It’s Friday, and I couldn’t be happier about that. On the other hand, I’m running 10 miles tomorrow with my running group, and I do not expect to survive. I haven’t run all week, and I missed last Saturday’s run. If I do die from tomorrow’s run, there’s a 6-pack of Negra Modelo in the fridge for whoever feeds Skokie.

- Went back to “Reliant City” (as they’re calling it now) yesterday to do more rapid assessments with the epidemiology group. They had more than enough people, so I called it a night and went home. I was scheduled to do assessments tonight as well, but I cancelled. I don’t plan on going back until next week, and only if the epi group or the Judge’s Office (our boss) really needs volunteers. I feel bad, and I might feel differently about it on Monday…..but right now, I’m tired.

- A friend volunteered at the George R. Brown Convention Center. I’ve posted his email report below.

- Workers at Reliant Park areas are getting cranky.

- Communication sucks. Information is disjointed and oftentimes conflicting. The Red Cross and FEMA are both supposed to be taking over communication systems, but neither are getting their acts together. Situations change every hour, and information changes even more frequently. It’s frustrating from the volunteer perspective - I can’t imagine how frustrating it is for the evacuees.

- Apparently, people showing up to volunteer are being turned away because there are no more jobs for them. Inside Reliant Park, volunteer coordinators are complaining they’re short of volunteers and desperately need more help. This is just one example of the breakdowns in communication.

- FEMA sucks.

- Reliant Park was insane yesterday. Tons and tons of evacuees lined up to receive a Red Cross debit card, and fill out paperwork for the FEMA card. No one really understands what’s going on, including (I would guess) FEMA and Red Cross.

- My boss brought up the issue of the “appropriateness” of using Katrina-donated goods for homeless/needy Houstonians. Her sister took some clothes and food to a shelter yesterday that had not received a Katrina evacuee since Friday. However, several needy Houston families did come in for items. My boss’s sister distributed the items to these families, even though there was a “but they aren’t Katrina evacuees!” reaction. If a shelter is no longer receiving evacuees (not because they’re refusing them, but because no more evacuees are asking them for assistance) then why not distribute donated items to other people in need? I realize there’s a problem when a charitable organization misappropriates resources for their own use, but I there’s a difference between that and distributing goods to people in need - whether or not they’re NOLA evacuees.

- FEMA sucks.

- And lastly, I have been struggling with whether or not to adopt another cat. On the one hand, I feel guilty that my schedule means Skokie is at home alone a lot. He’s always had another cat in the house with him - first Boerne (for 10 years), then Kirby (over the summer). On the other hand, getting another cat wouldn’t change the fact that I’m out of the house so much…..so I’d potentially feel guilty about leaving two cats alone, instead of just one. I dunno. I may end up at the Houston SPCA this weekend.