November 22, 2011 is the six month anniversary of tornadoes devastating the city of Joplin - so I figured it might be a good time to give you guys an update of what all has happened since that date.
The City
A lot of rebuilding has taken place. Commercially, Wal-Mart, Aldi's, Walgreen's (two locations), Wendy's, Chick-Fil-A and several other stores have been rebuilt and are already open. It's really amazing to think of some of these and how quickly they were rebuilt. Chick-Fil-A was one of the fastest. I believe that it reopened it's doors (after being completely leveled and rebuilt from the ground up) on September 1.
Most of the debris haul off has happened. There are still pockets of debris around the city - such as St. John's hospital and Joplin High School, which I believe are both still standing in roughly the same condition as when they were initially hit. The government helped pay for the Army Corps of Engineers to come and oversee this cleanup - specifically for the residential districts. It was impressive to see how quickly the residential debris was removed.
Many people's houses have been repaired. Not everyone by any means, but every day you hear about more people who have finally completed the last repair on their house - whether that is the windows, the carpets, the roof, the ceilings, or something else. Construction crews are still backlogged between the repairs and the new construction, but you can see that progress is being made. Speaking of new construction, there are several new houses that have been completed. It's very odd to drive along a street that used to have a neighborhood on either side and see a brand new house standing every few streets (with nothing in between).
One area that the city of Joplin has done a remarkable job with is their public schools. School was started on time! The High School is temporarily located inside of the mall. The Elementary schools have been shuffled around, but all Elementary students are still attending. Something else that Joplin is doing is that they are busing in students who were relocated in the surrounding areas (I don't know if this is still going on, but I had heard that it was at one point). If you were in Joplin public schools before the tornado, then you are allowed to stay enrolled in Joplin public schools now - regardless of what city you are actually living in at the moment. This means that kids can continue attending school with their friends, which I think is important.
The Games
So, a ton of you sent me games to keep after the storm, or to give to others that were affected. I did my best to find great homes for them (sometimes that meant mine ; ) )! If I were to estimate, I would guess that I received between 100-150 games after the tornado (ballpark guess). I gave them away to everyone I could find that was affected and that I knew played games! The distribution centers were all swamped with donations, and so they would not accept any from me (those of you that mailed games in, don't worry, they didn't turn these down). My friends who run Hurley's Heroes had the same situation that I did, but with comics that were sent to them. This hit the local news, and the Hurleys set up a day that they would open their doors and anyone could come pick through the comics that were donated and take any of them for free! I strong-armed them into letting me give games away at the same time! (It didn't take much convincing - they are very generous people.) I gave away an estimated 25-75 games just on that one day (I don't really have a "record keeping technique"). My favorite quote from all of this was when I heard a lady that had grabbed 3-4 games say "this is going to restore game night at my house." That was wonderful! And, when I kept eavesdropping, I realized that her house was only a block from where mine was. Hers must have been completely demolished as well.
In addition, for more "gamer" games, I asked around the game stores for who all was affected by the tornado, and I tried to give a handful of games to anyone that I heard about. Some that I thought would have a broader (and specifically teenage) appeal I donated to the public library. Finally, some of them were sold with the money going to tornado victims in various ways. The bulk of those sold were in the quarterly auction held at Changing Hands Book Shoppe. The proprietors of the store, John and Susie, were in what I consider to be the worst possible area in Joplin - the area in which your home wasn't completely destroyed (which allows you to either move on or rebuild), but their house was damaged incredibly badly; just short of being deemed "totaled." The worst part? They (like many others) had to live in their house while it was being repaired - or while they were waiting for repairmen. The less publicized crummy part? I'm sure that their business suffered and made very little money for the few months immediately after the tornado, since games are a luxury item. So, after consulting with John, we decided that as a surprise to Susie we would sell in the auction about 5-10 of the games that were donated, and we would give the proceeds to them - to do whatever they wanted. I wanted finances to be at least one thing that they didn't have to worry about. Everyone present at the auction really stepped up their bidding on each of those items, and most of them went for almost full retail price! It was great to get to bless John and Susie (after we tracked her down - she kept disappearing with tears in her eyes. And, in case you're wondering, Susie was able to use some of the money to go down to Houston to visit her grand-baby. I doubt that there is anything more exciting for a new Grandmother.)
My Family
So, my wife and I have had an interesting journey. From May 23 - (approximately) August 1, we stayed with friends. We bounced around a decent amount during this time, and even went down to Houston to stay with my best friend from college for a bit. This was a very trying time for both of us, but I believe it was much harder on Anna than it was on me. She struggled a lot during this time, as nowhere was ever home. On August 1 (Monday the week of GenCon!) we were able to move into our friend's garage apartment. It is quite nice, and more than anything, it was nice to actually have a place where we can stay, pay rent, and feel like we're not imposing. He was gracious enough to leave it furnished so that all we needed to bring was a bed! This really helped us, as it allowed us to wait until we knew what we were doing longer term before buying things like furniture. This is where we are currently staying.
