Imp;)

14 Bumper Stickers You Would Like To See...

Jesus loves you...but everyone else thinks you are an ass.

Impotence...Nature's way of saying "No hard feelings,"

The proctologist called...they found your head.

Everyone has a photographic memory...some just don't have any film.

Your ridiculous little opinion has been noted.

I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off.

Some people just don't know how to drive...I call these people "Everybody But Me,"

Heart Attacks...God's revenge for eating His animal friends.

If you can read this..I can slam on my brakes and sue you.

Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them.

Try not to let your mind wander...It is too small and fragile to be out by itself.

Hang up and drive!!

This guy says it all... read, and THINK about it.

Bill Whittle wrote something over on Eject! Eject! Eject! that everyone should read.

Yeah, you too Michael. :-) And DEFINATELY YOU, Bonnie. :-)

This should be required reading for every reporter, for every politician, and indeed for every single person going into highschool. Hell, maybe elementary, if they 'get it' early enough...

TRIBES

Regards,

Imp;-)

And they're out...

From the National Post:

Canadians find own way home
'It was just terror': Six tourists tired of Ottawa's unmet promises of help

James Cowan
National Post
September 6, 2005

Stranded among garbage and corpses outside a New Orleans shopping mall, a group of Canadians exhausted by threats of armed looters, dwindling supplies and unmet promises of rescue took a drastic step: They ran for it.

After waiting days for help to arrive after Hurricane Katrina struck, the six tourists left their encampment outside the Riverwalk Marketplace on Saturday, dashing through ravaged streets to a government checkpoint and finally boarding one of the hundreds of buses leaving the city. The tourists left the relative safety of their perch on top of an elevated walkway after concluding that help promised by the Canadian government was never going to arrive.

"Every light we saw, we thought it was them. We were expecting some Canadian government official saying: 'You're going home,' " Jay Weir, a member of the group, told the National Post. "Finally, I said, 'I'm sick of being lied to,' and we just ran for it."

.... And that really says it all.

Welcome back guys...

Regards,

Mark

New Orleans Update

They somehow got a 1 minute call out to their parents this morning.

1) Location: Bridge Entrance to Riverwalk, N.O.

2) 10 Canadians including Jay & Karen (my friends / co-workers).

3) Conditions 'desparate' ie, get us the fuck out of here.

4) They have apparently assisted in the delivery of a baby, on the freeway on-ramp.

5) An Australian couple that was with them was evac'ed by an Aussie news team. Good on 'em.

6) They've had only water since Monday, though there is an unconfirmed report from the relative of one of the other CDN couples that they may have gotten some food and water this AM. Unconfirmed.

7) We have staff from other offices that can get to the perimeter to pick up, however the problem remains how to get them from their current location to the perimeter.

8) We have contacted all national canadian media outlets to see if it's possible to any of their in-country staff do an evac ala the Aussies.

9) We have been in close and urgent contact with the CDN consulate and the Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade.

I'm getting this all from a person that spoke to a parent that spoke to Jay... so there is likely some innacuracies. Other pieces of the info we are getting from relatives of the other CDN's in their group.

Pray. Unless any of y'all can get them a helicopter ride on short notice.

Regards,

Mark

New Orleans... Pray.

The scale of the tragedy unfolding in New Orleans almost defies belief... as North Americans, we're very smug in our complacency that things like this do not happen here. We've raised NIMBYism to an artform, and that includes natural disasters. North America is the safe part of the world; here, civilized behavior is the standard. Lawlessness is not something that we have to worry about all that much. Until now. Looting, shooting at cops and rescue workers, relief helicopters. This is a good example of how it seems that our technology is what makes us civilized isn't it?

I have two co-workers that got caught down in N.O.L.A. The last word from them was back on Tuesday morning when we learned that they were moved to the Superdome (ala Superdorm). We all heaved a collective sigh of relief, surely if there was anyplace in NOLA that the authorities would ensure was kept in control it would be this place. Now, it looks like that relief was premature... at least until the Guard reaches it in useful numbers and can restore order.

Worst case scenario? The mind shudders away from the thought... but you have to think that 60,000 plus people are in that area, and without adequate supplies of fresh water... the magic 72 hours are almost gone.

I've already donated to the Red Cross; there is not much else that one can do when you're this far from the disaster. I hope that the massive relief efforts reach the people most in need as soon as possible.

God Bless, and Regards,

Mark