DSW

I love Discount Shoe Warehouse, one of the only stores I know that lets customers combind coupons.

Stella.Skott.us

Stella has her own website now.

alive & safe

Corinne's mother has been found. She is alive and evacuated to Mississippi. We are getting the details now, but I wanted to let everyone know she has been found.

damage

UPDATE: I noticed that if you look at New Orleans on Google Maps, they have a Katrina button for Aerial Photos from 8/31.

Today I found an aerial photograph of of most of New Orleans on the NOAA web site. Here is my house, but you can click to see the entire neighborhood.



We still haven't heard anything back about Corinne's mom, Jan P. Seltzer, or her husband, Don Levitt. It is unknown whether they fled New Orleans, tried to go the West Bank town of Belle Chase, LA where Don's son Mark Levitt lives, or tried to ride it out in their home in Metaire. If anyone has any information about them, please contact us immediately. Everyone else, just pray for them.

Katrina

We are ok. Corinne and I got out early on Sunday morning and headed to our cousin Robyn's in Austin, TX. Thank you to the many friends and family who have been trying to contact us and offer their help and support. Our cell phones still aren't working, but we expect they will be back on soon. We are still waiting to hear about Corinne's mother, Jan Seltzer and her husband Don Levitt as we are not sure if they made it out of the city. All other friends and family have been accounted for. Thanks for your prayers and stay tuned for updated wedding plans.

The FairTax Book

I know I've been very slack about posting to my blog, but I have been inspired to break the silence. This past week I read the new book about tax reform that has been sitting atop the New York Times bestseller list. I have been a longtime supporter of the FairTax, but this book makes this radical legislation easy to visualize and understand for almost anyone. I hope that the FairTax Book will continue to sell and force the mainstream media to cover this story. I think anyone who reads this book will understand how badly our country is in need of a major reform in the way our government taxes its citizens. You will also understand that this does not mean we can't raise even more money for our government to use in it ever-expanding scope while at the same time collecting these taxes in a completely fair and optional way. All Americans, (especially lower and middle income Americans) would actually have the option to not pay taxes at all, and we would still raise more revenue than we due under the current financially crippling system.

I have know about the FairTax plan for some time now and understand most of the ideas surrounding it. One area this book opened my eyes about for the first time was how our current system puts American companies at a pretty extreme disadvantage when selling into the global marketplace. One of the examples made it quite clear why Mercedes is beating the pants off of Cadillac every foreign marketplace that both are sold in. Even if you think you are adverse to changing the current tax system for some reason, you still need to read this short book and decide if you already knew everything you thought you did about the wrongs of the current system.

jazz fest 2005

Please excuse the lateness of this post. I'll just post date it and pretend it has been up the whole time. This was my first experience at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and I had a blast.

The 2nd weekend was a blur of great music, food, and round-the-clock parties. And now, some top 3 lists from the weekend:

Top 3 Jazzfest Acts I Caught:

• Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
• Widespread Panic
• John Butler Trio

Top 3 Nightime Shows I Saw:

• Jurassic 5
• Keller Williams & Galactic
• New Monsoon

Top 3 Foods I Ate:

• Alligator Pie
• Crawfish Bread
• Seafood Gumbo