On December 15, we move to Philadelphia! The most common question I hear is, "Why Philly?" Well, first you need to understand that our plan was not to stay in Joplin long-term. Both myself and my wife are from large cities, and we both missed the big city feel when living in Joplin. We were planning on moving in two years, but after the tornado we decided to move those plans ahead instead of re-rooting ourselves in Joplin and making it hard to move later. So, no, we aren't running from tornadoes or anything like that - the plan was to leave all along. Now back to "Why Philly?" Well, I like my job (most of the time). I like the people that I work with (no qualifier). I can do my same job with the same people from one of our offices that is located just outside of Philly. I will take my laptop and resume work just as if nothing had changed - I'll simply be switching what part of my team is local and what part is remote. We are quite excited about it - from each of our visits to Philly, the city seems amazing, and we're also ready to feel like we are staying somewhere more "long-term." I'm also incredibly nervous and scared! It's the farthest north I've ever lived, and it's also about 1,000 miles from what I'm used to. The Northeast has a completely different lifestyle than the Midwest, and I'm both excited and nervous about that change. For one, I'm planning on taking public transportation to work! I've never done that! (Oh, and I am looking for gamers in the Washington Square area of Philly - if you are one or if you know one, please drop me a note.)
Conclusion
Life gets crazy sometimes. I'm very glad that my wife has been by my side through all of this, and hopefully I have provided her some strength, too. We continue to both be incredibly grateful that we were on vacation when the tornado hit - some of our neighbors have told us that they are still having nightmares, and I would imagine that this will continue for quite some time. I want to thank you all for the support that you sent me to help with the tornado, the games that you sent, the prayers that were raised, and just sympathizing with our city's pain. Tons of people that I've never met also came to Joplin to volunteer - I want to thank them. More than anything, thanks for caring about people that you have never met. If nothing else, one of the main things I've learned through all of this is that, just because the news has stopped covering something, doesn't mean that the pain has stopped.
Now let's get back to board games!
Showing posts with label tornado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tornado. Show all posts
Tornadoes: Two Weeks Later
Well, this one probably won't be as exciting of a read as the last two posts (no shocking new pictures, or startling revelations), but for those of you who are concerned with what is going on, I figured it would be good to give you an update.
I have also seen some construction beginning already - but it was in the fringe areas that were damaged, not in the center of the destruction; after all, until the land is cleared, there won't be any construction that can begin. Oh, right, and the city has started to smell bad in the parts that were hit. Lots of frozen turkeys and other kinds of meat that are suddenly in 95 degree weather instead of the freezer - you do the math.
Finally, city news related, the official missing persons list is now down to zero people. Everyone that was on the list has now been accounted for. Unfortunately, I hear rumors of people that they keep finding that weren't on the missing persons list. It's very unfortunate.
At some point I'm going to have to go back to work. "Life goes on," right? Well, I have been hemorrhaging my vacation time since this started, and so I'm hoping to go back to work sometime next week. I can't honestly say that I'm excited or looking forward to going back (though I normally don't mind my job), but either way I need to return. Maybe it will give me a sense of normalcy in all of this. But I don't honestly expect to experience that until July once we've moved into the apartment.
On the insurance front, things seem to be going well. We have received our payment for the house, for external structures, our first check for personal property (we should get more once we send them the itemized list of what we owned - yeah, everything that we owned), and a check to cover a year's worth of rent. Though, honestly, we probably won't spend most of this money for a while (aside from obviously having paid off the mortgage). Our current plan is to wait a few months and then try to decide what we want to do for long-term living arrangements; whether we want to buy a new house in Joplin, or whether we want to move somewhere else.
Since my car got totaled, Anna (my wife) has been asking me what kind of car I want to buy to replace it. I honestly have no idea. I've never been a car guy (which is ironic, as this is one of my Dad's primary hobbies), and so I've always just driven whatever I wound up getting for cheap. This often meant whatever my Dad was able to find a good deal on. Once I go back to work, getting a car will probably become the most pressing need, as I will need it to drive back and forth to work without leaving Anna stranded at the house.
With that said, hopefully this will be my last Tornado-specific update. If life starts returning to normal, I hope to have this site return to normal with it. I have been able to play some new games (like Hey, That's My Fish!, Chaostle, and the Lord of the Rings LCG) which I'm hoping to review at some point, and I am receiving a lot of new titles that I also look forward to trying. With that said, I will make a confession that I've made a few times before - my posts (for game reviews) are often games that I reviewed quite some time ago. I try to write the review when the game is fresh in my mind, but I also try to have my posts occur on a somewhat regular interval. Because of this, I have quite a few "drafts" that are already ready to post (for games such as Aquarius, Lunch Money: Sticks and Stones, Talisman, and many others). So, even if I'm not able to start posting new reviews for the next few weeks, I should be able to post some of these for you to read until I'm able to get some new ones written.
