Category: Relief Work

  • My report on my work after Hurricane Katrina

    I finally got my report done on the lessons I learned while working for Radio Response after Hurricane Katrina. Hopefully it will be useful to anyone contemplating starting a group to do work like this.

  • Screened out

    I got a letter from MSF today informing me that they have reviewed my application and I won’t be getting an interview, and won’t be working for them any time soon. I’m disappointed, but not deterred. This simply means I can’t get off easy and fill in only one application, as I was hoping to…

  • Loneliness

    A development worker in Kabul made an interesting post today. The final paragraph was the most insightful, I thought. And a little bit scary for what it will be like. When I started telling people what my goal is, I was afraid they’d think I lost my mind. Instead, almost without exception I get good…

  • …and to all a good night

    I’ve just (barely) beaten my self-imposed deadline of “before Christmas” for turning in my MSF application. They say that I should hear back from them in 3 or 4 weeks. The next step would be an interview. Don’t know how soon it would happen. I haven’t sent out an update in a while, so here’s…

  • The real reason to do humanitarian aid work

    Guys, here’s the real reason to do humanitarian aid work. Ladies, fear not, I’m on my way, as soon as I get around to putting my MSF application in, and they realize I’m the perfect candidate…

  • Seen in the newsletters sent out daily by the Emergency Operations Center

    Another snippet from the other side of the looking glass: If you need to have a car that you own towed from your property, contact your insurance company. If you need to have a car that you don’t own towed from your property, contact a local towing company. If you need to have a house…

  • Late night thoughts

    This afternoon and into the evening I was working on the Waveland water tower. (Yes, on the water tower, 100 feet up.) We put in a long day of debugging in the lab before we went, then working on the tower when we got into the field to install the equipment. So when we got…

  • Live from New Waveland Cafe!

    We are streaming live music from the New Waveland Cafe over the Radio Response network: Live from the New Waveland Cafe: Wailin’ Wally and the Killa Sharks (The Last Band Standing in Waveland) Tune in! (Until 8 or 9 pm, CST).

  • Nearing the end of a long week

    I’m nearing the “end” of a long week here. I put “end” in quotes, because despite my best intentions, my “weekends” (one day breaks) seem to be separated by increasingly long “weeks” (my last break was last Monday, so I’m only a day late this time, assuming I manage to get away tomorrow, which seems…

  • New York Times on our work here

    The New York Times wrote about us. I’m in the picture!