Adventures in Networking!

I’ve been going without a land line for a few years now and it’s starting to get old.  Because of the plan that my wife and I are on with Sprint, it gets rather expensive when I start going over my minutes.  And I sure as hell didn’t want to fork out the kind of money that the phone and cable companies charge.  I’m a Cisco Engineer for Christ’s Sake!  I should be able to set this up!

So I got my hands on the Cisco uBR924 you see in the rack.  It uses H.323, but I couldn’t find a reliable H.323 provider to give me a number.  And I’m lazy.  I’m sure I’ll get around to using the H.323 in the modem sooner or later, but I wanted to try this product out anyway.  I ended up ordering a MagicJack.

Well, MagicJack doesn’t support Server 2003.  But the only box that I have that stays on 24/7 is my server.  And my server runs… you guessed it… Server 2003.  My install went a little like this.

1. Plug the MagicJack into a USB port and let the drivers install.
2. Once the install runs, go to “My Computer” and run the Autorun on the MagicJack drive
3. Let MagicJack install (it downloads its software)
4. Get the message “No audio devices found no output/input devices are found”.
5. Curse loudly at computer and say something along the lines of “Oh, you are GOING to work…”

Because I’m an idiot and didn’t realize what I was doing, it was flat NOT going to work.  The reason being is the only sound driver running was the Microsoft RDP Sound Driver.  My server is headless, therefore I needed to be RDP’d into the box.  I’m going to go ahead and make a long story short…

I plugged a keyboard into the box and logged in locally.  I tried to “mstsc /v:server /console”, but it still had the RDP driver.  I haven’t looked into it, but there may be someway to use the local drivers during that console session.  Once I was logged in locally, I shadowed the local session from an RDP session.  I turned on the Telephony Service, installed the sound drivers (they weren’t installed), and started the Windows Audio service.  Once that was done I restarted the MagicJack software and BAM!  It worked.

From what I’ve seen so far using WireShark, this is a simple SIP device that runs the G.711 Codec.  Pretty straight forward.  I’ll mess with it some more and get back to you guys.

I felt like putting something together here at the house to replace what I lost in the hurricanes.  This may have been a Hurricane blog for a short time, but first and foremost it’s a Network blog.  I now present to you… Mini-Lab.

Front of Mini-Lab

Back of Mini-Lab

The 4500M actually has 2 NP-6E’s in it (6 Ethernet Ports each).  It’s a work in progress, and I’ll defidently be adding on to it, but this is just what I could get my hands on at the present time.  Hell, I may even open it op to some of you guys that are working on their CCNA’s and stuff to give you a little rack time.  Just to break it down, here’s what you’re looking at:

Cisco uBR924 Cable Modem / Router.  Actually supports H.323 voice too
2 x Cisco Catalyst 2924XL-EN switches.  Need to move packets somehow!
Cisco 2620 Router.  With WIC-1DSU-T1.
Cisco 3620 Router.  With 2E-2W and WIC-1DSU-T1
Cisco 4500M Router.  With 2 NP-6E’s.  We used these when I was working for an ISP.  Real monsters back in the day

Like I said, it’s a work in progress.  I hope to really build this rack up and make it quite the monster.  I’m looking into getting a 2821 to do VoIP with along with a 3560-12 PoE and a couple 7690’s.  It should be sweet!

Here’s how you want to set Daylight savings time in the US.  If you haven’t done so already, I’m sure your logs may be a little out of wack.  Remember to add your correct time-zone to this, as I’m using Eastern.

Router(config)# clock timezone EST -5
Router(config)# clock summer-time EDT recurring 2 Sunday March 02:00 1 Sunday November  02:00 60

Now, let’s explain.  What you are doing here is starting by telling your device that you want to set your normal time-zone as Eastern Standard Time with an offset from UTC as -5 Hours.  Then you’re going to configure “summer-time” or daylight savings time.  “EDT” is the word used for Eastern Daylight Time.  I’m setting it as “recurring” as we have it every year.  Then I’m telling it to start on the 2nd Sunday of March at 2:00 AM and to end on the 1st Sunday of November at 2:00 AM with a 60 Minute offset.  The US Navy says that these are the proper dates (click here for proof).

While we’re at it, let’s make sure that our clock is correct.  Here’s 2 NTP servers I like to add to my configs:

Router(config)# ntp server 209.67.219.106
Router(config)# ntp server 128.10.252.10

The DNS names for these servers are 1.pool.ntp.org and 2.pool.ntp.org.  You can be pretty sure that they are going to be correct.

