Oh good, sumi. I haven't watched last night's yet, but it's been driving me crazy that half the time I'm not sure who's who. I'm glad it's not just me.

I never thought about the lighting - I just thought it was the fact that your hair is all wet and in weird positions. I just try not to look too much until near the end.

I think the hair salon thing is a combination of weird wet hair and just sitting in front of a mirror for so long, not really doing anything with your face. That's just not something that most people do very often.

I woke up at five and couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided to stay up. Went to my favorite neighborhood breakfast-type place at 6:00 - the two employees were just arriving themselves. Had steak and eggs.

Got to work 1/2 hour early (but I have to leave early so it's OK). Am now wired on coffee.

My new place has one floor - the top - devoted to color, nails, facials, etc., and has a skylight as well as artificial light. I'm wondering if they set it up so that you could see how the color looks in real light. The next floor down is for cuts, and the lighting is softer there. Of course, with my glasses off it's all one big blur anyway, so I don't actually see what I look like until I'm done.

Ugh. Early. Air conditioning guy coming today. We have a three-hour window, which of course means that he'll be here 1 minute before 11.

We have a three-hour window, which of course means that he'll be here 1 minute before 11.

Heh. Yeah, I know how that goes.

Cheerful article about New Orleans evacuees in the NYT this morning:

In many ways, evacuees have become the region’s new pariahs, shunned by towns and parishes who have erected a number of legal barriers to keep them out.

At least five jurisdictions in Louisiana and Mississippi — St. Bernard, St. John the Baptist, and Jefferson parishes in Louisiana and Pascagoula and Ocean Springs in Mississippi — have begun revoking permits for trailers or allowing their zoning exemptions to expire. Those moves affect families still living in 7,400 trailers across the Gulf Coast, according to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a group based in Washington that has sued to stop the evictions.

Joseph D. Rich, project director for fair housing and community development with the committee, said some jurisdictions have complained about crime in the trailer parks, prompting FEMA to provide extra security. Mr. Rich said he believed there was another motivation for banning trailers.

“There are severe racial overtones to these actions,” he said. “Because there’s all this concern that black and low-income people will be coming into your neighborhood.”

Some local jurisdictions are also fighting to prevent the construction or repair of rental units. In Jefferson Parish, the suburb just west of New Orleans, officials blocked a 200-unit complex for the elderly in Terrytown, citing concerns that it would increase crime, and they are fighting a second complex for the elderly in Marrero. Westwego, also in Jefferson Parish, has placed a moratorium on multifamily buildings.

“You have some people that just lack any degree of civilization,” said Chris Roberts, a Jefferson Parish councilman who has fought to remove FEMA trailers and block subsidized housing developments. “I think low-income housing which is not properly run invites those people.”

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“You have some people that just lack any degree of civilization,” said Chris Roberts, a Jefferson Parish councilman who has fought to remove FEMA trailers and block subsidized housing developments. “I think low-income housing which is not properly run invites those people.”

...and the other people that just lack any degree of civilization run for Parish council.

Jefferson Parish's slogan: "We elected David Duke! And David Vitter, that guy who's been sleeping with whores!"