North by Northwest I'm not usually one for daily entries, but a lot is going on so I can't help it. It's a lot of nothing, but still. Day two of the internship and we were moving into full alert; 10 months ago they called it 'Ivan the Terrible', now it's time for 'Dennis the Menace'. We had two meetings today with all the representitive members of the National Hurricane Council to update everyone on what was going on out at sea. It's rather exciting to be at the center of the action, more so because a) I'm a disaster virgin and b) unlike everyone around me, I have no responsibilities. So I can move about and observe; working for a country is so much cooler than working for a city back in the states. Of course government is government, and pretty much it takes at least twenty people over the course of an hour to decide what was decided by the leader before he woke up that morning, but I still could not find it in me to leave the situation. I was fascinated by watching the people, listening to their questions (and complaints!). I don't know what (if any) my role will be over the next few 24-72 hrs, but as long as I can stay in the loop and out of the way it'll be worth it all. Plus these meetings are great...everyone comes together to find out what they could have figured out by themselves from five minutes on the internet. In many ways it is very much...no, it is like working or living in a small town. Everyone is so diverse, and many are very nervouse as we still have not recovered form last years storm. (This one will be much less harsh but it's the thought of it that does most of the damage--that is if it stays on course. Remember it's nature, despite the technology we have no idea what will happen). Plus I met the local weatherman today...I even talked to him about what was going on in one of the meetings (he came late). It was almost as exciting as when I talked to Rupert Jee in the Hello Deli about the Rhode Island nightclub fire. Anyways I'm tired, time for some rest; for tomorrow it starts raining.

Despite "North by Northwest" not actually being a direction, that is the direction they are using to report how and where Hurricane Dennis is moving. Also, Ernest Lehman passed away Sunday. He also knew it wasn't a "real" direction, but darned if it just sounded cool. So I'll watch for big waves, you watch for low flying planes and that creepy James Mason.  ¶ 7/06/2005 08:41:00 PM