Thoughts from a Boomer

Thoughts on book writing

2010-10-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

   Off and on, for the last two years, I have been working on a book for publication on Amazon's CreateSpace print-on-demand publishing venue.
   In August of 2008 I put a PDF of a working draft for a book entitled "How to Inspect Your Own Home" up on a site called MyeBook. Somewhat to my surprise, over a six-month period,it got over 86,000 views! Wow, I guess there really is an interest in this subject matter.
   That first effort, much like the several blogs I have here on Blogger.com, Posterous, Wordpress and ActiveRain was just for fun and to help hone my writing skills. It occurred to me that with that much interest, this should be an idea to be reconsidered and expanded upon. I began looking online for publishing options that would be suitable for my needs. As it turned out there are several self-publishing solutions available to a budding author. Of the several I looked at, the program offered by Amazon.com called CreateSpace print on demand seem to be the most workable for me.
   I pulled the book off the free site and began working on it in earnest. Boy! I had absolutely no idea of what I was letting myself in for. Up till this point, I considered myself a somewhat decent writer. At least I had a decent grasp of the English language, basic grammar and sentence construction. Where I fell short was in the mechanics of actually crafting a written document longer than a page or two that would be acceptable to the publisher and hopefully to the public. Writing a book is a whole lot different than blogging or writing short articles. There are entire manuals written about the mechanics of doing this type of thing.

Time to go back to "school".

I soon found that I really needed to become a student of the writing process. Thanks to the resource pages from CreateSpace, Lulu.com and others, I soon amassed a decent collection of writing guides, style sheets, and Word templates as tools to use in this endeavor. The core material of the book was already there, much of it in my head as a result of many years in the construction trades and as a professional home inspector. Putting all of this information into a readable form was a huge challenge.

At first, as I usually do, I just sketched out a rough outline of what I wanted to say and began writing. Essentially, I jumped into the middle and tried to do everything all at one time. Writing the content, formatting it on the fly, pagination, chapter numbers, footnotes, and all the other mechanics of actually writing a book. I quickly discovered that this is NOT how you write a book. At least not how the professionals do it. Back to square one.

I have been essentially a "casual user" of Microsoft Word for many years. I've used it to write reports, short articles, personal and business letters and other simple documents since before Word 2000. Prior to that, I had been using Word Perfect. Using these word processing programs in this fashion was akin to using a limousine to run into town for beer. Part of my learning process involved learning how to use Word 2003 properly and use all of its multitude of styles, formatting and version control that were available to make your job a bit easier and to produce professional quality documents. So now, not only was I learning how to build a house, I was learning how to use the tools to do so at the very same time. Not the most ideal way to go about it.

What I learned is that if you know how to use the tools available and follow a sequence, it is actually pretty easy to write a book. The proper sequence of operation made a huge difference in the amount of work I had to do. After literally redoing the entire 180+ pages several times, I figured there must be a better way. There was, and I discovered it by using the resources mentioned above. I must give credit where credit is due. One of the most useful resources I found was a publication called "Build Your Book" by Waltron Mendelson. This wonderful free guide was an invaluable resource that really helped me sort out some of the more arcane details of creating a professional quality book suitable for publication. It explained some of the publishing jargon that I was running into so that I could actually do what was expected. Terms like "verso" (the left-hand page), "recto" (the right-hand page), "folio" ( the page numbers), "front matter and back matter" ( the printed information in the front and the rear of the book that is not actually "content"). There was also an extensive section on typography which is the selection of the correct font and typeface size as well as line spacing, justification and kerning (the spacing between letters) required to make your book readable.

unformatted text from one of your master files. Bingo! If you did it right, everything looks beautiful. Now go back and insert any graphics that you want to include. After all that is done, you can then work on pagination and section breaks to fine-tune everything. It's all about the sequence.

Looking back, now that I'm done, I'm glad I took the time to learn this very useful information. Should I decide to write another book, it will go a lot smoother than my first attempt I'm sure.

Are embedded roll-over's bugging you?

2010-10-02T11:31:00.001-07:00

(Minor Rant)

I must disclose that decisions about making use of various web-based promotional activities is a big part of what I do everyday. Both for my own businesses, and for those of friends and clients that I advise, I must weigh the ethics versus the ROI, often short-term, against employing many things that are offered these days.

Shameless plug: Another Blog of Mine

I decided to look at the situation through the lens of a regular user and consumer of Internet content rather than through the lens of a business owner trying to use the “best” tools available. Who’s definition of "Best” do you adhere to?

<rant>

I have been noticing an increasing trend lately. After having had my attention gotten by persistent pop-up roll-over hot link, embedded in a browser page I was viewing , I began to think about how intrusive they were becoming. These little interruptions have started to become annoying.

It is the "persistent” part that finally pushed me over the edge. Each day I spend a lot of time on the computer for various reasons, both business and personal. The majority of that time is spent "Web connected” since a majority of services have moved to the “Cloud”.

In the past, prior to all of this web connected goodness, the links that were embedded in web pages were active, but only popped up a momentary small window offering to link out to that site. These links are generated by a search algorithm that is run against each viewed webpage. When a keyword that has been preselected from a list is recognized, the directed and targeted link connected to that paid for keyword will be offered as a first choice when that keyword is rolled over by the mouse cursor.

