Copenhagen pictures

I've finally got my Copenhagen pictures up:
Copenhagen 1
Copenhagen 2

Norway to come.

emeril's

I have, in the past, maligned Emeril Lagasse for his cooking show. I find his act tiresome, at times bordering on insane, and pandering as well. That said, the meal I just had a Emeril's NOLA ranks among the best I've ever had. Four courses, including a grouper with caviar creme fraiche, spinach, yukon gold potato and a champaign beurre blanc was epic. He may act like a hack, but the man clearly knows how to run a restaurant.

Related to this, every time I come back to New Orleans, I like it more and more. I understand more fully why people describe this as a unique city, as it is one for which I can think of no apt comparison. A shame that I never had the joy of coming here before the devastation.

keep it clean

Let's try and keep the comments clean folks. While I don't claim this to be a family blog, gratuatous profanity isn't fucking necessary. Also, let's not encourage the trolls.

some thoughts on NOLA

The President visited New Orleans again this week, his first trip since standing in Jackson Square promising to rebuild. This week, he highlighted tax credit legislation to encourage the private sector to rebuild, and modest levee funding. While this will help a little, it continues to ignore the magnitude of the disaster. The solutions put forward are larger versions of typical economic development strategies. They rely on small amounts of public dollars to leverage large private sector investment and additional tax credits to sustain growth. This strategy can work in areas suffering from economic disasters like the shuttering of a large employer. But the complexity of the challenges facing New Orleans faces challenges demand innovative ideas, not retreads of existing strategies.

Plans to reconstruct the city acknowledge that some areas of the city will be lost, and many residents will not return. At this point, that is likely true. But why?

After the water receeded and the magnitude of the damage to New Orleans was clear to officials, estimates of the recovery cost approached $200 billion. To date, Congress has appropriated $85 billion. The failure of the President to lead Congress to rapidly commit large sums of money both for levee repair and reconstruction has undermined the confidence of New Orleans' former residents. This has exacerbated problems from Katrina, created new ones, and undermined the effectiveness of the solutions put forward by the President.

Last weekend I went out with some friends in the Garden District. Many businesses there have reopened. But shuttered businesses remain so because they lack for workers. Workers can't return because they have nowhere to live, and the city can't provide essential services like schools. With its tax base destroyed, New Orleans needed a major commitment of federal funds to reopen its schools and rebuilt critical infrastructure. Instead, it's received loans and vaguely worded promises about rebuilding. So the city has been slow to rebuild. And every day more families decide never to return.

While it's not too late to improve upon this outcome, I've seen nothing to indicate a comprehensive effort from the federal government. Instead the reconstruction effort will proceed at the minimum politically acceptable level. And with most Americans unaware and focusing on the next made up controversy, like whether an Oprah-endorsed book was true, the Crescent City will not rise again.

a sad day

I'll get to the pictures soon, I'm still getting settled in Baton Rouge again, but I did want to note some sad news in today's Post:
Marion Barry tested positive for cocaine use.

It is possible Barry will go to jail for this violation of his probation agreement, greatly diminishing the likelihood he will return to the mayor's office for a fifth term.

the end of the vacation

To return to work today, yesterday I traveled from BGO -> CPH -> IAD -> ATL -> BTR.

• 13 hours on airplanes
  
• 8 hours in airports
  
• 7 time zones crossed
  
• 5,471 miles flown

Photos and more assorted nonsense when I get back from New Orleans tomorrow.

warning, adult content

Back in Copenhagen, I visited the Erotic Museum. I was disappointed, rather than examining our changing mores about sex, or the evolution of pornography, it presented a bunch of pornography, with occasional exhibits discussing prostitution in Copenhagen. Not much point to the whole thing, though as my mother pointed out, not much point to sex either. Some of the displays were amusing, though.



Note the available sizes, as well as the man on the left.

sweden

Weather today in Sweden was pretty bad, so we spent the afternoon driving around the coast, looking at all the pretty houses. Last night, we had a lovely meal, followed by fireworks at the New Year. They take New Year fireworks pretty seriously here, including some of professional quality being shot from backyards.

Last night we also had an extensive discussion of the welfare state in Sweden. Parents are provided with approximately $150 per month for each child in the house. Until the child turns 18. That's $32,400 per child. From the government. On top of that, the mother gets 18 months of paid maternity leave, which she can spread out over a longer period of time by working part time.

Plus they all have health insurance. Sure, their taxes are high, but it's still a really sweet deal. Nice country, overall.

p is for...

