[StLee]

We got power yesterday, thus the internet, so 2.5 weeks of living off generator power has ended. My hometown and the surrounding areas are devastated. Many people I know lost everything, and many more still do not have power. Some may not have power for at least another two weeks.

For my immediate family and our houses, we came out a little better than most. I regretted staying, yet at the same time was glad I could to help out with what I could after. There is still a lot to do, though, and it will take a long time for the coastal area of Louisiana to recover. If you are able to donate to any charities or causes to help the hundreds of thousands of victims around here, please do.

Just in case it is never put out there, there were some instruments in the strongest places that measured winds of over 200 MPH. For context, that is equal to an F4 TORNADO, and this was sustained winds for hours. Needless to say, many houses "ain't there no more," as a New Orleanian would put it. Instruments in the place where I was showed sustained winds of over 120 MPH and gusts upwards of 180 MPH. Some of the National Weather Service instruments failed, so Ida is considered to be a Category 4 officially. Actually, it was the strongest ever Category 5 (Cat 6?) storm in recorded history. Climate scientists predict these types of storms will get worse. I think we may be entering the second age of mass extinction that we know of. I hope not. But this is scary. These hurricanes are becoming more normal and more intense at the same time.

My workplace needs to be repaired. Thankfully, we can return virtually until it is, which is how I worked for the last year-plus due to health concerns related to Covid. I was only back at work physically for two weeks before I was forced to go back to virtual. At least I have a lot of experience and have routines. Still, we start back on Monday of next week, and I have a lot of adjustments to make for my schedule. It will be hectic busy. I'm also working on my doctorate at a university that was unaffected by the storm, so I have a lot of catching up to do on my schoolwork. I was able to borrow a neighbor's work wifi pack one day to turn in assignments that were due so that I would not be late with them. Today, I need to start back on that work. *Gulp* At the moment, I am sipping on my third cup of coffee, wringing my hands with just how overwhelmed I feel. As an educator, I know many of my students will have the same anxiety, so I want to let them know that my class is not the place to stress. I don't care this semester if they become better writers through the traditional Organization-Content-Grammar structure; I care that they are able to express their feelings and thoughts.

I also worked some on my dynasty, so I will post what I got for the next week of the season as we approach the end of June 2300. Just be patient with me in posting. This dynasty had to slow down from my torrid pace, of last year where I wrote on it daily during coffee time before starting my workday. Maybe I can work my way ahead at some point and have more time to dive into the Commonwealth (and other places), but I am thinking those daily sessions will not come again for some time, maybe around Christmas. Otherwise, I will try to post at least once a week if I can. I may even decide to change some things up and summarize the BMU/NWL in a single Standings line or something to get the CBO moving more. We'll see.

Thank you all for your thoughts, and I appreciate you.