Via some texts from Zach: The Red Cross is closing down the Dolly DR; everything is in pretty good shape and they're comfortable handing it back over to the local chapter. Edouard didn't do any damage, so there isn't a new DR. He's not sure when he's going to come home, and said he might try to spend a few days visiting Texas before heading back to DC. More as I've got it.

-Pam

Hey everyone.

I've been remiss in my updating, for which I apologize. Sadly, I don't have much time right now, and I also don't have my notes on me, so the highlights are:

Zach is doing well. He appreciates e-mails and text messages, though he has a hard time responding to e-mails because the computer at the hotel is unspeakably terrible.

He may be getting sent to Houston, as things wind down where he is. I'll know more soon, I think; Zach texted me with that info earlier today but had no details.

Someone fell off a forklift and put a hole through their hand and had to be sent to the hospital. It will require many surgeries. This is why we require training to operate forklifts.

They have a dog at the kitchen.

Kitchen 1's staff has been replaced by "the Varsity team," and they kick pretty much all the ass. They are hyper efficient and very well-organized and well-trained.

Kitchen 1 has been doing something crazy like serving an average of 16,000 meals per day out of a very small facility. That is really incredible.

There's a movie theatre near by, and Zach went to see Dark Knight again. He liked it the second time, too.

That's all I've got for now. Like I said, he's doing well and seems in pretty good spirits, but drop him an e-mail if you're so inclined. Contact with the outside world is a very good thing.

Howdy everyone; Pam again. Talked to Zach for a while tonight, and in news that should surprise exactly no one, he's making friends and influencing people. Here are the highlights.

He's assigned to Kitchen 1, which is operating out of a church. Kitchen 1 is kicking all kinds of ass, serving more meals than anyone else and generally doing a really good job with a small space and limited resources. Other Red Cross types in the area are trying to figure out how they're doing it. I think Zach said they've served something like 14,000 meals so far.

Zach continues to get lost driving around. (Not his fault; trying to drive around in disaster zones is never an easy thing, because many of the road signs are gone, you never know when the road is going to become impassable, lights are out, detours are poorly plotted, and you're from out of town.) Those days are probably over now, though, because he has a pretty regular assignment, and it's not very far from where he's staying.

He went out on the ERVs twice, I believe -- dinner yesterday and lunch today -- and while there were only about 200 people who showed up for meals, they served something like 1,250 of them. Many of the less-damaged houses are crammed full of extended family members from the more-damaged areas, so people were showing up and taking quite a few meals back home. Yesterday, the National Guard also showed up where the ERV was serving lunch, and they gave cases of water to anyone and everyone who could carry one away.

Most of the people seem in pretty good spirits, and it's kind of a waiting game right now: waiting for the power to come back on, waiting for the roads to be cleared. Most of the main roads are in pretty good shape, but many of the back roads are still under a lot of water, along with fields, yards, sidewalks, and everything else.

He met up with soldiergrrrl last night, and you can look at pictures and get another perspective on things over in her LJ.

ERV crews typically comprise three people; Zach was the third on his ERV until today's dinner run, at which point the actual third showed up and he had to stay behind at the kitchen. While making himself useful, he ran into a guy named Jonathan, who's acting as "yard dog." This isn't an official position, but it's essential anyway; the yard dog makes sure all the ERVs get stocked and the kitchen runs smoothly. It's very logisticsy, all about coordination and communication and washing dishes and stocking shelves and hauling things around and directing traffic and brokering deals between stations in that sort of strange Red Cross barter economy that emerges during DRs. At any rate, Jonathan will be leaving on Friday, and he asked Zach to take over when he does. Zach agreed, and so he spent the rest of today shadowing him, taking notes, trying to figure out how he makes everything run smoothly.

Zach has spent a lot of time chatting up the ERV drivers, most of whom are old crusty Texans, and he's really enjoying talking to everyone. I guess the pastor of the church housing Kitchen 1 is also a really cool guy, and Zach spent quite a bit of time getting to know him while they worked. Much of the congregation is also pitching in.

He has scored a hotel room, which is awesome for a lot of reasons. Said hotel room is about ten minutes from the church (so hopefully the days of getting lost are mostly over). He doesn't have a roommate right now, but he expects that to change soon. The hotel does have a business center, so he has some limited access to his e-mail.

That's pretty much it. Zach continues to be in good spirits, and all the people down there are good people, and he's really optimistic about both the relief effort and the ability of the region to bounce back pretty quickly. More updates as warranted, probably every other day or so.

Howdy, Zach watchers. This is Pam, posting on Zach's behalf. I've just spent about an hour on the phone with Zach, and he's safe and mostly sound in Texas, and seems in pretty good spirits.

He arrived with only some minor hassles (e.g., his flight was theoretically on Delta but actually was Northwest, which caused some confusion), but he had the foresight to wear a Red Cross shirt on the way, and so he hooked up with two other people who were headed his way, and they were able to rent a car and get themselves to headquarters in San Antonio. I think he said they were at Kelly Air Force Base.

