An Attitude of Gratitude after Hurricane Ike

A week ago, Hurricane Ike was bearing down on the Texas Coast. Satellite images showed a tempest larger than the State of Texas...in fact, Ike was as large as the entire Gulf of Mexico (approx. 615,000 square miles). It was the size (about 70% larger than "average") of Ike rather than it's strength that created a situation ripe for dangerous waves and flooding in low lying areas.

Friends living in the area were evacuating and protecting their property to weather the storm. And I'm grateful to report that all of them survived with repairable damage, although most are still without electricity. Sadly, a relative of one friend lost her home due to a large tree falling into it, but she survived because she was riding out the storm with a neighbor.

I'm grateful for the "cool" front that blew into Texas alleviating the humidity and heat for those surviving without electricity.

I'm grateful for all of the first responders who have worked tirelessly to rescue and assist others, cleaning debris, repairing power lines and infrastructure while their own homes and families struggled to overcome without them.

I'm grateful that lives were saved because so many people evacuated.

I'm grateful for the Houston area media that kept live feeds going 24 hours a day so folks in the area and around the world could see what was happening, as it happened. And they continue to chronicle the aftermath, reporting on what is being done and where help is still needed.

I'm also grateful for all the memories I have of visits to Galveston Island over the years. The first time my son dipped his toes into the Sea was in the waters off Galveston Beach.

And just last October we went shelling underneath the pilings of Murdoch's Bath House and the Balinese Room....so much history now washed away by the maelstrom.

Deep in the South of Texas

not so long ago,
there on a crowded island
in the Gulf of Mexico.
It didn't take too much money,
man, but it sure was nice.
You could dance all night if you felt all right,

drinking whiskey and throwing dice.
And everybody knows
it was hard to leave.
And everybody knows
it was down at the Balinese.

~ZZ Top, "Balinese" from Fandango

And lest we not forget, the Memorial to those lost in the Great Storm of 1900 withstood the crashing waves of Hurricane Ike; again representing strength in survival.

Big Storm Coming Soon...

One hundred & eight years ago this week (Saturday, September 8, 1900), A Great Storm destroyed much of Galveston, Texas killing between 6,000 and 12,000 people and is the largest natural disaster ever to hit the United States. (By comparison, Hurrican Katrina claimed approximately 1,800 souls.)


So it is that this week another Big Storm is headed for the Texas Gulf Coast, following a remarkably similar path to that of the Great 1900 Storm.

Unlike the residents of Galveston in 1900; Gulf Coast residents today have the benefit of modern weather forecasting, satellite images and fast, reliable transportation out of the Hurricane zone.

Much like the Thursday before the Great Saturday storm 108 years ago, I'm hearing from several of my friends in the area that it is a beautiful day on the Gulf Coast. The calm before the storm as the saying goes.

But as we pray in rememberance of the approximately 3,000 victims of the terrorist attacks on the United States 7 years ago today, let us also pray for those lost long ago to a terror from the Sea they didn't see coming, and those in the path of Hurricane Ike that aims for the Texas coast this Saturday.

Yes, It's Been Quite A Summer....

From Baseball, swimming, concerts, 4th of July in Kansas, playing in the hose, and broken bones it was a great summer.

I'll keep it brief, but MJM started the summer playing machine-pitch baseball on a team that ultimately won their Little League Championship. After a heartbreaking loss in the Championship game last season, the guys worked hard all season and prevailed against talented competition in a double header playoff elimination on a very hot Texas day.

In a daring attempt to defy gravity, MJM "did not know he could not fly...and so he did!" He jumped off the platform of a friends' backyard Fort - breaking his foot upon landing. He was most pleased with this "accomplishment", and enjoyed showing off his walking cast.

He’s one of those who knows that life Is just a leap of faith

Spread your arms and hold you breath

And always trust your cape

~Guy Clark

Other summer adventures involved the simple pleasures of playing in the yard. Keeping the plants alive became an adventure in water...er mud management as MJM enjoyed devising his own methods of keeping cool with limited resources.

