7/18 Brazilian crash

I got called last night to work crisis phones for the Brazilian airplane crash. It's a phone bank that handles making calls to families and receiving calls from them too. Then giving death notices if necessary. It's a sad, sad job to do, but very necessary.

Unfortunately the call center is located in a city I no longer live in. So it's off to my regular job. So much to do today that I'm almost feeling a bit paralyzed with "how am I going to get things done?" I worked at home until about 9 and did get a lot of emails taken care of.

When I get to work I'll only have a few minutes there before I have a meeting to go to. Yesterday was busy, but on the way home I managed to order the day bed and trundle bed for the guest room. The day bed wasn't in stock so won't be here in time for Gerri, but the pop-up portion is being delivered this Saturday. So at least there will be a bed and a mattress.

Got good news about Q. Her eColi infection is totally gone. Yay.

5/31 Off to Chicago

I've been up since before 5. Q had to go out, and usually we go back to sleep, but I kept thinking of everything I had to do before I left town. I'll work until 3 or so and then catch a plane for Chicago. This is the weekend for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk and I can't wait to be with my sisters, nieces, and friend. This is always our special weekend every year. We don't need to check in until 1 PM on Friday so Friday morning we will go to the Designer Outlet Mall, where I always buy lots of Christmas presents. Since I'm flying, I'll either have to buy a few small things or convince Jane to take them back to Quincy in her van where I can pick them up later. In any case, the most important thing is that we'll be together. We'll be in a hotel Thursday and Friday nights, then camp out on Saturday during the walk, then a hotel on Sunday night as well. Everyone is so tired after either walking or working that it's hard going home on Sunday. It will be much easier on everyone to spend some time in a pool and/or jacuzzi. Shoot--I forgot to pack my swimsuit. Also forgot my Avon Crew hat and my jacket. Yikes. Guess I'll make a trip home before going to the airport.

Jane, Jan, and I always do the Avon Walk together. Jan walks the 40 miles, Jane is a team leader on the medical crew, and I'm Operations team leader working in Incident Response. This year our friend Deb is working on the medical team, and nieces Kris and Beth are walking with Jan. Kris is Jan's daughter so this will be even more special for them.

Quincy will spend the long weekend at doggy day care (and boarding). If she's the only one being boarded the owners will take her home with them so she doesn't have to be alone. That's wonderful.

I forgot to blog yesterday--the past few days I've been in non-stop meetings and this is the first time I've been at my desk since a few hours on Monday. We've been busy going to the Long Term Recovery Committee meetings in the three counties that we cover. It's been really interesting and I've learned so much.

5/21 Americorps and Habitat for Humanity

Even though yesterday was Sunday I had to work a little bit. We received an invitation to go to a special Americorps and Habitat joint celebration. Although it wasn't easy to drag myself out of my house, I'm so happy I went.

It was the last day of the national Americorps week and the first day of the Habitat Buildathon. Habitat for Humanity International is building 20 homes this week and it's a huge deal. Plus it's a celebration of the fact that they just built their 1,000 and 1,001 home in the Gulf. You're probably familiar with Americorps, the government program that allows young people to give up to a year of service in the US. VISTA was there too (Volunteers in Service to America).

Thousands of people filled the Gulf Coast Coliseum, and lucky me got to sit in the reserved section so was in the second row. The talks were mostly by Americorps members and Habitat volunteers and were so impressive. I can't begin to tell you the emotions that welled in me, and wish I'd taken notes so I could more accurately represent what happened.

I'd encourage all young people who may not know what they want to do with their lives to check out Americorps. The youth were exuberant about the experience and the travel.

What a great job I have!

5/20 A great reward

I went to buy groceries at WalMart yesterday and when I came out there was a note under my windshield wiper. (My car has Lutheran Disaster Response magnetic signs on both sides.) Here's the note:

May God bless you for blessing us! Thank you, Dave Brown

It brought tears to my eyes. Yes, we get thanked a lot by people who live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but this was so unexpected, so random, so loving. It made my day.

5/16 A woman

She's a manager at a family-run Italian restaurant. Someone messed up my order, so she stopped to apologize and offer a free gelato for dessert. She asked about my job. When she found out what I did, she told me her story.

