Woodnutter's Journals

Here we go again....

This town is nutz...

Imagine a city with soo much work that anyone who wants work, can get it, and have it pay well. Burger King and Mc Donalds are paying $9 an hour. This may not seem like a lot to people in big West and East cities, but down here in the third world South, that is big cash. About $3/hr more than two years ago.

I can't understand why there are homeless people here. They were all evacuated 2yrs ago during the storm. They were given shelter, clothes, money, treatment for mental illness, most were given houses, jobs (easy jobs) and set-up with moderate lifestyles. Yet, this city has seemed to accumulate a 2% unemployment rate, and 10,000 homeless (probably more).

These stats PISS ME OFF!!!

If you want to work, you can find work in this area.

Here are the rules:

1) Come in to work on time

2) Come into work on a daily basis, Monday-Friday ususally works.....

3) Don't come in to work drunk, high, stoned, or otherwise fucked up. Hung over is acceptable as long as you don't fall asleep on the clock.

IS THIS SO HARD???!!!!

I get so irritated when someone walks up to me, asks me to give them some money and then exclaimes that there is no work around. I look at them, shake my head and tell them to get off of the sofa, turn off the TV and get a work ethic.

I used to feel sorry for people like this, but right now there is essentially NO unemployment here in the metro New Orleans area.

If you want to work, make a difference, and have cash in you pocket, come on!!!

The main thing that is making it hard to rebuild here is the fact that that the Federal Government hasn't rebuilt the protection levees and floodwalls that keep the water out during storms. Those levees and walls and levees have been their responsibility since the 60's because THEY TOOK THE RESPONSIBILITY for them away from the local governments because they felt that locals couldn't handle the responsibilty.

Boy they screwed that up......

Before ANYONE blames the Bush administration, bear this in mind- The Reagan Administration increased the budget here locally to improve floodwall and levee protection by some $200 million a year for 15 years. The Clinton administration reversed this and cut the corps budget by over $4 BILLION dollars a year for 10 years. They specifically targeted the budget to maintain the levees and floodwalls here in Louisiana and northern California.

This is just some food for thought for those of you who are still capable of thinking.....

C'est la vie!

Hey y'all!

I've been busy doing all sorts of things lately. Very few of them things that I want or like to do. The only things I have been doing that I like is traveling, but I didn't get a chance to see anything that I wanted to see because I had to rush though everything....

I've been doing the handyman thing for the past few months since the storm because there is such a HUGE need for people to work down here, but that has been a pain the past month because it is so hard to find materials here. Right now we are waiting for trees to grow so we can get some 2x4's to build walls. The worst part is, little guys like me get squeezed because all of the big companies have the cash to buy whole truckloads and store it ahead of time. I, meanwhile have to spend a whole day in line, not getting paid, waiting for stuff to be unloaded by people who don't want to unload it.

It took me 3 weeks to finish a fence for someone because I had to wait for 8ft fenceboards.

On top of all of this, I have to renovate my house, work, and help my fiancee with her house and the wedding plans. The last two jobs I did I haven't gotten paid on because the clients are pissed that it took me soo long to get it done.

I went on a vacation to Seaside in Florida for a week (I'll post some pics later). It was nice to be someplace where everything was clean, stores were open, and everybody smiled. There weren't any lines, even at the Home Depot there! I went in and out in less than 5 minutes.

For the previous 3 months I've been talking to Claudia about moving somewhere else, but she was adamant about staying here in the New Orleans area. The first thing she said repatedly when we got back into town after a week in Florida was," Man this place is a dump!".

I am soo stressed out. We both own houses, but nobody wants to buy anything down here because everybody is waiting. Waiting to see if we get hit with another storm, waiting for the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild the levee system, waiting for thier insurance companies to pay them so they can get thier lives together, waiting for trees to grow....

What a mess.....

Aye yay yay!

It has been really busy lately. There is soo much work to be done here in the city it is unimaginable.... Its part of the reason I haven't been able to buzz about on the computer.

I am forcibly taking a day off to recuperate from a nasty fall I took off of a ladder yesterday. my thigh HURTS!!!.

Thing is, it seems that I took a nap, and a whole year has disappeared. I am now a year older, not that much wiser, definitely not that much richer, But I am happy tho...

I have a backlog of work that will take me into April to complete. After Mardi Gras is over, I am going to start working 7 days to get caught up enough to start finishing the renovation of my house in Westwego.

Hmmm... I think I will go and see what all everyone has been up to since last time...

The Saga continues....

Just a note to my buzznet buds.

I am okay! I am staying in a little town called New Roads in Louisiana.

It is NOT pretty here. Every gun shop has sold out of guns. The telecom system is about to crash throughout southern Louisiana. The only reliable way to communicate most of the time is by text messaging because all of the wireless systems are down or overloaded. I hope the rest of the country realizes how much this state has been doing for it because we can't do it any more. 30 % of the nation's oil refineries are under 10-20 ft of water, 25% of the nations power production will be offline in 30 days because the chemicals added/used in production were made in reactors that are now inundated. When your energy prices skyrocket, you'll know why.

There are lines here for food, gas, and ice. Nerves are frayed, strained, and ready to break. Baton Rouge's population has doubled and all of the infrastucture is on the verge of collapse.

The U.S. military can get a battalion of combat ready troops anywhere in the world in 24 hours, but it took them 5 days to get 1000 national guard toops here with no outside support for them.

I am getting ready to move out of the state and head north and west. Dallas seems to be a likely destination.

I am okay and I'll respond to other mail later. I am too busy try to get out of here to someplace where I can get a good night sleep. In the meantime, anyone who sees this, RAISE HELL WITH THE GOVERNMENT AND FIND OUT WHY THE HELL THEY LET US COLLAPSE LIKE THIS. IT WILL AFFECT EVERYBODY!!!

FYI

I think I should let everyone out there know something..

I'm probably going to use this journal thingy for one of three things:

1) vent frustrations

2) exclaim wonderful things that happen to me

3) Generally bitch, complain, or blurp out whatever interests me.

If you want to see the negative part me, feel free to read on. My photo pics I want to keep upbeat and fun. Sometimes I'm not feeling particularly Nutterish, and that's when I'll probably post here.

Things I will NEVER post anywhere.

1) political crap (because that's what it is)

2) religious crap (ditto)

3) kiss and tell (that's for me to know and for you NOT to find out)

4) Nekid pics of me (because that's just gross!)

Any questions?

Over heated.

I feel sooo crappy right now. I spent the morning working on a clogged drain for Hillary (humina humina) who owns a bakery in Uptown New Orleans. Between the fumes of the sulfuric acid, and the heat from the kitchen, I am totally wiped out. I came by the house to refill the cooler with ice, and my tummy with food (kielbasa and kraut). I sat down on the sofa to digest and passed out. I'm awake now and pissed because I had sooo much to do and now I won't be able to get it done. I went out to the garage to get tools together and after 10 minutes, nearly passed out. I have an upset stomach and a headache. I came online for a while to see if it passes and its not. I'm going to go to a dark room and put an ice pack on my head and drink lots of ice water.

I'm going to post a pic of the bakery later. Hillary is such a sweetie. She has amazing amounts of energy despite her tendancy for sleep deprivation. Very intelligent, very good conversationalist, and she makes me laugh. She's a tad bit on the skinny side, but if she takes me up on the dinner invite, I may be able to put some meat those bones....

(sigh)

I don't know what is going on with me right now. I can't think of anything that's funny. I keep getting introspective on everybody and its getting me down. Sometimes I think too much....

Sometimes I drink too much....

Sometimes I - oh nevermind. Here we go again...