Stay in New Orleans

Stay in New Orleans

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On January 31, we all took 30 minutes off and had our safety training. It was pretty routine, but was next door in the truck dispatch/garage building. The training was upstairs in the closest part in this picture. Later that day, Matt (the manager of the Recycling facility) came around asking people if they wanted to work 309 hours straight doing parade clean up after their regular shift on Friday. As it would be a new experience, I signed up. He warned that it would be in Mandeville (across the lake North of New Orleans) and that anyone would konked out wouldn't be able to get back until the job was done. On Friday, February 1, we worked a short day with the line shutting down at 4:30PM and us done at 5PM. Tehn those of us doing parade clean up washed up and changed into clean work clothes (sorting recyclables can be messy work) and headed over to the truck garage next door (the next picture is another view of the garage we left from).
The two street cleaners and trash truck left about 5:30PM with additional workers rding with them. The rest of us waited in the two pick up trucks with rakes and plastic bags until some temporaries from Minute Man (another temporary agency) showed up at 6PM. However, by the time we got to Mandeville, the parade had started and we couldn't drive to the Middle School where the parade started (it was off the main road by a block that was now in use). There was much driving around and confusion until finally we left our trucks and walked a bit of the parade backwards to meet up with the rest of the people. Bill was managing the clean up crew and this was his first experience with this sort of thing. This confusion was the first example of him not being very decisive and not communicating his decisions very well. Oh well, everyone has to get experience somewhere. Anyway, he was a nice guy and had gotten hamburgers for us for dinner as we waited to follow the end of the parade. It had turned cold (about 45 degrees) and was pretty windy so I stayed in the trucks as much as I could.
The two brand new street cleaners (one shown here) followed the last of the parade with the 10 workers slightlying ahead collecting trash and raking what we could into the streets (for the street cleaners). Of course we had to get back to our trucks before we had the rakes and plastic bags, but that wasn't far. We walked the entire route (a loop of about 3 miles by my guess). However, then we (the workers) were told to wait at a street corner while they got the trucks 'turned around'. We were there for half an hour and got really cold doing nothing (and cold can be demoralizing). About 10:30PM we broke into two groups who started raking up the litter along the route, but we started at two different places with no particular rationale for either of them. Some people would rake the trash into piles while others would put the piles into trash bags which we would dump into the trash truck. About 2AM Bill came around and offered us cold drinks which he had brought for us.
I suggested as it was so cold, 15 minutes breaks in the truck with coffee would be much more desirable. My group of five was accompanied by the trash truck (and neither pick up truck, each of which could seat five) and he noted that there was not enough room for all of us in any truck and suggested we take turns warming up in the passenger seat of the trash truck which a few of us did. I myself think that group breaks help group morale more than individual breaks. He then went to get coffee. About 5AM we finished one section and where then told there were other sections to do. Four workers dropped out then and proceeded to sleep in one of the pick up trucks. At 6AM Bill took us to Burger King and paid for breakfast. Two of the sleepers decided that in the interest of getting home sooner, they would help us. Also, at 8AM another six workers from Minute Man joined us. We then would clean up a section here and there as directed (with some delay getting from place to place and confusion about just what needed to be done, though I did have the fun of hopping onto and riding the trash truck from the rear).
Saturday warmed up and turned out to be a beautiful day. I was quite sore and tired at that point, but was still able to appreciate how great it was to be out in such wonderful weather. I was amazed that two people just waited in the truck, not getting paid, not enjoying the gorgeous weather, and delaying their own return home, but they were angry and people often aren't reasonable at times like that. Bill got us all Whoppers at Burger King for lunch. At 3PM we had cleaned up the entire route, but Bill wanted to get some areas better (much had been done in the dark) when his drivers said they were going home. Bill signed off on the time sheets after much discussion and delay and we finally got back at 4:15PM. Along with providing meals, they paid us for meal times (a nice bonus). They recorded 33.5 hours for me, almost an entire normal week's work. I went by Adenture Sports (shown here) as they are open 10AM to 6PM Tues to Sat to get a replacement air mattress as my current one has a leak. To no avail, though. After showering and dinner I got to bed at 6:30PM and slept soundly for 12.5 hours. I am ever so glad to have done it, but don't expect to need to repeat the experience soon. That week I worked 81.5 hours so should get a pretty decent paycheck from that.
Here is the New Orleans Carolton Post Office which is close to where I have been living/working. They seem to have the old front but a replacement remainder of the building. On January 19, my mom forwarded my mail to here after I checked with a postal clerk that they do receive general delivery mail there. However, I wasn't able to check for mail regularly due to my busy schedule. On February 9, I was told that there was no mail for me and that all general delivery mail goes to the main Post Office (contrary to what I had been told previously). Drats! Apparently they changed the policy a few months ago and not everyone is up to date.
Here is the New Orleans Main Post Office. It took me about 15 minutes to drive to it, but after three weeks they only had the piece my mom had sent to me directly. It seems that the mail she had forwarded to me will be going back to her as it is taking more than three weeks to forward the mail. It looks like a repeat of the fiasco with my mail in Fort Pierce, FL. It is good that real mail has become mostly irrelevant and that I track all my finances electronically as the post office sure doesn't provide reasonable service to a travelling person now.
As my Riviera Spa membership runs out on February 14 (along with my sourece of showers) I will be leaving New Orleans and headed to Houston (where there are several Bally's I can shower at). So, the weekend of February 9th I took it easy and spent every moment I could at the Tulane library (reduced hours as Mardi Gras comes into swing, Feb 12th being the big day). Edgar had gotten a mailing promising him big money via the internet and had signed up. I helped complete the process and explained that the only people likely to make big money with that deal are the people trying to sell him services (purportedly so that he could make big money). Here is Edgar at my favorite computer on the 4th floor.
While the camera was out, Edgar took a picture of me from the other side (with the elevators as a background instead of the plant). I recommended that he consider taking a course on the internet at his local community college and use libraries for internet access for now. I also showed Edgar how I use the internet to look up libraries and their hours close to my next location (the most important research as it allows me to find all sorts of other things). After a couple of hours we went to one of the university bar/grills, Waldo's, and he bought me lunch. It is mostly a night hang out and while they serve food, it was pretty expensive (which was to be expected I guess). However, it was nice to see one of the local hang outs.
On the evening of February 9th, I did my laundry at the local laudramat, but parking was really scarce as they were having a parade down Canal, about six blocks away North of my usual hangouts. When I was ready for bed (about 8:30PM) all my favorite parking places were in use due to the parade. I could have waited for them to clear out, but instead drove to the Wal-mart Super Center where I wanted to be early next morning when I called my brother and mom in Dallas. I slept in a commercial parking lot that was not lit and had several cars and was just across the street from Wal-mart. At 10PM the workers there left, but no one bothered me. After shopping and using the indoor pay phone (one of the things I like about the standard Wal-mart lay out), I noticed this train crossing the Missippi on a very long bridge (it needs to get high enough so that boats can go under it and trains can't deal with steep inclines).
The Tulane library still didn't open until 10AM and I had some time. I remembered some nice picnic tables I had seen when looking for a nice place to park. I went there and potted plants for Edgar and Bridget. Here they are with my remaining cuttings (still going strong). As I was just packing up to leave, two security pickup trucks pulled in. I could have just left, but visited with them. It turns out I was in the Department of Energy Strategic Oil Reserve parking lot and they, the DOE security personnel, were armed with M-16's, bullet proof vests, and Gloc 40's. They checked my ID and I went on my way. They had noticed me before but waited for back up before approaching me. I guess I made their otherwise dull Sunday morning a little more interesting.