Now, that many spend the majority of their work and leisure time in the Cloud and Web connected whether they want to or not, they have become persistent. They no longer just pop up and go away after a few seconds. They are no longer, to varying degrees a polite and gentle nudge. Now they are that “in-your-face” pop-up search results, right in the middle of what one was reading and requiring an active click to dismiss, interruption to my train of thought has become intrusive. So much so that it now often causes me to click off and close the page and go elsewhere. I suppose it really depends on how badly I want to view the content containing these types of links. If I decide the content is not worth the intrusion I am required to deal with , You Lose!

You may not be directly involved in using these tools. It might be something your webmaster is doing or something that the company you are paying to promote your business on the Web is doing. In any case, as an ethical business person, it bears looking into. No matter who's generating these pop-ups, ultimately, it's your call whether this is a boundary you choose to cross in your promotional activities.

In my humble opinion, some have stepped over the line. I began to seriously question my personal ROI for using that particular browser or visiting YOUR website. I understand the need to "monetize” content. I’m involved in doing so myself, as mentioned above. “How far should you go?” is the million dollar question.

</rant>

I must admit that I fall into the camp that believes that ethics are a consideration. I do not agree with those that follow the "Anything goes-buyer beware” philosophy. Doing so is not ethical in my opinion.

Technorati Tags: web,internet,promotion,tools,ethics,ethical use,business,business owner

Is “Big Brother” getting even closer?

2010-09-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

In George Orwell's movie, 1984, released in December of 1984, they painted a very dismal picture of dystopian England in the year 1984 A D.
   The main premise of the movie was that the government, known as "Big Brother" monitored everything the citizens did via "Telescreens” that were essentially two-way TV monitors that watch you while you were watching it. Nothing could be hidden from Big Brother. (Trivia note: This movie also coined, the term "black helicopters".)
    I just finished reading the article called 5 Trends That Will Shape Social Media (http://linkd.in/aftDVU) highlighting some key trends in social media such as Geolocation targeting, RFID tagging of devices and objects and how social networking will redefine how organizations communicate.
   My current "smart phone", a Motorola Droid, has a feature that I can turn on called "Locations" that, through the use of the built in GPS on the phone, will spot where I am currently located and provide some detailed information about businesses and people nearby. Great idea, if you're a business that wants to promote their offerings or if you just can't stand to be out of touch with anybody for more than five minutes. Can you say, "privacy concerns"?
   Here are a few of the predictions from this article:

Identity will become embedded in devices. Our social media identities such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc. will be entered as part of the initial process of setting up the device.
Online sharing will become embedded in media life. With social identity embedded into the devices we use daily, social sharing will become an integral part of the way we enjoyed media on our regular TVs, DVD players and music players.
"Location" will be embedded into all activities. Location aware devices will employee, pre-emptive use of location to alert the user of things or people nearby that may be of interest.
"Smart devices" and web applications will automatically check in and post updates. Identity aware devices, empowered by embeddable RFID tags, will allow this type of technology to spread beyond the mobile phone.
Social networking will redefine how large organizations communicate.

As an advocate and user of emerging technologies, I am not overly concerned about these trends. I do think it is incumbent on anyone using these technologies to be fully aware of all the ramifications. One needs to learn how to use them, and more importantly, know how and when to turn them off to protect their privacy. As long as there is an "opt out" provision built into the device, I don't have a problem with it. I can choose to use or not use the capabilities at my own discretion.

Technorati Tags: social media,geolocation,RFID,privacy,Facebook,Twitter,smart phone

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Avatar? I was disappointed!

2010-01-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

Being at loose ends this weekend,with Kathy and two of the dogs off to Palm Springs for a dog show, I decided to go and see Avatar to see what all the fuss was about. Wow! $300 million budget, huge blockbuster, made its money back in the first couple of weekends. What could go wrong? Actually plenty.

My wife, Kathy is not into sci-fi movies so I figured this was a good chance for me to go and see this by myself. I thought I would try to get the best experience possible since this was supposed to be very high-tech and in 3-D! I opted for the IMAX at Universal City Walk. I thought I was going to see it on a big screen in 3-D. Didn’t happen!

Although there is a huge sign on the marquee touting the huge screen experience of IMAX, I ended up in one of the little “pocket theaters” that all these "multi-plex theaters seem to have these days. It wasn’t even in one of their bigger venues! I suppose I should’ve been a little more careful in my choice and I might’ve avoided this little mistake. Oh well, I’m here, I spent my money so I might as well move forward and actually see this movie.

My first plan of attack was to park in the free Metro Red Line lot at the bottom of the hill and use the free shuttle up to city walk. Whoops! The shuttle stops running at 7 PM and I was there at 8:30 PM. Plan B. I walk the quarter mile back to my car and drove up the hill paid $10 to park in the parking structure closest to the IMAX theater. One nice thing is that they give you five dollars back at the box office when you give them your parking ticket. Okay cool, five dollars for parking, while not free, was not all that bad.

This was a Friday night and with all the buzz I was afraid there would be lines and even the possibility of a sellout. I guess the buzz died down now a couple weeks after the opening and the crowds have moved on to the “next newest thing” because there was nobody waiting in line. Actually, I was a bit amazed that on a very nice evening, CityWalk was not very crowded. I parked close rode the escalator up and walked about 100 feet to the theater entrance. I grabbed the ticket from the ATM type machines in front rather than wait in the short box office line., I went inside got my five dollars back and realized there were no crowds and I was an hour early. Luckily I had brought my new MotoDroid phone along and was able to listen to a podcast while I waited.

