interdictor

mms://204.251.3.10:2864

Ok, it's a good thing I went to field sanitation school in the Army (before I was Special Forces). I've had to implement guidelines for water rationing and hygiene. We're gonna be fine.

I think a lot of people who rode out the storm are going to have to leave. Surviving the hurricane is one thing. Surviving with no water for a month is another. Not sure where they should go though.

Good morning from Ground -1.

Here are some pictures: http://sigmund.biz/kat/

I do not want to be an alarmist, but people who have the means to leave the greater New Orleans area need to do so. The infrastructure required to maintain a city is down. It could be a long time before it's back up. There will be too many people fighting for exceptionally scarce resources. It's one of those situations where you need A in order to fix B, but you can't do A until C happens and C can't happen until B is finished.

Right now, it's a matter of survival. There are 3 important aspects to surviving this: you need food/water/medicine, you need personal protection, and you need the means to conduct personal hygiene in such a way that you're not creating more of a problem than you're solving. For any media out there reading this, it would be very helpful for you to post guidelines for survivalist hygiene. This aspect is often the most overlooked. The possibility for disease is very high, especially in an area already infested with mosquitoes, roaches, flies, and rodents. Throw in dead bodies and unsatisfactory hygiene capabilities, overflowing sewage, etc. and you've got a recipe for an absolute disaster.

And then, there are looters, drug addicts who can't get their fix, and opportunists.

Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. We are already instituting our own rules and guidelines for hygiene, personal behavior, etc. Effective use of time NOW is critical. Problems need to be dealt with before they exist, because they will exist and you don't want to have critical situations occur when you're dealing with something else.

The most important thing of all is to keep a clear head. When people freak out (women especially, sorry if you think that's sexist, but I'm telling you how it is), it adds an element of stress and wastes time and effort that could be directed elsewhere. Stay calm, use your head, set your priorities, act, evaluate your situation constantly, and remember that everyone is in this together. It's easy to want to step on everyone else to effect your own survival, but remember that every person who dies becomes a sanitation risk to you.

There it is. I am expecting the worst and preparing for it.

We are running on a diesal generator, specifically:

Cummins Onan 750dfha
844
serial 800065069
It's a 750 Kw generator

Current draw is 210 volts. 20% load, down from 30%. We're gonna try to get it to 10%.

What I need to know is what should we do to make it consume diesel at the lowest rate?

Also, does anyone know what options are available to get more diesel in New Orleans?

Maybe someone could contact the company for us and get us some info?

We need to slow it down, we need to conserve consuption, etc. People are telling us that if we try to slow it down, it won't work right... We need some info that will help us in our situation. We can cut off some of the ACs we're running, and we're going to....

Thanks in advance.

One of the guys ventured out to check for open stores... they're open to looters. He reports that there's looting at walmart and the like.

Also there is water in the CBD on Canal Street. Flooded about one and one-half feet so far. Quarter might be flooding too.

Still no flooding near us at all.

More later.

Someone turned this blog into a paid Livejournal account. Not sure who it was, but thanks.

Thanks to all the people offering help with the generator, the sanitation stuff, the news, etc. Very appreciated. You have no idea.

Thanks to everyone who is offering help and advice. I only wish you could do the same for the people not as well off as we are right now. The people who need the most help must be feeling the most isolated right now. There's a light at the end of the tunnel for them, but it's way out there.

Some people are asking me about my personal situation. My survival is virtually assured in as much as such a statement can be made. Next to that, I don't much care about my apartment in harahan. Nevertheless, I haven't been able to communicate with my parents in Harahan since around 6am on Sunday. If anyone has info on Harahan, that would be appreciated.

I guess what I'm saying is there's no need to focus on us here, because we're gonna make do. We need to worry about preventing the city from consuming itself, because the looting is getting nuts, the waters are rising in many heretofor unflooded sections, and there's no timeline available for power, food, water, medicine and the like for the masses.

If you have any survival tips, feel free to toss in your input. I've got a lot of survival training, but we've never trained for the total collapse of civilization (or I should say, my only training in that regard was from a military perspective).

Michael

Ok, I checked all the crew here for specific medical needs, and we've got one. We need to secure some Lexapro (20mg dosage) and some Xanax (1mg dosage) for one of the guys. He is subject to vertigo and illness if he cuts his meds out cold turkey. His last dosages were Sunday, and we'd like to secure some more. Any ideas which do not require unsavory means?

Thanks in advance.

I've got the live feed (mms://204.251.3.10:1847 <--- fixed) aimed down St. Charles from Poydras. It's aimed at one of the side streets where water has just appeared. It's creeping up and headed down St. Charles both directions.

For some reason my ICQ eon't connect, but the feed and my browser will.

The guy with the medical needs decided to leave for Tenn. Thanks for all the help though.

More in a bit.

Will be away for a few. Found some diesel. Directnic is not going anywhere.

Back in a bit.

One of our employee's uncle has some kind of huge boat and he donated his diesel reserves to our cause. We're set for the time being as far as that goes.