In Copenhagen, P is for Porno. There's a half-assed red light district here, about three blocks of sex shops, strip clubs, and adult video stores. Nothing particularly noteworthy, though I did find this sign amusing. Perhaps the owners felt the need to distinguish so people wouldn't mistake the shop for a parking lot. Such confusion could be calamitous.

live from copenhagen

I just arrived in Copenhagen after a flight filled with crying children and poor in-flight movie options (I don't care how bored I might be, I'm not watching The Dukes of Hazzard). The kind folks at Scandic Copenhagen already had my room ready, so here I am blogging just moments after arriving in town. Time for breakfast and a day of meandering the streets.

top tickets of 2005

Continuing the lists, these are the top events I attended this year:

• Washington Nationals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks - April 14, RFK Stadium:
  The Washington Nationals home opener - the President threw out the first pitch, the home team won, and baseball is back in DC.
  
• The Decemberists - May 6, 9:30 Club:
  Kassie came to visit me for a long weekend and we went to this show. It was good.
  
• Kaiser Chiefs - July 22 - 9:30 Club:
  Best show by a band with which I was not very familiar.
  
• Portland Beavers vs. Las Vegas 51s - August 27, PGE Park, Portland:
  While visiting Kelly and Scot, we went to this minor league baseball game. The final score was 11-9, with all kinds of offense, and Kelly, Scot and I had a great time.
  
• Sigur Ros - September 11, Strathmore Music Center:
  The Strathmore is a beautiful venue, as was Sigur Ros' performance.
  
• The New Pornographers - October 15, 9:30 Club:
  The best concert I saw this year.

Off to Copenhagen...

end of year lists

I'm back in DC for a few days before I go to Europe for ten days. Copenhagen, Sweeden, and Norway await after Christmas. Because it's easy, I've got a few year-end 'best of' lists. The first:
Best albums of 2005

1. The New Pornographers : Twin Cinema


2. Sigur Ros : Takk


3. Stars : Set Yourself on Fire


4. Four Tet : Everything Ecstatic
   
5. Bright Eyes : Digital Ash in a Digital Urn

Last week I had an opportunity to take a bus tour of damaged areas in New Orleans, including the Lower 9th Ward, where the damage was the worst. For months, people have been using phrases like "a war zone," or "as though a bomb went off." Having never been in a war zone, or witness the aftermath of a bomb, I'll refrain from such descriptions and let these few pictures speak for themselves.



I have more than 20 photos just like this one, basically the entire neighborhood was razed by the burst of water from the levee break. Complete devastation.





Note in this photo, the surge of water strong enough to lift the building from its foundation.

fear the rain

A Great thunderstorm rolled through Baton Rouge tonight. As the rain started falling, I began to worry for New Orleans. Few people realize it, but the city will flood again under a major rain event. I don't think tonight's showers will do it, but Katrina destroyed so much of the basic infrastructure keeping the city above water that relatively minor storms will cause significant problems.

New Orleans has a pumping system to drain water when it rains. This system was damaged during Katrina and remains compromised. Efforts are continuing to restore those systems to their pre-Katrina capacity, but this will not be done for months. Until then, the city holds its breath every time it rains.

where do you start?

A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Plaquemines Parish in southern Louisiana to view the effects of Katrina. There is nothing left. 99 percent of the buildings I saw was either destroyed completely, or damaged beyond repair. Literally 99 percent. The number is actually probably higher than that, as I wasn't able to count all the buildings that have disappeared.

As we drove through the devastation, one of my colleagues kept asking the question, "where do you start?" Though he was speaking specifically about the cleanup process, the question holds true in the broader sense as well. So complete is the destruction, with debris littering the landscape that the recovery process will take years.

It isn't really possible to convey the scope of the disaster, its magnitude. These four pictures are not aberrations, but the norm. I have dozens just like them, and could have had hundreds more, but at some point, I stopped shooting. I had become inured to the damage, and it is now impossible to conceive of what the vibrant communities must have looked like just three months ago.

Thanksgiving Eve

Over the past month, the day before a staffer leaves for a rotation home, or to return home for good, I observe behavior bordering on giddiness. Today at the Joint Field Office a muted version of this permeated the building. Though many of us are only getting a day off (Thanksgiving), and the rest of us three or four, it was obvious how jubilant everyone was at the opportunity to spend a little time with families heretofore ignored, and to relax.

The 'work hard/play hard' mentality dominates here, though unlike at The Daily, the hours are so long play is put off for weeks or months. While I have been working here for only a month, and have not experienced many high stress moments myself, the quarters in which we work are so close that we are all affected by the moods of each other. The mood was lighter, people cheerier, and the day progressed if not faster, then more enjoyably.

