Gustav

I just returned from my Hurricane sponsored vacation to Florida and here are a few thoughts:

1) Contraflow- I have no idea who makes decisions regarding contraflow, but shutting down traffic on I-10 East was a major fuck-up. The storm was tracking west and many reasonable people chose to flee to the East. My co-pilot, Sophie, was able to navigate us onto a Mississippi state highway through Kiln and back to I-10 East, but many people were less fortunate and spent 12 hours or more on I-59. We listened to countless people call into WWL (whose signal almost reaches Tallahassee) to complain about the Mississippi Highway patrol not letting anyone with Louisiana plates off the Interstate.

2) Text Messages- The city of New Orleans text message service is a complete disaster. I signed up for it last year under the promise that it would send me up to date info in case of a "weather event." I got almost 50 text messages telling me about the impending storm. On the day Gustav made landfall, I got two messages every hour telling me that a "hurricane warning was in effect for Orleans Parish." Duh. But I didn't get a single message fron the city telling me the one thing I wanted to know: when can residents come back to New Orleans. Tulane also has a text messaging system which sent me three messages, all containing very useful and relevant info. Kudos Scott Cowen, Booh Ray Nagin.

3) Bobby- Repubs in La talk about Bobby Jindal the same way that Dems across the country talk about Barack Obama- they treat him like the second coming. And I'll give him high marks for his performance during Gustav. I couldn't help but chuckle over the fact that all of the plans for this storm were made in the wake of Katrina, under the watchful eye of KBB. Nevertheless, he executed it well. One of the key improvements is Jindal's ability to communicate. He didn't approach the cameras in a stupor and completely muddle through his multiple press conferences. Despite all of the debate over "executive experience," about half of political leadership is being able to communicate effectively with the public and Bobby has got that down.

4) Crab- If you're ever in Naples, Boca Raton, Dallas, or Houston, I recommend you eat at Trulucks. We had the Butter Poached Norwegian King Crab and it was amazing. It also has a kid's menu that is reasonably priced (unlike the adult menu).

5) It's better to leave late. We left at 4:20 on sunday and encountered very little traffic until we got to the Admiral Benbow Lodge in Chattahoochee, FL. By the way, the Admiral Benbow Lodge accepts pets and a night's stay costs about as much as a tank of gas.

6) Midsummer Mardi Gras has been postponed. However, a die hard group of about 20 folks participated in an unsanctioned parade from the Maple Leaf to Snake and Jake's to Bruno's and back to the Maple Leaf. It was preceded by a BBQ at my house where people brought over their perishables and threw them on the grill as opposed to throwing them out before the storm.

7) Ike- I'm going to keep the windows boarded up until Ike shows his hand. When is Hurricane Tina going to form?

CDR