Joplin
In Joplin, some wheels have started turning. I know of a City Meeting tomorrow (Monday) at 6:00 PM at the local University's basketball arena. They have encouraged anyone who experienced damage to attend, and if that actually occurs, it means that the traffic and seating will be atrocious. Nevertheless, they are supposed to have some paperwork there that property owners (me) can sign to give the city permission to start clearing the land. That's good. I have heard that the Army Corps of Engineers is supposed to be coming to help clear it, and that the Federal Government is funding 90% of the cleanup costs (as of last time I heard, it hadn't been determined if the city or the state was covering the other 10%).I have also seen some construction beginning already - but it was in the fringe areas that were damaged, not in the center of the destruction; after all, until the land is cleared, there won't be any construction that can begin. Oh, right, and the city has started to smell bad in the parts that were hit. Lots of frozen turkeys and other kinds of meat that are suddenly in 95 degree weather instead of the freezer - you do the math.
Finally, city news related, the official missing persons list is now down to zero people. Everyone that was on the list has now been accounted for. Unfortunately, I hear rumors of people that they keep finding that weren't on the missing persons list. It's very unfortunate.
Josh
Now for what's going on with me. We spent a couple of days last week looking for a place to call "home." Lots of people have asked us recently what we need, and first and foremost, we need a place where we feel like we belong - and not just as guests. Don't get me wrong, the family that I'm staying with has been beyond accommodating, but after a couple of weeks, you really start to feel like it would be better if you found a more permanent place to stay. Fortunately, I think that things are going to work out so that we have a garage apartment that is mostly furnished that we can rent starting in early July. That will be nice. It's a bit of a drive from Joplin (30 minutes to work instead of the 5 that it used to be), but that's probably for the best right now as it is very depressing to drive through the city at the moment.At some point I'm going to have to go back to work. "Life goes on," right? Well, I have been hemorrhaging my vacation time since this started, and so I'm hoping to go back to work sometime next week. I can't honestly say that I'm excited or looking forward to going back (though I normally don't mind my job), but either way I need to return. Maybe it will give me a sense of normalcy in all of this. But I don't honestly expect to experience that until July once we've moved into the apartment.
On the insurance front, things seem to be going well. We have received our payment for the house, for external structures, our first check for personal property (we should get more once we send them the itemized list of what we owned - yeah, everything that we owned), and a check to cover a year's worth of rent. Though, honestly, we probably won't spend most of this money for a while (aside from obviously having paid off the mortgage). Our current plan is to wait a few months and then try to decide what we want to do for long-term living arrangements; whether we want to buy a new house in Joplin, or whether we want to move somewhere else.
Since my car got totaled, Anna (my wife) has been asking me what kind of car I want to buy to replace it. I honestly have no idea. I've never been a car guy (which is ironic, as this is one of my Dad's primary hobbies), and so I've always just driven whatever I wound up getting for cheap. This often meant whatever my Dad was able to find a good deal on. Once I go back to work, getting a car will probably become the most pressing need, as I will need it to drive back and forth to work without leaving Anna stranded at the house.
Board Games
The most exciting part of my week this week has been going up to Changing Hands Book Shoppe (where I am receiving most of my mail) and seeing what packages had arrived for me in the mail that day. So many of you have been sending board games to help replace my collection (and to be donated to the church), that I normally have at least one thing waiting for me when I get there. It's been a blast to see what people have sent to me - this week I know I've received a couple of games from Numbskull Games and Zombie State Games, I've also received Vegas Showdown that someone ordered for me from Boards & Bits, I've gotten Amun-Re, Dixit, Settlers & Seafarers of Catan, Star Wars:CCG Cards, and about 9-12 other games for me to donate to the church! Thank you all for making this happen, and for bringing me so much joy! The response from the board game community has really made me proud to be a part of it.With that said, hopefully this will be my last Tornado-specific update. If life starts returning to normal, I hope to have this site return to normal with it. I have been able to play some new games (like Hey, That's My Fish!, Chaostle, and the Lord of the Rings LCG) which I'm hoping to review at some point, and I am receiving a lot of new titles that I also look forward to trying. With that said, I will make a confession that I've made a few times before - my posts (for game reviews) are often games that I reviewed quite some time ago. I try to write the review when the game is fresh in my mind, but I also try to have my posts occur on a somewhat regular interval. Because of this, I have quite a few "drafts" that are already ready to post (for games such as Aquarius, Lunch Money: Sticks and Stones, Talisman, and many others). So, even if I'm not able to start posting new reviews for the next few weeks, I should be able to post some of these for you to read until I'm able to get some new ones written.