The disappointment began with my walk into the actual theater space. It was one of the smaller “pocket theaters” that would seat may be 500 people. Not exactly the ideal scenario to view this very hyped movie that was was to be all about the cinematography, special effects and 3-D. I quickly found a seat near the middle of the only partially filled theater. It was maybe one third full at the most. Hardly the crowd I was expecting. After sitting through 15 minutes of miscellaneous BS, ads and at least five or six trailers, the movie finally started.

I can sum this movie up in a few words; All Sizzle, No steak!

All in all, I was ultimately disappointed in the experience. The movie was just “okay”in my opinion. The cinematography, special effects and the fabulous world of “Pandora” that Cameron created were pretty cool. The storyline, on the other hand, was pretty “formula” and the acting was mediocre. I was not impressed at all. In truth, I suppose if I’d wanted to be intellectually stimulated I wouldn’t have chosen this type of movie in the first place. It did provide the visual experience I was looking for, just not as much as I had hoped. Actually, the “vortex” and the floating mountain islands were a direct ripoff of something that’s been in World of Warcraft for a long time. Cool to look at and woven into the story line pretty well, but the ripoff aspect, for me at least, kept getting in the way. It appears most of the $300 million budget was blown on the CGI and special effects, not on developing an engaging storyline and good acting.

Personally, my experience of movies is holding true. If the critics rave about it, it is usually pretty lame. If, on the other hand they slam it, I usually find that I enjoy it. Just my perverse nature I guess!

So in the end, my call is to not go out of your way to see this movie or make a big deal of it. It is worth seeing for the special effects in the amazing world of Pandora, and the 10 foot tall blue aliens were sort of cool too. The head of operations dude was the typical corporate asshole and the head of the security detail (all paid mercenaries) was the usual Gung Ho "Urah" ex-military Gunny Sergeant type that was a real hard case. I guess in order to make the storyline work, any movie needs to have an antagonist and protagonist and the resulting conflict or you got no movie or plot.

Although my visual experience may have been better had actually seen it on a really big screen and in 3-D, it ultimately does not change my evaluation of this movie. All sizzle, No steak.
Till next time……

BuzzNet Tags: Avatar,sci-fi,movies,review

I'm Writing a Book!

2008-11-26T02:26:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: DIY,Home,Repair,inspection,contractors

I've started writing a book. It is a DIY book about how to inspect your own home. It is targeted at the homeowner that wants to do a thorough job of maintaining their home in the best possible condition.

It will discuss the 5 major "systems" of a house; Roof, Foundation, Electrical, Plumbing & Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning. It will explain how to inspect these systems and what to look for as far as potential problems. It will also contain two additional chapters; one on Grounds and Drainage and another on how to work with Contractors (and not get screwed)

I have managed to make pretty good progress and the first drafts are done. I went through it and cleaned up the formatting and obvious errors. Now my wife is proofreading the second draft for me. I plan to distribute it to a few friends for a final run through to check readability and to see if it "speaks" to the target audience.

I will post here when it is ready to publish. I'm thinking of putting it up on one of the sites I already write articles for. The also have the facilities to publish full works and sell them on their site. Maybe I can make a little money by selling it. Hope so, that would be nice.

On another note........

I recently acquired a "speech to text" program called Dragon naturally Speaking 10". I have used an older version in the past, version 6 or 7 I think. This new version blows the old ones away! It is amazingly accurate after minimal training. It almost never misses. It even adds punctuation in the right places automatically. How cool is that? I wish I had it when I was writing this book, It would have gone a lot faster. I'm not a poor typist but this is so much faster.

Later,

Dana

True Professionals, Inc.

Thermal-Diagnostics

Looking Back

2008-10-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back home in Los Angeles now. I got back on the 20th at 6:00 PM. I've been home for a week now just getting sorted out after 50 days away. Lots of things to catch up on.

First thing was to send off my Motion TabletPC to see why it died on the way home in Phoenix! It just quit working and would not respond to the on-off switch to restart it from standby after I checked my mail while on a two hour layover there. It did this once before and I had to send it in.
It turns out that the mother board was cooked and needed replacing. To the tune of $530! and 2-5 weeks! This was not acceptable as I need this computer for my work that I would soon return to. (at least I hope my job is still there!)

I began the search for a new TabletPC as that is my preferred form factor. There are a ton of offerings out there. Some were just not in my price range for a field unit that gets some hard use. I saw units in excess of $4500. These were the "ruggedized" Military Spec type that you can drop in the water and run over with a truck. I really did't need that. I used one of those for my FEMA inspections that PaRR inspections provided.
I decided to switch to a "convertable" style from the "slate" style that I had been using. The convertable style has a built-in keyboard and looks like a conventional laptop except the screen can spin around and lie flat over the keyboard like a slate. The unit I eventually chose, an
HP tx2510us, is a "dual mode" screen with both "touch screen" and an "active digitizer" that works with a special stylus. It is taking a little while to get used to the new system (along with Vista) but I like it so far. I wanted the digitizer screen system since I do a lot of "inking" as in handwritting and that does not work well on a pure touch screen system.

Oh Oh! When I called in to tell the guys ar work that I was back and ready to restart I was told that "John will call you". That does not bode well! I may be looking for a different position or going on my own at a time when the Real Estate market is in the tank. This would kind of suck since I've been with this group for 6 years now and am one of the senior inspectors there.
We had been told by the CEO that since work was slow, it would be ok to step away for a while and do something else with no problems when we were ready to come back. The ethics of this is questionable. They have been known to reverse on past statements and I should have been better prepared to make a change. I have been working on some options but nothing is in the income producing stage yet. Better get busy! Time will tell I guess. Still waiting for "that call" from John.

