Well, all that snow that melted and that rain yall had up north? Yeah, well it all collected itself and flowed down at once down the Mississippi to come visit me here in Baton Rouge and I think it's decided to stay for dinner. Here in Baton Rouge, the levees protect to a river stage of 48 feet. The river is presently at 44.61 feet. Since they opened the Morganza spillway, I don't think the levees will be overtopped, but all we can do is wait and see how right (or wrong) the Corps of Engineers is.

Since I work with GIS mapping software at work, out of curiosity I loaded up some FEMA flood maps for my area and layered some USGS topographic maps on top of it. I realized the neighborhood where I live is the LOWEST POINT IN THE CITY. (Isn't that comforting!) I zoomed in to where my apartment is, and yes, I live in a flood zone. There is a Base Flood Elevation (BFE) contour line that is basically located right outside my apartment. It's at a BFE of 18 feet. What that means is that basically my apartment is at an elevation of 18 feet.

Now, as far as proximity to the river, the levee is about 1 to 1.5 miles straight out from my front door. If the river overtopped the levees (at 48 feet) and flooded the area where I live (at 18 feet), that means, theoretically, I could have 30 feet of water where my two story apartment is. Basically, bringing items up to the second floor probably wouldn't help since the water would be above the top of my roof. (Ah..more comforting news...)

Now, here's the best part. Between me and the river is a rather large sewage treatment plant which services the southern half of Baton Rouge. (Yeah, on days when the wind blows in the wrong direction, it can be quite unpleasant.) So, not only would I get 30 feet of yall's melted snow, Mid-west rain runoff, pesticides, mud and other lovely river ingredients all through my apartment, I'd also get a little lagniappe (French for "a little something extra") from the sewage treatment plant too! (Now, doesn't that just make you wanna sing and dance!)

The thing is, it's not overtopping the levees that I'm worried about. With the opening of the Morganza spillway, I don't think overtopping will happen. What I'm worried about is a catastrophic failure of the levee somewhere south of downtown Baton Rouge, mainly in my neck of the woods. The problem is, the water is gonna be VERY HIGH for the next MONTH or so, which means the water will be saturating the levees, possibly weakening them. We've had water this high before, but not for such a long, sustained period of time. So all of us in Baton Rouge (especially South Baton Rouge) are holding our collective breaths and just hoping the levees hold. We'll just have to wait and see.

Well, that's what been on my mind as of late. If you're interested, there is a new riverboat casino being built here in Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River, very near where I live, that has a webcam on the levee that shows the river level. Here's the link:

http://oxblue.com/pro/open/pinnacle/batonrouge

What's neat about it is you can go back in time and see what the river level was, say a month ago, and compare that to today. For an interesting comparison, check out the river level for example, on April 16th and then click May 16th. I think that will help explain exactly how much water we're talking about.

Anyway, there's my randomness...what's yours? where to buy abortion pill ordering abortion pills to be shipped to house buy abortion pill online

Aerial_Zero Wrote:I know what you mean about the heat-- nothing zaps me worse than heat. I hate to sweat LoL I like to do my exercise at night. We have some tourist areas here that are open rather late (and not desolate) so we will go there and walk around. The route goes around a man made lake and is about a mile one complete rotation. We need to do that more often ;-) Hubby is at work as usual so Im here bored, a little of this and that: World of Warcraft, talking to my folks, drawing, this forum, and watching SC&MK and BL5 :-)

Yeah, I don't mind heat when I'm just sitting there, and I don't even mind working hard and sweating, but when I'm trying to do something strenuous...it just gets to me when I'm burning up.

I am jealous that you have a lake, even if it's man-made. Sure would beat running on the streets, though once it warms up a bit in a couple days I'll go out and see everyone's flowers and such.

