I know that most of you have heard from the southerner in the guild or from national news that the Southeast took a huge hit yesterday. I spent last night in the center of the worst devastation in Tuscaloosa, walking around surveying the damage and looking for people in trouble.

I cannot express how serious this is. I have never EVER seen anything like this. It literally looks like our town had a bomb droppe on it, as there are blocks and blocks where there is nothing standing. The tornado yesterday took a path through the most populous, most business-oriented part of our town. It was over 1 mike wide and classified as an F5 with winds of over 200 miles per hour. This is going to take months to fix. Pictures can be found at http://www.tuscaloosanews.com.

Anyway, I know that Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia all had very serious damage as well. I ask any of you that have an extra $10 or more to please donate to the American Red Cross to help with relief. More info can be found at their site. Keep us in your thoughts, please.

Done! My thoughts and prayers are with ya'll.

Found this link containing a list of ways to donate. I'm not sure if my texts will work from Canada but I'll try!

This is like the 5th time this year I've given blood or money to the red cross. Shit needs to stop happening.

This is like the 5th time this year I've given blood or money to the red cross. Shit needs to stop happening.

Ditto. They come to work to steal my blood every time something happens.

Hey, blood is easy to donate. And you make it for (kinda) free! Every two months, donate if you can.

But as for money, I am donating and using this matching program. I'm sure there are others out there.

Yeah my company has a matching donation program for just about anything that goes one. Pretty righteous.

I sincerely thank all of you who have donated. If you're on the fence, just avoid Starbucks twice this week or take your lunch to work from home and use that to contribute.

I'm posting this from Veinkman's parents' house. They've taken in Veinkman and Rickman and a few others in our core group of friends to let them stay in the basement until roads have been cleared and power has been restored. We're trying to carry on in a relatively normal way, watching the draft and grilling in the backyard. All others that we are close to have been accounted for except for two of our friends in Alberta, which was obliterated. I may go out again tonight with a chainsaw and some halogen lights. I was also considering taking my quad across town and handing out bottled water and McDonald's to the officers and troops working, but Veinkman jut informed me that there has evidently been a curfew put into effect this evening. The local authorities and the military are on duty 24 hrs a day and Obama will be here tomorrow. It's still really hard to believe that the place that I've lived for 22 of my 25 years is so crippled. I'm not going to lie, I cried like a baby today when I saw it in the daylight.

On a lighter note, Cam Newton went first in the draft. I guess he can afford to give his dad some money now.

On a lighter note, Cam Newton went first in the draft. I guess he can afford to give his dad some money now.

Cam Newton will be the next Ryan Leaf.

Minnesota is smoking some serious crack to draft CP 12th overall.

My beloved Dolphins will have the best O-line ever and no QB to do anything with it.

Maybe they will pick up a QB today.

NO did the best in the round with Ingraham; Reggie Bush didn't seem too happy with the pick...

ROLL TIDE.

We're trying to carry on in a relatively normal way, watching the draft and grilling in the backyard. ... On a lighter note, Cam Newton went first in the draft. I guess he can afford to give his dad some money now.

Having been in my fair share of extremely shitty situations, keep your head up. Sounds like you have the right attitude. It's sticking with the simple, little things that'll get you through it.

Sounds like you've got a good group of people around you to help each other out, but don't forget that we're all here for you too. If there is one thing I've learned from 5 years in VS, its that we really are a family.