Ft. Hood tragedy - Was it a personal or political act?

Ft. Hood has over 80,000 s.f. of our security film installed, yet that security precaution didn't keep a domestic terrorist from opening fire on fellow soldiers. This is a tragedy in multiple ways.

Ft. Hood has been leading the nation in the number of suicides from repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan while most Americans go about their normal life. Combat stress is taking its toll after three and four deployments. Perhaps the silver lining will be that more attention will be paid to combat stress and screen out those who become unhinged.

Someone should have seen this coming -- this guy was sending out signals that all was not well with his head.

But lumping all Muslims together for the act of one on the fringe is not the answer - do we blame all white people when someone like Tim McVeigh sets off a truck bomb in Oklahoma City? Do we blame the entire race for the acts of a serial killer? Muslim organizations quickly condemned this crime, as they should.

It's a tragedy however you look at it. Our prayers are with the families of those killed or wounded yesterday.

Doesn't IDA know Hurricane season is Over?

Doesn't Hurricane IDA know that hurricane season is supposed to be over?

Apparently not. In a season when not a single hurricane entered the Gulf, there is a chance that IDA will stay alive after hitting Nicaragua -- and get into the Gulf of Mexico. Keep your eye on it just in case. The tracks are all over the place, so who knows where it will go.

This should be a reminder that we won't get another break next hurricane season like we did this one. We are as close to the coast as we were a year ago (actually about 10 feet closer) and that these killers are an annual event.

Prepare now...or pay a bigger price later. Tax credits for hurricane film installations end on December 31...

Found: Stimulus Money for the Little Guy (me)

 

This was one of the days it wasn't raining when we put hurricane film on a new Chase bank on Long Island, NY.

I am proof positive that the stimulus money is trickling down to us ordinary folks, since I am about as unconnected politically as they come. lol.

The Blackberry helped a lot also - just punch in a request and you can find the nearest food (something we did a lot) or the nearest Home Depot or UPS store, which we also needed.

When my Storm crashed after I loaded Windows 7 we were lucky and had a backup. My chief installer had just bought the same phone, so we were able to use it for navigation (to/from the airport), etc. even when mine had the "white screen of death" that they had never encountered at Verizon before.

It was stimulating weather and even the New Yorkers warmed up with the weather by the end of the job. They were really nice people and it was a pleasant week. I finally got to see the Atlantic on the last day before flying out. It was only 1/2 mile from the bank!

Long Island: Prescription Drugs from Mom and Dad Leading to Heroin Use by Teens

Got up at 4 am this morning at a Hyatt on Long Island for an early flight out of JFK to Houston –just in time to make the memorial for a friend who died of cancer recently. Millions in high tech treatment was not enough to save him. But my plane was held up two hours at JFK due to “maintenance issues.” When they say “maintenance”

When they say “Maintenance” I say “take all the time you need.” As a pilot I know the last thing I want is a airplane not working right when you are flying, especially with passengers in your care.

The flight delay put me in a crunch to make the memorial in Sugar Land. Bob was an avid sailor from Long Island to the Atlantic who settled here on the Gulf Coast. Not only did he enjoy our weather he also was a gifted literary teacher and insightful advisor to many.

The most amazing story was told by one of his children. They were in a sailboat race years ago in Long Island Sound when it became evident that a large tug, pulling a barge with a cable, was between them and winning the race.

Bob said to his son: “If we have to go behind the barge, we lose the race.”

Then an amazing thing happened. The tugboat Captain, seeing the situation, cut his engine just enough to let the cable pulling the barge slip below the waves -- just long enough for Bob and his boat to sail over -- and win the race! Then the tug powered up, the cable tightened, and the tug continued on its journey with its cargo.

Another son recalled a time when a large cruise ship hit their boat and they had to jump into the water.

And about another not-so-kind tug operator who powered up his boat to deliberately create the largest wake possible --knowing the wake force could capsize Bob’s tiny boat with him and his young son in it. Somehow Bob was “in tune” with the universe and it all worked out well.

