Perpetual Motion

Staff Shelter
Baton Rouge, LA

Once again, we've been transferred. The word was passed down from on high: since Hurricane Ike was taking aim at Southern Texas and looked to be leaving Louisiana alone (alliteration, anyone), the LSU Megashelter would not be open for clients. Anybody who still wanted to evacuate would be given a place to stay at smaller shelters nearby, but the facility would be closed and the majority of the staff would either cycle back home at the end of their deployment or travel to Houston, Corpus Christi or Galveston to help with last-minute preparations for Ike. Our team was told at 11 AM that we would be returning to Baton Rouge. We hurried up and packed accordingly...only to sit around for five hours before actually being given the information as to our destination. This in no way surprised me.

So here we are, at a staff shelter in Baton Rouge that was opened at around 8 PM this evening. It has been set up in that kind of professional building that houses various and sundry clinics and doctors' offices. The accommodations here are actually pretty nice; three or four to a room, internet and power, access to a shower trailer. Supposedly our team and the other Denver campus team that we're working with will be running the staff shelter for the duration (which, if you've been reading any of my previous works, could be anywhere from like six hours to next hurricane season, really). Our responsibilities haven't really been outlined (again, not a real big shock) but there's a staff meeting tomorrow morning at nine, so we'll see.

In other news. Due to my assignment on the graveyard shift at the Megashelter (and my subsequent 8 AM - 4 PM sleep cycle) I completely missed the majority of the NFL's Opening Weekend. This pained me greatly. However, I was VERY gratified to see that my Steelers had handled their business against the Houston Texans. Ben Roethlisberger was flawless, Willie Parker scored more touchdowns than he had the entire 2007 season, and the defense stepped up in grand fashion. Brilliant. Well played, boys. Yet another bright spot of the weekend (for me, anyway...my friends from the Boston area were undoubtedly somewhat less thrilled) was seeing Tom Brady go down with a season-ending knee injury eight minutes into the first quarter. Don't get me wrong: I don't like seeing anybody injured. Really though, it couldn't have happened to a nicer team. Say what you will about Randy Moss, Lawrence Maroney and the defense: the Patriots are not going to make the playoffs with Matt Cassel under center. The balance of power in the AFC East has shifted (for this year anyway)...and the beneficiary might very well be the previously-hapless Buffalo Bills (who, as you recall, I had predicted would make the playoffs well before Brady's injury. Mark it well, folks).

Quick thoughts on Opening Weekend
-Kurt Warner is going to be the next Vinny Testaverde, but much better.
-Different jersey, same Favre.
-Michael Turner wasted four years behind L.T.
-God, the Rams are awful.
-If the Bills could stick to special teams all game, they would win it all.
-Tavaris Jackson? Is that REALLY the best the Vikings can do?
-How did the Bengals let Joe Flacco take it 38 yards to the house by himself?
-Peyton, that had better have been a fluke.

So for now I return to the night shift, trying to stay awake and find things to do, and hoping we stay in one place for more than three days this time.