I'll skip the details, but this young woman lost absolutely everything. Everything. When she described the loss of her home and possessions, she was stoic. But the tears came when she spoke of her three dogs.

That was the piece she concentrated on, and cried about--her beloved pets. She detailed the personalities of each of them: one shy, one overprotective, one playful. After 20 months of living in a FEMA trailer, she cried about those dogs.

I went home and hugged Quincy.

5/14 I'm slow...

...but I'm learning.

There's so much to know here. So many details. So many people on the Gulf Coast I haven't met.

It's getting better however. The major piece I have to set in my addled brain is how the construction process begins.

I know it starts with case management and the Long Term Recovery Committee of the respective county. But I haven't been able to attend the LTRC meetings yet. My education there will start next week.

This week is full of meetings. My next one is at 1:30. I took a break and ran to McAllister's Deli to pick up a Spud Ole--a HUGE baked potato with cheese, jalapenos, onions, and veggie chili. (You can have regular chili as well.) Oh my it was great. But my office now smells like a Mexican restaurant. Not a bad smell as smells go. But the onions are STRONG. When I walk into the next meeting people will notice I'm there. My breath will enter before I do.

Quincy is sleeping by my chair. She's been just about perfect today. Just a few little barks but nothing to blog about (except I already did). When I go into a meeting I close my office door and she sleeps while I'm away. Works great.

Tomorrow she'll go to doggie day care, but they're closed today, so I have my buddy with me all day. Not a bad thing at all.

(Editing to add that Quincy slept 7 hours last night--got up, went outside and did her business, then let me sleep another hour. Life is so good.)

5/9 Well worth it

Even though I was away from the office for two full days, it was well worth it. I made so many contacts--great people involved in disaster work. Plus I learned so much. The EOC is awesome and it's good to know we'll be in good hands should another disaster strike.

In a real emergency I wouldn't be at the EOC in Jackson...I'd be implementing our own Hurricane Response Plan in Biloxi. We'd have to evacuate all our volunteers first, then staff who aren't "mission critical." Other staff would be deployed with our trucks and other vehicles to a staging area further north. Additional folks would "batten down the hatches" in Biloxi and Ocean Springs, doing the best we could to ensure our property would remain safe. It's very serious business, but I'm so confident with the great staff we have that we will do the best we can.

I'd be the last to go. And because of that, I'll make sure everyone else gets the hell out of Dodge, so I could leave too. (Of course, this is only in case of a severe hurricane.)

There is one very small cool thing about all of this: I get to use a satellite phone. Oh, sure, I'm immature, but can any of you say that you wouldn't love to use a satellite phone. C'mon now. Be honest. (Not you, Rob. You get to use them all the time.)

5/8 Emergency Operations Center

Wow. This place rivals the American Red Cross DOC in Washington, DC. Walls are lined with HUGE screens full of weather reports and breaking news. We are running a hurricane drill--Hurricane Zora--hitting the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And it's so very realistic. Since we're below ground we can't tell what the weather is really like outside.

The room is full of MEMA personnel (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency) and people from FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army, police, firefighters, private agencies (like mine), and many government agencies like Department of Mental Health and Department of Education.

It's quite an interesting experience. I'm learning so much, and am looking forward to tomorrow.

4/23 What a busy day!

The Senior Leadership Team is visiting from Austin so I spent all afternoon and evening with them. They are staying at Camp Victor tonight and Camp Biloxi tomorrow night. It's so much fun showing off what we do. I'm so proud of our volunteer camps and all that they and our staff accomplish.

I left Q home this morning since I had to go to Pascagoula for a meeting. Four hours later I came home to a crate that the poop machine had been busy in. That's what I'm calling her at the moment. Didn't have time to completely clean it up since I had to rush to the state office. On the way there my boss called and said they'd meet me at Camp Victor. So I brought Quincy with me and she behaved perfectly. I put her in the Site Director's office. She'd been there before when Pepper, Jon's dog, was there. So she was so happy to be there. She played and slept, with no barking, for five hours, so I was very proud of her.

Tomorrow, the Leadership Team is working on a site with a team from Camp Victor. I'm going to go at some point and "catch them" working, so I can take some pictures. Should be fun.

4/19 Silent Auction

Am sitting in my hotel room waiting for our IT department to call me. My Blackberry and my laptop are both experiencing problems today.