FYI. I didn’t know this. NY C TV carried a fascinating, disturbing, story last night. Apparently there is an epidemic on Long Island of teens starting on mom’s and dad’s prescription drugs –and going on to heroin after getting addicted to things like Vicodin. One mom had only five pills, yet it was enough to get her son hooked, and seeking bigger highs from heroin, which is easily obtained there.

To stop it, one teen who was on the wrong side of addiction said it simply: “You lock up your guns. You should also lock up your prescription drugs.”

Or else they are readily available to be abused and possibly kill your kids, like it is doing in Long Island today, a suburb of white, middle class, economically safe people –not homeless people like some might like to think.

The NYC news also run some funny stories on the political races going on there. It was fun to watch that part. I like Long Island and its quaint little houses that reminded me of Iowa and suburbia combined.

On the national front, all remains the same.

Security and safety in the 21^st Century -- means that we need to pay attention to what is going on globally or get blindsided yet again.

Not paying attention to the technology development in Asia and Europe also puts the U.S. at a disadvantage to the other competing economic powerhouses of the world, from China to India to even Russia.

We need to be global tech leaders and, if necessary, interplanetary entrepreneurs to stay ahead – or risk being just another economy in a vast super global economic engine – that ends up driving the rest of this century – and the next.

Fall Colors in NY

Here is a shot of the tree colors on Long Island next to the job we were doing on a JP Morgan Chase bank - one of the first to get hurricane window film. The bank is only 1/2 mile from the Atlantic coast.

I had to get a new Blackberry Storm to replace the one toasted after I loaded Windows 7 - they had never seen anything like it. After I downloaded the newest BB software the system stablized.

I may go check out an old lighthouse on the tip of the island today - my first day off in eons. It poured cold rain for a couple days but the sun broke out yesterday and it is supposed to be good the next several days.

I put my crew on a Jet Blue flight yesterday - which was due to arrive last night in the middle of the heavy rains.

Despite their reputation for being short, I found the experience of working with New Yorkers pleasant. Yeah, there was another contractor on the job yesterday who sounded like a pit bull when I asked his crew not to put their fingers in still-drying sealant, but so what. LOL.

Flying back tomorrow. Today I am going to enjoy a rare day off...

in New York with a dead Blackberry and a crippled compute

I'm in New York with a dead Blackberry and a crippled computer, where it has been pouring a COLD rain for the last two days.

While working on a bank to secure it from hurricanes (only 1/2 mile from the ocean) I downloaded the new Windows 7 to go on a month-old new computer. All was fine until it started crashing last night - while I had my Blackberry Storm hooked up to it. Now my Storm has the "white screen of death" which says in tiny print "Reload software 507."

What software 507? It's toast, along with only files I had on it.

Good thing is that we finished the job. But now I have no phone and a computer that only works in "safe mode." Unless it crashes again.

Microsoft instructions are starting to look like NASA launch codes. "Go update your drivers"
Duh? Isn't that the new software's job?

So LOL, I'm on Long Island without a working comm device. I may have to resort to smoke signals, after seeing all the unpronounceable Indian street names like "ConnQuot" or something like that.

But it is beautiful when the sun is out. But today it is still blowing like a blue norther and it's time to head SOUTH when that happens.

I just hope to have a working phone and computer by then. My Blackberry is my email, phone, calendar, calculator - my office!

LOL. To Be continued. Must go ship tools back and get crew on a flight back to their families...

I'd post photos but not sure this computer would last long enough to do it. Later.

Balloon Fest to Amityville NY

Saturday the sky was full of balloons hovering over Clear Lake. Then it was on to NY, where the trees are yellow, red -- and drop dread beautiful. Here is a blurry photo passing Amityville...

Also included is a photo that I took with my Blackberry Storm of one balloon appearing to land on a building in Clear Lake (I was too tired from two trade shows in one week to take more photos of an excellent event on a perfectly still, beautiful day. lol):

More on our adventures on Long Island later. High is 60-something and the low is 40, and DRY. Found a deal on a golf resort on Priceline.com for about the cost of a Comfort Inn. It's like being in the country, not New York...