Just wondering if he faired ok.. that was a hell of a storm.. theres not much coverage on what happend in Baton Rouge. If New Orleans got hit that hard I would assume baton rouge would have also.

 

I was just on his website before, and was thinking the same thing. He does have ariel pics. on his site, of the flooding, so that is a good sign. I hope everything is OK. I did a search on "Baton Rouge", just to see where it exactly is, and its not too far from New Orleans.(looks like its about 60 miles). Hopefully he and his family are safe. Ive had the news channels switching back and forth for the last two days.

 

Isn't there multiple Baton Rouge locations in the U.S.??

 

Craig's definately belongs to the one in LA..

 

I talked to Craig via the telephone the evening preceding (sunday night)the storm. all indications then were that he was a good bit above sea level at his location and was north and west of the path . I haven't talked to him since.Not that one could anyway(tried calling his cell and his home numbers no network service). The phone lines and cable lines are down for an extended area. I'm terriably sure this will also cause delays in his shipping of products as well as an extended period of time before he is taking orders in. until one of us hears from him lets all be optomistic and hope for the best.

I belive the picture on his site was put up sunday evening before the hurricaine hit.

 

I belive the picture on his site was put up sunday evening before the hurricaine hit. [/B][/QUOTE]

The pic shows New Orleans under water, so it most likely was put up just after the storm...which is good news.

 

I'm alive, but without power. No damage to speak of. Chainsaw (Stihl 029s Farm Boss) and 1 hour of work to clean up the yard debris. We were very lucky here compared to the folks down in New Orleans.

But, we're out of power and internet service. No telling when it will come back. I'm typing to you now from a local coffee shop that has WiFi setuyp. I've set up shop up there right now with laptop and printer, going to see if we can get some Moates.Net orders out in the mail.

No air conditioning at home, so nothing to do back at the house really in 95 degree weather. Things should be back to normal within the week.

 

Thats good,

I saw all the houses under water in New Orleans and thought... F***


glad to hear your alright.

 

Definitely!!! Glad to hear you were lucky with that mess, Craig! Unfortunately, I know some folks in N.O. who weren't.....

If there's anything I can do from Dalls, let me know. I'd be willing to handle some individual shipping of orders, etc. if you want to drop ship some inventory to me to work from. Might be cheaper and easier for you in the end to do it that way with all the services interruptions over there. Your choice. I believe you have my cell number from when we were swapping out my Ostrich that appeared bad due to a bad ribbon cable connector. If not, I can PM or e-mail it to you if desired. Just offering to help a 'Bud out, no compensation is necessary on this end. Just let me know.



- Vern

 

Glad to hear you made it through with only minor difficulty.

Does that chainsaw have a V6 and run on an Ostrich ?

 

 

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/154/

Just what you need to clear away some debris

 

Glad to hear all is somewhat well, Craig.

That chainsaw is way over the top.

 

Yes Craig,
Glad to here your still a land based operation.
How did work fair?

 

That chainsaw is amazingly bad

 

I think the V8 one needs a blower or something to make it more outrageous.

OK, maybe just nitrous....

You only have enough power, when it's totally excessive.....

 

Whats excessive power mean?

Good to hear Craig is okay and hopefully so is everyone else we know thru here in the affected areas

later
JEremy

 

When you can break the tires loose, under accleration, deccleration, and cornering. Obviously, this only applies to cars that have the max amount of tire possible, and with the chassis fully optimized.

Obviously great to hear from Craig.......

 

Bad, in a good way, or bad? I just e-mailed it to everyone I know. LMAO.

 

I think its both its completly worthless but its damn cool at the same time so i guess it would be bad in a good way

 

The definition of a real MANLY toy

The situation down in N.O. seems to be getting out of control.
Some of the people are beginning to act like animals and are not helping with the situation. It's really sad IMO that the gaurd has to be called in to try and maintain peace in a time of crisis.
Hopefully it will not spread to other areas that aren't affected as bad.
Time to get some protection possibly. Better to be prepared IMO.
Be safe, good buddy!