I want to go backwards for a post to Port Security.  Here’s a good video that will explain port security and why you need to use it.  This is possibly the best thing on the subject out there.

Google

-Greg

I’ve been messing with old hardware for too long.  I finally got my hands on an ASA 5505 yesterday and I can’t take my hands off of it.  I’m in love with this thing.  Especially since I upgraded to ASA 8.0(4) and the ASDM 6.1(3).  There’s so much stuff you can do with this little device.  Move up a little in the model line and you can get rid of your PIX 515e, your IDP 4200, and your 3000 series VPN concentrator.  All with one box.

Yeah… I’m in love…

-Greg

When receiving CRC errors on an interface, check for duplex mismatch.  Don’t forget this.

Well, it’s all nice here in Ohio and I don’t think I have to worry about the threat of Hurricanes anymore, so I’m going to move the blog back over to networking.  Evidently, I left off somewhere around DHCP snooping, so I’m going to have to put something together on that soon.

I started a new job here in Ohio.  I’m the newest network engineer for SMS proTECH!  I guess I better get back to work now…

-Greg

Due to a NDA that I evidently agreed to, I can’t tell you much, but I can say that an evil empire has come and taken a lot of money out of my pocket due to what they perceived as an unfair practice.  I’m sure many of you can pick up on what I’m talking about, but that’s about as far as I can go with it.

I’m going to ask all of my readers here, that if you can, there’s a tip jar located to the right of the page.  That has become the only way I’m going to make anything off of this site; so if you can donate, even a dollar or two, please do.

That’s what I’ve been called… a climate refugee.  And I guess it’s true.  As much as I love South Louisiana, I wasn’t going to stick around for round 3 of these damn hurricanes. Here’s how this happened.

I got back to Louisiana on Saturday the 13th, just in time to do the 3 Drunk Guys Aftermath Special.  I went to NOLA and spent the day there with my best friend for his b-day, spending the night there because we were still under a curfew.  On Monday morning, I went into work but had to leave early due to FEMA coming by and doing an inspection.  That afternoon, I decided I was giving my 2 weeks notice and I was going to move up to Ohio to be with my wife.

I ended up going out again on Monday night and I did some thinking.  My apartment still didn’t have electricity, everything in my house was covered in mold, and I really didn’t want to deal with all the rebuilding yet again, so I made a snap decision to come up here to Ohio permanantly. I put things together on Tuesday, went to work on Wednesday morning to turn in my stuff (laptop, badge, etc) and left on Wednesday afternoon to drive up here.

I fit whatever could fit in the car and left the rest.  Basically I grabbed the clothes that weren’t ruined, my server, and a few pictures and stuff.  I already miss home, but I can’t let myself continue to do that.  I need to get into the mindset that Ohio is my home now and I need to make my life here.  I went to a job interview yesterday where the guy asked me to shave my goatee.  That really pissed me off, but if it’s something I have to do to get a job, I may just have to do it.

Well, now you know why I left and came here.  I needed to get away from Hurricanes and I needed to be with my wife.  That’s it in a nutshell!

-Greg

Well, I did it.  I got fed up with all of the Hurricanes hitting South Louisiana and I left.  I am now a resident of the state of Ohio.  Hell, I already opened a bank account here.  I’ll post a full story once I get settled down, but right now I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it up here safe.

-Greg

PS: To all you guys that are getting here from Blackhat Security, there’s a reason that I’m listed on their blogs.  Go back in my history and you’ll see that this blog was originally my place to post Cisco security.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/3-drunk-guys%3A-aftermath-special

We’re live now

I just updated the HurriCam page with live feeds from Houston and Galveston. Scroll down below the maps and you’ll find 4 from Houston and 4 from New Orleans. You have to press play to start the streams.

-Greg

I’m watching CNN, basically because I don’t have the Weather Channel in Ohio (guess they don’t have “weather” here), and I’m already seeing video of the Coast Guard having to rescue people that didn’t evacuate ahead of Ike.  I didn’t evacuate Houma because I sat down and looked at the topology of the land between myself and the Gulf, I looked at past storms and the damage they did, and I made plans with others to be able to get out if the water came up.  These people stayed behind on a barrier island directly in the path of the eye of a storm that the National Hurricane Center called “certain death”.

I know it’s the pot calling the kettle black, but these people are idiots.

