Friday summary and thoughts.

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday I went to San Francisco after work to visit my friend. She was having a going away party for her boyfriend who is going to Harvard for grad school. This was the first time I met him. He is a good guy and I am happy for her.

We went to a Middle Eastern restaurant and then went upstairs to their bar. The bar was on the roof and I had a nice view of the city. Her boyfriend had some nice, hot single male friends so I was talking a lot. :)

I was also very, very exhausted from the week, so I cut the night short a little early to catch BART home. BART is kinda like the metro. I wasn't about to drive in SF. For one, lots of gas money because it's an hour drive. Second, parking is absolute shit, you end up walking a lot anyways, and parking is expensive. Third, there are lots of one-way streets and driving is crazy in the city. So, I took BART and rested.

One the way to SF I was reading the newspaper about Hurricane Katrina and it made me even more sad. I really think that the government could have responded faster. People were saying that the Coast Guard flew over them and left them. People in hospitals were told that the Coast Guard were coming, but they never did. Perhaps it's because they were held up or shot at. Who knows. I listened to the mayor of New Orleans on the radio, and he sounded absolutely shaken and angry. I can't blame him. The US stepped up to the plate with disasters in Thailand and other countries. But not for our own.

What upset me the most is that criminals were released as long as they promised that they would return to prison. Now there are criminals mixed with everyone else, and the authorities can't track them down. And people are being beaten and raped. As if losing everything wasn't enough for them. I hope this doesn't happen next time a disaster strikes. And what about all the looting ?? I can understand people stealing food. But a plasma TV? Where are people gonna plug it in and watch it???

 I also think that though evacuation warnings were issued, that a lot of people didn't listen because they didn't think it would be so bad, or because they had no money or no where to evacuate to. Not everyone has the means to leave.

I live in CA and I don't think that we are prepared for a huge natural disaster. And I can't imagine living in a state without order. I think that if evecuation orders were issued here, more people would leave because we almost never get orders to evacuate here. Down south, I think people were used to hearing them more often.

Today is Saturday and I woke up at 2pm because I was so tired from the week. I will be just lounging around and taking care of errands. I hope to spend more quality time with my family on Labor Day.

I wish you all a wonderful Labor Day weekend and let's keep the victims of Katrina in our thoughts and prayers.