Thank You
I've said this repeatedly to most everyone that I've encountered recently; but, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. So many people have supported me and my wife during this time and I really cannot express how much it has meant to us. Without friends, family, and the board game community, this natural disaster would have wreaked havoc in our lives. I consider myself blessed to be supported by so many wonderful people. Thank you, thank you, thank you.Tornadoes: A Week Later
So, just for fair warning, this post will ramble much more than normal - and probably not really make sense or flow through a large part of it. Oh well. For those of you that don't know, I just recently experienced a tornado that destroyed my entire home. You can read my thoughts on that here. I know that many of you have never experienced something similar, and so I thought that it might be good to post about various things that I have thought about and dealt with in this post, because it might be interesting to some of you. Yes, I realize that I have usurped my blog about board games, but it will resume being about them once things get a bit more settled. With that said, here we go...
The next thing that has been astounding has been the amount of money that has been donated to me directly using PayPal from the right-hand side of my site (or from the Geek Forum and Geek List on Board Game Geek.) Thank you, everyone. Much of this has come from friends and family, but a large amount has also come from people that I don't know. I have no way of getting in touch with most of you to say thank you - but thank you!!
I almost forgot. I need to give a very special thank you to Russ Grundy. He has both allowed me to stay with him, and has provided a place where I can store my (damp) belongings. Thank you, Russ!
With that said, I cannot thank everyone in the Board Game Community that has donated and/or will donate games. I simply will not know about all of their efforts. Thank you anyway. I would like to call special attention to the following game companies and game stores that I know have contributed (and if I forget, please let me know and I will try to update the list later):
Since I had been doing the board game drive and begging all of you in the magical Internet-land to donate games to the city of Joplin (and because people had been so incredibly generous towards me specifically), I decided that I really needed to put my money (in this case toys) where my mouth is. So, as I was going through the things that were taken out of my house, I filled two large boxes full of action figures and family friendly games and I took them up to the church - only to be told that they weren't accepting donations because they had too much!! (Don't worry if you are mailing something, they will still accept it; locally they are asking people to hold off a few days so that they can work out warehousing facilities... but I didn't know that yet.) This was the most painful experience that I have had since the tornado hit. There was not much that I could do with regards to helping other people affected, but I really thought that toys and games for kids (specifically boys; I like action figures) was an area that I could help. I was absolutely devastated when what little I could do was taken away. There is nothing worse than having someone make you feel like you are worthless. This is still a very fresh wound that causes my eyes to well up as I type. I need some more time to process this and chalk it up to one more time that I've been hurt by a church. (As an aside; if you are reading this and you aren't a Christian, please realize that there is a big difference between Christ and Christians. Please don't allow a jack*** "Christian" who has hurt you to keep you from Christ the healer of the hurting of whom "a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." Now, I'm done. Again, trying not to get too theological.
"It's just stuff, right?" That's something that my wife has asked me a lot, and which I think I've handled a little bit better than she has (granted, she lost much more sentimental things than I did - family heirlooms, favorite pictures, etc, whereas most everything that I lost can be replaced at the store. More than anything, however, this tornado has helped us to clear out lost of things that we didn't really need - many things we had even debated getting rid of. In our culture, there often seems to be a pressure of having the most things. It is fairly nice to not have stuff for a while. Granted, this is a two-edged sword. It's really nice to not have stuff, because that allows you the freedom to move around, do whatever, and never worry about if you are going to be robbed or anything else. Of course, it's also fun to use stuff. If nobody owned board games, then I couldn't play them. Overall, however, I think that we'll be ok. In fact, once we get through all of this, I think that I'm going to frame the picture on the right. I really like the picture. It is really neat to me; the house completely destroyed to the foundation, but with the office chair sitting in the middle (yes, it was probably posed that way; no, it is not my house).
4311 E. Newman Rd
Joplin, MO 64801
Josh Edwards
c/o Changing Hands Book Shoppe
528 S Virginia Ave
Joplin, MO 64801
Thanks for your support! I hope that it was an interesting read. I had another section about people I've met, but I think I somehow deleted it. I might re-write that later.
Inadequate Gratitude
For the many, many, many people who have helped me, thank you. I have received a large amount of support in a variety of ways. The first thing that happened was that the Board Game community stepped up in an effort to replace my collection (I will probably write a post about that later, but for a quick synopsis, you can read an article that Matt at MTV's Geek News wrote here. In addition to the board games (which I really enjoy, but are really not that critical in the long run), I have also had a great amount of help from my co-workers. I currently work at Accenture, and specifically the Joplin, Camden, and King of Prussia offices have been astounding. On the Tuesday after the tornado, my co-workers actually beat me to my house, and they had successfully unloaded most everything that was salvageable before I even arrived at the scene. Thanks! They also raised a collection to support myself and my wife as we try to figure out where to go from here. Double thanks! Finally, many of them volunteered to donate some Paid Time Off (PTO) to me so that I can try to find a new home, move into it, settle in, and try to restore normalcy. The other things that Accenture has helped me with include giving me a grant from a non-profit organization that is designed to help Accenture employees during similar times; they also gave me a few days off from work before I started even using my PTO.The next thing that has been astounding has been the amount of money that has been donated to me directly using PayPal from the right-hand side of my site (or from the Geek Forum and Geek List on Board Game Geek.) Thank you, everyone. Much of this has come from friends and family, but a large amount has also come from people that I don't know. I have no way of getting in touch with most of you to say thank you - but thank you!!