I can't believe no one has told us they have great news -- they just saved a bunch of money on their car insurance by switching... ;)

Ok, the looting is getting nuts out there. The water is creeping, but very very very slowly. I've got the feed aimed at the street where it's coming from, and you can sort of see it. It looks like a shadow on the street right now.

I heard I was on CNN and it was mentioned that my tone is no longer optimistic. Let me just say that I am very optimistic. The city can descend into chaos for a little while, but eventually order will develop. Sure, it looks bleak, but we'll work through it.

I have a lot of people telling us to abandon ship and get out. Guys, that's not gonna happen. I'll eat roaches and drink the funky Quarter sludge in the gutters of Bourbon Street long before I abandon my city. I've got resources and will and so does my team, and we're here until this is over.

There's not a whole lot else to report at this time. I'm still on ICQ, still doing the feed, and I'll update as needed.

We're gonna need a supply of it -- steady supply. Does anyone have the means to deliver some to New Orleans? We have the means to pay for it -- we're thinking $10/gallon? Is this doable?

One of the reasons it's so easy to collapse during a crisis situation is that even the most minute tasks can be desperately frustrating. For instance, you need to move fuel from a 55 gallon drum into a generator fuel tank. First you have to have tools to open the drums and the tank. Someone has to go find some if there aren't any available. Then you have to have pumps to draw it out and pump it into the tank. That means you need extension cord. Have to move the drums and that means you need a dolly. Every step requires items and equipment that could be missing. Then the pumps could burn out. Every simple step has a dozen issues that could cause problems. It's easy to say screw it and abandon ship. And that's the easy stuff.

You have to persevere. As bad as we've got it right now in New Orleans, we have to keep in mind that the native americans lived in this place when it was nothing but a swamp 400 years ago. This was their life. What did they do when a cat 5 hurricane blasted their swamps?

I keep being told that CNN and the Slate reported our "moods" as something other than upbeat. The city is falling apart, no doubt. The looting is rampant. Just take a look at the cam and you'll see them breaking into that hotel and taking everything. The water is still creeping in. But you know what? My team's mood is not negative. We're focused. We've got things that need doing and we're gonna get them done. That's all there is to it. We need diesel. We'll find some. We have people depending on us and we are not going to let them down. That's all there is to it.

And if that's not enough to put our situation in persepective, just remember we live here. Think about the thousands of American soldiers deployed across the world in a place where they barely speak the native language, facing down people actively trying to kill them while they try to put a whole region back together. This is what, day 3 or so for us? Some of them have been there 12 months or more. I want everyone to let them know that we're thinking of them; all in all, they're a lot worse off than we are.

So if you're in the media and you're following this blog, please make sure you get this right: we're preparing for the worst, we know things are going to get worse -- a lot worse -- before they get better, but we're positive and we're gonna fight through this and win. Period.

Finally, I want to thank everyone again. You're all offering us support and we appreciate it. I read every single response in my blog even though I do not have time to reply to all of them.

Turning off the cam for a bit.

I've been moving and dumping 55 gallon drums all day. It's back breaking work, but it's a good thing I've got a strong back. I haven't fooled with that much diesel since I was on shit-burning detail in the first Gulf War. I used to volunteer for it because it meant I could skip morning formation. Never been much of a garrison soldier. I was always a field soldier.

So here at Outpost Crystal, we're set pretty good. Thanks for the heads up on the 12-15 feet of water that you guys are telling me I can expect in the CBD tomorrow. That's fine, I'm trained for water operations too. I appreciate all the recommendations, but we're not going.

Right now there are close to 15 squad cars on St. Charles at Poydras. They turned off all their lights, grabbed flashlights and appear to be conducting building searches. It's like they're trying to be sneaky.

Some of you have accused us of running a looped feed. You have got to be kidding. We aim the camera at whatever we think is relevent.

Obviously we're running guard shifts and patrols of the building.

More later.

Want an update on the city? Here you go: http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.wwltv.com/082905mayor.wmv

Since it's war out there, I figure it's time to go back to my military ways.

Camp Crystal is locked down for the night. Team SOTI (that's the crew up here) has broken up into 3 squads. Squad 1 is on diesel detail. Squad 2 is on patrol. Squad 3 is on service and support.

The Final Protective Line is Poydras Avenue. All avenues of approach are secure. Stand to is at 0600.

The cops were out in force on Poydras until just a few moments ago. Not sure what they were upto.

These diesel fumes are a pain in the ass. I bet I've killed 10,000 braincells today, and if you know me, you know I don't have any to spare.

Right now, I want to plug my beautiful fiancee, Crystal. She's been nothing but a trooper up here through this hell. She's originally a Cali girl, but I transplanted her less than one month after we met. It was love at first sight and that was almost 2 years ago. She's been doing the cooking and most of the cleaning and moving stuff around and getting things ready and situated and basically anything she can do. I'm going to plug her modeling page now, in case anyone wants to work with her. Her rates are not cheap, but she's amazing. Http://onemodelplace.com then type in her model ID: 85637. She won't be available to work for some time, but maybe in a month or so.

She's an inspiration, and although part of me wishes she were anywhere but here, I'm glad she's with me.

Maybe I should go ahead and get us registered for the wedding some place in case anyone reading felt inclined to buy us something. ;)

Until later....