Stephon’s Assist

I’ve been a critic of Stephon Marbury for years, since he played for the Nets. Even a few weeks ago, when I heard him in a radio interview, I thought, “He’s as selfish as ever; he just doesn’t get it.”

But at the NBA’s announcement of donations for hurricane victims (in conjunction with Feed The Children) today, he stood at the podium, tried to talk about the league’s efforts to help, and cried until he couldn’t go on.

So, yeah, he’s still a selfish basketball player till proven otherwise, but he’s also a father and a man.

More good news

Amy’s mom called about an hour ago. They just took Amy’s sister, her husband and their kid Mason (Amy’s 3-year-old godson, who sounds just like Meatwad) back to their house. Looks like some wind damage (some roof shingles are gone), but nothing major. Lots of lawn cleanup. No power at that house either, but houses a few streets over have had power restored, so it looks like it’s a matter of (brief) time.

And I’m serious about Kung-Fu Hustle. It’s really entertaining.

Post-Katrina update

Amy & I were settling in to watch Kung-Fu Hustle last night when her parents called from home with an update. Cell coverage is much better in their area, but they’re still operating off the generator they brought back from Arkansas.

Strangely enough, even though gas prices up here in NJ have shot up to $3.30 for a gallon of regular, they seem to be around $2.60 down near them (about 15 miles from where they live). My only theories about this are

A) that there are still few cars returning down there, so there’s not much demand for gas; or

B) gas station owners and attendants are afraid of being shot to death if they start price-gouging.

Her parents reported that it’s hot and the mosquitoes are the only happy ones around, but it seems like everyone’s accounted for & safe.

And Kung-Fu Hustle was one of the most entertaining movies I’ve ever seen.

More On NO,LA

Great post by Vodkapundit about the city, its demise, and the inherent elements of New Orleans that are contributing to its destruction.

After my one semester at Tulane, I thought New Orleans’ motto should have been, “A city where you can get away with murder, as long as it’s not a white guy.”

That said, it was also my favorite city to visit in America.

In early 2003, when I was thinking of bailing on the northeast, the only strategy I could come up with was getting all of my money together, moving down to New Orleans, and drinking for a year straight.

Good news!

The official VM sister-in-law-to-be left a message on Amy’s cell-phone! She and the parents are safe at their parents’ home in Des Allemands, LA! They have the generator hooked up, there’s no air conditioning, the landline is still down, and the cell is sporadic, but at least they’re home!

[note: I may be up-and-down with this stuff in the next few days, weeks, or months, so don’t hold it against me if one post about this subject sounds much different than the next, okay?]

28 Days Later

Here’s the blog of a guy who’s been holed up in a high-rise in New Orleans, trying to keep some sorta operations running. He’s former Army, and sounds it. The entries read like a zombie movie.

Two worlds

I’m having a hard time splitting my thoughts between the events in Louisiana & Mississippi and the day-to-day stuff I need to get done, so I’m going to write a little more about the latter. I hope you don’t take it to mean that I’m glossing over what’s going on down there. If anything, I’m feeling this constant drain as I try to grasp the concept of a city that’s dying at high speed, while I’m racked with worry about the health and security of my future in-laws.

All of which is a preface to saying that I had a nice professional moment this morning. When I got the office, I received an e-mail from a guy at the European Commission in Brussels, asking if it’s okay to cite my Top Pharma/Biopharma Companies report in his new paper on Biotech and Applied Genomics R&D in Europe.

He sent an early copy of the study/proposal, which was mainly about how the EU has lagged in Biotech R&D. It had some neat suggestions for what they need to do to regain a competitive position vis-a-vis the U.S. and Asia (mainly the U.S.), but I was just gratified that all the work I did earlier this summer proved valuable enough for a government agency to base some of its findings.

In that same vein, a friend of mine called last night to see how I’m doing and what I’m up to in September. “Well, I said, I’ve gotta write the second part of my Biomarkers article, interview some people about Pharma/Biopharma facility design, get a lot of materials ready for our annual conference, and edit a bunch of contributed articles for the mag. At night I’ll be working my way through a re-read of Don Quixote, before my trip to Madrid in November.”

She thought I was complaining.

Hurricane Update

No real update to give, actually. Amy’s family was supposed to get back to their homes yesterday, but there’s no landline or cell service down there at present. They brought a generator back with them, so that’ll fix the power issue, but we haven’t heard yet if they got in safely.

For those of you who believe in the power of prayer/visualization/deep thought/etc., we’d appreciate it if you keep her family in your thoughts.