Not my words, but good ones.

Below is the text, almost in its entirety, from my brother's last two e-mails. He's also posted a further update as Anonymous in my comment section from the last post (Which, senekal, means I can safely presume he saw your well-wishing.) (I'd have thought, too, that he still had an account, even if an inactive and unused one. Oh, well.)

Jeff said:

E-mail 1:

(After I inquired about conditions, esp. water supply, since I knew he had food, drinking water, a not-very-damaged-apartment, and other essentials, plus power at the university to keep his phone charged.)

I had about half water pressure (and plenty of hot water still in the
tank, which had the added advantage of predating the storm and any
attendant concerns about water quality) even during and after the actual
storm. Pressure was back to normal within 36 hours. Hot water is starting
to run out, though. There was a boil order, but only because it's
required by law; the mayor says there's no actual evidence of
contamination. At any rate, I understand that order was lifted a few
hours ago.

Water is a real problem in some outlying areas, and from the smell of
things I'd say as of yesterday there were sewer backups as little as six
blocks from me, but no such problems in my immediate area.

Cleanup and repairs have begun on my apartment complex. Some water
somehow forced its way into my living room (NOT via a window) during or
shortly after the hurricane itself, so I have about six square feet of
damp carpet; aside from losing power, that's the *only* damage I took as
a direct and immediate result of the storm. Elsewhere in my complex,
however, there are people far less fortunate. All the buildings have this
attic-type section on top, and on several of them that was ripped right
open. So people on the third floor had rain coming down right on their
ceilings. We had a thundershower shortly after the hurricane itself,
which must have sucked for those folks.

The weather's much better now, though. We've had a few days of
unseasonably low temperatures and some of the lowest humidity I've
experienced in the two years and change I've been living here. That has
made things much more comfortable, to the point where the only
temperature worry has been my bed being too *cold* due to no power to the
heater. I understand it's greatly aided recovery efforts, too.

Not that I'm that impressed with the latter. I have near-identical
criticisms of FEMA, Centerpoint Energy, my building management, and even
Lauren - sure, they're all doing the best they can *now*, but all are
suffering from extremely poor advance planning. They all sound like
they're making it up as they go along; FEMA talks like it never occurred
to anyone there that Houston might get hit by a hurricane. The Seven P's
have been largely ignored and it is making the aftermath far worse than
it had to be.

Gas and ice remain... not hard to come by, exactly, but it takes
patience at the very least. I gather there's enough gas to go around but
lineups are incredibly long anyway, hours in some cases. (Not only for
cars, but generators, for those who have them.) Ice is a bit easier with
FEMA handing it out for free but it's still something you may have to go
a ways and/or wait a while to get. But more and more places are opening
with fewer and fewer restrictions on what they'll let you walk away with;
it's getting better each day.

E-mail 2:
(Note, this was after my last lj entry...)

Little disappointed not to have heard a *word* from Brenna, Adam,
Branwen, etc...

Not my words, but good ones.

Below is the text, almost in its entirety, from my brother's last two e-mails. He's also posted a further update as Anonymous in my comment section from the last post (Which, senekal, means I can safely presume he saw your well-wishing.) (I'd have thought, too, that he still had an account, even if an inactive and unused one. Oh, well.)

Jeff said:

E-mail 1:

(After I inquired about conditions, esp. water supply, since I knew he had food, drinking water, a not-very-damaged-apartment, and other essentials, plus power at the university to keep his phone charged.)

I had about half water pressure (and plenty of hot water still in the
tank, which had the added advantage of predating the storm and any
attendant concerns about water quality) even during and after the actual
storm. Pressure was back to normal within 36 hours. Hot water is starting
to run out, though. There was a boil order, but only because it's
required by law; the mayor says there's no actual evidence of
contamination. At any rate, I understand that order was lifted a few
hours ago.

Water is a real problem in some outlying areas, and from the smell of
things I'd say as of yesterday there were sewer backups as little as six
blocks from me, but no such problems in my immediate area.

Cleanup and repairs have begun on my apartment complex. Some water
somehow forced its way into my living room (NOT via a window) during or
shortly after the hurricane itself, so I have about six square feet of
damp carpet; aside from losing power, that's the *only* damage I took as
a direct and immediate result of the storm. Elsewhere in my complex,
however, there are people far less fortunate. All the buildings have this
attic-type section on top, and on several of them that was ripped right
open. So people on the third floor had rain coming down right on their
ceilings. We had a thundershower shortly after the hurricane itself,
which must have sucked for those folks.

The weather's much better now, though. We've had a few days of
unseasonably low temperatures and some of the lowest humidity I've
experienced in the two years and change I've been living here. That has
made things much more comfortable, to the point where the only
temperature worry has been my bed being too *cold* due to no power to the
heater. I understand it's greatly aided recovery efforts, too.

Not that I'm that impressed with the latter. I have near-identical
criticisms of FEMA, Centerpoint Energy, my building management, and even
Lauren - sure, they're all doing the best they can *now*, but all are
suffering from extremely poor advance planning. They all sound like
they're making it up as they go along; FEMA talks like it never occurred
to anyone there that Houston might get hit by a hurricane. The Seven P's
have been largely ignored and it is making the aftermath far worse than
it had to be.

Gas and ice remain... not hard to come by, exactly, but it takes
patience at the very least. I gather there's enough gas to go around but
lineups are incredibly long anyway, hours in some cases. (Not only for
cars, but generators, for those who have them.) Ice is a bit easier with
FEMA handing it out for free but it's still something you may have to go
a ways and/or wait a while to get. But more and more places are opening
with fewer and fewer restrictions on what they'll let you walk away with;
it's getting better each day.

E-mail 2:
(Note, this was after my last lj entry...)

Little disappointed not to have heard a *word* from Brenna, Adam,
Branwen, etc...