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The Lessons of Katrina: Conserve! And Keep Marshmallows On-Hand

I received my PG&E bill the other day and my mouth dropped--it was double what it was last month. What did we do this month that was so different? It's not any colder outside. I don't recall anyone leaving on any lights...

I checked our rates. Electricity is still fairly cheap, but gas has skyrocketed! To that point, I can't fill up the lil Ol' Jetta for less than $40. You'd think I drove a Lexus or something.

Needless to say (and before our Dear President, in such quick response to the effects of Katrina, suggested it today), we've been strategizing ways of scaling back on gas. B-friend, who insists on feeding his WRX with premium fuel, has been riding his bike everywhere. And if he really needs a car, he suggests I drive. What a citizen.

The Question Posed by Katrina: Hang on or Let Go?

I received a moving note from Christien yesterday--a reader that I never knew was based in the South. Never thought to ask, as typically I'm more interested in psychographics than geographics when it comes to my blog buddies. He wrote, regarding my dinky little post on Hurricane Katrina:

"jory

you helped. i was reading your blog while stuck in tx during the few days after the storm. no one would turn off the horrible national news coverage. i'd escape to a room and read some blogs. ... i'm trying to keep up with my own accounts of what my fam is going through on my blog. it's nuts. kind of like there is no word stronger than love but you search for one. this is the same thing on the oppostie end of the spectrum..."

Help the Victims of Hurricane Katrina

I'm not much of a praying type, but I found myself praying as best I knew how--more like meditating on the vision of a city submerged in water, imagining people getting plucked out of the depths and brought out into the light. Times like these I feel downright helpless and, frankly guilty.

I don't have family in that part of the country, but I spent the morning reading reports in the Times about how horrible the whole situation is, from the overall devastation to the atrocities faced by the displaced folks living in the Superdome.

I like Jill Fallon's post on ThirdAge on how you can help from your dry little corner of the earth.

Katrina Hurricane Katrina

In Defense of HIStory and BlogHERcon

Back to my Monday blog topic before I was so rudely interrupted by my PC.

I'm amused by all of the brouhaha between the guys and the girls. This issue has heated up in both the print and online realms, with discussion over the alleged blogger gender divide and lack of female political commentary in major metropolitan newspapers.

I'm split over this debate, the woman in me fearing the evolution of one of women's only free playgrounds into a Boys Club, the realist in me knowing that, ultimately, people gravitate toward GOOD CONTENT, regardless of who wrote it.

Bushwhacked! Part II

Surely there are other places to go for political commentary. All I can say is I've felt an unquestionable sorrow this week, even in light of the birthday celebration of my Dear Friend (and Old Boss) Donald Van de Mark.

Donald was a CNN and CNBC news reporter for many years before settling in the Bay Area to pursue the next, more reflective and partisan phase of his life.

A Libertarian who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 (and who never mentioned it then!), he has a new perspective on Dubya and his conservative regime that he expressed recently. I thought it was well-put and stood out from the usual Bay Area Republican-hating rants:

Bushwhacked!