Later,
Dana

San Leon, Texas is Wasted!!

2008-10-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

I think they want some help

Where's the House?

Nothing left but the address!

Odd place to park your boat!

Even the bird houses got hit!

Texas Prairie Chicken

These used to be mobile homes

Former Mobile Home location

Wow!

Another Wow!

This small community just south and east of Bacliff and right on Galveston Bay where I have been working was really hit hard. It is very low, with some areas that are actually below sea level. The results of this are obvious by the pictures I took there the other day. These pictures are one month after the Ike hurricane and most still do not have any utilitiy services. A few of the businesses out on the main hiway into town, 517, have power but that's all.

Still in the clean up phase after the storm, very little repairs are under way due to lack of utilities. This is going to take a long time and some will never be able to rebuild. Due to the location and conditions in San Leon, many could not afford insurance or the insurance companies will just not write a policy for any amount of money. In spite of all this distruction, the people I met were pretty uptone and getting on with their lives. The mind set down here on the Gulf Coast seems to be Sh** Happens - lets just move on. I have to laugh when they find out I'm from California and the first thing out of their mouths is "Earthquake" I just tell them that after the earthquake, all your stuff is in one pile and dry. You don't have to ask the guy six blocks away if they have seen your car.

It looks like things are starting to slow down as far as work for me goes. I may be coming home soon. This will be the second weekend with little or no work. That sucks since the weekends are the best time to catch people at home with an "ambush inspection". I cannot reach many clients by phone since a lot of utilities are still out. The typical process is to call for an appointment, tell them what documents I will need to see and then go by the next day. This usually works on about half of the applicants, the others I cannot reach. When they make their first application, they are supposed to list several contact options. After the storm, the phones don't work, they have left the area and not returned and some have even blocked incoming calls on that line. Time to "ambush" them. LOL

I'm actually starting to like the Gulf Coast area. I'm getting used to the humidity and the weather has been pretty nice. The "beach lifestyle" is pretty strong down here. This is definitely Jimmy Buffet and Kenny Chesney country. The cost of living is quite low, housing prices are a total shock to someone from hyper-inflated California! You can rent a nice house with a huge yard for about $500-$600 a month and buy a very nice house for under $200,000. Wow, it wouldn't be hard to consider living here. Of course the wage rates are a lot lower down here I would expect, hense the low housing prices. If I could create a business down here that made the money that I currently make in CA, we could live like a king and have a ton of room for all the dogs.

Ok, this is getting pretty long so I will cut it off here and say "Later"

Dana

Looks like the end is in sight.

2008-10-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

I'm running out of inspections to do. I got it down ot one last guy that I need to verify occupancy on and I'm through with that batch I started last week. I did pick up 3 more this morning and they are scheduled for Sunday morning.
The broadcast voicemail that PaRR uses to communicate to all the inspectors in the field had a message about not calling in to let them know about low or no work conditions. PaRR does not send the work to us, FEMA does. Kind of sounds like they are getting a lot of traffic about this and I'm not the only one running out to jobs. This might mean it is getting near the end and I will be released soon. If figures, just when I get a good system down to crank out a lot of inspection and make some serious money, they run out of work! I need at least 8-10 per day to make any money after expenses are factored in.

Over all, this has been a frustrating experience. Many stops and starts and moves to new locations. Lost time to handle housing issues and fighting with the ass***** at Alamo/National Car Rental, writing up and scheduling of 30 inspections only to be told to send them all back and move to a new area. The potential to make some serious money was there in theory but in practice, there are too many things that are beyond your control to put it all together. I think I will be lucky to break even and just chalk it up to an interesting experience. Considering that I would have made at least $200-250 per day back home doing what I usually do, the weekly cost of a rental car, housing costs and food, as well as $50/week for Fedex Express to send in the payroll, doing 8 inspections per day is the minimum to come to the plus side of the equation.
I did not really attain that very many times for a number of reasons including those listed above. I've done something like 180 inspections at $50 each. The gross for that would be $9000. add in the $2500 I got for 6 days of standby, back out the 10% PaRR holds back for 45 days and all my costs, I'm probably ok. I haven't added up all my expenses yet. I have also been paying all my normal bills back home. I'll take a few days off when I get back to sort it all out.

Although I did get to see a lot of country that I wouldn't normally see and meet a lot of very nice people, it wasn't a vacation by any means. I made a few new friendes, got to meet a "long distance friend" in person that I only knew via the internet, had one client actually call and thank me for helping them and got quite a few free cups of coffen and soft drinks, even got a flat pumped up so I could make it to the repair shop. And tomorrow I'm going up to meet another Otterhound owner that lives in Houston. All in all, I don't regret doing this but would have to think about it if they call again. I may try PB Inspections next time to see if they are better or worse to work with/for.

One of the things that always amazed me was the low cost of housing down here in the South. I got to see a lot of mortgages and rental agreeents and housing is cheap down here! At least compared to what I'm familiar with in Los Angeles. What costs me $2100 per month goes for about $500 here. Nice, new 1800 sq ft homes are going for $150-180 thousand. The median price in California is over $500,000. And that doesn't buy very much in LA. Maybe a nice condo or a 2-3 bedroom in a working class area. My typical home inspection job in LA is on million dollar homes. I suppose the wage rate is a lot less down here so I guess it all works out.