Last night went out to dinner to Pappadeaux with many LDR state coordinators from all over the place. Of course there weren't many vegetarian choices in a Cajun restaurant but I had a really good salad, baked potato, and of course fresh-baked bread. Delicious.

There was a silent auction yesterday to benefit National VOAD and I made a few bids. I got a small umbrella from the Humane Society and the piece de resistance--a framed poster of Hurricane Katrina. The beauty of it though is that it's made up of tons of very small disaster pictures. From far away it looks like a regular picture. As you get a bit closer it looks like a puzzle. Close up you can tell what it is. Can't wait to hang this in my office. BUT have to get it home. Will go to a MailBoxPlus to ship it. Hope it's not horrifically expensive. It's sure lovely though.

Also bought a beautiful piece of pottery that looks like it's antique. But it's freshly made by a Navajo artist. So lovely and will go perfectly in my living room. Love to all.

4/18 A touching, moving day

It started after breakfast with some keynote speeches from Japanese members. To hear them talk about what they've learned from us over the years about how to mobilize volunteers was very moving. And a few of them were choked up when they spoke about the Virginia Tech tragedy. I found it so touching that I got teary-eyed too.

Then so much information all day about disaster work. I'm in sensory overload. Tonight several of us are going out to dinner, but it will be for business. All the agencies that also function as affiliates of the national Lutheran Disaster Response.

What was cool for me is that I saw so many people I knew from when I was at Red Cross HQ in DC and also people I worked with during the Florida tornadoes.

This is a valuable week for me, but I can't wait to get home. So much to do.

4/14 Spoke too soon

The puppy had several accidents in the house. And we have such a nice big yard. Guess it was too good to be true.

Closed on the house yesterday. (Thank you, God.) I am thrilled beyond belief in my little nest. Quincy loves it too. She has a huge crate that she can grow into, and sleeps in there at night and when I'm away for a while. So far I haven't left her for more than a few hours. What a blessing that she can come to work with me occasionally.

Next week I'm in Albuquerque on business and she'll be in a kennel. Makes me sad, but I know I'll have a good time.

Just took a pair of pants to Kim's Alterations because a seam had unraveled and she charged me one dollar. I love this place.

Thunderstorms and tornadoes are everywhere so I can't stay on long. Unfortunately we have a celebration barbeque in 45 minutes. I'm afraid that it's going to be an indoor event. But that's okay. As long as the tent doesn't blow away, we'll be fine. It's to celebrate a big undertaking with Habitat for Humanity International. We'll be working on a big project with them for two years and it's awesome. So many people will be served, and that's what it's all about.

Am in my office because, although my DSL is turned on at home, my equipment is outdated. (Oh, my brothers would have a field day with that line.) UPS won't deliver until Monday and of course I'm out of town. Bad timing on my part, but that's life.

Next on my agenda at home--besides putting stuff away--is getting a fence and getting someone to work on my lawn. It looks like it's been sodded but is very uneven and mostly weeds. There's also a big fire ant hill in the yard and they'd kill Quincy if she ever got into the hill.

That's it. The storm's here. Love to everyone.

3/25 Sunday miscellaneous

Miscellaneous Musings:

Went to 8 AM services at Christus Victor. Since I was awake anyway I decided to go to the early one. Pastor Terri introduced me and had me stand. More than 100 people in the church were volunteers from Camp Victor and so it was good they could associate a face with my name. As I sat back down it really hit me about the enormity of this job. I just looked up at the cross and thought, "Help me."

In my travels today I drove along Beach Drive four times. There's a huge speedboat race going on and the roads and beaches are full of people. I could see from the road though and each speedboat had a helicopter right over it. How cool is that?

As I neared Keesler Air Force Base a C130J flew right over me. That thing is as huge as a small village.

I passed a clearing where a church used to stand. The people were having worship services near a big wooden cross they'd put up.

Our motto at work is Semper Gumby, standing for Always Flexible. Don't know who made it up, but I heard it from Henry, a retired Marine. I love it.

Went shopping, got my nails done, bought food and clothing. Went out to breakfast after church. Everyone is so friendly. We just chat while waiting in line.

Met some people from Luck, WI who are volunteering here.