Today I also realized how close we have become. Obviously spending eleven hours a day, six days a week with the same people builds bonds, but as people headed home today, the goodbyes were surprisingly meaningful. This despite the fact that we will all reunite in just a few days. I attribute these ties to our shared experiences. Not only are we all working together on these disasters, but many of us are far from home, friends and family. Many the local hires have been severely impacted by the hurricanes themselves, homes destroyed, family scattered.

With all the criticism FEMA continues to face (which we watch daily on CNN), we are also bonded by an 'us against the world' attitude. The more criticism we face, the more we stand with one another, growing closer.

new server

I've got a new server. The blog may be a bit off for the next few days, and some of the archives may be screwed up because of the different directory hierarchy, but long-term, this should be an improvement. Hopefully this will also resolve the myriad problems I've been having with my e-mail.

and then don king arrived

Myriad political leaders have been through the Baton Rouge Joint Field Office, from the President to Jesse Jackson. Today, who should show up? Don King.

Yes, Don King, the boxing promoter, one-time manager of Mike Tyson, and one of those people who is famous more because he's good at being famous than anything else. I'm not sure why he was there, but it certainly had the JFO buzzing. Best comment of the day:

I thought he was still in jail.

good times

Overheard tonight:

I keep losing my beer. I must have left it in the car again.

Louisiana anyone?

slow and steady

Now three full weeks into my work for FEMA, the biggest obstacle to a speedy recovery is one for which I cannot conceive of an answer. The task is so complex, and involves so many disparate parties. There are a multitude of federal agencies working on this disaster. Add to that a number of state agencies, as well as parish leadership, city governance, and nonprofit volunteer agencies. Getting these organizations to move in unison simply can not be done swiftly.

This 'problem' is not a failure of leadership, but instead a fundamental component of a democracy. Unfortunately, democracies, particularly ones with decentralized power, are incapable of making big decisions rapidly. Contrast this with China, as Tom Friedman does in his column in today's New York Times:

Leaders can, and do, just order that problems be solved. For instance, Shanghai's deputy mayor told me that as his city became more polluted, the government simply moved thousands of small manufacturers out of Shanghai to clean up the air.

This entire experience gives me a glimmer of understanding at how difficult the task of coordinating our intelligence agencies must be. At least with this task, to recover and rebuilt from devastating hurricanes, all the players are in general agreement about the goals and methods by which to attain them. And still progress is made slowly. At least, though, it is being made.

The best indicator I have of how conditions have improved in the Louisiana is the state of traffic in Baton Rouge. The city's population doubled to 400,000 when Katrina hit. Many of those people still have not left, because they have nowhere to return. As FEMA and other agencies have gotten trailers and other semi-permanent housing set up in New Orleans and elsewhere, Baton Rouge evacuees are slowly draining out of the city, and each day traffic flows a bit smoother.

election day

Tomorrow is election day. Certainly not as exciting as last year (though regardless of the outcomes in Virginia, Ohio and California, it won't be as disappointing), every election day is worth noting. The race for to be the next governor of Virginia is coming down to the wire, with Republican Jerry Kilgore's campaign pulling out all the dirty tricks.

If I were still in Washington, I'd probably be more juiced up about this, and I'd likely be volunteering tomorrow. It is refreshing not to care so much, though. Because while I believe Jerry Kilgore would be a disastrous governor for Virginia, and Tim Kaine a good one, the world will keep spinning regardless of the outcome. And I've grown so weary of relying on elections to vindicate my own political worldview, (especially considering the election results since I have been of voting age) that it's nice to sit this one out.

y'all ain't so bad

Two weeks in Baton Rouge, and I have already begun adopt speech patterns of the southerners. Most notably, I've embraced the wonderful pronoun that is y'all. Though generally plural, it can be used in the singular, it is easily possessive (y'all's), and is non-gender specific. It can also be converted a verb as in y'aller. (usage: Y'aller going to the store? Y’all’s beer is gone, get some more.)

That said, it has been described to me that South Louisiana is not the south, not in the Deliverance sense, anyway. There isn't very much overt racism (though I did hear someone use the term "Chinaman" for the first time in years), and the vast majority of people have all their teeth.