Water prevailed as a theme, even when attending the Richardson Wildflower Arts & Music Festival where we listened to Jerry Jeff and Django Walker, Ray Wiley Hubbard and Roger Creager, though MJM would probably have preferred to play in the fountain all afternoon.

And last but not least, let's flash back to where it all began...
The summer began with a marathon party at the Frisco Feeding Frenzy 2, with friends from around the country coming together to celebrate and raise money (~$16,500) for charity due to the inspiration of a man who has made seeing the positive side of life a way of life. Fins up for Jimmy Buffett and all our Parrothead friends...every year.

Texas Heat

It's that time of year again...hot and dry in Texas, so I thought I'd post these words of wisdom. Both for those of you who endure Texas summers year after year, and the rest of you who have never had the pleasure of walking into a blast furnace.

Aside: Today was the 21st day this summer of over 100° temps, and August starts tomorow! Yee Haw!




May 30th - Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. Mountains and deserts blended together. What a place! Watched the sunset from a park lying on a blanket. It was beautiful. I've finally found my home I love it here.

June 14th - Really heating up. Got to 100° today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I'm turning into a real sun worshiper.

June 30th - Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th - The temperature hasn't been below 100° all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least it's a dry heat. Getting used to it is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th - Fell asleep by the pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body.) Missed two days of work, what a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though: got to respect the old' sun in a climate like this.

July 20th - I missed Tabby (our cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got out to the hot car for lunch, Tabby had swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and exploded all over $2,000 worth of leather upholstery. I told the kids she ran away. The car now smells like Kibbles and shit. No more pets in this heat!

July 25th - Dry heat, my ass. Hot is hot!! The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th - Been sleeping outside by the pool for three nights now. $1,100 in damn house payments and we can't even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

Aug 4th - 115 degrees! Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to about 90°. Stupid repairman pissed in my pool. I hate this state.

Aug 8th - If another wise ass asks, "Hot enough for you today?” I'm going to tear his throat out. Damn heat. By the time I get to work the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like roasted Garfield!!

Aug 10th - The weather report might as well be a damn recording: Hot and Sunny. It's been too hot for two damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this barren damn desert?? Water rationing has been in effect all summer, so $1,700 worth of cactus just dried up and blew into the pool. Even a cactus can't live in this heat.

Aug 14th - Welcome to Hell!!! Temperature got to 123° today. Forgot to crack the window and blew the windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and said, "Hot enough for you today?", wife had to spend the $1,100 house payment to bail me out of jail.

Aug 30th - Worst day of the damn summer. I'm not leaving the house. The monsoon rains finally came and all they did is to make it muggier than hell. The car is now floating somewhere in Mexico with its new $500 windshield. That does it, we're moving to a cooler climate for some peace and quiet.

UPDATE: North Texas hit its 22nd day of triple-digit temperatures on August 1. Now, it’s going to get hot.

Tips Dealing With 100 Degree Temperatures

Heights Rocketship Blasts Off

Richardson’s Heights Park playground flies into history (article)

It's been two weeks since the Rocketship came down. I've been meaning to post about it, but it's been too painful.

Intellectually, I understand the dangers the equipment presented; but for both my Son and me the Rocketship, the Planet, the Submarine, the Giraffe, the Radar and even the old Jungle Gym capture the memories of childhood. Now the Rocketship Park is part of a childhood that is no longer Earthbound, but can only be touched in our minds.

I suppose the analogy is appropriate, and probably why the Rocketship Park was so special to me. Rocketships, and the hope they inspire for all of mankind have been an important symbol to me since Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon 39 years ago this month.

There's a fine line between staying grounded in the here and now and looking into the stars for a better tomorrow. But keeping the hopes and dreams of young people alive is one way that I believe that we will reach the stars one day, and by climbing on Rocketships when we are children is just one way to nurture an imagination that doesn't know the boundaries of time and space....yet.