(I actually love to be left to do my own thing, and if my partner were around constantly it'd drive me crazy, but NEVER having time to talk to him kinda sucks)

HooDooMan Wrote:Well, all that snow that melted and that rain yall had up north? Yeah, well it all collected itself and flowed down at once down the Mississippi to come visit me here in Baton Rouge and I think it's decided to stay for dinner. Here in Baton Rouge, the levees protect to a river stage of 48 feet. The river is presently at 44.61 feet. Since they opened the Morganza spillway, I don't think the levees will be overtopped, but all we can do is wait and see how right (or wrong) the Corps of Engineers is. Since I work with GIS mapping software at work, out of curiosity I loaded up some FEMA flood maps for my area and layered some USGS topographic maps on top of it. I realized the neighborhood where I live is the LOWEST POINT IN THE CITY. (Isn't that comforting!) I zoomed in to where my apartment is, and yes, I live in a flood zone. There is a Base Flood Elevation (BFE) contour line that is basically located right outside my apartment. It's at a BFE of 18 feet. What that means is that basically my apartment is at an elevation of 18 feet. Now, as far as proximity to the river, the levee is about 1 to 1.5 miles straight out from my front door. If the river overtopped the levees (at 48 feet) and flooded the area where I live (at 18 feet), that means, theoretically, I could have 30 feet of water where my two story apartment is. Basically, bringing items up to the second floor probably wouldn't help since the water would be above the top of my roof. (Ah..more comforting news...) Now, here's the best part. Between me and the river is a rather large sewage treatment plant which services the southern half of Baton Rouge. (Yeah, on days when the wind blows in the wrong direction, it can be quite unpleasant.) So, not only would I get 30 feet of yall's melted snow, Mid-west rain runoff, pesticides, mud and other lovely river ingredients all through my apartment, I'd also get a little lagniappe (French for "a little something extra") from the sewage treatment plant too! (Now, doesn't that just make you wanna sing and dance!) The thing is, it's not overtopping the levees that I'm worried about. With the opening of the Morganza spillway, I don't think overtopping will happen. What I'm worried about is a catastrophic failure of the levee somewhere south of downtown Baton Rouge, mainly in my neck of the woods. The problem is, the water is gonna be VERY HIGH for the next MONTH or so, which means the water will be saturating the levees, possibly weakening them. We've had water this high before, but not for such a long, sustained period of time. So all of us in Baton Rouge (especially South Baton Rouge) are holding our collective breaths and just hoping the levees hold. We'll just have to wait and see. Well, that's what been on my mind as of late. If you're interested, there is a new riverboat casino being built here in Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River, very near where I live, that has a webcam on the levee that shows the river level. Here's the link: http://oxblue.com/pro/open/pinnacle/batonrouge What's neat about it is you can go back in time and see what the river level was, say a month ago, and compare that to today. For an interesting comparison, check out the river level for example, on April 16th and then click May 16th. I think that will help explain exactly how much water we're talking about. Anyway, there's my randomness...what's yours?

Yeesh. Hope your apartment at least isn't on the first floor, lol. Good luck.

Tron Fanatic Wrote:Alright... I just came across something on Yahoo today talking about the EU being in some kind of debt crisis. Say WHAT?! And the Euro dollar is like worth twice that of the U.S. dollar, and even THEY'RE in trouble? 1st, that's just scary because it says just how much crap the U.S. is in now. But 2nd, if even they're in some killer debt hole... who the heck DOES have money anymore? Anyone? Or is every nation in the world in crippling debt? Just abolish money already and get it over with, before it completely kills humanity.

I think Ayn Rand would have something to say about that.

Seriously, though....yeah, everybody's pretty much screwed. China owns our country. Everybody else owns everybody else. Gas prices are going back up AGAIN, which is part of what started this whole mess in the first place. Global economy indeed!

Tron Fanatic Wrote: Kat Wrote:I think Ayn Rand would have something to say about that. Seriously, though....yeah, everybody's pretty much screwed. China owns our country. Everybody else owns everybody else. Gas prices are going back up AGAIN, which is part of what started this whole mess in the first place. Global economy indeed! If she were still around, I somehow doubt she''d have the same feelings about it... everyone used to think that businesses would regulate themselves, morally-speaking. Which was fine in a micro-economy... if you did something bad to just a few people, your business in your town was ruined. But when your customer base includes the entire country or world, you can do whatever the hell you want, and the current state of the world has plenty of evidence of that. Globalization has killed the power of individuals. Businesses are so big now, they're god-like. The usual rules of social inhibition are no longer a factor, because the negative repercussions of being immoral are non-existent. Boycotts and protests, the most powerful weapon the people have available to them, are impossible. Even when most organized, amount to MAYBE 100,000 people. Still only a drop of water in a pond when your potential customers encompass the whole world.