The state can be split in half, the northern half dominated by the Baptists, the southern by Catholics. There is a strong French influence, not only in New Orleans, but in Baton Rouge as well. There is a sizeable gay community here, something met with indifference by most people in the state. Certainly not what I would have expected. If I’d been sent to Mississippi, I suspect my experiences would be very different.

new orleans photos

These are just a tiny sampling of the damage. Each of these pictures are typical, not abberations for the area in which they were taken.

This is among the best examples of wind damage I saw. Billboards more than 20 feet in the air were also ravaged. It was rare to see tall signs that survived the storm, and and most skyscrapers in New Orleans lost at least 10% of their windows. Smaller storefront signs also littered the ground in some areas.

This grafiti (Nagin for Prez!) was written on a refridgerator in the French Quarter. I'm not sure whether it was intended to be ironic or not.

This was shot across Lake Pontchartain from New Orleans, in Mandeville. Every house on the block looked more or less like this, with a dumpster and a trashed roof.

Piles of trash like this one lined the street, probably every 30 feet or so in residential areas. It made driving very difficult, and I was constantly worried about getting a flat tire.

Much was made of the loss of pets during this disaster. Fortunately for this family, they seem to have been reunited with their dog.

"Levee Board Vicitm" was probably the most common 'blame game' grafiti I saw. Discarded refrigerators were in front of most housing in Mid-City.

This business owner seems to have spoken too soon when they said they would be open. With the power still out, no businesses were open in Mid-City.

This was about the most hopeful thing I saw, a Mid-City church open for business. It is also evident how high the water rose from the lines along the side of the building.

Finally, signs offering cleanup services were everywhere. I suspect this industry is the largest employer in New Orleans (and perhaps all of Louisiana) at this point.

sadness in New Orleans

The destruction is widespread and devastating.

Approaching New Orleans, most roofs are covered with blue tarps. FEMA has been deploying these blue tarps all over the gulf to make homes inhabitable during the repair process. From a distance, it appears that a bizarre designer built a blue roofed city. Closer, it becomes evident that tens of thousands of homes were damaged by Katrina’s winds.

The French Quarter is not in bad shape, though having never been there, I lack a frame of reference. About one-third of businesses were still shuttered, primarily retail stores and galleries. Most restaurants and bars have reopened. Most of the damage in the area resulted from wind — broken windows, fallen signs — rather than flooding.

While businesses are cleaning up and reopening in the French Quarter, the people have not yet returned. About half the people I saw on the streets were construction or cleanup workers. Overall, the Quarter was subdued, not the bastion of revelry and debauchery for which it is known. Most tourists seemed to be sightseeing, not exposing themselves and pounding drinks in oddly shaped vessels. When all the hotels and casinos have reopened, perhaps this will change.

Mid-City, which flooded and is remains without electricity, smells strongly of sewage. The streets are nearly deserted, and dump trucks outnumber cars. The streets are lined with trash, piles of wood, ruined refrigerators and flooded cars. Simply moving or destroying all this refuse will take months, if not years. And until this happens, the rebuilding process can not really begin. I was there during the day, but I would imagine this area to be very dangerous at night.

In this area, most of the buildings have several water stain lines, some as high as six feet showing how high the water had risen. Looking at these lines, it was easy to envision the entire neighborhood filled with water. I wonder how many of the buildings have been damaged beyond repair from the flooding, and will have to be destroyed. Of course, this will only add to the amount of debris.

It has been two months since Katrina ravaged roofs and flooded the city. Much has been done, by FEMA and others, but the recovery seems to have barely begun. Rebuilding the Crescent City will require leadership that has heretofore not been demonstrated on any level. On its current course, I believe the reconstruction will restore the tourism industry, but that much of the rest of the city will be lost.

Pictures to follow…

heading to NOLA

Only working a half-day today, I'm going to drive to New Orleans today after work to look at the damage. Pictures forthcoming.

the office

You can't really tell how big the JFO here in Baton Rouge is from this picture, particularly given that it extends a good deal further in both directions than is visible. And everyone here with whom I have spoken mentions their surprise at just how big this place is.

In unrelated information, this is my first visit to the South (excluding Florida and the North Carolina beaches). How did I know I was in the South? I can see the Walmart from my hotel room.

first week in Baton Rouge

I've been working in the FEMA Joint Field Office in Baton Rouge for three days now, and loving it. There are more than 2,600 people working in this two building complex that was once a department store. Apparently my “desk” is in housewares.

Just walking through the doors gives a sense of the scope of the response and recovery operation. There was a wide area impacted by the hurricanes, and so many people in need of assistance.