I almost forgot. I need to give a very special thank you to Russ Grundy. He has both allowed me to stay with him, and has provided a place where I can store my (damp) belongings. Thank you, Russ!
Board Game Drive
After all of this started, I decided to start a board game drive for the city of Joplin. There were a few reasons for this. First, so many children and families lost their homes and have absolutely nothing to distract themselves from the reality of the situation - board games fill this hole nicely. Secondly, so many people on Board Game Geek wanted to help; and I know that this is a very real way in which they are able to contribute. Third, I (through begging for demo copies of games for this site) have established a relationship with many game companies, and the people that I've talked to I truly believed would want to help if they felt like their contribution would matter. Finally (and one of the biggest factors) is that I really needed to do something to help others, as so many people had been so generous to me - and this is something that I felt I could do.With that said, I cannot thank everyone in the Board Game Community that has donated and/or will donate games. I simply will not know about all of their efforts. Thank you anyway. I would like to call special attention to the following game companies and game stores that I know have contributed (and if I forget, please let me know and I will try to update the list later):
- Eagle Games (makers of Through the Ages, Age of Empires III, etc)
- AEG (Nightfall, Thunderstone, Legend of the 5 Rings)
- Pressman Toys (Rummikub, Mancala, Dominoes, and a million other products)
- Family Games Association (Quoridor, Stratum, etc)
- Fun Q Games (Smash or Trash, Befuzzled)
- Stronghold Games (Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War)
- Myriad Games (FLGS in New Hampshire)
A Frustrating Experience
So, I'm a Christian. I have been going to church all of my life. I just reserved a blog where I can write about that stuff here, so I will try not to get too theological here. Specifically, I have also been hurt by churches in any number of ways due to growing up in one (and actually trying to work in one). The next thing that you need to know for the background of this story is that I run a Flea Market booth full of toys - and I have for about 4 years. The Flea Market that hosts my booth is moving this month, and so I hadn't really restocked it in a while. So, I had a ton of toys in my basement. Now, here's what happened:Since I had been doing the board game drive and begging all of you in the magical Internet-land to donate games to the city of Joplin (and because people had been so incredibly generous towards me specifically), I decided that I really needed to put my money (in this case toys) where my mouth is. So, as I was going through the things that were taken out of my house, I filled two large boxes full of action figures and family friendly games and I took them up to the church - only to be told that they weren't accepting donations because they had too much!! (Don't worry if you are mailing something, they will still accept it; locally they are asking people to hold off a few days so that they can work out warehousing facilities... but I didn't know that yet.) This was the most painful experience that I have had since the tornado hit. There was not much that I could do with regards to helping other people affected, but I really thought that toys and games for kids (specifically boys; I like action figures) was an area that I could help. I was absolutely devastated when what little I could do was taken away. There is nothing worse than having someone make you feel like you are worthless. This is still a very fresh wound that causes my eyes to well up as I type. I need some more time to process this and chalk it up to one more time that I've been hurt by a church. (As an aside; if you are reading this and you aren't a Christian, please realize that there is a big difference between Christ and Christians. Please don't allow a jack*** "Christian" who has hurt you to keep you from Christ the healer of the hurting of whom "a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." Now, I'm done. Again, trying not to get too theological.
