Newohlins

That is kind of how I saw it after being down here a few days.

This is going to be short, with bullet points, which will be extended once I have had a decent night's rest and haven't worked hard all day.

-The gym is beautiful.
-Arabi Food Store has great food.
-Someone needs to start calling on their congresspeople. No, everyone does. New Orleans and its surrounding parishes need help.
-Charissa and I are writing to big businesses and asking them why they can fix the backwards Taco Bell on Dodge Street but not the one in St. Bernard Parish.
-All you need is love. And with that will come Faith and Hope. (I Corinthians 13:13)

Peace,
Megan

the roof was nearly on fire.

Our house caught fire today. Not our side of the duplex, but all the same, it is one house. Apparently, a cigarette was put out on a stump generally used as a stand, where it smoldered for an hour or so and finally got hot enough to catch the couch next to it on fire. This fire burned for awhile, melting the siding of the house. Luckily for me, two guys from up Webster about 4 houses saw the fire, and ran over to put it out. They grabbed the garden hose and started dousing everything. Got the couch and the log off the porch and sprayed water on everything for about half an hour. I was in the living room the whole time, completely oblivious to what was happening on my front porch. The fire department came and checked everything out, and the guys did the right thing. They were quick to respond and I owe them my life. TJ and Justin - you guys are amazing. Thank you so much for saving my life and our house.

Other than the few bad things that have plagued us, the house is amazing. I will photograph it once things are put away. It has high ceilings, tons of wood molding, wood floors...I love it. I got my room put together, for the most part, and things are slowly moving toward normalcy.

New Orleans in 2 days. I cannot wait to return to the city I love. I have missed her so. Have some photography plans for while I'm there, and looking forward to exploring possibilities with my new camera. Going to have to read the owner's manual on the way down I'm afraid.
But that's okay. Hopefully it will result in some amazing views of the French Quarter, Ninth Ward, Slidell, etc. Yeah buddy.

That is all for now I suppose. It is late and I've been up since 7. Good night.

absence

I thought I was going to start this blog. I got busier than I could have ever imagined over the last semester of college. Things have changed. I've learned a lot. And yet, here I am. This post will be short.

I am addicted to New Orleans.

Currently, I am reading "The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast" by Douglas Brinkley. It is a history of the week following the Hurricane, and it has been a great read. I have learned a lot about the events leading up and following the hurricane in the city as well as all along the gulf coast.

I am done running for a while. I hurt my knee and have had to take time off. But this weekend I will be getting a bike and biking everywhere.

Saturday we move to Dundee. I'm very excited.

Thursday of next week, we head back to New Orleans. Caitlin has been lucky enough to receive the funding to stay down there for a month, volunteering with Operation Blessing. Without PT School, I'm pretty sure I'd be looking to do the same. Perhaps for longer. The first trip we took, I looked into doing AmeriCorps, but with school and the time frame I'm on, it wasn't possible. In any case, New Orleans is my second home and I will take care of it best I can. I am hoping to get a rotation down there, perhaps at LSU Med School or at a PT clinic in the city (if there are any). Very cool.

So for now, that is all. Pretty much everything I wrote in my last entry has changed. Alas, life goes on. Do what you want and love what you do.

first blogger post

I wanted to step away from my LJ, wanted to have a blog for me, and if someone reads it, sweet. If not, its all right.

I have many goals right now. I am going to re-read the bible, alongside this blog on Slate. I was perusing Slate and came across it one day and decided to start reading it, again. I think this will be an interesting step in my faith. I have pretty strong convictions, I like to think that my faith is strong, but I also think it is important to continue to explore. And so there I am. I will probably use this blog to post my reflections.

Another goal of mine is this marathon. I have wanted to run in this marathon for a few years now, and have finally gotten up the nerve to train and prepare. I ran in a half marathon in September, and it went well. I think I can finish an entire 26.2 miles. I have two tentative training partners (I like to think of them as "partners in crime") in Brandon, who wants to run the marathon with me, and John, who wants to train for a half marathon (perhaps the one I ran). Having a running partner is exciting for me. I usually run alone and it will be fun to share some of the same experiences with someone else. So here we go boys. See you at Zorinski.

Another of my goals is to be more involved. I took a big step this past fall by integrating myself into the UNO College Democrats. I have become a pretty active member, helped out with the biggest and best GOTV effort in Omaha (and probably Nebraska), volunteered for a number of Democratic campaigns, and became more involved in politics than I have ever been before. I have always been a "non-meeting" member of the UNO College Dems, but I am having more fun as an active member. I won't be running for any offices any time soon, but I will be helping head a campaign to inform women of the HPV vaccine and helping with Yellow Dog University, to be held March 31, 2007.

For now, that is all. I will continue this as I continue walking (or sprinting) through this thing called life.

Peace