These people decided to ride out the storm and now they are getting scared and want out.  But because the water has already risen over the roads, they have no way out.  So they have to call and put EMS, Fire, Police, and Coast Guard at risk to save them when they made the decision to stay put.  I’m sorry, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for people that stay behind for a storm and have absolutely no backup plan should it get worse than they are prepared to deal with.  A MANDATORY evacuation was issued for Galveston days ago.  I feel that Texas should implement the same plan Louisiana did after Katrina when it comes to mandatory evacuations.  If you stay behind, you are 100% on your own.  Don’t call police, don’t call EMS, don’t call Fire, don’t call anyone.  YOU made the decision to stay behind after you were told to leave.  You’re the one that needs to deal the the repercussions of your actions.  Don’t put other people’s lives at risk to save your own.

When I got up here to Ohio, I got to read a lot of what was said about Ron, Dan, and myself and our 3 Drunk Guys webcast.  I saw so many “darwin at work” posts and posts from people saying “they deserve to die”.  I want those people to understand that staying behind was an educated decision.  Had I lived on Grand Isle, LA for Gustav, there wouldn’t have been a HurriCam, unless someone wanted to look outside the window of an apartment in Bellefontaine, OH.  I was on high ground, surrounded on all 4 sides by protective barriers from flying debris, and I had a backup plan should the worst happen.  These people knowing stayed behind on a barrier island; the highest point of which is 17 feet above sea level; in the face of a storm that is packing a 25 foot storm surge.  My math added up.  Their math is flawed.  If anyone deserves a Darwin Award, it’s them… not us.

I haven’t posted an update this morning because I’ve been watching Ike VERY closely.  Even though Galveston Island is about to get destroyed by this storm; Terrebonne Parish is going to get some effects from it as well.  Becasuse of the size of Ike, Hurricane force winds will be felt over more than 200 miles of the Gulf Coast, and the Hurricane Warning extends all the way to Morgan City, LA.  Houma sits in the Tropical Storm warning, which extends all the way to the Mississippi/Alabama line, but we’re only a 30 minute drive from Morgan City, so we may very well feel some of those Hurricane force winds.

I’m still in Ohio, and to be honest with you, I’m kinda upset about that.  Houma is sitting in a Tropical Storm warning and lower Terrebonne Parish is under a mandatory evacuation due to the storm surge that is already being felt there, and I can’t be there. My flight back to New Orleans is tomorrow and I’m kinda afraid that I’m going to be stuck here due to flights possibly getting canceled going into New Orleans.

My heart is with those people from Houston and SE Texas right now.  Especially one of my readers that I posted about earlier… Karen from near Beaumont, TX.  They are staying behind (last I heard from her) and I’m telling you now, it’s not gong to be fun.

On a lighter note…  I’ve heard a lot of crap coming out of Houston since Katrina about all the ecavuees from New Orleans that stayed behind there, raising the crime rate and completely screwing up Houston.  Well Houstonians; if you wanted them to leave, there’s no better way than to make them evacuate BACK to New Orleans!  Actually, from what I see on TV, it looks like they are being evacuated to Dallas and Austin.  Maybe they will keep them.

I’ve been watching TV today and of course there’s a ton of stuff about 9/11.  All of the news channels are talking about both the 9/11 memorials and Hurricane Ike.  Then I saw something that made me want to actually punch a TV.

They were interviewing a gentleman from New York that was at the memorial service they were having near the WTC site.  He was talking about how 9/11 changed his life and all, then the reporter asked him his opinion on Hurricane Ike and the evacuations that are going on during the 9/11 memorials.  This man came out and said, and I’m going to paraphrase here because I don’t remember the exact words that he used, that if the people in the Gulf Coast can’t handle hurricanes then we should all move.  He went on to say that the US Government was “stupid” to pay $80 Billion to rebuild New Orleans just to have it flood again when the next storm comes and that it’s been 3 years since Katrina and we haven’t gotten anything accomplished.

Not only did it piss me off that this guy sat there and said something so stupid on national TV, but he had the audacity to do it while standing in front of a 7 year old, $20 Billion hole in the ground.  Now don’t get me wrong, 9/11 was a horrible thing, but 80% of New Orleans was under water; whereas the attacks on 9/11 destroyed a mere 8 city blocks.  8 city blocks and the people of the United States have dumped $20 billion into the project already.  And you want to really talk about not getting anything accomplished?  How about the fact that after 7 years, the city of New York hasn’t even built the permanent memorial to the people that lost their lives on that day?