An Amusing (To Me) Story
So, on Thursday, I met with my insurance adjuster. Now, back to the Flea Market thing, one of the things I sell are baseball cards. I buy lots and sell them around 500-1000 cards at a time for $5 per box. Obviously they aren't worth all that much, or I would probably increase that price. My co-workers (since they beat me to the house on Tuesday) had unloaded a large number of these junk cards that were slightly water damaged, and I decided that they were too heavy to move 4 times, so I decided to throw them back. On the news Thursday morning was some story that was filmed in front of my house about this magical binder of baseball cards that survived and blah, blah, blah, but, again, it was filmed in front of my house. So, while we were meeting with the adjuster out front, a gentleman came up claiming that he had lost his cards, and that the cards on the news were his. My adjuster noticed a binder of cards (that I had tossed back), and asked "oh, might it be those?" "Yes, of course," the gentleman lied. So, I just sat there quietly, not at all caring about those worthless cards, and really wanting the guy to go away. So, he takes the binder of slightly damp, worthless to start with cards, and heads on his way. After he was out of earshot, I pointed out to the adjuster and my wife that those were my cards; I just didn't care anything about them. This distracted the adjuster for the rest of the time that we met with him. Eventually, he told the police about it. Looters try to be tricky. I just feel like I got a funny story out of it. (And apparently a little bit down the block he realized they were worthless and discarded them from what the adjuster said; he was watching him the whole time.)DVD's
So, this is a weird one for me. I guess for some reason, DVD's have take up the symbol of "nice to have, but I don't need" in my mind. So many people have given me so much in the way of money, and I'm not really sure what all I'm going to wind up needing. One thing that I did need was a gigantic DVD wallet (we actually bought two that were at least 250 discs each). We had tons of DVD's between movies, TV shows, and wrestling (yes, that's right - I've watched it since I was a kid), and their cases were all pretty messed up (or they were in our 400-disc changer that was also fairly slaughtered... how do small twigs get in that, anyway? I could've sworn there was a clear plastic piece blocking that opening at some point.) Anyway, I think that when I buy DVD's for myself again, that will be a sign that I feel like life is becoming normal again. Most of the ones I had I bought a long time ago, but right now I would feel guilty if I were to buy any new ones. After all, so many people gave me money, and I feel like that is all for the necessities of food, water, and clothing. And so anything outside of those I feel guilty about spending money on.It's Just Stuff
"It's just stuff, right?" That's something that my wife has asked me a lot, and which I think I've handled a little bit better than she has (granted, she lost much more sentimental things than I did - family heirlooms, favorite pictures, etc, whereas most everything that I lost can be replaced at the store. More than anything, however, this tornado has helped us to clear out lost of things that we didn't really need - many things we had even debated getting rid of. In our culture, there often seems to be a pressure of having the most things. It is fairly nice to not have stuff for a while. Granted, this is a two-edged sword. It's really nice to not have stuff, because that allows you the freedom to move around, do whatever, and never worry about if you are going to be robbed or anything else. Of course, it's also fun to use stuff. If nobody owned board games, then I couldn't play them. Overall, however, I think that we'll be ok. In fact, once we get through all of this, I think that I'm going to frame the picture on the right. I really like the picture. It is really neat to me; the house completely destroyed to the foundation, but with the office chair sitting in the middle (yes, it was probably posed that way; no, it is not my house).Uncertainty
One of the main things that we are dealing with now is the uncertainty of where to go from here. It will be very difficult to find a place to rent in Joplin because so many other people's homes were also destroyed (I think that this is one of the things that sets what happened here so much from normal loss of a home from something like fire), and so we're not really sure where we are going to go. At least for now, we intend to try to find a furnished apartment that is somewhat close to Joplin (I will eventually have to go back to work), and then we will decide where to go from there.A Face to a Tragedy
I remember Katrina. I remember Haiti. I remember Japan. I remember many, many other tragedies. However, with all of them, it was a feeling like, "yeah, that's horrible, but what can I do? I don't know anybody there, and I don't know how I could help." I really think that people are very generous. I believe that I have been a real face to the tragedy in Joplin for a lot of people outside of the city. Because I've been able to provide a face for people, they have truly felt like they could give generously. Again, thank you for this. However, I am now realizing the big difference. When all of those other tragedies struck, it was horrible. I saw all the images, and heard all of the numbers. But then it stopped being on the news. And I would hear things later about these areas and I would think "oh yeah, I forgot about that." Now, I'm on the opposite side; the stories of Joplin are not on the national news as much... but it will be a long time before life is normal in Joplin again. I have posted this in many places already, but again, here are ways that you can help:- Donate to the Red Cross and mark it for Joplin
- Donate to College Heights Christian Church here and mark it "The Storm"
- Send toys, games, clothes, etc to:
4311 E. Newman Rd
Joplin, MO 64801
- Send games to (these will go to me, to the FLGS's that are providing lots of support in many, many ways - I'm actually borrowing an Internet connection at one of them now to type this up, and then to the church):
Josh Edwards
c/o Changing Hands Book Shoppe
528 S Virginia Ave
Joplin, MO 64801
Always Tired
I'm an 8-hour per night sleeper. Always have been. I was as a kid, through college, and even as a professional. That doesn't really happen now. Everything that I do seems to take a lot longer than expected, and so I don't wind up getting to bed until 1-2 AM, and then the day starts back up by 8-9 most times. And, whereas I've always loved the weekend, I'm currently viewing them as inconvenient. After all, I can't go to the bank, get my DSL service canceled, and several other things because it's the weekend. So I'm trying to use this time to relax. It's only going somewhat well.Next Steps
Well, I had lots of other thoughts to share with you, but many of them have slipped out of my mind in the time between when I have had a reliable Internet connection. Oh well. From here, we need to get the insurance money and put it in the bank, either decide to rebuild or pay off the mortgage (we're not even sure if we are in some way forced to rebuild). We also need to find a place to live. And buy clothes, and a new car. And, in the great eventual, I will go back to work. And once we decide where we are going to live, I think that my wife will also try to find a job.Thanks for your support! I hope that it was an interesting read. I had another section about people I've met, but I think I somehow deleted it. I might re-write that later.
