Ouch.

After ten months of being stuffed into vans, sleeping on rickety, squeaky cots, overworked to the point of exhaustion on a weekly basis, and living in WAY too close quarters with many many people, my body is finally rebelling. That would explain why I have been battling some unknown sickness for the last three weeks or so, and why yesterday my brain inexplicably decided to release my hands' grip on the heavy item I was holding. Gravity then took over, and aforementioned item (a large roll of plastic wrap) scored a direct hit on a single toe on my right foot, causing immense pain and, more than likely, a fracture. Since then, I have been limping around like fucking Igor from the Frankenstein movies (and am constantly fighting the urge to mutter "Yeessss, masssster" in a sibilant voice) and my toe is swollen to twice its normal size and is a pleasant blackish-purple color. I duct-taped the damned thing to the toe next to it (I don't need no stinkin' doctor...) and have a good five or six ibuprofen swimming around in the bloodstream at the moment, which is about all that can be done.

Enough about that shit. TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS OFF are upon me, and I barely know what do with myself. Seriously, it's weird...with the exception of our couple days of waiting in Austin, this is the first real two-day break we've had since we flew down in September. Eight days left before we drive back to Denver, then two weeks there and I am done with Americorps...back to the 'Burgh and Christ-knows-what-else. I found out that I've logged over 1800 hours of service since February (and then made the BIG mistake of multiplying that by the federal minimum wage to see how much I SHOULD have made. Note to my fellow Corps members: DO NOT DO THIS. It's depressing.), far more than the 1780 needed for graduation. Good news.

Sports (especially NFL) fans:
Go to ESPN.com and check out Gregg Easterbrook's blog, Tuesday Morning Quarterback. It's the best football-centric blog I've run across thus far. I recommend highly.

I need an air card or something; in the ten-odd minutes I've gone back and forth between this blog and several other websites, the local wireless network has crapped out five times. Lousy FEMA-contracted company...

Update! I mentioned in my earlier post Final Approach that the neighborhood of Sabine Pass, where we worked this spring and summer, would take a 25' storm surge from Hurricane Ike. A week or two ago, I had the opportunity to head down there on a day off and take a look. The bad news was that the town had been hit HARD. Ever see those pictures of a town in the Midwest that had been rocked by a tornado? It was a lot like that...empty foundations, lots of debris laying around, houses bent and cracked by the rush of water. Dry mud was caked all over the ground, and the giant tree that we sat under to eat lunch was ripped out of the ground. Even the streets were littered with various pieces of housing, lawn implements, and vehicles that had fallen victim to the storm. The good news was that the house we worked on was UNTOUCHED, as were the several other Habitat for Humanity-built houses in Sabine. We were fortunate enough to talk to the homeowner that afternoon; she said that the water made it up to the deck (which, if you remember, was raised by pilings 14-odd feet off the ground) but that the house itself was not touched by the water. In fact, she had moved all of her belongings into the house from her trailer (which was subsequently washed away; she never found it) before evacuating. See, we build 'em fucking RIGHT. Suck it, hurricane...you ain't NEVER gonna tear that house down. THAT one I'm proud of.