So the jinx worked. Some sick, twisted part of me hoped that I’d have a hell of a Wednesday at work so I’d appreciate my vacation more. Instead, I got three days of Katrina-induced crap. I know they say relief efforts in the area will take months, but if they could kindly bump up the schedule and have it done by next Saturday when I return to work, I’ll be extremely grateful.

(Interesting side note here, I was looking for a picture to post of the nearly completely flooded football stadium near New Orleans — I think I heard it was at Tulane — but instead, found out how fun a GIS for “katrina” is when you have the “safe search” turned off. Uh, yeah, it’s not safe for work.)

Instead, I’ll go with the picture free introduction to College Football Resource’s efforts to join in on Thursday’s “Blog Aid” effort.

I’m going to be completely selfish for a moment and say that I may or may not donate to the cause, so I really can’t get up here and preach that “everyone should give” (or even keep anyone in their prayers!), but the effort opened my eyes to a couple of things about donating.

Everyone assumes that the American Red Cross is the organization to give to. While they might have the most power behind their work, I’ve heard some shady stories that they use a good portion of donation money to cover “administrative expenses”. If I’m in an apartment half-filled with sewer water, I could give two shits if Milton has a new stapler. Also, there are ALOT of smaller charities going to work on specific regions. I guess it makes more sense to me to find a group with a focus and send money that way, rather than a bigger than big group that’s buying post-it notes with my money.

So anyway, give if you wish, I may, or I may not, my selfish ass has a weekend in Wisconsin to pay for, but if you want more ideas where to send your check, here’s a good start.