Have been working on my taxes. Am almost done with my federal ones. Will get a nice refund this year--that's because I had CPI take out more money than I needed. I'm a terrible saver and didn't want to be caught unaware with a high tax bill.

I know there's more, but I'm tired.

3/22 I love Mississippi! And I love The Joys of Coffee!

I'm not lying when I say I've never lived in a place where people are so friendly and gracious.

Lots of people are excited about the Starbucks that's coming in. (We currently don't have one.) I'm excited too, and but won't go there unless I'm with someone else who wants to go. Does this surprise you? I'm the gal who posted about stopping at Starbucks every morning in Milwaukee on my way to work. At the same time though, I frequented Alterra coffee which was a local coffeehouse, but only went there on the weekend because it was far from work.

Local businesses need to be supported. Every morning on the way to work I stop at The Joys of Coffee for my decaf Americano. After Katrina, Joy came right back in, cleaned up the place and started making coffee. That's a great story. And Joy is such a welcoming and friendly person. She, Matt, Sloan, and the young woman whose name I don't know do a great job there. And I'm greeted every morning with, "Good morning, Miss Jeri." How can you beat that?

They're closed on Sunday, so then I drive to Ocean Springs to Mocha Moose for a coffee. I sit on the porch and read or watch the world go by.

I love Mississippi. (We'll see what I say when summer comes.) But how can I not love a location where palm trees grow?

3/21 Now it's really Spring!

I'm so excited. My brother, Jeff, is coming down to work with a group from his church. They're coming toward the end of September for a week and will help with rebuilding the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Isn't that awesome?

When he first approached me about this a few days ago, I told myself not to get my hopes up, but they are really going to do it. They'll stay at Camp Biloxi because it's only about a mile from my office. I'll be able to go to the mess hall every night and have dinner with him. We provide a place to sleep and all meals for our volunteers. A lot of staff have meals there as well. I went there for lunch today in fact. They had baked chicken, mixed vegetables, homemade rolls, broccoli cheese soup, salad, and cake. So I sure didn't have to eat much for dinner tonight. (Ate a pre-packaged bean and cheese burrito.)

I spent time at FEMA today to get my packet so I can sign up for a FEMA badge, but I'm afraid they gave me the wrong one. They gave me the one for staff instead of an affiliate agency. So I'll go back tomorrow, but luckily it's less than a mile away. Our office is really centrally located for Biloxi. Too bad it's a little distance from Camp Victor but that will get better once the bridge gets rebuilt.

3/20 It's SPRING!

I hope that means warm weather for my relatives and friends back in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri. And I'm still hoping for snow for Beata in NC. :)

What a day I had. First of all I found out that the Director of Case Management and the casemanagers/caseworkers read this blog. At first I laughed, and then I got scared. Had I said anything nasty about anyone? Had I been negative at all about this job? I don't think so, because I tend to not write negative things, but also because I haven't felt negative about this job--except for the great amount of work we need to do. I could work 24 hours a day and still not be finished. That's something I need to watch out for. People in disaster work tend to overwork and to not count the cost. Our staff is so wonderful that I want to make sure they're here for a long, long time. So get out of that office and go home.

At some time I'll explain what the caseworkers do and how they relate to whether we rebuild a home or not. It's pretty interesting.

Let me tell you about the rest of the day. I didn't get much office work done. As soon as I'm finished with this, I'll make dinner, then sign off my personal computer and sign back on to the work one. (Yep, it's a laptop too, and I can connect to work via a VPN--a virtual private network.)

Even though I didn't get much regular work done, it was a superb day. Ken, the PR guy from our corporate office, visited from Austin. It was so much fun listening as people told their stories. An elderly couple came to the office. They both carried themselves so proudly, even though they are in their 80s and lost everything for the second time in their 59 year marriage. Ken interviewed them and their caseworker joined us. It was so cool hearing about how she is their "guardian angel." Their house, in Pass Christian was picked up and moved into their neighbor's yard. It was a house they built 51 years ago. Poignant, but with a happy ending. Their caseworker is getting another religious building group to put down the foundation and do the framing. Then we will come in and do everything else.

