TMI a little place to whine

Stupid home computer doesn't like me and it's giving me log in troubles.

So I am testing to see if I got it fixed.



TMI a little place to whine

Today is the last day of hurricane season 2005, and Tropical Storm Epslion (the 26th named storm of this endless year) is out in the Atlantic swishing around, making waves and hopefully going no where.

If I thought that mother nature and hurricane's could read a calander and know that today marks the "end" of the season I would rejoice. However, I know this day is like drawing a line in the sand, it means nothing. So even if it's no longer season, a hurricane can develop. Let us hope it won't, but I'm not betting the farm.

Speaking of hurricanes, the insurance adjustor FINALLY came to inspect our house for damages incurred from Wilma. They said it would take 4 to 6 weeks to have an adjustor contact us and it was just about that long.

The good news is we had a nice guy, not the idiots I had heard about, and he was very understanding. Now, let's just hope the insurance company is just as understanding and that they pay us what we need to do the repairs.

I typed a very long Black Friday post and then somehow "lost" it.

So the short version is: family history always had me doing the Christmas shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but not quite early bird specials. After marriage and 2 kids I thought buying anything after Thanksgiving was a sign of poor planning and being unable to budget your funds.

Now, I am back to the old tradition and I survived another Black Friday, only this time I did go for the 5 a.m. specials and saved a significant amount of money on several gifts.

The first post was more detailed, and much longer, but you get the drift. I survived to shop again.

Our church has one Mass a day and on Thanksgiving it becomes a big deal. Instead of holding it in the chapel, as they do daily masses, it's in the main church to accomodate those who wish to come and Thank God for the blessings they have received throughout the year.

It's not a Catholic holy day of obligation, it's just a "national holiday", approved by the US government, but it's one of those holidays that allows all people of faith, which faith they chose to participate in, to acknowledge the presence of a higher authority in their lives. I just hope no one ever finds out it's the only "religious" holiday started not by a church, but by a government.

Happy Turkey and parade and football day to you and your family.

Sue

Excess.

That's what Thanksgiving is now. It's supposed to be giving Thanks for a good harvest and the foods that have come through the work of human hands and the grace of God. So that should mean some meat, some cheese, some bread and some vegetables. That would be "enough" to be thankful for.

Well at work today we celebrated a birthday party/Thanksgiving at a luncheon with a bring your own flair. The library administration bought the turkey and the staff all brought one dish each from home to share. With 24 participants it meant a LOT of food. We had so much there is enough for leftovers for tomorrow to feed us all again. Turkey, ham, chili (both veggie and carne) fresh fruits, salads, vegetable casseroles, cranberry sauces, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheeses, pies, cookies, donuts, cakes,sweet breads, juices, ice tea, coffee.

Excess.

We have so much we can't even think of being thankful for a little bit. We always worry if it's "enough", yet what we have is so much more than we need.

I sometimes wonder if we can really mean "thank you" when we don't see what it is we truely have. Sometimes, I envy those who have so little at times that they know the true meaning of thanks.

Usually when you hear about a debris field you think of some underwater wreck that an explorer is trying to find to unearth some mystery of the deep or a cargo of treasure lost when the ship when down.

For me the word debris field will always mean Miami's hurricane season. Maybe not just Miami though, maybe I should include Homestead.

Last night I attended a meeting of the District Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, of which I am vice-president. It was held in Homestead at the Sacred Heart Outreach Center. As a member of St. Vincent de Paul I am used to stories of trouble and need, but in Homestead, after the season of hurricanes we have experienced it's much worse - and in Homestead which helps migrant farm workers and their families it's unimaginable.

Right now 27,000 people in Homestead are out of work due to crop damage. Migrants, who come to Florida for the winter growing season, have no work and are now stranded until the next crop is planted or comes in. It will take 2 months for a new harvest of beans, corn and squash, and 3 months for a crop of tomatoes. The avacado orchards are so destroyed that there will be no new crop until June 2006. NO harvest means no work and no work means no pay and no pay means no food.

The men, women and children who are here to work the fields have no income and as agricultural workers (and many of them are not citizens) they get no government help. If they have children who are citizens the children might get help but if you have a family of 5 and only 2 of the kids are US citizens that means three in the family don't get help and the entire family must rely on the assistance provided for 2.

The Outreach Center tries to help, but it's like a drop of water in an ocean. For Thanksgiving they will distribute food bags to over 600 families (and not every family who needs it will actually get food). The children from migrant homes are often undernourished. The women don't always get pre-natal health care. Pre-schoolers are not encouraged to play and learn the basics of colors, shapes, letters, numbers, etc. mostly because the families can't afford such luxuries as "educational toys". Bored men tend to drink and then take their frustration out on their wives or kids (or both.)

