Monday morning

Good morning everyone!

Tonight has been pretty quiet... I'm not sure if it's just that people don't realize 2-1-1 is up and running over night now or if people just aren't needing information in the middle of the night at this point. The 2-1-1 call center has just started running 24/7, starting with the hurricane, but they are planning to keep it going from here on out.

We're not sure if we'll be working over night on our last night here, or what they'll need us to do. When we find out, I'll let you know. Until then, I hope everyone has a fantastic Monday!

Sunday morning

We're just wrapping up our third (at least I think it's our third... starting to lose count...) overnight shift. There have been fewer phantom calls, thanks to less wind... and so the phones have been relatively quiet. Most of our calls have been question about road conditions between here and Texas... and callers looking for the 2-1-1 number for those in Texas, but calling from out of state.

There's really not much else to report at this point. I hope everyone is having a good weekend... and we'll see you later tonight... or early tomorrow morning.

Good night! Or good morning? We're ready to sleep now.

Saturday morning/ Ike strikes

Good morning everyone!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while... we spent all day Friday sleeping (we did get the hotel room all straightened out, thank you Sue!!). We got to the call center at 10pm, ready to start our second overnight shift. The night has been pretty uneventful here... but we've been keeping an eye on Ike... http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/13/hurricane.ike.texas/index.html

It looks like the damage was pretty extensive... and we're waiting to see what they find after the storm passes. I'm hoping they did overestimate the potential damage...

The people in the area affected by Ike are very much in my thoughts right now...

Wednesday morning... ready to sleep

Our first all-nighter is wrapping up, and we're ready for sleep. We still don't know where we'll end up sleeping... but at this point even the grass is looking inviting. Except the fact that it's being heavily rained on right now.

The phone has been ringing a lot through the night... but mostly phantom calls caused by the wind. The majority of actual people calling were looking for shelter- having evacuated from Texas; help with their electricity, since the storm has cause more power outages; and tarps to help with leaky roofs.

Well, I'm beat... so I'm going to find a place to crash. I'll update later when my brain is working. Have a good day everyone!

Remembering 9/11; First all-nighter

First, I'd like to take a moment and remember 9/11 and all those whose lives were touched by it, and all of the brave people who risked, and gave, their lives trying to rescue those trapped in the towers.

Cindy and I just started our first overnight shift. So far the phones have been pretty slow... but we expect them to pick up, especially with Ike looming. We were at Wal-mart earlier to pick up some overnight supplies (coffee creamer for me- to add to the gallons of coffee I'll be needing...) and the lines were SUPER long. I guess everyone was stocking up in case Ike turns and people need supplies to get by.

I've gotten a few calls so far from people evacuating from the path of Ike, looking for shelter here in Baton Rouge. So far it looks like this would be a safe place to be... though there are still a lot of people in the shelters here from Gustav... and the hotels are pretty much booked until the end of October. So it'll be interesting to see how many people end up coming here, and how it all turns out. Especially since we may still see quite strong storms from Ike, even though Baton Rouge isn't in its direct path.

One small adventure so far... last night Cindy and I planned to stay up pretty late to prepare for our overnight shift tonight... and at about 1:30 am we got an express check-out notice under our door. Turns out there was a misunderstanding about when we'd be checking out... they thought it would be this morning... we thought it would be Tuesday. So we decided to just go to bed, get up early and figure out what to do from there. So come morning, we got breakfast and called Sue, our contact here. She told me she'd make a couple phone calls then call me back. So Cindy and I watched a tribute to 9/11 on the History Channel for a little while, then Sue called back letting us know we had the room for at least one more night (tonight). Hopefully we'll be able to work things out tomorrow... but we have been assured a place to sleep... even if we have to crash on someone's couch. I'm really not concerned... it's all part of the adventure.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll try and update toward the end of the shift... if there's anything more to report... and I'm not delirious from lack of sleep.

Good night everyone!!

Wednesday evening

Good evening everyone!

Well, we're just starting out our last 8pm-midnight shift. Starting tomorrow we'll be working 10pm to 8am. I'm going to be needing a LOT of caffeine...

The shift has just started, so I don't have much to report so far. I'll update a little later...

Wednesday

Good afternoon!

So, Cindy and I have been put on split shifts... noon-4pm then again from 8pm-midnight. It's a good thing we don't really have much in the way of a social life while we're here...

It's very hot and humid here... 92 degrees with 55% humidity... feels like we're walking through a really warm ocean. We pretty much swam from our hotel to the call center.

Now that's it's daytime, the phones have picked up significantly (which is why this post is so short...). People are still calling for disaster food stamp help, help applying with FEMA, and unemployment for the most part.

That's all the time I have right now... if it slows down this evening I'll be back.

Thanks for reading!

~Theresa