Then we took Ken on a grand tour. Several of us went and it was well-worth the time. I met some homeowners where our volunteers were working. Oh my--it was the coolest thing ever to see folks working hard, most on their spring break from college. Following that we went to two brand new homes that we'd built. The owners, a father and daughter, gave us tours of their homes. They were both fantastic, and were well-furnished and obviously well-loved homes. The dad had a shrimp boil for the volunteers last year, and he said he's going to have another one this year and I'm invited. Well, I found out that you don't have to have seafood to love a shrimp boil. I can have corn and other vegetables boiled in that good tasting sauce. I'm looking forward to it.

This is already so long. There's so much other news but I guess it'll wait for tomorrow.

3/4 In Biloxi

Yeah, I'm home. At least in my temporary home. When I arrived it was still too early to check in so I started exploring. I drove all along the coast from East Biloxi to Gulfport. Is it possible to feel both despair and hope at the same time? I think it is, because that's what I felt. Still so much devastation. Even though it was mostly commercial on Beach Drive, it's still so very sad. Yet, the signs of people cleaning up and rebuilding are everywhere. So many volunteers are here, and there are signs all over thanking them.

Then I drove through some residential neighborhoods and felt the same two emotions.

Finally was able to check into my hotel. The room is small but wonderful. A bed, two nightstands, TV, bureau, table, three chairs, kitchenette with stove, refrigerator, microwave, and a full-sized bathroom. I should be fine here for a month.

Spoke to John MacRae, the guy whose position I'm taking. He has strept throat plus has to have a root canal tomorrow. So I won't see him tomorrow morning. Am meeting with my deputy director and a few other staff. Then will meet my realtor at one. Finally, John set up a dinner for tomorrow night with a few of the managers. I'm looking forward to it.

Gotta run. Must go to the store to find "stuff" for dinner tonight. Love to all.

2/19 Going home tomorrow

Yep, found out this afternoon that I'm going home tomorrow. Am thrilled, because I have so much to do to prepare for my move to Biloxi next week. Wow, it's happening so fast.

Will write more about this Red Cross Florida experience when I get back to Rob and Beata's house tomorrow night.

2/18 In an almost paradise

I'm now at the Daytona Beach Resort and Conference Center and my 5th floor room overlooks the ocean. Took some pictures with my phone. The one of the ocean view looks too bright, but you get the idea. The one of the pool looks good. There's also a pool right below my room. The hotel has an inside pool and spa too, great for cold days like this one. This is my fourth hotel and the only really nice one. I try to not complain because we work with people who have lost everything but this place is AWESOME, especially compared to hotel number 2.

The thing that stops this from being totally paradise is my roommate. No one told her she would have a roommate and she walked in after I had been here a few minutes. "WHAT?" she yelled. Then said, "They told me I wouldn't have to have a roommate." I said, "Sorry no one told you. I'm moving back to headquarters from the service center." Her: "How long will you be here?" Me: Until the end. Her: No! Well, I guess you're kind of cool.

I replied, "Kind of cool?" She said, "Yes. Kind of cool."

Help me. I want to go home.

2/17 Time goes by

Today we closed the service center in Lady Lake. I'm off tomorrow and Monday will work again at the temporary HQ in Daytona Beach. My hotel there is on the beach. It will be great to see the ocean--haven't seen it yet this trip. The Daytona 500 is going on tomorrow so Daytona Beach should be an absolute zoo.

Today, on the way back from work I stopped for lunch and as I finished a couple stopped me and said they just wanted to thank me for all the Red Cross has done down here. They were obviously fairly well off, but lost most of their house and furnishings. Yet they said they can't complain. They had insurance, but many of the people didn't. Plus there were 20 deaths, and they weren't even injured.

I walked away from the restaurant feeling really good.

2/16 I said YES

Just got in and am way too tired to post. But I called Austin and said YES! Will post details tomorrow. It should be a short day at the disaster mill.

2/15 A Big News Day

I got the job. In the middle of talking to Beata on the phone, I took another call. It was David Y. from Austin offering me the position. I asked for a few things, got a yes on one, a no on another, and a maybe on the third. They want me to start March 1.

Will call him back tomorrow with my answer. What will the answer be?

I really don't know yet.

2/14 Another busy day

The only reason I knew it was Valentine's Day was because some people had flowers delivered, and we also had candy all over the place. I ate way too many chocolates.

