We’ve got some of the South’s best young lawyers reading this blog, so I’ll be interested in on they (and you) feel about cases such as this:

A federal judge on Monday dismissed claims of fraud in a key Hurricane Katrina lawsuit that accused State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. of using different engineering reports to deny a couple’s insurance policy after the storm.
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The ruling by U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. applied to the federal lawsuit filed by Thomas and Pamela McIntosh, who sued State Farm after the insurer blamed most of the damages to their Biloxi home on Katrina’s storm surge and paid the couple $36,228. The homeowners policy excluded coverage for flood damage.

“Judge Senter has confirmed what we have been saying all along — this is a basic wind/water dispute and plaintiffs cannot prove fraud,” State Farm spokesman Jonathan Freed said Monday.

Also, let’s chose our words carefully as a couple of State Farm agents/corporate employees read the blog.

…that myself and other employees at Mississippi College recieved an email stating that “the hurricane” had picked-up steam and was now thought to be a bigger threat to the state of Mississippi than we once thought. The school was going to end the work day early just to be sure.

Three hours later our power went out. It wouldn’t return for 5 days. I spent the days after Katrina huddled in my office at MC helping displaced students find a college home (I’m so sweet. Such a catch.).

Gas was gold.
Generators were life savers.
Hot water for a shower was fantasy.

Roomie Michael Schut and I stashed 20 gallons of gas in the outside shed. We went and checked every couple of hours to make sure it hadn’t been stolen by a greedy nieghbor. We found a way to make our own power by rigging cords to our car batteries… but we could only run two things at one time, picking between the fan, the TV, and our laptops… for movies… there was no Internet… believe me, we tried.

It wasn’t until January of this year that my cousin Karen and I were finally able to make a trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to see the destruction first hand. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: that was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made to get out of bed that day and head to the coast.

The pictures are here.

Mississippi has rebuilt in part… and will continue to do so for years to come.

While I was 2 1/2 hours from the Mississippi Coast, I still have my own story. We all do. We all remember those moments where we said, “I’ll never take gas for granted again!” or “I’ll never take groceries for granted again!”

But we all have. That’s just human nature.

I have yet to purchase the gun that I swore Katrina would lead me to, but I’ve still got my “muscles” to keep me protected from people who want my gas.

Back away from my gas, sucka.

I’ve been all over during the last few weeks – hugging your necks and kissing your babies – and there have been a lot of questions asked.

Since they’ve almost all been the same ones, I thought I’d post the most frequent ones below.

So, here you go.

Question: Now that you’re moving, are you still gonna do the blog?

Answer: Are you kidding me? I’m starting a new life in the furthest, most beautiful, most polar opposite of Jasper in America. I have no plans of ditching this blog anytime soon.

Question: What have you done for money over the last 10 months?

Answer: There literaly hasn’t been one day (even Saturday & Sunday) since 1999 where I haven’t made money. I’m not even close to being rich… but I’ve always got a steady cash flow.

Plan ahead, suckas.

Q: Why did you leave your job at MC in the first place?

Answer: I had other job offers, and it was time to move on.

Q: What happened to the “other job?”

Answer: I was in the midst of changing jobs when Hurricane Katrina hit. When Katrina came through it took away a lot of things… including the position(s) I was supposed to roll into. So, I was left jobless.

Q: Why didn’t you just get another job in Mississippi?

Answer: While that’s what I would have loved to do… I just didn’t feel like it was what I needed to do. I love the Hospitality State more than you’ll ever know. However, life is about making decisions that are correct, not comfortable.

I love Mississippi. I miss Mississippi.

Question: But you left Mississippi 10 months ago. Why did you wait so long to move on to something else, you lazy bum?

Answer: I was offered an interview for a PR firm in Birmingham while changing planes in Chicago on the way back from Europe. The offer for an interview was pretty much an on-the-spot offer to take the job. As much as I love the ‘Ham, now just isn’t the right time to move there.

I was asked to move to Boston 3 months ago but didn’t feel right about it even though it still is one of my favorite parts of the country.

I was asked to come to Seattle 3 months ago, but I would have had to fly back 4 times before September for weddings and meetings. Say… $5000 a flight… $50 each time for airport parking… taking off at least 5 vacation days within my first 3 months of work. So… yeah… not the smartest move to make at the moment.

Q: Do you get mad when we make fun of the fact that you’ve been living at home for the past 10 months?

Answer: No. Because I know that 99.999% of you mean it lovingly. Almost all of you have expressed interest in coming out ot Seattle over the next year and I know you’re excited for my big, risky move.

Question: What about the 0.001% of those who aren’t joking?

Answer: I peed in your cereal.

Question: If you had the last 10 months to do over again, would you do it the same way?

Answer: Yes, and no.

Yes in the sense that I’ve been able to do a lot of things I’ve been wanting to do for years. I’ve also had quality time with the parents, and quality tiem with friends in the Birmingham area.

