Priorities

I've just made a donation to the American Red Cross instead of registering for CBE II. There are better places for that money than my ass.

Blaming the victims

I continue to see opinions that blame people for not evacuating New Orleans when the order was given. Without a car, I know that I'd have a hard time evacuating Baltimore if a disaster were bearing down on us. I can hope that I'd be able to evacuate with friends or that some government agency would provide evacuation assistance.

I'm sure there were folks who could have evacuated and didn't because of overconfidence or perhaps they wanted a thrill, but there were thousands of people who didn't have the means to evacuate or any other place to go.

I should make contingency plans with my friends for evacuation and consider what I could take with me quickly.

Change of plans

Just last night I was intending to go to CBE II, so I called the coordinator, Chuck, and left a message for him to call me back so I could register. Of course, this morning, I donated enough to Red Cross that I didn't have enough to cover the registration.

Chuck returned my call just now and I apologized to him, explaining the situation. He offered me a $100 scholarship, which doesn't cover my donation, but it will make it possible to comfortably afford registration now. I can repay the money later, but Chuck says that's not necessary.

On another note, I wish Google Earth was available for the Mac. CNN is putting it through its paces right now. Very nifty.