Tornadoes in Joplin
Intro
Hi. My name is Josh. For a while, I have been using this blog to exclusively write reviews of board games. I've debated back and forth in my mind for a while whether I wanted to include "site news" posts or not, but thus far have refrained. However, something has happened that has caused me to go ahead and start that section. Bluntly, my house was blown down in a tornado.Discovery
Trying to Get Home
So, what do you do when you find out that your house is flattened? Well, if you are like me, then you are worried about looters. Now, specifically, in the high tech age, my main concern is identity theft. Many of my documents including social security cards, etc, were suddenly relatively easy to steal (in my mind - though after seeing the actual house, I think it would have been a very dedicated looter to get to where I had stored them). So, after calling the insurance adjuster, I was on the phone with Delta attempting to get back home. The person I talked to was awesome. Kudos. He got me and my wife on a flight for the next day, and didn't charge any of the customary rebooking fees which would have normally run me around $700 from the pricings I had seen online. So all that was left was to restlessly lay in bed until our flight the next afternoon.We arrived in Atlanta with no real problems, but as many of you grizzled travelers know, that is when you have to run all the way across the airport to your next destination. We did so, and then we were presented with something that we should have probably expected - the weather was still horrible. Our flight was cancelled. I won't go into the whole sob story of how frustrated we were for around 5 or more hours in Atlanta trying to get home, but eventually, we were able to get on a flight to Tulsa that landed at 10 PM CST. (Keep in mind, we flew out of Northwest Arkansas, and so we had no car and no luggage. My little joke to my wife was that the airline lost our luggage on purpose just to make sure that we had absolutely nothing; though in actuality, they just hadn't successfully sent any flights to Northwest Arkansas that night.) We went to my parent's house, talked for a few hours, and then headed to Wal-Mart to buy the basics that we would need for the night - a change of clothes, contact solution, deodorant. Then off to bed for some more restless sleep.
Digging Through Piles
Let me start this section by telling you - I am a very blessed individual. I have never been more popular than since this tragedy occurred. I have received numerous phone calls, texts, and even a BoardGameGeek forum all in an effort to help me. I have already received several donations on Pay Pal, and many people have offered to help me refill my collection of games that I lose through this. However, this section, specifically, is called digging through piles.
During my digging, I really found several great surprises. My wife was very sad that she had lost many things of sentimental value to her - some very meaningful pictures, some antique furniture that had been in her family for generations, etc. She was still trying to get to Joplin after having to pick up our car from Northwest Arkansas, and so I knew that I really needed to keep an eye out for any of these things that could be saved for her. Lo and behold - many were saved! Randomly throughout the morning, someone would come up to me and show me a picture they had found and, viola! another thing that my wife could be excited about. We were able to save her favorite picture of us as a couple (from when we were still dating), her favorite picture of her Mom, and also an old family picture from when she was a baby. Most were probably water damaged, but the original is intact enough that we should be able to restore them. Another item that I found was an envelope full of money (and my Gen Con money) - like many other people, I keep a supply of "petty cash" on hand at my house shoved in a random sock drawer-type location. I figured that location was lost forever since it was in the back of the house, which was hit the hardest (and this would have been unfortunate, since the insurance only covers up to $100). Lo and behold, I found my money - now I can afford to buy something new at Gen Con! Sweet! I and/or my fellow scavengers also found some of my more valuable baseball cards, autographed baseballs, DVD's, coins, and some other "useful" stuff.
Here's an aside about baseball. I really like baseball; always have. I remember watching it as a kid, and collecting billions of worthless baseball cards (worthless because of the timeframe of them, not the tornado - I got rid of most of those useless ones a long time ago). In 2004, I decided that it would be neat to visit each baseball stadium and watch a live baseball game there (though with the rate they're building new stadiums, I feel I only have to watch the team once); my wife liked the idea so much that she decided that we needed to do this. In case you're curious, we've been to the following since then: Kansas City, St. Louis, Texas, Houston, San Francisco, Oakland, Cincinnati, Minnesota (both the Metrodome and Target Field), Boston, Baltimore, Washington, and (on our very shortlived Miami vacation), the Florida Marlins. I tell you all of this to let you know that I have kept the ticket stubs to each of these games. We were also fortunate enough to get to go to the World Series last year to watch the Texas Rangers play (my wife is a die hard Rangers fan). We had the World Series tickets framed, and the other tickets in a box in our closet that we were going to frame later. I tell you all this to let you know - I found most of this stuff! I know that I found the World Series tickets, and I also found many of the other ticket stubs (though they were a bit damp). That was another exciting find!
