so much for "walking on sunshine"...

katrina update: she's now a category 5 and is expected to pay a visit to new orleans (which is pronounced "new OR-lenz", not "new or-LEENZ"; only yankees call it "new or-LEENZ") within the next 24 hours. this ain't good for n.o. -- the city is below sea level and a storm like this is going to cause some major flooding.

i was awoken this morning by a phone call from my brother, who lives in hattiesburg, MS, about 70 miles north of the coast. he called me because he couldn't get a hold of my dad and needed to talk to somebody in the family. the big question is whether my family is going to head north to avoid the storm. i, of course, am going nowhere. i live in pittsburgh. but this is a pretty big storm and although i am personally a big fan of major storms, i would rather my family not assume the role of sitting duck while 160 mile winds buffet the world around them.

but wait! my family is in pascagoula, not new orleans! yes, of course, but new orleans is only 100 miles from pascagoula, and pascagoula is still very much in the projected path of this storm.

so, my fingers are crossed, my thoughts are with my family and all of those in the path of this storm.

and in other news, my COBRA insurance coverage is apparently cancelled because my former employer has decided to no longer use the company i've been dutifully paying about $300 a month for the past year. and when did i find out? today -- august 28th. which gives me only 3 days to actually get new insurance, or i run the risk of losing any multiple sclerosis coverage because of nasty little "pre-existing conditions" clauses. goddamn it. goddamn it.

and finally, today would have been my mom's 53rd birthday. there's certainly one hell of a party going on in heaven right about now.