I don’t know the status of my apartment or anyone else’s homes. All I know is that I’m in Milwaukee now and I probably won’t be returning to New Orleans for A MONTH.

Just stop and imagine not being able to return to where you live for a month.

I am lucky and well-off. I will even be able to work from here for the next few weeks, but not everyone is as fortunate. Everything is just so scary because I really don’t have a home. I don’t have any of my stuff. I haven’t talked to my parents in about 48 hours (although we think that they are okay). I’m just really shocked and scared. I don’t have words to describe my feelings.

We are now safe in Milwaukee. I hope that the storm isn’t too bad and that everyone stays safe. This storm is beginning to look really scary.

On a temporary bright note, Northwest Airlines had perhaps the best flights that I’ve been on in the last year. I am hoping that the ‘regular’ mechanics are never brought back on the job. Obviously they are not a terribly important part of the operation. I know that it is not necessarily a cause/effect relationship, but my first flight was early and my second flight was only about 15 minutes late. That is MUCH better than the last 10 or so nwa flights that I have taken. Having the greedy union mechanics off of the job makes me want to like northwest again.

Hurricane Katrina is really threatening the Crescent City. I’d say ‘stay tuned’ to my blog for more information, but let’s be honest. You’ll most likely get another post in a month.

Anyway, Meg and I could go to Milwaukee tomorrow for an extended weekend away from the high winds for really cheap right now. The problem is that Meg doesn’t know if she can be away early next week until the hurricane gets closer. By then, our window of opportunity will probably be gone. Oh well.

I don’t really mind riding it out if it comes to that. I know that I will be fine in even a bad hurricane because I am lucky to have lots of options. The fact is that this hurricane could be really bad for lots of people in the city.

I just don’t want Meg to get too nervous about it. We’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed . For all y’all who are really safe, have a great weekend!

Meg and I went to Dante’s Kitchen to celebrate her first day of school. It’s a small little restaurant in our neighborhood with great creole ‘comfort food.’ Everything was great.

Meg was talking about how Harry Potter was somehow mentioned in one of her classes today, and one of the kids made a remark about who died in the book (I’m not about to spoil the ending for you, so don’t worry). She was so mad that the kid ruined it for everyone in the class, as no one had read it. We talked a little about how this is the first book that had one climatic event which actually could ruin the plot for someone else. I’m not sure if I believe that after thinking about it… the book was pretty darn good all-around.

So, as we wrap up this discussion that somewhat centered around a child ruining the book, the gentleman who was sitting at the table next to us pays his bill and gets up to leave. Meg catches a glimpse of his Harry Potter book as he scurries out of the restaurant.