"A Lesson For Board Gamers"
After digging through every part of the house, the last place to clear out was my board game closet. I expected everything to be trashed - I mean, a pile of cardboard pieces with paper instructions among no roof and enough rain to cause significant flooding? No chance. However, as it turned out, the closet I used to store my board games seems to be the sturdiest room in our entire house! Sure, I had lots of games that didn't make it - card games were triple their normal size, a game or two fell apart on me as I picked it up, and any game that wasn't in the closet at the time of the tornado was utterly obliterated (poor Lords of Vegas - I should have taken a picture of it, because it was impressively destroyed; no two parts were really in the same place). How the shelves were setup in my game closet seemed to prevent most of the water from hitting the games, though. At least, the games that were off the ground. So, here are some lessons for board gamers: 1) pick up your games - poor Lords of Vegas didn't have a chance; 2) not just in the closet, but actually on the shelves; Punct was another one that by the end of the day was just squish; my new copy of At the Gates of Loyang was in the floor too (in the shrink!) and it got pretty soaked 3) choose a very sturdy location in the house to store your games. I recommend a place that is very central, has no windows, etc, etc. Basically, record a weather interruption where they tell you where to hide - that's where you want to put your board games. Especially, because then in a tornado, you have entertainment! (Though I hope none of you ever go through one.)Things I Learned Today
First of all - I have too much stuff. I plan on not replacing a lot of it. Yeah, I'll probably keep buying games at a rate that is drastically unhealthy for anything but keeping the FLGS (friendly local game store) in business and allowing me to have new games to review on the site), but I will probably try to stop buying so much of everything else. At least until I forget this lesson. I'm thinking about framing one of these pictures to help remind me. Seriously.Second, there are a lot of things that happen in natural disasters that you would never think of. Here's one of the things I'm trying to figure out - how do I get my lot cleared? I will probably choose not to rebuild, and so I will be the owner of a very cluttered small plot of land in Joplin. It has a basement. How do I get that filled so that I'm not liable for somone falling into it and getting hurt? I don't honestly know that, but since there are lots of other people in the same predicament, I'm hoping someone else can help with that.
Also, here are some other things that you don't really think of. How recently have you had your tetanus shot? I don't really know, and neither do most people that I talk to, and we're all digging through piles of board with rusty nails in them from almost a century ago. Fortunately, Walgreen's was giving out free tetanus shots. That's pretty cool, and I'm glad they were doing something you wouldn't have thought of. Next, people get hurt and need blood. You should give blood to your local blood bank if you are able to keep it stocked - you don't know when someone will need it. Third (or so), it can be really hard to find places when you don't have any street signs or landmarks. I've lived at my house for almost 4 years, driving up and down the same roads through that entire time, and I still had to pay really close attention so that I would know where I was and not pass my house! There were also lots of insurance people, and concerned volunteers that were trying to find certain houses, which is very hard to do when there are no street signs and no addresses on houses. Finally, if you are digging through piles of rubble, wear sunscreen! As it turns out, I get a nasty sunburn when working in my house when it doesn't have a roof anymore.
Next Steps
The other next thing that I have to do is figure out where to live. In a city of 40,000 to start with, when 30% of the city is destroyed, finding rental property within an hour is going to be challenging if not impossible. Do you remember where I said earlier that I am blessed? I lost track of how many people offered to let me stay at their homes. I took one of them up on it! However, as I do not want to overstay my welcome, I will need to figure out a more long-term solution soon.
If You Would Like To Help
If you would like to donate to me (which is actually not in any way why I wrote this), then feel free to use the PayPal link on the right of the blog in the "Support the Site" section. If you would like to help the greater need, then I have posted some idea on the Board Game Geek forum that I mentioned earlier that you can see here. Here's the short summary copied from over there:If you want to give money to help the city of Joplin, the Red Cross seems to be a very good option - they seem to have stations setup across the city, they are running blood drives, giving out food and water, helping provide clothes, etc. Please try to make sure it is tagged for Joplin.
If you are interested in sending other things: used toys, extra board games (possibly those games that aren't geeky enough for you), clothes, shoes, etc, etc, or have some aversion to the Red Cross, my understanding is that College Heights Christian Church is serving as a dropoff point that is working with the United Way. You can check out http://www.chcchurch.org/the-storm for more info. Their address is:
College Heights Christian Church
4311 E. Newman Road
Joplin, MO 64801
(I would recommend marking the packages as "donations for tornado victims" or something similar so they know what is going on)
And their phone number (may be hard to get ahold of someone, I don't know) is 417.624.6915
Finally, if you are somewhat near Joplin, there may be a dropoff point near you (to where you don't have to pay for shipping). Check out http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=117118671706061
More Reading
If you would like to get a woman's perspective on this ordeal, my wife has decided to (at least temporarily) start a blog about the aftermath of the tornadoes. You can read about it here.Apology For Bad Grammar And Typos
Normally I proof read these. This one, however, is really, really, really long (if you made it this far, you already know this). And I'm tired from dealing with several restless nights in a row. So, I am not going to. Please don't judge all of my writing based on the basic typos that I'm sure were in this post. Who knows, I may come back in a few months and clean them up!
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