I don't know how many of you were around the last time Zach went out on a DR, or know much about what goes on, but basically what's supposed to happen is that you show up at HQ, get checked in, get your assignment, talk to your boss, get settled, and start working. What actually happens is you get there, and there is massive confusion and chaos and no one is really sure what's going on, and everyone is very busy trying to figure things out, and eventually, after much waiting and chaos, everything gets sorted. This DR is no different, except today there was bonus confusion because they're shutting down the headquarters in San Antonio and moving them elsewhere tomorrow. So a bunch of people were gone and incommunicado, and there was an extra helping of No One Knows What's Going On.

Eventually, Zach reached the guy in Feeding (part of Mass Care, which is what he's been deployed to do) who is supposed to be his boss, and that guy told him to report in to the new headquarters (I think). So Zach headed out, but he rented a Ford Explorer, and so he loaded it up with supplies for an emergency shelter they're opening tomorrow in Harlingen. There is a levee that may or may not have been broken by muskrats. No one is sure -- communication is horrid (as expected), but the rumor mill is fantastic (also as expected) -- if the levee is really broken or how many evacuees there might be, but Zach thinks probably 1,000. The largest number he's heard is 6,500.

Anyway, so Zach loaded up the Explorer with supplies for the emergency shelter, and he grabbed another volunteer, Barb, who was also headed in that direction, and off they went. There were two advisories sent out:

1. Poisonous snakes & spiders. Wear long pants.
   
2. Very very hot. Wear shorts.

There are four species of poisonous snakes native to the area, most of whom have been driven out of their homes by conditions and are pissed off about it. And also there are brown recluse spiders, who are pretty much just always pissed off. And today it was 104°. So they stopped in Corpus Christie at a Wal-Mart, and Zach got some of those pants that have the zippers allowing you to turn the pants into shorts.

After purchasing his Pants of Snake Protection +2, Zach and Barb got back on the road, where they eventually found themselves at an intersection with no power and enough standing water that they might as well have been at the edge of a lake. Everyone has been told not to go near standing water, so Zach called around, looking for friends with Internet who could navigate him where he needed to go, and although this involved backing up an exit ramp onto a highway going the wrong way, everything has more or less worked out.

The shelter guy Zach was taking the supplies to told him to just bring them in the morning, so he headed to the staff shelter, which was hastily set up in a high school in Weslaco. When he arrived, there weren't any cots, but the cots showed up a little before I talked to him. He tells me they are awesome cots. There isn't any bedding, though, and he didn't take any with him, so he's using his ruck as a pillow and hoping for the best. Barb is sleeping in the car. The high school is full of dead palmetto bugs the size of his fist. There is only one working locker room, so the showers are co-ed, but they have a sign. The air conditioning works, which is more than can be said for the other shelter -- that's why this one was hastily set up. It's the back-up shelter, where they went when the a/c went out at the primary shelter. There are about 60 people at the shelter with him. He's drinking a lot of water and eating crackers.

Despite the pretty rough conditions, he sounds like he's doing well.

I... would like to keep myself out of these narratives, but I'm not sure how to talk about the next thing without talking about Katrina. That was the last time Zach went out, almost three years ago; I was out there, too, though we weren't deployed to the same locations. I don't need to say that Katrina was huge, or that it was a mess, or that the relief efforts were poorly organized and often ill-conceived. A huge number of people were involved, the vast majority of whom had no experience and little training and even less of an idea what they were getting into. So, yeah, it was a mess.

Dolly, while still a mess because it's a disaster, and disasters are messy, is not that sort of mess. Zach reports that most of the people there have been out on DRs before, and they are competent and experienced and maybe they don't know what's going on, but it doesn't matter all that much. You figure it out and you do what needs to be done with the tools you have at hand. He's pretty confident they'll be able to do this. I'm not even sure that makes any sense, but really, it's all about attitude and experience and training and intuition, and the more you do it, the more you have it. So, from my cozy armchair far away from the dead palmetto bugs, I feel pretty good about things.

Tomorrow Zach will be getting up pretty early, heading to the emergency shelter to drop off supplies, and then trying to locate his Feeding boss guy. He thinks he might be going out on an ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle; those are the trucks that deliver meals), but he doesn't know for sure.

If you have anything you'd like me to pass along to him, you can comment here or e-mail him, and I will pass along the message. Also, if you want to talk to him, let me know what times are good, and I'll see how I do at playing personal assistant.

In sum, Zach is awesome. But you all knew that.

Saturday 07/26/08 from Reagan National on Delta
Leave Washington DC 7:00am - arrive Memphis 8:12am
Leave Memphis 9:15am - arrive San Antonio 11:08am

I'm putting together a list of things that I will likely need to bring so I can keep my head straight related to all this goofiness. The target location is southern Texas in early August, which is apparently "fry an egg on your forehead" hot. If you have suggestions, shout 'em out.