Mr. New Yorker, please don’t sit there on live TV and tell the world that people who live in hurricane prone areas are stupid.  If you’d climb down off your high-horse and turn on the Discovery Channel every now and again, you’d know that one of FEMA’s biggest fears is the very real threat that a hurricane could destroy New York City in the near future.  So when that hurricane comes up there and puts half of your city under water (including the WTC site that is below sea level), don’t come evacuate to Louisiana.  There’s a lot of alligators in the swamp and I’m sure they would love to get a taste of New York City.

From NOLA.com:

Hurricane Ike’s wind field continued to expand overnight, forcing the National Hurricane Center to extend its tropical storm warning area all the way to the Mississippi-Alabama line, including New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain and the Northshore. The tropical storm warning now also includes Terrebonne, Livingston, Ascension, St. James, St. John and northern St. Charles parishes. A hurricane watch remains in effect from Cameron Parish south to near Brownsville, Texas. A tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are likely within 24 hours. Ike’s hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles from its center and tropical storm force winds greater than 39 mph extend up to 255 miles from its eye.

A coastal flood warning remains in effect for all of southeast Louisiana. According to the National Hurricane Center, the chance of storm surges greater than 5 feet are between 40 and 50 percent for Lake Borgne, extending down the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway towards the Industrial Canal; between 50 and 60 percent south of St. Bernard Parish along the east side of the Mississippi River. On the west side of the river, the chance of surges greater than 5 feet are 5 to 20 percent throughout West Bank communities in Jefferson Parish outside levees and in St. Charles and St. John parishes. Surge also is possible all around Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas.

At 5 a.m., the Slidell office of the National Weather Service said coastal storm surge flooding of 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels, accompanied by large and dangerous battering waves can be expected across the warning area today through Saturday. Tide levels of 2 to 4 feet above normal are expected by Thursday afternoon in Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, rising to 3 to 5 feet above normal along their north shores on Thursday night and Friday, as winds shift southeast.

Ike will also drop between 1 and 2 inches of rain across southern Louisiana, with localized flooding from torrential rain possible. Closer to the coast, rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are possible.

In southeast Louisiana north of tidal lakes, east to southeast winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph in squalls is possible. A bit farther south, east winds of 25 to 35 mph with higher gusts this morning, increasing to 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 55 mph by late Thursday morning and continuing to Friday morning. Isolated tornadoes also are possible in outer rainband squalls moving onshore today through Friday afternoon. Waterspouts are possible along the shoreline, with seas just offshore expected to reach 20 to 25 feet with random waves of 30 feet today. Long-period swells could produce battering waves of 12 to 15 feet near shore.

Ike remains set to make landfall just west of the Galveston and Houston areas at Freeport, Texas, after 1 a.m. Saturday as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 127 mph.

In a discussion message accompanying their 4 a.m. forecast, Senior Hurricane Specialists Richard Pasch and Jack Beven said Ike continued to have a tiny eye of just under 10 nautical miles in diameter, surrounded by an unusually large field of hurricane-force winds. Ike is expected to move just north of several eddies of warm water as it moves west northwest through the Gulf of Mexico towards landfall. Computer models continue to predict the storm will turn north and then northeast around the western edge of a ridge of high pressure, but differ on when the turn will take place.

“In this case, it is particularly important not to focus on the exact forecast track, since damaging winds extend so far from the center,” they said.

I checked my email this morning and read one that was pretty interesting, so I thought I’d share it with all of you.  Karen from SE Texas writes:

Looks like I’m going to be in need of a good caution stick within the next few hours.  :(  Talk about a cluster…  We had to evac because of Gustav which ended up being nothing for us.  Now they’ve evacuated S. Texas too early and they can’t/won’t issue evacuation orders up here in SE Tex because they don’t have the resources.  They’re basically telling us it’s too late now and to shelter in place.  But anyway, that’s another story.

Well, wish us luck!

Karen

Yup.  Looks like the Texas government really dropped the ball on Gustav and got everyone out of there for no good reason, and now that Ike is about to crash into the Texas Gulf Coast, they don’t have the resources to get the people out.  Looks like Louisiana isn’t the only state government that screws up storms.

My best wishes go out to Karen and her family.  I know it sucks to shelter in place and I hope you can get to the store before Ike gets there to get some supplies.  Living on the Gulf Coast, I’m sure you know what to get in preparation of a Hurricane, so get out there and get it.  It looks like Ike may reach Category 3 before making landfall, so depending on your exact location, you may be dealing with the same crap I just dealt with.  Take my advice and if you can get out, then get the hell out!  If you can’t afford to leave on your own, borrow some money from a friend or family member.  You may be thinking to yourself “Ahh… it’s just a thunderstorm”, but when you start seeing your neighbors roofs fly off, you’ll get a whole new respect for the power that is a Hurricane.