Looks like the service center might close this weekend. Our work is drawing to a close in this area. When that happens I'll drive back to HQ in Daytona Beach. I hope it's after Sunday--the Daytona 500 is making traffic crazy over there. Makes me glad I'm further west.

Even though I'm told things are winding down, we were sure busy today. Clients are still coming in to see us...some of them for the first time. Others were having problems still, and came back to talk about them.

Tonight I picked up my dinner from the hotel restaurant and will settle in for the night and watch American Idol. Then beddy-bye.

2/13 Very relaxed

I went to Bob Evans for a very late breakfast, then to Barnes and Noble where I picked up several paperbacks for the road. Then to the mall where I got a horrible haircut. The thunderstorms were supposed to start by 2 PM so I came back to the hotel. Turned on the TV and promptly fell asleep until 4:30. Woke up and the storms had passed. Nice way to spend a storm, I guess.

Spoke to Pete who took my place for today. He sounded very busy and even a little frazzled, so I'll wait until tomorrow for details. Met a nurse at dinner tonight who said three of her comrades were sent home today. Sounds like things are winding down a bit.

I got plenty of rest so am really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.

2/12 More tomorrow

I'll write more tomorrow since I have a day off. Right now I'm just beat. The work continues, people are being well-served, and overall I feel so good ab out what we are accomplishing.

2/11 Still tired

Just got home and ordered dinner from an Italian place. I really don't care what it is, as long as there's no meat in it. Am that tired. Love to all.

2/11 Up early

Today I don't have to leave the motel until 11 AM; we've been given a half day off since it's Sunday. Everyone is supposed to get one full day after working seven days, so I'm making sure my folks are getting a full day in addition to this one. I'll take a day when I can.

Instead of sleeping late I got up at 5:30 to do my laundry. There are only two washing machines and I knew they'd be busy. Now my laundry is done and I can relax for a while.

Anyway, someone in my writing group asked me for details about what I do here, so thought I'dc post the answers here.

Here's are my functions:

1. Coordinate disaster mental health services--sending out mental health workers with Outreach Teams. Teams consist of two client caseworkers (people who determine financial need, based only on this disaster, not previous need), a health services worker (nurse or EMT), and mental health person (at least a master's degree and license to practice independently). Normally you can only practice in the state in which you are licensed, but when the president declares a state of emergency that rule is waived.

2. Assess need--all of our outreach people do this, but when a client comes into the service center I do this as well. We try to have another MH person with me so I can do the managerial stuff, but yesterday everyone was out all day. So I was able to interact with clients. It's a privilege.

3. Assist volunteers and paid staff--it's a stressful job and sometimes people need to go home. We help evaluate volunteers and staff and ensure they are doing okay. When people are due to rotate out we also speak to them to make sure they'll be able to re-integrate into their community. Sometimes we see horrific things and need to be debriefed, just like cops and firefighters.

4. Respond to emergencies--we do "hot shot" calls when we hear of emergent needs. These happen fairly often, and a mental health worker and health services person usually respond together.

5. Compile reports--the Red Cross strives to be a transparent organization, one that has no secrets. After the Gulf storms of 2005, which caught all agencies unaware, the RC has put in many safeguards. So I have to do tons of reporting. Not a bad thing, and certainly important, but I'd rather work with folks.

I do love the job I have though. Other than being tired, I could do this all the time. The people in this area are so grateful and so kind to us.

2/10 Stopped by a cop

I have a 30 mile drive to the service center. Today a cop stopped me. I was nervous, knowing how I usually speed. But luckily he stopped me to tell me my brake light was out. No ticket. Whew. Tonight on the way home from work I stopped at an Auto Zone and said, "I need a hero." This nice guy said he was one. Actually it was cute. He made muscles in his arms and jumped up like a super-hero. Really great guy and I appreciated it so much.

Today was the busiest day ever. But I feel so good. I was able to help so many people affected by the tornadoes and also talked to several staff who were feeling the strain. It was a really good day.

Got home and called Rob, then called Jill. Got to talk to Kayla and Hunter too, so my day is made. But the best news ever is that my roommate moved somewhere else. Although she was nice, I have a room to myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2/9 A good day

Today was my first day at the service center. Lots of nice people doing lots of good work. I know I'll enjoy my time there. The woman I'm replacing took me on a tour of the affected areas. It's funny how different it looks from the aftermath of a hurricane. But thousands of homes were destroyed---yet you can see where the tornado jumped or how it arbitrarily hit one million dollar home and left the neighbor untouched. This time we saw so many wealthy people displaced. The difference is that they have resources and insurance. The trauma remains, and money alone can't fix that.

