Literally. There was a chemical spill in my neighborhood today, and you can smell the fumes from blocks away. I had been planning on working a little late to take care of one last recalcitrant machine, but Bogdan, a friend of mine from work, insisted on driving me home so I wouldn't be walking home through the fumes. Admittedly, I didn't really fight him on it. I'm tired, hungry, and sick of dealing with the fallout of what should have been a simple, pre-tested upgrade that has left me with over three days of damage control. Fortunately, few have noticed.

The funny thing is, although this is the first time I've ended up almost sitting in it (and one poor, unlucky graduate student told me she has her brand new truck parked right next to where the tanker broke down), it's not even all that surprising. Louisiana is in the top three in the nation for the amount of carcinogens released by industry.

I have got to get out of this place. There are people I'll miss here, but I've still got to get out of this place.