-Greg

I just read an article from Alabama about what the Hurricane Gustav evacuees were doing during the 4 days they were away.  I had said earlier that I’ve lost all faith in humanity, and this just sealed the deal.  It seems these people have no idea how to clean up after themselves and basically just act like animals.  They found syringes, used condoms, soiled underwear, and God knows what else laying around after the evacuees left.  It’s going to cost $20,000 of tax-payer money, OUR money, to clean up after the animals.  Civilized human beings shouldn’t be like that.  Something is wrong with these people.  Hell, even though I knew that a hurricane was coming and would blow away all of my empty beer cans, I still picked up all the trash after the 3 Drunk Guys broadcast.  It says something about these people when they do stuff like that.  I’ve read stories about people defecating under bleachers in gymnasiums that were being used as shelters.  Why in the hell would someone do that?  It just boggles the mind that people can be so uncivilized as to take a dump under the bleachers when there’s a perfectly good bathroom they could use right around the corner.

With stuff like that going on in evacuation centers, and the crime rate that rose so high in Houston after Katrina, it’s just a matter of time before the states neighboring Louisiana will refuse to accept evacuees.  And I wouldn’t blame them one bit.  There’s so many people out there, black and white alike, that are just looking for a hand-out.  They feel that the government “owes” them something and they get pissed off when they don’t get it.  And a lot of it is just down-right laziness and greed.  I saw numerous people at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center that could have evacuated on their own.  I know them personally… They had enough money to drive their own cars and pay for their own food, but didn’t want to spend their own money because “If the Government is going to give me this for free, then I’m going to take it”, and that’s bullshit in my book.  When people do stuff like that, it puts the gov’t deeper in debt and makes my tax bill rise that much more.  So not only am I having to pay for my own evacuation, but I’m having to pay for that lump of meat from New Orleans that’s 27 years old and has 6 kids by 5 different men (and hasn’t seen any of them in years) to leave town and feed the mouths of the kids that she had so her welfare check could get a little bigger.

And it’s not just that that pisses me off.  I listened to the radio constantly in the days following Gustav.  Before they opened up any of the parishes for people to come back, they made it painfully clear; you are coming back to nothing.  No electricity, no water, no sewerage, no gasoline, no NOTHING.  Yet people came back and the first thing they were doing was bitching and raising seven kinds of hell about “when’s my power gonna be back on” and “I can’t live like this”.  Well people, you should have stayed your ass where you were.  And don’t bitch about the condition of the shelters because YOU were the ones that made them that way.

I say that next time they have to evacuate like this, you make the evacuees clean the place up before they leave.  And if it’s not clean, they don’t leave.  Any one that doesn’t help, doesn’t leave.  You threaten to leave them where they are with no way to get home and I bet you that things will get done.  If they want to act like animals, treat them like animals.

Sorry I got off on a rant here folks, but this really pisses me off.  Thanks for reading and thanks for clicking!

-Greg

I got news that I may have to trash all of my furniture due to mold building up on it, so that sucks. In the meantime, I’ll just relaxing here in Bellefontaine. They have the oldest concrete paved street in the world here and the shortest street. I’ve been on both of them. Also, the highest point in Ohio is just up the road, so that’s cool.  There’s tons of caverns and caves around here as well, but I still haven’t really left the house.  It’s just nice to be inside with the computer and playing catch-up on work and stuff I missed the past week or so.

Looks like Ike is going to be heading towards Corpus Christi. If ANYONE in Corpus wants to stream a HurriCam to the HurriCam page, email me at greg@gregledet.net and I’ll get everything set up for you.  You don’t need to be a computer genius or anything, I can walk you through setting it up.  Just make sure you had a decent webcam.  I use a QuickCam Orbit AF, but any webcam with at least 1.3 MegaPixels will work fine.  You can pick them up at Wal-Mart for around $50-$60.  Don’t forget to make you a caution stick!

-Greg

The traffic is bringing in about $10-$15 per day guys.  That’s going a long way to helping with all thes bills!  Not only that, but I need a new sofa and loveseat because mine is molding as we speak, so all extra money (if there is any) will be going to replace the couch that Gustav destroyed.

