Comic Con, etc.

I hit the Baltimore Comic Con this last weekend, and it was awesome. Met Robert Kirkman - the guy who writes The Walking Dead, Joseph Linsner who writes Dawn, and talked to Jerry from Penny Arcade. I bought some great prints from Jennifer Rodgers (www.jenniferrodgers.com) and got some great free swag, as well as the whole Paranoia Agent series on DVD and some trade paperbacks I had been looking for. I also met briefly Marc Hempel, whose name I recognized from current stuff but who I did not know until this con also did a comic called Mars, which I used to read as a young lad vacationing near the Canadian border...it was one of those ones that you couldn't find as easily in the states, but great stuff. Unfortunately I was pretty tapped out on what I had wanted to spend, so I am waiting to get the collected edition of that.

Also went to see Henry Rollins doing a spoken word gig, always great stuff. If you've never gone, go check it out...you'll hear some disturbing stuff sometimes, but you will always laugh your ass off as well.

Otherwise, not much going on...trying to finish some games I picked up a while back for GBA, and I picked up Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects and We Love Katamari, both great games. You should check them both out, great fun.

On a final note, good luck to everyone in Rita's path...it seems nature wants to systematically destroy the south. This time, GET OUT. Think of the voice saying that to you from Amityville Horror, and heed it. Hopefully it will bleed out to nothing as they sometimes do before hitting land, but take no chances.

Like a Horror Movie

So I'm sure you are all aware of the nastiness going on down in New Orleans...Hurricane, floods, thugs, looting, people refusing to leave a city under water, rapes and murders in the shelters, and...while unsubstantiated and probably crap, even a report of cannibalism. I almost went back down there, but due to not being fully qualified yet another guy was sent instead. I would like to have gone...it feels strange to have spent so much time down there, have such a major disaster happen so soon after I leave, and not be too involved in the rescue and relief efforts. The French Quarter often was like a second home to me. My friends down there are all accounted for, most of them also Coast Guard so working pretty hard to get things under control. It sucks how when a massive disaster like this happens the best AND the worst have to float up, with a bunch of people suffering in the middle. And this time there isn't even a terrorist cell to focus the anger and frustration on, no common enemy to bring everyone together. Just lots of confused people, some reacting very poorly. Some reacting very well...so far the Coast Guard has rescued almost as many people as there are in the Coast Guard in total.

I'd love to hang out in the quarter again...I hope I am able to someday.

Near Miss

For those who don't know, I do NOT live in Louisiana anymore. I have been out of there for 3 months.

That said, New Orleans took a HEAVY beating. I miss the place, and now it apparently has fallen into rampant chaos, as seen here. It's a bit mind numbing to look at all those pictures and see places I was just at a few months ago, only now destroyed, underwater, or being looted.

Everyone I know down there seems to have come out ok, I hope things start to go well for all the survivors as soon as possible.