How To Lead Your Life...

You cannot change the cards you are dealt. Just how you play the hand.

Dr. Randy Pausch, a Computer-Science Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, died this morning at age 47 of pancreatic cancer.

Why is this important?

I'm not a computer science major, nor did I ever meet Dr. Pausch personally; but he made a huge impact on me when I watched the following lecture:
(The book is also available)




Dr. Pausch exemplifies & validates the positive attitude that I've aspired to for the last decade. While it is a constant struggle for me to avoid sinking in the morass of negativity, Dr. Pausch inspired me to the core, that the benefits of the struggle are worth the effort.

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

Dr. Paush also taught me to have fun while I'm getting experience.

The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.

My son's recent experience (see previous entry), encourages me that I am achieving some measure of success at inspiring persistence in the face of adversity.

Thank you Dr. Paush for sharing your thoughts on living life and showing us, by example, that attitude is everything.

We Are The Champions...

My Son’s Baseball team won their Little League Championship on Saturday. These boys played the Semi-Final and Championship Games back to back in 100 degree Texas heat and never wavered in their commitment and enthusiasm to achieve their goal (and redeem their loss in the Championship game last year).

While my son was unable to bat and field on Saturday because of his broken foot, he was determined to support the team from the dugout. He proved both to himself and his teammates that you don’t quit in the face of adversity; an important lesson for us all.

Netiquette

After a recent experience on a beloved internet community where the banstick was inappropriately and spitefully administered in an appalling abuse of power to many productive and non-controversal members of that community, I think it might be useful to review some basic Netiquette tips:

• Remember, on the other side of that screen are real humans with real feelings.
• Everything you write is stored on the internet for anyone to see. Even Private Messages could come back to haunt you. Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
• Follow the same standards of behavior on-line that you follow & expect in real life.
• Lurk before you leap. In other words, get to know what's acceptable at the community your at. Don't make assumptions.
• Respect other people's time by NOT posting/sending superflurous messages or expecting immediate replies to your pet project.
• Spelling and grammar matter, but don't point out other people's spelling/grammar errors.
• Make sure what you post is clear and accurate.
• Be pleasant and polite. Don't use offensive language, and don't be confrontational for the sake of confrontation.
  (I realize many forums allow swearing, but I don't swear at home, I don't like to hear people swearing in real life, so I don't swear on the net.)
• Share what you know - that's why were here! I'm looking for answers to questions that bother me so!
• Don't feed a flame war.
• Respect other people's privacy. I have been at two sites where the Admin's publically shared information that they only could have gained by reading Private Messages. Lot's of people got their feelings hurt, including the Admin's.
• Don't abuse your power. Admin's and Moderators have to separate any personal feelings from their job. If they are unable to stay objective, they need to turn control over to someone who can.
• Be forgiving of other people's mistakes.
  
  Here's a fun little video about "How To Behave On An Internet Forum".
  
  
  
  

I've made many friends on the internet, quite a few who I've met IRL and have become more than virtual friends. I've seen the power of people pulling together in times of illness, death, birth and marriage...not to mention some amazing JB tailgates. All these in addition to the common interests that may have brought us together in the first place (in my case Jimmy Buffett, LOST and Star Wars).
There are many wonderful experiences to be shared in cyberspace; and, as in real life...remember to PLAY NICE!

17 Years Ago on the Winter Solstice...

...I married my best friend.



As I recently told a friend who just got married, it's been a long and winding road,
And, as in any relationship there's been good days & bad days & going half mad days.
But through the years, and miles and tears and smiles
I'm proud to have found a lover who is also my friend to share the road with me.

May each of you find such Peace.

Life is a Vapor...

Surfer Girl....Thinking of you and your cross country move.

As always, I know you'll do fine. :)