just noticed a email about my apparent absence.... explanation... katrina/rita induced 20+ hour days.... in another life i worked for the bell system, all over but predominatly in the new orleans sma area..... in disasters such as katrina/rita, people are often called back.... the complexity of communications is beyond belief..... it takes decades to learn an area but once learned it will always be in your mind.... there is the time savings.... people that can walk in knowing.... within days after katrina hit, bellsouth was setting up tent cities to house workers.... this included workers from almost every bell company in the US.... many areas would not have power for months, some still don't.... so food sources were a obvious problem along with water, and a host of other seldom thought of till gone needs..... a friend of mine from minden was in charge of cooking for one of the smaller tent cities, his bill was 4k a day and the food purchases was over 15k a day..... i can't even imagine what the total company wide bill must be, possibly a 100k a day.... rita's timing was additionaly unfortunate.... bellsouth has contingent plans.... entire motels are leased even without power or hopes of power anytime soon..... generators large enough to power the whole motel are brought in..... in some cases where the workers will be there for years , the motels were just bought outright..... that solves food and lodging.... new orlenas is critical in the communication loop and it must be brought on line at any expense..... more top knotch workers from all over the US are arriving daily ..... thanks to all those guys/gals.... the work will not be easy and the condtions will be worse..... as for me, i'm fixin to pull a jose..... 3 months of vacation time.... maybe they'll be done by the time huntin season is over..... and perhaps now i'll be able to send that photo.... h