Richelle held a hell of a barbecue for me at my place for my 33rd birthday this Saturday (my birthday was Sunday). I am a blessed man. My growing family was there (welcome Cindy!). Friends I have made online, friends from work, and life long friends – who have known me from high school – were in attendence. Not everyone was there – but old relationships go thru their stages ya know. But for those that were – well we had a good time.

It started 3PM in the afternoon and went on till 3AM in the morning. Although, by that time, I was paying the price for getting very, very drunk. Probably as bad as my bachelor party. The meaning of this week, I think, in the back of my mind.

Katrina, like 9/11 before it, leaves you faced with the fact that time is very, very precious. Just a little needs to pass – and everything can change. How we spend it means everything.

After 9/11 I walked away from weblogging. I walked away from Philly Future. I devoted myself to spending more time with my family, more time with my friends. Bringing Philly Future back online, and seeing it grow as successfully as it has – well it brings everything around full circle. How am I spending my time? Is it being spent wisely?

The following links are of folks in my sphere of work that are doing things to help in the wake of Katrina:

Jeff Jarvis: Recovery 2.0

Doc Searls: Power to the People

Dave Winer: “It’s 2005, we have mastered the technology, now let’s deploy it”

Mike Watkins: Suggestion: Don’t write one line of code, not one XML spec, until you’ve worked a week in a Red Cross call center on family reunification tasks.

Boing Boing: Tech pros ask: how can we help with Katrina recovery?, Katrina aid idea: create cybercafe/free voip phone center at Astrodome?, Katrina tech aid ideas, continued