Long post tonight since I have not been all that active over the last week or so and wanted to get down a few "Thoughts from a Boomer" to make up.

Later, Dana

1st. Visit to Galveston

2008-10-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

I don't think this place will be re-opening any time soon!

This hole is 30 feet above the beach level.

Hope the car wasn't in here!

I took the time today to make a quick tour of Galveston today for the first time since the storm.

It's been almost one month since Hurricane Ike came to town and Galveston is still a wreck. Everybody is busy cleaning up but very few businesses are open. A bit hard to find food and fuel on the Island still. Then are big piles of debris along most of the steets off the main drags. I passed one huge lot completely filled with 40-50 foot high piles.

I took the time to stop by the FEMA camp at the airport to check it out. It's not as big as the Beaumont camp but very nice. If I get inspections down here, I may move down from Texas City. This is a lot closer to my inspections than the Beaumont Camp was.

I have not posted for a while since then has not been anything to new to pass on. I've been out 40 days now and it is all starting to blend together. Every day is much like the previous ones .
I'm almost done with the current batch of inspections in La Marque and Alvin. I'm working on clearing the last few applicants I have not been able to make an appointment with.
I wonder where the next group will be ? I'll keep you posted.

Later -Dana

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2008-09-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Fair Warning!

Bridge near Baytown, TX

Serious winds near Winnie, TX

He huffed and puffed and blew my brick house down!

Just one of the remaining thousands of boats
that were blown up onto I -45 Freeway
north of the causeway to Galveston.

I've been very busy here in La Marque,Texas. Most of the jobs are pretty close together so my production is up. Damages are generally not too bad but there are a few bad ones. Yesterday, I was in an area called Omega Bay. This is a marina type development right on the bay. They really caught hell. The houses are built to resist high water conditions with all the main living areas up on the second floor. The lower floor is storage and garages / carports but some have been built out into living areas. Bad decision! This houses are up on pads, about 10 feet above water level. They had up to 4 feet of water is the lower floor rooms. Anything that was in them was gone or destroyed.
Today, Sunday, I'm backup in the main part of La Marque TX. Not much damage here, mostly trees down and roof damage and interior leaks. Ironically, I've seen several houses that have burnt down due to electrical fires caused by wind and falling trees hitting power lines.

Well, back to work. Its almost One PM and I have at least 5 more inspections to do today.

Later, Dana

The "Camp-out" is Over.

2008-09-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

The "Camp Out" is Over (Wednesday, 9/24/08)

Well, they did it again! I had just gotten a download of 35 new inspections in the Baytown area and my number came up on the list to go Galveston. So now I get to send all 35 back and get new ones in the Galveston area.
I got 52 jobs in La Marque TX, on the mainland, about 15 miles north of Galveston Island. The Island has been closed since Ike came calling and they are just now starting to let the evacuees back into see what is left of their homes and businesses. I think we are being "staged" in the area to be ready when the claims start coming in. This time I'll try to get a bunch of inspections done before they take them away.

This is some 90 miles from the Beaumont FEMA camp so it's too far to drive back and forth each day. Time to pack and move again. I have a friend that lives in Texas City that offered a corner of floor in her living room to put down my air mattress so I am good to go for now. La Marque is about 15 minutes from here. Sweet! I have already booked 12 inspections for tomorrow, Friday, and a couple for Sunday as well. Everything is pretty close together so I am able to book them pretty tight and get more done each day. I should be able to knock out these first 50 by the weekend. Cha Ching! Up in Baytown, they were spread all over the county, some were pretty far out in the sticks. I was doing well to get in 6 in one day up there.

Stay Tuned, the Adventure Continues!
Dana

Life as a "Refugee"

2008-09-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

Kind of tonge in cheek but I am living in a "camp". I got to the Houston area on Friday and have not been able the find a motel room within 30 miles of the area I'm working. I'm working in Baytown, TX, about 16 miles east of downtown. Another inspector turned me on to a camp that FEMA has set up just west of Beaumont, TX for all the disaster workers.

This place in crawling with all kinds of people. Mostly from all over the US and some local crews.
Lots of forestry crews (go figure?) plus security companies, inspectors, utility crews, FEMA teams and hundreds of truckers and the big rigs they came in.

The comp itself is designed to hold 2000 people. It consists of about eight big "gang" sleeping tents that hold several hundred each, a huge "mess tent"where they serve three meals a day, dozens of very nice shower trailers, about 100 "porta potties" , a laundry tent with about 100 washers and dryers and 24/7 security. It seems every third. person has a gun!

The great thing about this is that it's all free for the disaster workers. I'm not having to spend $200-$300a week on a hotel and I get a nice hot breakfast every morning before I leave.
The down side is that it is about a 1/2mile walk to the parking area and 50 + miles from Baytown. I'll take the good with the bad though. The rental car I have gets 32 mpg so it works out in the long run.

Well, it's 10:15 'time to hit the hay
Later,
Dana

Made it to Texas

2008-09-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

Made the trip to Texas today, I'm currently in Beaumont. The drive was not too bad but when I got here I could not find a place to stay. Every hotel and motel for 50 miles in all directions is full of repair crews from all over the US here to get everything going again. About 90% of east Texas had no power since Ike came calling. Things are pretty messed up around here. Many hotels are still closed due to no power. The area I will be inspecting in is called Baytown. It is about 20 miles east of downtown Houston. I've seen some wild things on this trip. Today it was the Motel 6 with a big section of the roof missing but still filled to capacity.