KEY

! = Buy in Virginia
$ = Buy in Texas
X = I already have it
+ = packed/ready to go

I'm sorting things into two groups - Need and Want. The Need has space and weight priority over the Want, obviously. If I can limit everything to carry-on I'll be doing fine. I'll drop in comments in various blocks.

NEED

+ 7 shirts (workout style, "wicks away sweat,"
X 7 shorts (mostly cargo pants; a couple basketball shorts)
X 7 pair underwear/socks
+ waterproof work boots
X toiletry kit
$ basic toiletries (1)
+ duffel bag
+ backpack
!/$ mini notepads (2)
X pencils/pens
X rain coat (I'm not entirely happy with the one I have but it's lightweight)
X work gloves (just in case)
X cell phone charger
X hat (two: Red Cross hat for when I'm working, Cubs hat for when I'm undercover)
$ sunscreen (SPF 50+)
$ insect repellent
X hand towel (not too bulky and absorbant)
X disposable gloves
X waterproof flashlight (always useful)
$ spare batteries for flashlight
!/$ whistle (because why not)

WANT

X digital camera w/case
$ spare batteries for camera
X books
X miniature camping pillow

(1) I don't want to deal with the bullshit that is airport security at all, period. This means there's less to carry on the way there.

Also, I don't plan on shaving while I'm down there. Basically, being around potentially contaminated water means you don't want to frequently run a razor over your face and open up your pores. Right now I'm clean shaven with a trimmed goatee (so I don't look 12). By Week 3 the slow-growth forest that is my beard will be in its "angry hobo" stage, but then I'll get home and hack it into "pensive grad student" format for the new job.

(2) Invaluable resource. Can fit in any pocket, allows for the writing down of things, which is really vital in a disaster operation. Names, numbers, addresses, vital info - you are only as good as what you know out there, and this is how you know.

Okay, that's all I'm putting down for now because I'm tired and need to start thinking about sleep. I will have bedding of some kind provided for me so I'm not listing any of that stuff - same with hand sanitizers and food/bottled water. Any recommendations on over-the-counter medication? I'll need to run to CVS tomorrow.

I'm heading to Texas to do Mass Care, which basically means feeding people. I have a tentative travel date of Saturday, leaving DC in the morning, and arriving at who knows where and when. From there it's to the organized chaos of the Disaster HQ which will direct me where to go and what to do. If everybody is really lucky the need for Mass Care will drop off fast, at which point I will transfer over to Client Services (casework that lets us account for those affected as well as provide them with assistance), or something else entirely - I'm really up for anything.

Tonight I head out and buy some clothes, shoes, etc. I plan to pack much lighter than last time as I was bit too prepared - it was a real pain to haul around and keep an eye on things. I'm going for lighter/more effective this time around rather than "three weeks of backwoods camping."

So Disaster didn't send me out last month, which is fine because I found the time to become gainfully employed (barring any unforseen and frankly impossible issues with the background check and the drug test). I'll be doing web development at a behavioral healthcare insurance provider in the area for more pay, a shorter commute, and on the same team as a good friend of mine. I start mid-August and I'm really looking forward to the challenge.

I have until next Monday at the Red Cross, which means I am able to do what I did today - speak face-to-face with a very cool woman in Disaster about deploying to Texas to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Dolly. It turns out that a technicality prevented them from calling me last month - quite literally the wrong box was checked in the database, listing me as "Inactive" instead of "Active" - so that got sorted today. I should have a much better idea of what's going on tomorrow.

The very cool thing is that the new job said they can push the start date back a week or two to accomodate the Disaster relief if need be. That's one of the reasons I took the new job.

More news as I know it.

Boss and coworkers are cool with me being away. I just need to tie up some loose ends by Friday and I'm set. Tomorrow I hand in the forms to Disaster and see what's up. Everything I hear is that I should expect a phone call and a plane ticket within the day.

I won't know until tomorrow but I'm listing my availability to the Disaster folks as of Sunday, which likely means leaving Sunday or Monday. If all is as expected I will have some general chicken-with-head-off craziness up until that point, so if I'm kind of spaced out waving around a variety of lists then please bear with.

If you're in the Nova area I'm going to try to do everything in my power to attend the Sematic show at the State Theater on Friday night. I'll update here after I get a sense of how much I need to prep and in how much time I have to do it.

At this point it just looks like I need to deal with the aspects of job transition ahead of schedule (like tomorrow) to make sure me being physically out of the office for two or three weeks won't mess things up for the other folks on the team. As long as that's lined up and there won't be any issue, then my boss will very likely give me the go-ahead. HR has no problems and Disaster essentially said "hand us the forms we need and we'll send you out."

Tonight I get to make big lists of things.