I just got a call from Ron (the middle guy) and it seems that they are getting the power back up and running quicker than expected.  I’m going to be in Ohio for the rest of the week, but I’ll be flying out on Saturday morning.  I’m thinking Saturday afternoon/night, we’ll have to get the crew together for a little “aftermath show”!  Keep checking the blog (here) for updates on when we’re going to do our Aftermath show!  Hopefully Dan will be back from Virginia by then, otherwise we’re just going to have to bring Beaver back as the 3rd drunk guy!  And of course, the Caution Stick will be there in full force!

Thanks for all the support guys!  Keep it going so we can cover the beer for the next show!

-Greg

I know there’s not a whole lot of info coming out of Terrebonne Parish, so I’ve been watching various news channels over the internet and making some phone calls to relay the following information.  Currently, 79% of the parish is still without power, but they are making progress.  Chateau Creole, where I live and one of the hardest hit parts, it still without power.  There are Disaster Recovery crews working to get into people’s apartments and dry stuff out so we don’t end up with mold growth.

Terrebonne Parish is still under an 8PM to 6AM curfew.  Last night they picked up 10 people for curfew violations alone.  If you don’t have a good reason to be outside, you will be treated as suspect and if you don’t have a good reason for being out, they will likely bring you to jail.

Terrebonne Parish schools have still not set a date as to when they will reopen. Lafourche will reopen on Monday, September 15.

There are many stores open around the Houma area, but not all of the are.  Most are running on generator power because Entergy hasn’t gotten them back up yet.  It could be October before we see all of Terrebonne Parish back up with electricity.

If you have applied for FEMA assistance and have been approved for your hotel room, go to http://www.gustav-evac.com/ to find participating hotels where you need to stay.  You will only be allowed to stay there until basic services like electricity, water, and sewerage are back up and running to your place of residence.  If you have structural damage to your home, FEMA will inspect it and make a decision from there.  To apply for FEMA assistance, go to www.fema.gov and click on “Disaster Assistance” on the right.

I know there’s a lot of my friends still in Houma with no power, cable, internet, or TV; so I’ll be calling them with updates on Hurricane Ike and I suggest that you do the same to anyone you know there.  Right now Ike is looking like he’s going to miss us, but we’re no where near out of the woods yet.  If Ike decides to hit at Sabine Pass, we could end up with another Rita situation in the southern parish.

That’s all the information I have right now.  Check out www.tpcg.org or call (985) 873-6357 for the Terrebonne Parish EOC.  And of course, www.houmatoday.com for more news coming out of the area.

I must say that I’m a little upset at the way Michel Claudet handled this storm.  He dumped all the responsibility on Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois and then gave a “media blackout” of what was happening.  According to what I hear, he says that the person in charge of media relations “failed him”.  Well Michel, when an employee fails you, you need to cover his job until you can get someone in place that will do it.  That means that since you dumped all your duties on Vernon, you should have at least went by Martin Folse’s office and said something… ANYTHING… to calm the people of the parish down.  I have seen parish presidents from all the surrounding parishes on WWL-TV, yet I’m still to see you.  Let me guess… you dropped the ball on this one and you’re still trying to figure out how to get your ass out of it.  Keep thinking, because when I get back, if there’s not a recall petition going around Houma, there sure as hell will be one.

And I just want to thank those of you that have been supporting my page.  If we can just keep that support coming in, we’ll be able to tackle these phone bills and especially this bandwidth bill that we have incurred over the last week or so.  Please, only click on the ads if it is something that you are actually interested in.  I don’t want to get screwed out of money because Google comes back and tells me that they are false clicks.  Keep up the good work, and just think.  You don’t have to make a donation, you don’t have to spend any money.  Just keep up the good work you guys have been doing already.  That helps me out tremendously!

Thanks!!!

-Greg

I woke up this monring and the first thing I did was look at what Hurricane Ike was up to.  Yesterday, Houma was in the middle of the 5 day cone, now he’s moved south.  This is looking REAL good for South Louisiana!

I know a lot of you guys are asking how my job can make me go back so soon after a Hurricane.  Well, the deal is, I work in New Orleans.  And as you may have seen from the TV, NOLA got out of Gustav rather easily.  I live in Houma which caught the brunt of the storm.  I also work for a government contractor, and the gov’t wants to open back up as soon as possible.  I’ve used most of my vacation, so they are being real nice about letting me take time off without pay rather than just firing my ass.  I’m the only person from Houma that works there, so they really don’t care about just one person.  Had this storm destroyed New Orleans, it would be a different story.

I’ve updated the maps page to Ike rather than Gustav.  Ol’ Gustavo is gone with the wind and Ike is our new contender for “Mother of all storms” (right Mayor Nagin?).  And if Hurricane Ike is anything like Ike Turner, we may get slapped around a little bit.  Let’s just hope he decides he wants to go to Colombia or something and get some cocaine rather than come to Lousiana and slap some coonasses around.