Thus far, the work has been constant, and generally worthwhile. I think I'll be able to get into the field soon for a ride along with the debris removal teams. That's just one of the many facets of this operation that I hadn't considered: What to do with all the trash created by these storms. Collecting, sorting, and destroying millions of tons of waste in an environmentally sound way is an enormous challenge. And it's only one element of the overall operation.

A fair number of the workers here are local hires, native Louisiana chipping in. What is compelling about their efforts is that many of them are victims as well. A woman on my team just said, "since my town was destroyed..." Dozens of small communities have been wiped off the map. As the debate rages here on the rebuilding of New Orleans, I wonder about the fate of these smaller communities, particularly since many evacuees have not yet returned to inspect the destruction.

I'm having some technical issues preventing me from putting up photos, but hopefully that'll be resolved soon.

going to the gulf

I just received my deployment assignment from FEMA. I will be heading to Baton Rouge, LA early next week. Sweet.

i'm off

After a weekend of concerts and other social outings, I'm packing up and about to head to FEMA training. I'll be spending the rest of my week in Emmitsburg, MD, in preparation for a deployment to the gulf early next week. When I return, I hope to have more information about where and what I'll be doing.

If you're still bored at work, check out this NYT Magazine article: Life Hacks. It discusses the study of human interaction with computers, and how to more effectively design computers to maximize our productivity. It describes the conflict inherent in multi-tasking, that we are able to do more things simultaneously, but distractions are also interrupting us like crazy.

Researchers find that 40 percent of the time, workers wander off in a new direction when an interruption ends, distracted by the technological equivalent of shiny objects.

To prove this point, I've been working on this blog post for several hours.

The Frames

Last night I went to see The Frames at the State Theater in Falls Church. They were very good, though the lead singer was a bit bizarre, and seemed to enjoy crowd participation a bit too much. There were also some technical issues, but nothign too drastic. If they are coming to a town near you, check them, out, they won't be back in the U.S. for another year, so now's the time.

I shot a wicked cool video with my new camera, but it's a really big file, so none for you. Instead, here's a picture I took, that looks like pretty much every picture ever taken at any concert.

Tonight, The New Pornographers.

Kaz Sushi Bistro

As mentioned, here are the pictures from dinner at Kaz Sushi Bistro. Not photographed is the first course, a monkfish pate. It was very good.





 Yum.

what's new

At the end of this week, I will be leaving Senator Baucus' office. Next week I begin training with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The following week, I will be headed down to the Gulf Coast to work for FEMA, in some type of public information capacity.

I have very few details about my new job, I don't know where I'll be going, or for how long I'll be there.

In personal consumption-related news, I just bought a new digital camera. I also just had dinner at Kaz Sushi Bistro. Pictures will be forthcoming.

i'm back

And about time. Updates are forthcoming, but the blog is back up.

attention reader(s)

I have to take chabel.net down for a while. We'll be back at some point. In the interim, find something else to do at work.

by this logic

Today the Supreme Court ruled that the movie and music industries can sue makers of file sharing software because of the "staggering" volume of piracy for which the software is used. My question:

Can the same legal reasoning be applied to gun manufacturers? Surely the staggering number gun deaths in this country is a far greater scourge than college students getting their listen on.

quid pro quo

First, he changes White House climate reports weakening the link between emissions and global warming. Philip Cooney edited these reports after they been approved by senior officials. Once this went public, Cooney resigned.

Now he's been given a sweet job with ExxonMobile. On the plus side, at least I'm not longer paying his salary to destroy the environment anymore.

Also, congratulations to Andy. We all knew you could do it.

light rail = good

This is the one picture I took in Minneapolis. I took it right before I got on the train to the airport. I had a great time, and I got to spend lots of time with lots of good people. Now? Back to the condo hunt, I suppose.

i'm back

Minneapolis was fantastic. My friends rock. Beer is good. I have a picture I'll post later.

While I was staying with her, Kassie showed me AudioScrobbler. It's awesome. If you listen to a lot of music on your computer, get it. Hooray for technology.

vacation

Now two full days into my vacation, I must say, Minneapolis rocks. It has culture, sweet parks, and, of course, Quang, the best, cheapest Vietnamese restaurant in the world. Or at least the best to which I've ever been.

I love not working. I hope Kassie won the Powerball tonight.

packing list

• 5 t-shirts
  
• 3 button down shirts
  
• fleece
  
• 3 pair pants
  
• 5 pair socks
  
• 6 pair boxers
  
• iPod
  
• adidas
  
• phone charger
  
• The Dark Tower
  
• sunglasses
  
• digital camera
  
• toothbrush
  
• razor