New Orleans here we come!

A couple of weeks after deciding to do this thing, I've managed to find a hosting agency on the ground in New Orleans, announce the trip, started registering people, and get two sponsors. Not bad work I guess. Oh, and I started this blog to record the experience.

• Trip begins: Saturday March 4, 8 a.m.
  
• Trip ends: Saturday March 11, 10 p.m.
  
• The work: Cleaning out houses with ACORN, a great organization in the Ninth Ward.
  
• The food and beds: Courtesy of FEMA, the agency I thought I would never like again. We'll be sleeping and eating for free at Camp Algiers. Imagine a summer camp patrolled by the National Guard. Or a penitentiary with DSL connections. Pretty cool, actually.
  
• How much? $30 for gas and enough dough for road food and a night on the town.
  
• Are there forms? Ah, yes. Where would we be without forms? Pick them up from my office--room 225D in the Goings Building at Pellissippi.
  
• Who's going? All the cool people. Actually, we want anyone over 18 who can swing a crowbar and sing Johnny Cash songs. No, you don't have to be a Pellissippi student or faculty member. Or staff. Or even be able to pronounce the name of the place.

Thanks to our sponsors! My colleague Vida Hashemian and a great guy from New Orleans named Dave Thomas have both sent me checks to help cover our gas costs.

I originally posted about the trip in bluenecks. Stay tuned here for more information, photos, and journal entries.