One of the men who run the Center said they have a small pre-school that meets weekly. The kids come for 2 hours of educational play and a meal. The kids were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, most answer "nothing". Why? Because they don't know that there are options in life. All they know is survival from one day to the next. So he is trying to get Spanish speakers to visit the classroom and talk to the kids about job options. They had a firefighter speak to them one day and that impressed the kids. She didn't just show them all of the equipment but she impressed upon the kids that if they go to school and get a diploma from high school they can go tot the fire academy and learn to be a firefighter. Right now I am trying to organize other spanish speaking professionals (librarian, computer technician, office worker, social worker, psychologist, engineer, etc.) to go to the Outreach Center and speak to the kids. They have to be made aware that there are options to being a field hand and traveling all over the US during growing seasons.

Homestead is full of debris - Hurricane debris - and most of it is human.

I have decided I don't like living in FL any more. I want to move to a place that's safe. No natural disasters, no wars, no famine, no violence. No pollution of the water, earth or air, and no stress.

If anyone knows of anyplace on earth like that let me know. I'll pack my bags and move.

Tried to figure out why I still feel so depressed and anxious.

Debris.

It fills my back yard and the streets surrounding the neighborhood. We can't throw away anything until the adjustor's see it. So it surrounds us, a constant reminder of loss, and an impediment to rebuilding.

I just want to close my eyes and forget it's there.

Sleep, natures escape.

Idiots who were recently polled now say they don't trust Geroge W. Bush and they think he's dishonest and unethical and so are his White House staff.

So my question is, why couldn't they have figured this out BEFORE the 2004 election?

11/9/05

I wondered how the Publix grocery store had so many items available so soon after hurricane Wilma, and yesterday I did find out from the Deli manager.

It seems that in Miami there is a cold storage warehouse for Publix distribution. Well, the warehouse suffered a loss of power (as did over 3 million others in the area). So Publix was running the warehouse on generator and it wasn't enough to keep things going indefinately. So, some smart thinking employee decided that as soon as a store was restored with electric power and refrigeration the warehouse merchandise should be sent to those operational stores.

Since the electricity was on in less than 24 hours in our area they sent more than usual to the stores there. So we had a surplus of Publix brand dairy products - milk, eggs, cheeses, etc. The deli manager said they were getting things delivered that they had never even ordered and don't usually order for their store. As I said in a previous post, there was little variety available but items were available, an abundance of items like Publix cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, butter, milk, yogurt, etc.

Such quick response served two purposes for Publix. Restocking so soon, the customers had something to buy, and their warehouse got to distribute food without having to throw out spoiled product. Who would think that at times like that some supermarket executive would have common sense? Amazing.

Post traumatic stress disorder. We all have it post Wilma. No one wants to work, we are all just going through the motions. It's hard to concentrate, hard to focus, hard to keep going.

FEMA came on Friday afternoon and put the blue tarp on my roof. Estimates of the damage haven't been inspected by the insurer's adjustor yet. The estimated time to have things repaired, with the paperwork interruptions, etc. is about a year. So that blue tarp may be the only thing that is keeping my roof dry for a while and stopping any further damage.

I am so tired. Stress has triggered arthritis flare ups. Tylenol isn't touching the aches. You don't have to have severe physical damage to your home and surroundsing to feel a great sense of loss

The air in Miami hangs heavy with debris dirt, there is a cloud over the city, I saw it from Key Biscayne as I approached over the causeway last Thrusday. Consequences of that dirty air: sinus infections, respiratory problems, headaches.

Things are returning to normal, but physologically we aren't coping as we should.

At work today 3 of us all started talking about the feeling of diassociation with life. One woman thanked us for bringing it out into the open because she thought she was the only one feeling that way. Maybe blogging, and talking things out are the best ways to recover.

Maybe I will feel better soon.

I guess I should detail the damages incurred by Wilma.

It's relatively minor by some standards. After your house is destroyed by a category 5 (hurricane Andrew in 1992) anything else seems minor.

We lost 30% of the shingles on the roof and have some small leaks in the den and master bedroom. The roofer gave us an estimate of $8400. FEMA is supplying us with a roof tarp, the man came to inspect the damage and verify that we qualify (We'd better qualify after I got up at 6:30 to go stand in a que for 2 and a half hours just to fill out some paper and to sign a form!)

The tree out back. damaged by Katrina earlier this season, completely came down and took out our power, phone and cable lines. The power came on for the neighbors on the 25th at 3 a.m. but because our line was damaged we didn't have power restored until yesterday. We had to run on generator power.

The screens in the pool screen enclosure are all gone. The structure remains, but the screens shredded or blew away.

As I said, all relatively minor things.

So a hurricane hits South Florida. One huge hurricane taking out millions of homes leaving them powerless - leaving people to fend for themselves. But life does go on, at least for some of us. Others like to wallow in their own conceived personal misery hoping for a sympathetic ear. Well there is no sympathy here. One of my co-workers is a prime example, all she can do it complain about how bad her life is how how terrible she is suffering from the ravages of the storm.