I thought I was going to have to sleep in the car tonight but a friend told me about this FEMA shelter here in Beaumont. It's pretty cool. A huge tent city with all the amenities. Hot showers, a place to sleep, free food and even a laundry. I writing this while I wait for my clothes to wash. Just in time too. I was down to my last shirt. It's the little things like a laundry that really help when you are out on the road for a long time. I would take a few pictures but it is not allowed since this is a "Federal Facility" and no cameras are allowed. There seem to be mostly repair crews from out of the area staying here. It's pretty busy but not at capacity by any means. It looks like they could house a few thousand here if they needed to. I did not try the food yet. Tonight they had steak, potato, veggies and pie for dinner. I'll see what breakfast is like tomorrow and let you know. It did not sould like they were serving MRE's which is what my friend got when she was bouncing around Louisiana from shelter to shelter. As I said yesterday, she is back home now. I will try to get down to Texas City where she lives over the next few days. We only know each other from on-line gaming that I do, we have never met face to face.
It should be fun.
Looks like the washers are done so I'll log off for tonight.
Later,
Dana

I Got The Call!

2008-09-17T20:09:00.001-07:00

I'm moving again! Just when I was getting to know my way around here and Baton Rouge.
Thought I was going to be here a while longer. Just got 25 new inspections in the Baton Rouge area. That is enough to take me through Sunday at least. I had just finished filling out all the forms for 25 contact sheets and I get a call from the office telling me to clear the jobs off my computer and call in to get a fresh download of new jobs in TEXAS!! I sort of expected it any time but thought I had some more time with the new inspections I had received. Oh Well, it comes with the territory I guess.

By the way, I've grown to hate driving around here. This town is one way street hell and you are constantly having to make U-turns to get any where. It even confounds my GPS now and then. The GPS had me making serial U-turns and going in circles the other day. LOL
All in all, the VZ Navigator service on my Verizon phone has been very useful. For some reason, the GPS that I use with my tablet computer crapped out and will not work anymore. I would just buy a new copy of Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS device built in but I have no optical drive to load the software on my Tablet PC.

I'll start packing tonight and head out in the morning. I still don't know where in Texas I'm going. They just said head out and start driving and stop somewhere along the way and connect to the server to download my new jobs. Then I will know. Gee Thanks! It's a good thing I'm not anal about this. It would make someone that was crazy (er). I wish I had gotten around to doing laundry today. I'm almost out of clothes again. As hot and muggy as it has been, you sweat out the shirts pretty fast. Guess I'll have to do that on the fly during the trip.

I've been keeping in touch with my friend from Texas, Joanna. She and her family had to evacuate because they live just north of Galveston. I looked on the map and was amazed how close they really were to where the hurricane came ashore. It looks like the eye came right over their town of Texas City. Also amazing is the fact that they suffered no damage. She has been calling me from all around Louisiana as they were moved from shelter to shelter. One night they actually were put in a horse barn! She's home now so she is starting to cool down, but she was pissed and I got to hear about it every night. LOL Glad it all worked out for her and family.

Guess I have a bit of a drive tomorrow so I better sign off now. I'll keep in touch if I can get on-line.
Later,
Dana

Still hard at it.

2008-09-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

Good evening my friends.

Another productive day. Getting a mix of things to inspect now. Today was several houses, a few apartments and two mobile homes.
Did a total of 8 inspections today in Baton Rouge and made it back to the Big Easy around 5:30 PM. It's payroll day and I needed to pack up all my paperwork on the inspections I've done over the last week and a half and Fedex them and an invoice to PaRR Inspections in Virginia. I set up a Fedex account so I can just drop the envelope in a drop box.
I've uploaded several inspections today but did not get any more downloaded to me. I wonder if they are planning on sending me to Texas soon? A bit concerned about that because the conditions are a bit rough over there. Housing and transport is not good, poor or no cell service which means no wireless broadband for sending up reports and tough inspection conditions. Oh well, I signed up for this. I guess I take what comes and make it work.

I have been taking a few pictures as I travel around. Some are of the very poor conditions of normal life in some of the poorer areas, some are funny and others are just interesting. I'll try to share a few here.

This house was for sale for $159,900 in Baton Rouge!
Coming from the hyper inflated Los Angeles area, this is amazing. This house would be at least $750,000 or more in L. A.

Driving south towards New Orleans over the causeway.

These run day and night up and down Canal Street to the French Quarter and Bourbon Street.

This is the view out the tenth floor window from my hotel room.

Most of the Baton Rouge neighborhood streets look like this.
Note the piles of downed trees waiting to be removed.

Nice tree, too bad it fell over. Thought the grass looked cool on the roots.

One of the shacks in the poor area south of the river in Harvey. Lots of these in the area I was inspecting. It was hard to tell if they were damaged by Gustav or Ike or Katrina or just old, falling down shacks. Tough call. Deferred maintenance anyone?

Well, I'm on the road at 6 AM tomorrow and it's alost midnight here now. Time to sign off.
Night all
Dana

It's going well

2008-09-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

I've gotten most of the bugs worked out now and things are going smoothly. I've been working in Baton Rouge for the last few days and just got 12 more up there. Guess I'll be around here for a few more days at least.
PaRR has been sending batches of inspectors to the Texas area for the hurricane Ike event. Not sure I want to do that yet. It would seem that given the extent of the damage, the inspections will be a lot more time consuming. and the pay will be the same.