I’m really getting tired of this crap.

-Greg

Thank God this came through.  I got a call saying that I’m approved for housing assistance from FEMA.  Seeing as my house can’t exactly be lived in, FEMA is going to put me up in a hotel once I get back.  There’s a hotel right across from work that would be perfect.  This is only until we have utilities back at Chateau Creole, but it’s going to beat not having anything.  Plus, I’m having to take time off without pay right now, so I need to get back to work as soon as possible to bring some money in!

Hurricane Gustav came visit us just 6 days ago.  It’s been a VERY long 6 days too.  You guys saw me go to sleep after 1AM on Sunday, yet I was awake for 5AM.  Other than last night, I’ve averaged between 1 and 2 hours of sleep per night since.  Here’s Hurricane Gustav from my point of view.

Sunday - August 31, 2008

I’ve got all of my hurricane preparations done.  After a tip from someone who was watching the static HurriCam, I moved it over to a live feed on ustream.tv and grabbed a beer.  I went swing by Ron’s house to makeA sure he had everything he needed and we were telling Dan about HurriCam.  Of course, he had to see it for himself, so we all went back by my house.  We ended up trying to fly a kite, but the wind was too light, so we went back to my house.  I got the chat room setup while the guys were by and started testing out the audio.  After someone in the chat room saying that we should talk on the cam or something, I came up with the idea for 3 Drunk Guys and a Hurricane.  We were all done with everything we had to do and were just waiting for the Hurricane, so it was something to do before Gustav showed up.  I grabbed some chairs, set them up in the grass in front of my bedroom window where the camera was, and we started drinking.  It was just another Hurricane party, only this one was broadcast to the world.  I had set up the “caution stick” earlier in the day to work as a windsock and never thought it would get such a following!  Beaver gave me a call and came by for a bit to drink all my scotch, and we had a complete blast.  After over 8 hours of broadcasting and quite a few beers, I thought it was time to settle down for the night.  I knew it would be the last bit of sleep I was going to get for a while.  Beaver would end up waking me up less than 4 hours later, and after I got rid of him, Dan decided he wanted to be back on the camera, giving his number to CNN.  Then he stood outside talking on the phone to everyone that could get through to him and kept me awake.  This kinda pissed me off, so I ran him back to his house and settled down for about 2 more hours of very drugged sleep.

Monday - September 1, 2008

I woke up before the crack of dawn and did a little on-cam Q&A with over 800 people in the chat room.  I was watching the weather channel and keeping track of Gustav when the power went out.  The computer that HurriCam was on stayed up, but the router and modem went down.  I would later figure out that I forgot the plug the batteries into the UPS, so I had no battery back-up on them!  And to top it off, I lost Comcast internet service.  HurriCam was down, and the hardest part of the storm was only a couple of hours away.  The rain wasn’t coming down that hard, so I went over to Ron’s to check on him.  Dan was still passed out and the guy that owns my apartment complex had called Ron to help him move a generator.  We jumped in the truck, ran over to Damon’s house and moved the generator.  There were already tree branches in the road but the water wasn’t rising, so we weren’t too afraid of what was coming.  Gusts by this time were only up to around 60 MPH and a few of us were walking around checking on the neighbors.  I go back to my apartment, turn on my little dynamo-powered radio, and lay back on the couch to watch the storm.

The wind really starting picking up around 9:30.  I kept watching the “A” building’s roof (it was the only thing I could really see from the angle I was at) and watched as the shingles start flying off.  I talked with Ron and he said his roof had blown off, and I had watched as part of the roof on the “B” building (the one that was in frame on HurriCam and right behind us) flew into the tennis court.  Then “A” got a little more interesting as the roof flew off.  I was laying on the couch when a 4′x8′ sheet of plywood came flying at my window.  It hit the 4″x4″ that hold up the balcony above me and the 4×4 post cut into the plywood about 2 feet.  If it hadn’t hit that post, it would have crashed through my window and landed in my lap.  I probably wouldn’t be posting this had that happened.  I watched as the corner wall on “A” failed and came crashing down on the walk-way in front of my car.  About 30 minutes later, the wooden part of the building failed and crashed into the tennis court.  Fiberglass insulation started flying around like pink snow.  It was actually kinda cool.  By about 11AM, the winds were sustained over 100 MPH with gusts up do 130-140.  Projectile shingles were everywhere, as were the chairs that people didn’t bring in, pieces of roof, and all kinds of other garbage.  I was patting myself on the back for picking up all the beer cans the night before, as they would have surely broken my windows when flying at 100+ MPH.