I did an intervention with a dog today. A guy in a wheelchair was coming out of his house and his dog snuck around him and took off down the street. A big dog. I sweet talked him into coming my way (the dog, not the man). Then I "dog-whispered" him into going back into the house. Felt good.

2/8 A brief respite....

I'm driving from Daytona Beach to Ocala where I'll be staying for a while. I'm now going to be the Disaster Mental Health Supervisor at the service center at Lady Lake, FL. After a while I'll go back to HQ, but for now this adventure will be fine.

So I stopped for lunch at a Barnes and Noble Cafe where I could sign on to the internet. What a major treat!

The Daytona 500 is happening soon the Daytona Beach is becoming a madhouse. Yikes. I'm so glad to be moving to Ocala for a while. This new job will be challenging because I've never done it before, but it really makes me happy to do it. I've learned so much at HQ. It's amazing.

So many people are being helped and so many good things are happening. It's such an honor to be part of it. I'll write more later. But for now, I've got to get going. Love to all.

2/6 Daytona 500

Because of the big race we have to get out of our hotel rooms by Friday. I'm lucky enough to be moving to another hotel today. Otherwise I'd be in a staff shelter. They're not horrible, but a room with only one roommate is a bit better for getting enough sleep.

Gotta run. Work is calling. I love you and hope to write more Wednesday night.

2/4 Tired, but tired

Wait, I meant "tired but happy." Nope, I really meant tired but tired.

I finally got the deployment call yesterday at 3:10 PM. We wanted to leave home by 5 in order to run some errands and get to the aiport between 6:30 and 7, after an hour drive from Sanford.

I'd already cleaned out my "go bag but hadn't really packed anything until I got the official call.
So those two hours were a bit frantic. Rob and Beata were awesome though. Beata packed up a great CARE package for me full of granola bars and candy. Rob helped by looking up some info on the internet for me and some other things.

We had a funny drive to RDU. I kissed R and B goodbye and was gratified to hear how much they'll miss me--and this being after I've been there 2 1/2 months. :) I'll miss them too.

At the airport I remembered to call Jill to let her know about my deployment. She and the kids are visiting her dad and his family near Fresno.

Rob was surprised to find out that, until I landed, I wouldn't know if I was staying in a hotel or a staff shelter, or even if I had to drive to Daytona Beach immediately or wait until the next day. How it works is that as soon as you land you call the DR Info Line and get all the pertinent information. You don't get the info ahead of time because things change fast, and the information might be out of date by the time you land.

When I arrived I was put with some other folks in rental cars. We stayed at a hotel at the Orlando airport last night and drove this morning to Daytona Beach. I can't even begin to describe all the work we did today, but will try to talk more about it tomorrow.

Right now I'm at a Days Inn--connected to an IHOP. Could even heaven be better than this? (No need to answer, it was just a joke.) I am so incredibly tired, and this is only Day 1. Pancakes tomorrow and then back to work. (Today I woke up at 5:45 AM and got to my hotel at 9 PM. But it's all worth it.) Love to all.

2/3 Florida bound...

I'm leaving tonight on a Southwest flight from Raleigh to Orlando. Will have to drive to Daytona Beach where the HQ is. I imagine I'll be working from HQ, but won't know until I get there.

Once I arrive, I need to call the Disaster Info Line to find out where I'll be staying, and where I need to report for duty.

I'm excited, and hope that I'll be able to help. Will try to blog as often as I can. I'm taking my laptop, even though it's at my "own risk."

2/2 The Red Cr oss calls...

Tonight I received a call from the Mental Health folks at the Red Cross DOC (Disaster Operations Center) asking if I was available to go to central Florida to work on the tornado disaster. I told my pal, Peggy, "Oh yeah. I've been hoping you'd call." She was pleasantly surprised and said she's recommending me and it will go to the staffing department tonight.

So it looks like I'll most likely get called tomorrow. If so, I'll be in Florida by tomorrow evening.