To be honest, we didn't feel very much like doing a Drink of the Week this week. We've been glued to the news, watching the situation unfold down in New Orleans. And it's bad. We just didn't feel like writing with our usual irreverence and silliness. Instead, we thought perhaps a toast was in order.

There's a lot of people down there who struggled to survive the last week. We'll start to see stories in the media over the next while, as the reporters all try to find the best human-interest stories, or the most amazing stories of survival, or who's cameraman can beat up who's cameraman. But it's the simple acts that can mean the most, and there will be an underlying level of common strength that will never be known by the rest of us. The people who helped the old or infirm, who cared for others in the stormiest hours and the darkness afterwards. Those who rescued dogs or children from the rising waters at risk to themselves, or who organized rescue parties when it was clear they had to fend for themselves, or who gathered food and water for those who could not manage. It's these things we toast today, the acts that will never be fully known, and the people who did the best they could for themselves and others.

Drinknation salutes you. Blessed may you be.