 

Power is back up along with internet here now. It seems selfish in the face of what others are facing, but we're thankful and thrilled to be getting back to a semblance of normalcy.

We're about 5 miles away from one of the 'refugee centers' north of LSU where some local rioting and civil unrest has been reported.

Household weapons have been checked as cleaned, oiled, and loaded. Extra clips are on hand, but I guess you can never have too much ammo.

Chainsaw is going out on loan to a friend that has family in Gulfport, MS. They were fairly lucky, but it's all relative. Their home is a total loss.

 

Glad all is well there! Ammo and spare clips are your friend!!!!!!

 

Glad to hear you've faired well Craig. If you decide to post some comments on how well (or terribly) the relief efforts are going, I'd be most interested. I prefer to hear the news from those who live through the situation, not those who stand in front of a camera to report to us what they want us to hear. Stay safe over there...

 

The ***'s honest truth from my perspective contains the following:

- Everyone with any sense and capability left the disaster area before the storm hit.
- Anyone left behind was either ignorant, arrogant, or just not able to leave.
- The long shadow cast by the ignorant and arrogant darkens the case of those that were not able.

- This disaster is beyond anything that is conceivable. No amount of planning could have prevented it.
- The scale of the relief effort is huge, and the damage to the infrastructure extreme.
- All local resources were sucked up in the first instant to help those that left early.
- The scale of effort required takes time to build momentum. That has now occurred.

Think about it from the leadership perspective. The thing hits on Monday. You're not sure how bad it is going to be, and your state and federal budgets are already so far into the red that you're closing schools. So you don't mobilize anything more than you would reasonably expect to. But still, you declare a state of emergency before the storm even hits so that FEMA and everyone is in place and ready to roll.

Then the thing actually hits and hits hard. This is 'The Big One'. Monday comes and goes, and you don't know how bad it is. It's gotta be bad, because you don't hear anything. And in this sort of business, no news is BAD news.

Then communication starts to open up. Still learning of the scope, Tuesday rolls around. Now you have some clue how bad it really is. You call everyone, utility crews coming down from Michigan. Police coming from California. The people you have housed 100 miles away from the epicenter are out of power and all transport routes are flooded and out of commission. Who do you help first?

By Wednesday, the crews are well on their way. The people that stayed in the area for the storm were totally out of luck in the first place. They didn't know where their next meal was coming from before the storm even came. Nothing has changed much for them, except now they're concentrated like those ***** of fireants during rainy season. And they're pissed, hungry, you name it. Blacks are NOT a minority in Louisiana urban areas by any means. But this is not a racial issue. It just so happens that the folks who didn't leave for whatever reason are mostly of that color.

What can you do for folks at night? You can't see anything, and your crews are exhausted from running all day in 100 degree weather. Feces floating everywhere, people clawing their way out of attics that aren't even theirs. Bad news, death toll will be well over 10k I think.

Thursday comes. Folks have been strapped down with nowhere to go for 2 days after the storm actually cleared. Going into the 3rd day. Hundreds of thousands of people who evacuated are wondering who's dead and alive, if they have a home to return to. All is lost but lives. Homes and apartments for sale or lease within 100 miles are snapped up like spare change. Nowhere to go, nowhere to stay. Evacuees themselves are volunteering to help. they've got nothing to lose.

We have utility crews from like 20 states just dog-piling and fixing everything that they can get to. Still can't get to New Orleans. Focus efforts are on getting everyone out now! We saw hundreds and hundreds of school buses going down the freeway with armed escorts. The first groups tried to go down to help people without military escorts and were overturned and robbed by looters. They really do have a serious problem in that regard. You can't go in without martial law and a full complement of Marines to feed the hungry and evacuate the remaining poor folk? Maybe in a foreign land, but this is the U.S.! Pathetic, but that is the reality we're becoming aware of. It's not us versus them, it's just human nature manifesting at different levels of desperation.

Friday. Now it's time for the photo-ops with the President. *** bless him, he was on vacation. It's real easy to point fingers and try and decide who's fault this all is. Guess what? It's nobody's fault. Everyone involved is doing everything they possibly can. People are dying while trying to help their fellow man.

