(no subject)

Joe is such a sweetie. He had to work today (unbeknownst to either of us until later on), but again, we didn't really have any time to talk. He walked me to my car as we were leaving, and we said a hurried goodbye, him not wanting the editor following behind us to see. We took two different routes home, as we always do. And somehow, through some odd timing quirk, as I was pulling into my driveway, he was coming the other way, so he pulled in and got out to give me a proper goodnight. :)

I think I bummed him out a bit, though, 'cause his parents are going out of town this weekend, so I could've come over and spent a lot of time with him, but I'm going out of town Sunday with my parents to see my uncle. For a moment, I was upset, wishing I could stay home (which I could, nobody's forcing me to go), but then really, I can see Joe anytime -- I can see him next week, or some other day. Seeing my uncle is a rare occasion, and depending on his health, this could be the last time I see him -- clearly, I can't see him anytime. Besides, there was good news later on: Joe has Monday off, so we can spend time together then. :)

Puzzleriffic

I blame my boss.

Yesterday, she had a copy of the Record, and she was showing me how they have sudoku now, saying that we're going to be getting it, too. She explained how you do them, and we moved on with the night.

Except that there was a sudoku puzzle in the Mensa newsletter I got in the mail today. And I sat down and worked on it, totally sucked in for like a half-hour.

So I went out and bought a book of them. What can I say, I like good puzzles.

Sadly, we probably won't have a cool sudoku mascot for our paper, like the one the Chicago Tribune has:

(no subject)

Good lord.

For a sobering look at a level of desperation I never thought I'd see in America, read this.

I mean, come on. It looks like freakin' Haiti down there. And I swear that we were faster sending help to Indonesia than we are to some of our own cities. It's a mess. The stores have all been looted. People are roving the streets with guns. People have been raped, beaten, killed, right in the Superdome. People are being left to die -- seriously, there are reports of people sitting in wheelchairs outside the Superdome, dead, and babies lying on the sidewalk, dead, just bodies everywhere and more people dying by the minute. And there are people outside hospitals shooting at relief helicopters, yelling that those copters should be rescuing their families instead. Part of me calls those people monsters, because they're interfering with work that could possibly save lives of critically ill and dying people, but it's desperation -- they see that their family members aren't being rescued, and they don't know what else to do but be enraged and arm themselves.

I can excuse some of the looters, because a lot of them are stealing food, beverages, diapers, things that they need and can't otherwise get. To me, that's scavenging, not looting. But then there are the opportunistic bastards who are stealing designer jeans, things you know they're just stealing to sell later. Though then again, that might not be such a bad idea -- how else will they pay for the things they need? These people won't be collecting paychecks to cover the cost of rebuilding, hotel rooms, food, replacing whatever they need replaced. They don't have jobs, because they don't have workplaces -- the businesses are all gone. These people aren't only homeless and hungry, they're nearly all suddenly unemployed.

Part of me wants to send money, though I don't really have it to send. But then again, I'm hesitant to do that, because where will that money go? It's not that I don't trust the Red Cross, but will those aid workers be shot and killed and their supplies stolen? As society breaks down and desperate people turn to drastic actions, how can aid be effectively channeled and delivered? I'm not sending money until we send more troops -- but oh, wait, they're all in Iraq, aren't they? Hell, if there's one good reason to bring some of our troops home (and there are already plenty), there's this. We need those troops here, now.

I just keep marveling at all of this, in a way. How can this be happening? How is it that relief operations are largely routine when we send help elsewhere, but a chunk of our own country is totally crumbling, hundreds of Americans are being left to die, and the situation just keeps getting worse?