28.12.05
The Olson Five wish you a Merry Christmas.
23.12.05
The Olsonfive are traveling again! Pizza, spaghetti, snow, skiing and more! We are off to Italy for a winter ski vacation - with a quick stop in Venice for the New Year celebration. Ben wants to snowboard, the girls want to ice skate and ski. Mom and Dad are just looking for a break!
We will post photos and a report when we get back on January 2nd.
16.12.05
I have posted most of my destruction photos from my trip around NOLA and the Northshore last weekend.
You can view them all on our Flickr site.
A ba-zillion Katrina-related photos can be seen at the Flickr Hurricane Katrina Pool.
15.12.05
From our Weekly Security Newsletter:Fatal attack: Fri 9th – A handbag was snatched from an unsuspecting lady along Idowu-Taylor Street, Victoria Island. It has been reported that a one legged man riding pillion on an Okada (motorbike) grabbed the bag; the incident was witnessed by many who prevented the Okada from getting away. On stopping the Okada driver and passenger a crowd started to beat them, after some time the couple were set alight and died prior to the police arrival. Comment: This incident highlights the speed at which incidents can escalate and the intensity of such reprisals.
Yesterday, while leaving the American School my driver, Martins, and I watched three guards beating two men to the ground with sticks. Martins noted that they must have been caught trying to steal from the recently evicted residents of 1004 Apartments.
Crowds had begun to gather to watch as we drove away.
11.12.05
I am in the Houston Lufthansa lounge and I thought I would send an update about my weekend in NOLA.
New Orleans and the Northshore are worse than you probably realize. The Old Mandeville lakefront lost about 25% of the houses and after driving for about an hour, we still didn't get to see the worst of the wind damaged houses. The impact was extreme in Slidell where I saw apartments totally destroyed, houses with boats on roofs and abandoned cars stuffed with mud and grass. Elaine said she is ready to write some 'nasty letters' because the focus is so much on New Orleans when Slidell was hit so bad.
But the scope of the flood in NOLA is hard to imagine. CNN doesn't do it justice. I drove for two hours and did not reach the end of the empty, destroyed neighborhoods. Most of these neighborhoods were not much to begin with, but there are plenty of empty nice houses, too. We drove by house after house which had holes cut in their roofs to allow escape. My friend Mike's Lakeview house is a stinky mud pit three months after the hurricane - no work has been done in his neighborhood. There are plenty of crews working on the streets wearing white toxic protection suits and masks. Bobcats, bulldozers and huge trucks are hauling debris to dumps are all over town.
Mark says there are real estate speculators everywhere and his brother even suspected me of being one of them! The topic of all discussion is the hurricane and recovery. Mark said he has yet to find anyone who he thinks did the right things from the President on down. He was amazed that so many of elderly were left to fend for themselves. The restaurants serve on plastic plates and cups and are full of FEMA workers, animal rescuers, and real estate speculators. Uptown pretty untouched at least from Freret Street to the river. Mark complains that the uptown residents are oblivious to the rest of the city.
My flight to Frankfurt is delayed two hours - yuck. I'll keep in touch as I know more. I will have less than an hour to get to the Nigeria flight.
6.12.05
Take a minute and send an email to Mr. Bush reminding him of his commitment to So. Louisiana. I did. It's easy. Via Cousin Emily:Join me in flooding Washington!
Louisiana groups have launched an effort to generate 300,000 e-mails demanding category 5 protection for New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. That means effective levees and flood control projects as well as comprehensive coastal wetlands restoration to give Southern Louisiana a critical storm buffer. Please take a second to help spread the word!
Click on the link below or cut and paste this into your brower - http://healthygulf.org
Take action now at the Gulf Restoration Network.
5.12.05
Stacey and I met for about an hour this afternoon as she returned from Dubai and I took off for Houston. I am going to the states for a week of meetings and tagging on a quick weekend in NOLA. I am really interested in seeing our house and Elaine's house and then, of course, New Orleans.I expect that the parts of New Orleans that I spent most of my time will be pretty much the same as before. But, I am interested in seeing Mid-City and Lakeview, the 9th Ward and Bywater which were sit hard. I am planning to head straight to Mandeville on Friday, then over to Slidell for lunch on Saturday and then into NOLA to Mark and Jackie's on Saturday afternoon. It is Mark's birthday and maybe Mike and his family will come over, too. I'll try to fit in seeing Arelene and Kay, too.
3.12.05
I am sitting at the American School waiting for the kid's swim meet to begin. The Americans are hosting the Italians (Agip employees), the Dutch (Shell Employees), the French (Total employees), and others.
It is an overcast day - which is nice. I have my laptop and am on the school's wifi. I am sure if Stacey could see me she would disapprove. In fact, if she reads this she will likely cringe. I do not have my gigantic noise-reducing headphones on, though.
So, where in the world is Stacey Sandiego?
Stacey is in Dubai, U.A.E. is an easy 6-hour flight from Lagos and it offers good food, shopping, nice hotels, a beach and a safe environment. It is quite popular with expats here. She flew over there to meet her friend, Nu-Nu who recently moved to Qatar. The Dubai Ritz-Carlton, where she upgraded to a "club room" floor - has a concierge, wifi and different food spreads six times a day. She said she might "never leave the club room floor" - except for her beauty treatments. The only downer has been that the beach is marred by a droning "cigarette" boat regatta which interrupted her fresh watermelon juice morning cocktail.
I am sure a full report will be pretty amazing. She will be back on Monday night.