My guess is that she would probably still say that corrupt businesses are not the fault of money, just of corrupt people using money, and yada yada. After all, businesses that spanned the country did feature in her books-- Atlas Shrugged comes to mind (did they really make that into a movie? Yikes) and if you recall, the alleged "good guys" are just a few in a whole mess of corrupt wankers. I've never thought Rand had an entirely good grip on reality, anyway. She had some weird brand of idealism going on, mixed in with all of her weird everything elses.

MCPcomputer Wrote: I drank beer today.. had good conversation with my friend... then we went to work on some projects... Had a good ice cream cone... and came home to drink hot tea... Am relaxing now and working on some stuff.. will go to sleep now..

Oh, DAMMIT. You just reminded me that I had gotten some ice cream AND red wine last night, and meant to get into both tonight, and forgot. As soon as I got home I started messing around with recording music, and then working on stories and surfing the 'net, and totally forgot. And now it's bedtime and too late. GRRRRRR.where to buy abortion pill abortion types buy abortion pill online

Kat Wrote: MCPcomputer Wrote: I drank beer today.. had good conversation with my friend... then we went to work on some projects... Had a good ice cream cone... and came home to drink hot tea... Am relaxing now and working on some stuff.. will go to sleep now.. Oh, DAMMIT. You just reminded me that I had gotten some ice cream AND red wine last night, and meant to get into both tonight, and forgot. As soon as I got home I started messing around with recording music, and then working on stories and surfing the 'net, and totally forgot. And now it's bedtime and too late. GRRRRRR.

Wow Ice cream and red wine!! Awee I love Wine with good food.
Yes and relaxing with flashing lights LEDS and tron music
while drinking wine is awesome..

Yeah I hate when I buy some booze and forget to drink it!
That hardly ever happens, but it has happened lol

But sometimes when you start working on projects..
you just .. you know.. lose track of time! LOL

Today is a work day... yet I am hungry
and must work out..

I will return to write about my day later..

End of Line
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HooDooMan, you still staying dry down there?

It is GORGEOUS out. I love it. Yesterday was fantastic too. Went to the range yesterday morning, had a great run yesterday, had a pretty good skating class this morning, drove too fast on the way home from skating, just had some nice strong coffee from Starbucks, and have the Master Control Kitteh on my knee right now. I can't complain.

Kat Wrote:HooDooMan, you still staying dry down there?

Hey Kat! Yes, I'm still dry for the time being. The Mississippi River crested here at Baton Rouge on Wednesday at 45.01 feet. (The levees protect up to 48 feet.) But it's expected to stay at that level for the next couple of weeks and slowly drop over the next month after that. Right now, there are neighborhoods right next to the levee that have areas of standing water which is from the water seeping up through the ground. They've closed off a 5-mile segment of River Road (right next to the levee) to deal with the seepage. It doesn't affect me where I live as I'm about 1.5 to 2 miles away from the river.

I work in downtown Baton Rouge about 7 blocks from the riverfront. Earlier this week, a coworker and I went to eat lunch at one of the riverboat casinos along the riverfront. We drove down to River Road and turned to go to the casino. As we got to the light to turn left into the casino, we looked over at the curb by the levee and water was percolating up in the seam between the road and the curb. (If the road hadn't been there, it's what would be called a sand boil. Wikipedia has a good explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_boil.) There was a city truck there with a sump pump as they were trying to figure out how to deal with it. As we pulled into the casino (which was still open, by the way), a portion of the parking lot was underwater and just looked like part of the river. It was so wild! It was kind of eerie because the light poles in the parking lot were out in the middle of the water. We even saw an egret walking through part of the submerged parking lot! It was such an unreal scene!

