Let's do this

Mayor Landrieu showed up to this afternoon's press conference in full battle rhythm.  You could tell because he was wearing his heavy duty Burlington Coat Factory weather jacket.  This is the point in the crisis when the pressers start to get repetitive.  Officials took turns rattling off the same points they've gone through several times now.

Mitch recited his list of "Things That Can Kill You" during a storm which included, going outside, getting wet, using candles, and, I think, boredom. He said "NOPD are on the ground and leaning forward" which must be some new yoga technique they're working on.  He also described the new Corps of Engineers' MRGO flood barrier as "robust."  Later, WDSU showed footage of Senator Vitter personally supervising the closing of the structure, because... the man knows wetness protection.

Other moments of note:

Stacy Head told us her family's plan is to do puzzles.  And a city is filled with envy of their fun right now.

After the press conference Fletcher Mackel asked rotund police chief Ronal Serpas, "are you bulking up in any specific areas?"

Right now all the television stations are screaming at viewers, "DO NOT GOT TO THE LAKEFRONT" just as they cut away to footage of how much fun people at the lakefront are having. 

Oh and allegedly Isaac is an actual hurricane now.  At about 2PM in Uptown New Orleans, it's barely raining and the sun is poking out a little.  We coped with the crisis by having a pizza delivered.  Yesterday we spent the evening "hunkering down" in the Quarter where we got some more pictures of the hunkering in progress.

Old Absinthe Bar



The Cabildo all boarded up



Me: "Wow look at all the cable news trucks" Menckles: "God, they're like roaches!"



Calm and mostly clear sky yesterday evening



Calm and mostly clear sky just a few minutes ago