The Cheapest Price In Town

3 out of 4 gas stations that I passed on my commute in yesterday were out.

That's right Joey, I took these pictures as well as the Header Image on my East Side Stay Alive commute of the Ye Ole Pop Shoppe on Albermarle yesterday morning 2 days after Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast. (as an aside I would be interested in doing an interview with you about your experience being robbed/jacked/mugged while finishing your Sweaty, I mean Petty, I mean Peddy Cab shift a short time ago, that way everyone would know what really goes down in the Jar)

For those of you unaware I was down yonder in the Houston, Beaumont Texas areas working Disaster Assessment for the American Red Cross in 2005, 24hrs after Hurricane Rite hit over Sabine Pass Texas. What a learning journey that was, as a matter of fact I had so many educational discoveries during that 15 day experience that my life was indeed theoretically changed for ever. As "the story" is being reported by the National Media on this latest Hurricane I keep in mind as should you that they are not really giving us all of the information. One of the biggest lessons I learned from taking part in America was that what I was seeing and experiencing on the ground during the aftermath of the storm was quite different than what ABC News and the all of the so called news networks were pumping into the houses of the rest of America and the world. The truth is people are down there right now and are in extraordinary need for the basics which we take for granted here, like ice cubes in our lunch time beverage served in the latest styro fate of a nation. I remember seeing cases where within 10 days after the storm people were holding down their powerless homes where the inside temp was over 110 degrees. I also remember what those refineries where 25% of our domestic gas/oil production takes place looked like off line, under water and without power. Bizarre, really bizarre is a nation needing what comes deep from the earth and cannot be provided due to a natural event ripping through with high winds and a swelling ocean.

The Now. I have multiple inside sources in the region, one is a fellow from the Toon who has been working under contract with a subsidiary of the mother Company AT&T to keep the cell phone towers powered with yet more diesel fuel so executives can bust balls major. Another is in Beaumont at the FEMA run POD at the Ford Arena. I have had some interesting reports come in since Friday the day before the storm hit. Cool Ranch Dressing is flowing to the Mayor of Pasadena Texas' generator powered house and the Texas State Highway Patrol has plenty of high powered assault rifles strapped to their chests. I have also discovered that the collective local impression is that this Ike was 3 times more than what Rita was, I can see it and am blown away. If Rita was 3 times less, understand that then it took 6-9 months to get the gas productions back on line. Not that it matters to us but I saw people just yesterday at the gas stations in need here not knowing what to do when they should be on their bikes headed in the direction of their own destiny as opposed to being at the dispense of an economy to get where they want to go.