Things started to calm down around 5 that afternoon, and it continued to rain.  I went over to Ron’s house where the generator was and we lit up the BBQ with some chicken.  After dinner, Dan and I went to his house with the generator on and we sat in the living room playing guitar, drinking rum and beer, and trying to cool off with the “King of Fans”.  After drinking a fifth of rum, I passed out on the floor in front of the fan around 3 AM.

Tuesday – September 2, 2008

Ron woke me up around 5 AM. Today was the day to really survey damage.  The entire corner of the C building was missing, as were walls on A and G, but C was the worse of all.  All the buildings on my side of Peaceful Ave had serious roof damage, but across the street faired a lot better than we did.  There was most of Ron and Dan’s roof in the pool and some had gone through our friend Donavan’s windows into his kid’s room.  I drove over to my mom’s house to check on tree branches and stuff and had serious trouble getting around town.  Mom was fine, she had a couple of generators and my brother had brought over a window AC, so she was comfortable.  I heard about a gas station that was open and had gas, but by the time I got there all the pumps were not working from people putting in credit cards that didn’t work.

I started feeling real bad today.  My stomach was NOT feeling well and my knee started acting up.  I was shunning beer and I had very little to eat.  That night, Chris lit up the pit and we had pork chops, hot dogs, smoked sausage, and boudin.  I ended up trying to sleep in the car due to the fact it had AC, but ended up going into my apartment instead.  I went outside with a few bottles of water and took a little bath of sorts.  I kicked back with the radio and listened to WWL all night long.

Wednesday – September 3, 2008

I was awake when Dan came by to check on me.  He knew I wasn’t feeling well the night before and wanted to make sure that the cops didn’t arrest me for violating the curfew.  Not much was going on though.  Being bored as hell, I decided to start cleaning up in front of apartment.  I moved all the shingles out of the grass and stacked them up, got that sheet of plywood that almost came through my window out of the way, and swept up all the trash in the walkways.  I needed some semblance of normalcy.  I was working with Jasmine throughout the day to get me the hell out of there.  I needed medical attention, and with her being a doctor, I thought it be best I was with her.  I went by my mom’s house a few times throughout the day so I wouldn’t have to sit around by myself and managed to find a place with some gas.  I filled up the tank and went back to my house to get packed up and ready to leave.  I went by TGMC to see if they were open so I could ask a doctor why I couldn’t hold any food down and why I was so dehydrated, but they were closed.  Jasmine called me around 5PM to let me know that my ticket was ready and that I was leaving at 10:30 on Thursday morning.  I figured I would just drive up to the airport and get some sleep in the AC there until my flight left.

When I arrived at the airport there was a St. Charles Parish deputy blocking the entrance.  He told me I had to “come back tomorrow” and that the airport was closed.  I decided to drive down the street and check on Mark’s apartment in River Ridge.  I had a Guinness at the Shimmy Shack since it was open and charged my phone for a little bit.  After a turkey sandwich and a few more Bud Lights, I looked for a place to settle down for the night.  I ended up sleeping in the car while parked in the parking lot of my work building in Harahan.

Thursday – September 4, 2008

I got up and about around 5:30 and headed to the airport.  After getting checked in for my flight, I found a nice comfortable place to sit back with the iTouch and start checking the internet.  Once the battery ran out on it, it was time for my flight to Indy.

I’m telling you all now; Staying for Gustav was possibly one of the craziest things I’ve ever done.  After witnessing all that wind blowing and thanking God that the water didn’t come in, I’m confident that I probably won’t stay for another storm of that strength again.  Dealing with the reporters that kept setting up shop across the street from the badly damaged “C” building, having no power, no water, no sewerage, low supplies of food, and basically being imprisoned in your own home is no way to live.  I’m glad I’m in Ohio now… I get to spend time with my wife, check out the area in which we’re going to live in, get a nice hot shower, and get some much needed sleep as well as some medical attention.  Bellefontaine is a nice little town, but I’m not sure it’s for me.  I need to be in the south, on the gulf coast, waiting for the next storm to come in.  And Ike is on his way.  I’m really not liking the path that Ike is taking, so when my flight is scheduled to leave on the 13^th to go back to NOLA, I may not be able to make it all the way there.  Ike may already be there, looking for the caution stick and HurriCam, and trying to finish what Gustav didn’t.

-Greg