A "Back to Normal" Sunday

I have to say that the third year anniversary of Katrina involved a very stressful week. With Therese and the kids evacuating, getting ready for Gustav, riding it out, and then getting things back in order for school tomorrow, all of that has been taxing. We recently got our electricity restored, and we also have internet access. Those are very good things, especially now that I can work and think in an air conditioned environment. We'll be living out of boxes for some time I imagine, and that is fine. We cleaned up and painted our old 2 bedroom apartment on Hennessey, and now we're looking for some tenants. Things have also been very stressful with getting ready for the upcoming annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research, as a key component of the organizational team recently resigned. Friday I also got some phone calls from contractors and lumber yards who say they are going to put a lien on our house because our contractor bought things on credit and now our contractor claims he is broke. So it seems our contractor owes various entities about $13,000, and we have about $18,000 in retainage to motivate him to finish the job. The big question is will he finish it for the remaining $5,000 or just walk away. So we spent Friday and Saturday doing our own contractor work to make the house more livable, including cleaning up the construction debris in the yard, painting the closets, fixing the hot water heater, and caulking the bathrooms. Today I'm going with Howie to the Superdome to see the Saints play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then tomorrow I'll have much catching up to do with regards to work and professional obligations.

And I know all about Hurricane Ike soon to enter the gulf.