No in the sense that I wish I would have relaxed a bit more. I’ve literally spent day and night reading, writing and researching for business ventures… that’s just me, always thinking about tomorrow, rarely stopping to enjoy today.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and you can never anticipate a hurricane taking away your next job.

However, if things hadn’t gone wrong I would have never been able to go to Europe, or spend time with my parents, or have time to really reevaluate what direction I wanted my life to take.

Being 25-years-old, single, having another source of income, and being willing to subject yourself to lesser than normal conditions are neccesities to even think about pulling the stunt I have pulled over the last 10 months.

But I could do it… because I started working myself into this position years ago.

Setting-up Juicee News while people questioned sitting at a computer for 6 hours a day. Juicee News (along with other minor endavours) has been paying my bills, as well as my trip to Europe, for the past 10 months.

So… do I regret it? No. Because I planned ahead. I planned for the unexpected. I was flexible. And I never freaked out about “what will people think?”

I’m ready to move onto a new job — that’s for sure. Those of you who know me well know that I love business. Love it. We’ve got some things on the docket that we’ll beannouncing soon. Also, when I move and get everything set into place, I’ll be working on a couple of smaller projects that have a small chance of making it. It’ll be fun, whether or not big things happen from these small items.

Through it all you must remember and repeat two very simple but very important words: delayed gratification

You keep repeating that… everything else takes care of itself.

Let’s go to Seattle.

A handful of my Katrina photos were published this week in the Mississippi College Alumni Magazine.

Acutally, it’s kinda bitter-sweet. You can’t actually look at any of the photos and “enjoy” them. My gosh… most of them are of homes and neighborhoods that were completely destroyed.

I’d like to thank the “cuz” Karen Howell for getting these photos out. I think it’s important to fully grasp the destruction caused by Katrina.

The ones published were (click on name for photo):

‘lone‘

‘gone‘

…and one of the church photos.

I haven’t seen the mag yet, so I don’t really know how they look. But K-dogg said they looked just swell.

If you would like to purchase a copy of one of any of the Katrina photos [I do not make money off the Katrina photos. Jus' so ya know.], let me know.

Anyways. Thanks for the compliments on the Katrina photos, as well as the Europe photos. I’ve got truck-loads of those on the way… and it might be the end of March before I get them all on.

As I mentioned yesterday, my cousin Karen Howell (a member of the MC Law Review and consumer of all things New Kids on the Block) [facebook] and I made a MLK Day trip to Mississippi Gulf Coast.

I didn’t really name any pictures, except for the one you see here.

A few of you have already asked about purchasing pictures. Contact me if you are interested.

You can view the slideshow. (Recommended)

Or, you can view the album.

A few of these have already been added to my “Favorites“ album, one I don’t add to that much.

Again, it sounds cliche, but to truly understand the magnitude of the situation, you have to see it for yourself.

Enjoy.

UPDATE: One shot has already won an award.

I’m sick to my stomach. Even though construction is going on 24/7, the destruction would blow your mind.

I know it sounds cliche… but you have to see it to fully comprehend it.

Pictures tomorrow.

Within the next 5 minutes I’ll be eye witness to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina…

Another entry soon…

#5 – Hurricane Katrina – I wouldn’t actually put this in a “best of” category. I consider more of a “most impact” story.

As Katrina neared, my area of Central Mississippi started to take notice. Darkness fell, the power blew, and rumors of descruction in Biloxi were picked up via our television… whose source of electricity was our car battery.

Days of gasless automobiles and cold-water-showers (if you had any water) were overshadowed by the fear and concern for our neighbors on the coast and in New Orleans.

The nights spent trying to fall asleep in the hot-hot Mississippi heat without an air conditioner. I’ll never forget the erie silence of the city, a silence only broken by the soft hums of portable generators in the distance.

I don’t know if-and-when I’ll ever not be slightly nervous everytime the weatherman uses the phrase “tropical storm.” When you experience a hurricane, even in it’s mildest form… it has an effect, both good and bad.

The beginning of the end of the year. The following are the “most popular” photos taken by yours truly over the last year. They were voted-on and viewed by more than 22,000 people from all around the world via Flickr.

The number one spot: Ironic 2, a picture I first took while (stupidly) driving around while Hurricane Katrina hit Central Mississippi.

Top Ten “Most Favorited”
1 – ‘ironic 2‘
2 – ‘monk‘
3 – ‘rows‘
4 – ‘mount porthole‘
5 – ‘sunset over bama‘
6 – ‘face it‘
7 – ‘post alley‘
8 – ‘fight‘
9 – ‘night in chicago‘
10 – ‘blue lake‘

Post-Katrina images of New Orleans on Google Maps

Map showing where all the evacuees went

The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed

Katrina Information Map

Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina