Hurricane Katrina

Headlines for today:
CNN: 54 DEAD IN MISSISSIPPI, Biloxi mayor: 'This is our tsunami'


WDSU.COM: More Than 80 Dead In Mississippi; 200 Stranded In New Orleans
New Orleans Injuries, Deaths Still Unclear; Katrina Leaves Catastrophe In Wake

MSNBC: New flooding and reports of higher death toll

Justin's view

Justin now has a cool Japanese cell phone that can send/recieve emails and apparently pictures :) He sent me this shot of what he ses, "out my back window." Thought you might like to see too.

Something for hump day

I have this strange love-hate relationship with waterfowl. On one hand I really love to watch them and listen to all their wacky noises. On the other, they scare me to death! Those little beady eyes are up to no good! I've tried to make my peace with the duck world, but after attempting to feed some pretty Asheville ducks one spring, I was MOBED by more than I could count, cornered with my box of stale cheerios and laughed at by a fisherman who warned me the ducks & geese could get rather "friendly."

I share this strange love/fear thing with my good friend Becky who also had a run-in with the ducks & geese of Asheville. Although she was brave enough to take a little snooze in the presence of a million waterfowl and wake up to being TOTALLY surrounded! So this picture goes out to you girl! But in the spirit of 'hump day' here's a funny picture that just makes me want to quack up in laughter! Enjoy! (this is not my picture, I would NEVER get that close!)

Birthday Boy

Paul is now another year closer to 30... so we celebrated with a spontaneous ice cream cake (ran out at 9pm and came back with a CAKE!) Isn't he handsome?! :)

My Zinnias :)

The zinnias are blooming like crazy - bright reds, oranges, pinks, lavendars and yellows (although the finches really like to pick the petals off the yellow ones).

Justin's Japan JaBlog

I love my brother's writing - and I'm sure you will too. He's been in Japan almost a month and despite being unable to access most email and even his blog account, he has kept up with it by sending a post to a friend and having him post it on the site. He's working on getting a laptop and internet at his apartment so he can have better access.

One of Justin's courterparts in the JET Programme has a blog with pictures (ooooooo), so you can check that out here. In case you don't have time to read through all that, you can see a picture of Justin here while out to dinner with a bunch of JETs in Oita City (thankfully, he is about the only one that doesn't look smashed) and here's another that shows what his town looks like.


That's all for now - unless you ask how I found all the nifty pictures... let's just say I am a queen at google searches (I was just looking for the weather in Ajimu!)

Oh - and hopefully I'll sit down and think of a way to describe my jury duty experience. Yes, I did serve on a jury and I have lots to say, but not sure there's enough time and energy to write it all down!

Jury Duty tomorrow

In 12 hours I will be reporting to my first jury summons... I think I'm a mixture of excited, scared, proud and flustered about the whole process (i.e. getting permission from work, finding where to park and go and serving my civic duty). I'm taking a book and water to keep me occupied - there will lots more to come on this experience. Fun! ;)

Just something funny - it's been a LONG week!

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

40% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Jeopardy! Comes to Raleigh!!

General Information: Jeopardy!

"Jeopardy! producers announced plans today for the Emmy award-winning quiz show to tape its 2005 Jeopardy! College Championship at the RBC Center at North Carolina State University in Raleigh on Oct. 1 and 2."

We've sent off for tickets and we're crossing our fingers to get them! It would be SO much fun!