I have not been seeing much damage other than trees down up in Baton Rouge. All the people I have met have been very nice and have been willing to adjust to be able to meet me for the inspection. They did not have a mandatory evacuation there but since most of the power was out for several days, many moved out. Everyone lost food in refrigerators and freezers and I have gotten several reports from my applicants of break ins and stolen property like TVs etc. It's too bad but there are always those jerks that will take advantage of a disaster and prey on their neighbors while they are vulnerable. It always happens during these events. There are also scam artists "contractors" that will take cash money for work and never come back.
"Kick 'em while they are down" seems to be their philosophy.
I have only had two possible fraud applications from people trying to "game" the system. We don't confront them about it, just do the inspection and make a comment in the notes and flag the inspection for review. Let FEMA handle them. We are not FEMA cops, just inspectors.

Later,
Dana

Even better day

2008-09-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

Had a great day today. Finally got my first paycheck deposited, two days late but it came in. Also got the rental car handled for another week and finished up the last of the inspections in the Harvey area, south of NO. Clean slate, ready to go to Baton Rouge tomorrow. Jumped on the phone and booked 8 inspections so I have a full day up there. Might be able to knock them all out in two days. May also get more in that area.

Found a great little Chinese joint a few blocks down from the hotel. Good food and a ton of it. One $10 order is enough for three meals and we have a microwave in the room so that works out well. I get tired of eating with a steering wheel in front of me all the time so a sit-down meal is nice now and then.

I'm finally getting the kinks worked out of this estimating program that FEMA uses called "Ace III" so things are moving much faster and I will be able to do a lot more inspections in less time. Volume is the name of the game here. At $50 per inspection you can make some decent money in a day if you move quickly and work efficiently. I use Microsoft's Streets and Trips which links to the Ace III program and imports a data base of all the addresses of the jobs I've been assigned and plots them on a map of the area for me. I can then look at the locations and make decisions about routing and such and make he best use of my time. When I book the appointment with the applicants, I can ask them a few questions about the type and extent of damage that they are claiming and that gives me an idea of the time it will take to do the inspection. It's all coming together nicely.

The talk among the inspectors here is whether we will be going to Texas after this. Looks like south Texas got their ass handed to them pretty badly and will be needing a lot of help. This could become a career of sorts. There are those that work it like one and use the time in between for personal projects. It is totally doable if you know what you are doing. A six figure income is not out of reach. The down side is that you are away from home for long stretches. It's not like you can stop and take a vacation when you want. You do not control how much FEMA sends down to you. And when you are assigned an inspection, you have 72 hours to turn it around. There are bonuses to be had if you are fast and accurate, as well as penalties for delays or mistakes. All it's a good and challenging game. Keeps you on your toes for sure.
Let the games begin!
Dana

A Good Day

2008-09-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

It was a good day for inspections today. It started out with tornado warnings in the area I was heading for so I waited a bit. No problems on the drive over but as soon as it got to the house it started to dump rain. I called the applicant and just waived at her through the window and said I would be in when it let up. It did in a few minutes.
One of the problems we have is making contact with the applicants since many have been forced to move out or don't have phone service. The drill is to call them a few times, leave messages and then go by the site and "post" it with a sign that tells them to contact us ASAP to move forward on THEIR request for assistance. I also tell them that I will be moving on very soon and they might not see me again for a few weeks. This usually gets some action. It's a game called "take it away" that I play to get them to actually commit to an appointment time. If I let them run the schedule, I would be running back and forth all over the area and driving a lot more than is needed. It's been a pretty successful action so far. Some have just flat moved out of the area and are not coming back any time soon. These we can return to FEMA as "no contacts - returns" after 7 days.

I'm almost done with the Harvey area. I got three new ones there tonight in my download but managed to get them all scheduled for tomorrow. WOOT.

The next batch of 20 or so inspections are in Baton Rouge, about 80 miles north west of NO.
Part of the trip is over a causeway across Lake Pontchartrain that sits north of NO. The water is almost over the causeway now because of hurricane Ike so I will be waiting to see how that works out. It would ease up by Sunday or Monday.

Looks like Texas is getting its butt kicked tonight, especially around Galveston which is right on the coast. We may be going there next.

later,
Dana

Interesting developments

2008-09-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

Things are getting a bit more interesting around here. Today we have tornado warnings in the area just west and north of us, between NO and Baton Rouge. Winds in our area are being clocked at 40-50+ MPH. This could be a problem since I need to travel over a big ass bridge to the south side this morning to get back to Harvey area to complete some inspections. The bridge may be closed in fact. Need to find a SigAlert site for this area. It's supposed to rain a lot today so time to break out the rain gear. Glad I remembered to bring it.

Downloaded about 18 new inspections this morning early. Looks like I'll be doing some traveling for a while, they are all in Baton Rouge, about 80 miles north. I will try to get to them tomorrow maybe when the weather settles down a bit. We finally got a stable base here in NO to work from and they give us jobs 80 miles away! Bummer. Guess we'll see how it goes. Danny can't seem to get a hook up this morning so we don't know if he is headed there too.

Stay Tuned!
Dana

Good progress today

2008-09-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Made pretty good progress thinning down my list today. Got 6 inspections done and still managed to have time to do some laundry today. Good thing too, I was down to one t-shirt.
I managed to geet the completed inspections uploaded to FEMA and got three new ones. Starting to get the hang of this process. We are trying to get as many inspections done as quickly as possible because we may loose some time if Ike causes problems and rains us out.

