Dear Gentle Readers

Some updates on my time here in Baton Rouge...

-I can use a variety of tools with ever-increasing proficiency, know a good bit more about construction, and have gotten very good at moving heavy stuff from point A to Point B. The patient and funny Habitat construction staff has taught us how to use nail guns, staple guns, the air compressors, a chop saw, the good old-fashioned hammer, and chalk lines, among other things. I can read a tape measure better than a former NFL pro-football player. I am learning how to lay out plans on a concrete slab, find the crown in a 2x4, frame walls, pre-build all kinds of pieces for a house, demolish a slab mold, toe nail in a board, attach OSB to the roof of a house, and many of ther useful little skills.

-I shower considerably less often than I used to. We have one shower here at University Presbyterian Church to accomodate 13 stinky, hard-working, frequently dirty and gross people. On average, we clean up once every 3 days. My theory is that if we're all stinky, we won't be able to pinpoint any offending funk, and therefore glide under the non-showering radar.

-I have been in close proximity to several other illustrious figures. I have to admit that I was certainly the most excited about meeting the honorable Governor Arnold "My Muscles have their own Zip Code" Schwartzennegger, but these other people were nice, too. CNN was taping a special episode while I was at Camp Hope, so I got to see Anderson Cooper. (Camp Hope is a former middle school that has been converted into a living space for Katrina relief volunteers by Habitat for Humanity. It's located in a particularly desolate spot in the St. Bernard Parish, outside of New Orleans. From the little that I saw, it appears that the rebuilding process continues to be a slow one.) Other famous people included NBA players Dwayne Wade and Allen Iverson. I really couldn't tell you a whole lot about them, vexcept that Dwayne Wade had a posse with them that wore matching, customized tee-shirts.

-I have come to an even greater appreciation of the word, "y'all." It's so very useful when talking to a group of people. I haven't come to embrace "fixin'" yet, as in, "When I finish eating lunch, I'm fixin' to walk over to the lake," but there's still time.