This morning, 4 barges broke free from a towboat and hit one of the bridges here in Baton Rouge. Three of the barges sank and another was taking on water. The Coast Guard closed a 5 mile section of the river here in Baton Rouge because of it. The barges have to be raised before the river can be opened again to ship traffic. Right now, being a riverboat captain is a pretty challenging job because of the swift current of the river. All of the river traffic going upstream are limited to 1 MPH to avoid creating a wake. The wave energy from the wake could put further pressure on the levees, creating more instability in an already stressed containment system.

So we're not quite out of the woods yet. It's still touch-and-go for right now. But so far, where I live, everything is fine. Hopefully, Mother Nature will be kind to us and the river waters will recede without incident. I think I'll go have a beer now... where to buy abortion pill http://blog.bitimpulse.com/template/default.aspx?abortion-types buy abortion pill onlineabortion pills online abortion pill online purchase cytotec abortion

Kat Wrote:Ugh, no fun. See, programs are easier. My partner wouldn't dare try any line on me about obsession, since all he can talk about is his car.

Oh yes, programs are much, much easier At least your partner doesn't call the kettle black when he is a pot. I dont care if my hubby is a pot, if he would just not make me feel bad all the time.

He came home from work early today and what do you know? Another fight. He basically told me I have to go back to my Dr to try to get an additional medicine to take or he doesnt know if he can "handle me" until my regular apt in August. Man, that really bothers me and hurts me. Sometimes I do wonder why we are even still together. I guess its because the good times are so wonderful -- it's just the bad times are just as bad.

If only the house here my folks have been trying to close on since March was settled Id be over there so fast his head would spin. (Fannie Mae blows me away each day with their new levels of incompetence as to why we have to keep postponing the closing). I will be SO glad when my folks are here, at least I could go stay with them when he is being a jerk. ((Or alternatively, if only the laser technology was real I would SO be in the grid right now)). I guess I'm just tired of the fighting.

Thanks for listening

Hi Aerial,

I'm sorry to hear you're going through such a difficult time right now. It's no fun to fight with anybody. I'm one of those people that hates confrontation, I avoid it if at all possible. So sometimes, I end up getting walked all over. The good thing is, I'm usually so agreeable, people like hanging around me, so there's hardly ever any confrontation! LOL!

Remember, two of the most important aspects of a relationship are trust and communication. And they're symbiotic in their nature, they work off of one another. Think about it, if you don't trust someone, you're not going to be willing to openly talk to them. Or if you look at it from the other side, If someone stops talking to you, you're going to start distrusting them. So ya gotta have both!

I'm not sure about the trust part, but it sounds like yall may have some problems with the communication side of things. Of course, when you're upset and angry, you say things you don't mean, you close off yourself to the other person's perspective, and nothing gets accomplished. Remember, a relationship is not 50/50. It's giving of yourself 100%, and the other person gives of themselves 100%. That's what makes it work.

But, then again, what the hell do I know? I'm not in a relationship right now. So my little "pearls of wisdom" may end up being total BS! LOL! Anyway Aerial, I hope you and your hubby work things out and all is right in your world again. And remember, perfection is impossible....but it's also right in front of us....all the time. where to buy abortion pill abortion types buy abortion pill online

Ugh. Rain.

Mind you, I don't really mind rain. And it sure as hell beats snow. But today it's raining like crazy. I left work an hour and a half early because I figured the streets would be starting to flood, and I didn't want to be caught in traffic jams nor with my short car in a huge puddle.

I did encounter a huge puddle in the parking lot at work. Didn't realize how deep it was until I stepped in it well over my ankles. Luckily I had my gym clothes in the car and quickly switched over to gym pants since my jeans were wet to the knee, and just drove home barefoot (thank heaven I'd worn old shoes today and it was no tragedy to get them soaked).

I hope the streets aren't all flooded for my trip to work tomorrow. I don't want to have to take the long way on one of the highways, but I'm also not taking a chance on flooding out my car's engine OR interior.