What will coming days bring? I don't know. I hope the bloodthirsty Left-Wing-Fanatic-Liberal media can just brush aside finger-pointing other than "Look over there, let's save those folks!". But human nature being as poor as it is in general, I'm sure these peoples' misfortune will find their way into a presidential campaign trail.

That's a piece of my mind on the matter. Overall, it is a truly tragic mess. There's no easy way out. It's going to cost a fortune at all levels. Hopefully not too many people end up losing their lives.

Think about these folks, everyone that is impacted. The ones you don't see on camera are hit very hard as well. The folks who have the means to avoid rolling around in the street crying for Uncle Sam aren't getting shown on TV. They've lost just as much if not more. Most of what you see are people who were hanging on by a thread in the first place. There's a LOT more to the story. Luckily, everyone is doing what they can to help. We'll see where it takes us.

 

I'll state first, that I'm sure I feel as bad for everyone who was stuck there and had to go thru this as anyone.

I still cant believe the savagery that some people have stooped to.

Incidents of rape and murder, kind of a shame when they are all in the same boat.

I'm sure that TV in your shopping cart will help you out tons.

I honestly hope they start shooting looters how are preying on people or going after valuables.

I was praying they went back to the hospital on Wedns with a door gunner in the helicopter after people on the roof pulled weapons on the heli crew. This was when they were trying to get IC patients and babies out.

I cant believe people sitting in the middle of the road all day long?
Have u ever tried to boil an egg on a sidewalk or the street, I know it works really good on a hot day. I dont understand how know one has the presence of mind at least to make some shaded areas from whatever is at hand?

Or that no one has taken water and distilled and seperated it out and then boiled it off and condensed it for drinking water. I've seen this stuff done on Sesame Street when the little nieces and neph are over.

They just push dead bodies out next to them? No one has the right mind to at least tag them with names and cover them and at the least remove them from direct contact of the living?

I'm sure someone will take it offhand and say I am cruel and other things and that I am not there or that this doesnt impact me. I museum in N.O. that is dedicated to my familys history was wiped out and I literally have high hundreds to a 1000 relatives of the last name Centanni that live all over Louisiana. Even a town or two of the same name after them. I will admit they are distant relatives, but still family nonetheless. I also have 2 friends at Paretti Jaguar from school and their stores were in NO and Baton Rouge.

Guess more than anything I am shocked to see people de-evolve into something that I regard as less than human. It is a truly sad state and I also believe, that you can never truly prepare for something of this magnitude let alone the resources you would need for something like this just sitting there, from manpower to materials

later
Jeremy

 

Thanks for your perspective, Craig. It was quite an eye opener. I had no idea about the hospitals or the original bus crews that came in. Totally disappointing. I wish everyone had taken the mayor of NO's advice of getting the hell out of there (I saw him on the Weather Channel I think as part of a press conference) then I think everyone would be better off. Not only that, but if everyone had the sense of community that he displayed on TV, then you wouldn't have the looters running around with surround sound systems and flat-panel TVs. And what are you gonna plug your TV into, buddy? I don't think it was human nature at it's most desparate state, I think it was human nature at it's most opportunistic state with no regard to morals or any sense of decency. It just proves that they are not that helpless if they were running for TVs instead of bread and canned food.

I think I had seen some footage of a police officer who had busted a 20-something man for looting, and my best guess is that the cop told him, "Either you sit here for another 10 seconds while I put handcuffs on you and I'll take you down to the slammer," (which I imagine is no treat right now either), "or you run your *** until you're out of my sight. And if I ever see you again I won't forget what you've done here today."

I say they take 1/2 of those busses (or however many they would need to use), load them up with the criminals (people who are stealing perishable foods, goods, and clothes aside) and take them for a ride to whatever institution can hold them until the mess is all sorted out. I guess they probably just don't have the manpower and resources to do so? The good people waiting patiently for help are in greater need of those busses.

 

Anybody with Centanni racing that runs a Corvette in scca?

DM