Meant to post this yesterday, but didn’t have internet access. Today marks my one-year anniversary in Biloxi! On September 4th last year, I was pulling my fully loaded (and since deceased) Hyundai Accent into the parking lot of the Salvation Army Volunteer Village. One year, two cars, five-plus completed houses, 120 blog posts, and 2080 work hours later, what have I learned? What are the most memorable experiences? Conquered my fear of heights. Learned how to drive a stick shift. Started judo. Six months so far! Visited the Doo-Nanny and the Museum of Wonder in Seale, Alabama. Sang along to …

Back home after two days in a Red Cross shelter, I’m fine, and so is everyone that I’ve heard from. The damage, luckily, seems to be minimal here in Biloxi. I’m too spaced out to write much now, but here are the basics: I stayed with about half of Hands On Gulf Coast at a Red Cross shelter in Stennis Space Center, a huge complex on the west end of the Mississippi Gulf Coast (Stennis is where they build space shuttle engines and parts). I’m ready for some hot food that doesn’t come in a little can. The Red Cross …

Hurricane preparations here are well under way. Unless the storm changes course, an evacuation order will probably come tomorrow, but the Coordination Center isn’t waiting around. Everything valuable is being packed up and taken to safer places inland. It’s a big and messy operation, but in a way it’s also a chance to clean house a little bit. There’s nothing like an evacuation to force you to take stock of what is important to you.

It developed a couple of days ago and now everyone’s talking about Hurricane Gustav! The storm is still in the Caribbean, where it has killed at least 22 people, but if it continues on its current course it could land pretty directly on New Orleans and/or the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a Category 3 or higher storm. We should know by Saturday or Sunday whether we need to leave. Hands On has a fairly well-developed evacuation plan and if they evacuate I’ll go with them to a shelter near Jackson. Since Tropical Storm Fay barely affected us, this would be …

–World Record 3:08.24 –Nearly 4 seconds faster than the previous record –Eight one-hundredths of a second faster than the French –World record of 47.24 in the leadoff leg (by Eamon Sullivan of Australia) –Amazing comeback by anchor Jason Lezak –Maintains Michael Phelps’ chances for 8 golds WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!