"I had to stand in line for ice." Well honey, so did half of Miami especially those to stupid or too lazy to prepare properly.

"The traffic was so bad I couldn't drive to work." Oh please, like the rest of us had no troubles with downed street lights and traffic signals? So she didn't show up for work, and now she expects sympathy for her plight - oh boo hoo hoo.

"I had to dip into my savings and now I have very little." Oh well that's because the rest of us all won the lottery and don't have to worry about money. Actually, the rest of us had to rely on plastic to get us through, so we are sans savings AND we'll be paying interest on what we did need to buy.

"I had no power for days." Yeah, well sweetie, I just got mine back yesterday, and had to pay $40 a day to run a loud annoying generator for 10 days.

Guess what? It's not all just about YOU.

Some people just don't like to cope. And for them I have one thing to say, "Get over it."

Imagine being excited about doing chores again.

Well that's how I feel now that I have electricity restored.

I did a load of bed linen and towels last night and it felt wonderful!!! I didn't have to turn off half the existing lights and listen to the groaning of the generator as the washer began aggitating. I jsut threw in the soap and bleach and fabric softener and did the clothes as usual.

It's the little things I missed without realizing it and it's nice to have them back now that I am He Man again - "I have the power."

Well, as much as we've improved we still don't have everything back to "normal". Traffic as I said before is a nightmare for some, although I am not experiencing much difference in my driving route to and from work. We do have fresh veggies and fruits and dairy and meats, but the variety isn't back to normal yet.

We really shouldn't complain. The stuff we don't buy that's always available is what makes us look like we are a rich nation (to our eyes) but the fact of the matter is that just having one brand of anything is more than what lots of places in the world have. We just seem to be spoiled when "our" favorite item isn't available.

One of the ladies in my neighborhood called the Publix dairy manager to inquire if he had "Land O Lakes" butter stocked. They do, but only in 1/2 lb. quantities. Well, she was not amused at all that her butter choice was not readily available - after all it was a week since the storm had hit, why whas it taking so long?

Impatience seems to be the byproduct of hurricane recovery.

Lights Out - November 2, 2005

When a hurricane dismantles an infrastructure certain common sense rules should apply. Since they don't the state of Florida has made common sense a law, punishable by a $198.50 ticket and 4 points on your drivers license. That law is that if a traffic light is down or damaged, or simply not operational, the intersection should be treated as if it has a 4 way stop sign and the rules for a 4 way stop apply.

Apparently that rule only applies to others.

In Miami-Dade county many traffic lights have been restored, but in Broward County where Ft. Lauderdale is, they have not had practice with such things as hurricanes in recent years, the population is unable to understand that the rules also apply to them. Of 1100 traffic signals in Broward County that have been damaged or destroyed only 198 have been restored so far. Which means that over 900 intersections are without power and without traffic signals.

So, people blow through intersections paying no heed to the "rule of the 4 way stop" and then they get annoyed when someone t-bones their car! Imagine that?

I guess I should have sympathy for the idiots, but I don't. I think they should have thier lisences suspended for being idiots and endangering the lives of others who do pay attention to the law. I think the $198.50 fine and 4 points is too mild a punishment for selfish people who don't believe that the law serves a purpose - to keep the citizens safe.

One would hope that people would learn from this experience, but I am cynical enough to know they won't.

November 1, 2005 post Wilma

Some people will ignore every warning that there is because things "can't happen to them" and then do nothing but complain that they weren't prepared when it does.

I can understand the confusion people feel after a storm, but I can't understand it when they say "We didn't know it would happen." I'm sorry, the stupid TV was tracking this hurricane for more than 7 days. You couldn't escape the news stations and weather updates. Time after time the warnings were repeated. Time after time the forecasters were reminding us to fill the tank with gas and prepare for a storm.

Get water, have a cooler with ice ready, shutter your windows, bring in debris from the yard and patio. etc., etc., etc. But many didn't listen.

Now they go on TV and cry about not having water and lights.

I just look at these people and think to myself how do they think the rest of the world lives? Do they think people in 3rd world countries have water and lights? For us it is a temporary inconvience, but for those who never had it it's a way of life.

Despite the rhetoric to the contrary you won't "die" without electrical power, you just learn to make do with what you do have. A majority of the people in the world don't have running water. They go fetch it from a lake, river, stream, well or some other body of water. So people after Wilma are annoyed that there is no HOT water for showers. But there is clean usable water in the tap. If they want it hot they can actually use a bar-b-que grill and heat a pot or two, it's a little more effort but they fail to realize they actually HAVE the means to make it happen.

Recovering from a hurricane makes one realize how much we take for granted, and even in the worst of times, how little we really have to complain about.