While New Orleans was spared serious damage in Gustav, Baton Rouge, ironically, seems to have taken a pretty hard hit. Power restoration could take anywhere from a day to four weeks, and from what I understand basic necessities of food and gasoline are pretty much impossible to find. I've been looking at some pictures online and campus is a fucking mess. My sister went to our house and said everything's fine, and the storm even cleared an overgrown bush we'd hated since we moved in--it's completely gone. We knew it wasn't safe to go home today because there were still debris in the roadways and the remnants of Gustav were lingering, but I'm done with living out of a suitcase and killing time with cable news, pretending I'm on vacation when I'm not. I want to go home and clean out my fridge, then go to work and start answering phones. During times like this, the nonprofit I work for switches from being a crisis hotline to an information clearinghouse, and the lines are ringing off the hook with requests for tarps, food, ice, and water. I just talked with a friend from work and she said she went in at noon yesterday and just left. Nick works for a rental car company and they want him to come in tomorrow, but I have a feeling we're gonna be sitting in traffic for a while trying to get back.