All the people I have been dealing with have been really nice. One lady offered to cook for me. LOL Everyone offers water or other drink in spite of the fact that they are in pretty bad straights sometimes.
I think I'll make one more pass through review to sort out a few issues I have come across then really start pounding them out. Need to starting making a little more money to cover expenses both here and at home. Those bills continue to come due even when I'm not there. Very inconsiderate of them I think.
Well, got an early one in the morning so I'll call it a night. Ten after midnight now.
Later all,
Dana

Making Progress Here

2008-09-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

I managed to get in a couple of inspections today and get back to the field office to have them checked over for mistakes. FEMA does not like mistakes and will kick them back and charge you for it! There is an error checking function built in to the program and the PaRR QC people do a great job at helping you get it sorted out. I wish there were more checkers though, it still took a two hour wait for me and I got in fairly early. My room mate got in at about 5 PM and he had to wait almost four hours. The good news is that I did well on my two "test"inspections and was released to continue on my own. I managed to get 6 scheduled for tomorow. I need to stop and wash some clothes or I will be inspecting in my underware soon so I'm taking a few hours off.

Many of the inspections I'm doing are in an area that did not get any damage and the claims are only for reimbursement of travel and lodging expenses incurred due to the mandatory evacuation.

Some of the applicants are trying to "game" the system based on what happened after Katrina.
FEMA was so late to the party and playing catch up that they were throwing money at anyone that applied. They were giving out $2000 checks to anyone that applied, without doing an inspection so there are those that are applying and waiting for FEMA to deliver "their check" in spite of the fact that they had zero damages. It's in their blood I guess after living for generations on the dole. I have not met any of these people yet. All the applicants that I have dealt with have been straight up about any damages or lack of damage.

Good news on the lodging front, the hotel we are at dropped the rates to $59.00 a night now and credited back my account retroactively. Way cool! That rate is a little more confrontable when we are splitting it two ways. It is a big relief to not have to look for a new place and pack and move every night. That was starting to wear on me. It was starting to piss off my wife as well since I had her searching the Net for rooms over and over again only to have the deal she found fall apart or the hotel be closed. I don't blame her. I was geting very pissed too. Almost to the point of saying the hell with it and pulling the plug on the whole thing.

We have plenty of work here still but now that Ike is pushing in toward Texas, they mey break some of us loose and send us that way. Wow! Going full circle. I started this adventure in Texas and could end up right back there again in the next few weeks.

There is a small part of me that is a little disapointed that I will not get to experience a hurricane first hand. ( at least so far, could still happen) I've been in Typhoons in the far east during Vietnam, once while on a ship. Hoooo boy, that was a hell of a ride! Surfing 25 foot high waves, one after another for hours on end. I think I prefer a land lubber's vantage point.

After midnight here in the Big Easy, time to hit the hay.

Later,
Dana

At last I can work!

2008-09-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

I finally finished all the briefings this afternoon and can start inspecting. I will start tomorrow.

The Hotel / Housing saga continues. Thought we had another good deal but when my room mate went by, he called and told me that he wouldn't keep a horse there it was such a dump and the lady at the front desk was a bitch. Keep looking I guess. This housing situation is becoming the biggest problem of all. I've been here two nights and have been in two different hotels and we are looking for a third. I just need someplace inexpensive to hunker down and be able to get some work done instead of having to move every day.

Currently I'm rooming with a guy from South Carolina that has some experience. That's a good thing, he can mentor me on this process and I can help him with computer issues.

I've noticed that most of the inspectors are very friendly and you can strike up a relationship pretty fast. I've had two "spur of the moment" room mates so far. Sort of "need / got a room?" Bang! Done, split the cost for another night.
Later,
Dana

Welcome to the "Big Easy"

2008-09-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here we all are in the beautiful city of New Orleans, Louisiana. And I do mean all! It seems that there are hundreds of PaRR inspectors here. The Radison, where the field office is located is a constant buzz of activity. From 8:00 AM well into the evening, there is something going on.

Due to the shear numbers of inspectors here, everything takes a very long time to get through. There are limited support personnel to service us and if there is anything I would fault PaRR for , it's this. I spent almost 5 hours waiting in 90+ heat to get a technical problem handled just today.

Finding a room is a constant challenge. Today, my wife managed to book a great deal on a double room for a week online. Problem was...when my room mate got down there (I was still in the f'ing line) the place was closed and had been for a week or more. Damn, back to searching. Finally took one for $100+ per night plus $15 per night parking. Plus the origional room mate bailed out on me and I had to find another. Given the crowded conditions, that was not really a problem. Found one in the tech support trailer before I left there.

I'm finally ready to get at it and do some inspections tomorrow.

Oh! I almost forgot the continuing saga of Alamo Rent a Car. They were closed yesterday so I could not turn the car. Managed to get by there today and they were very nice and understanding given I was turning in a car from Dallas, TX. They could have charged me $199.00 for the "drop off" fee for turning in a car at a different place but they were very nice about it and waived the charge. The rental for the exact same car was less here too. Texas has a 47% tax on rentals. Ouch!
Thats about it for today.
Later,
Dana

UPDATE 9/6/08, 10:45 pm

2008-09-06T20:19:00.000-07:00

Don't blink, you will miss something! Within the space of 10 minuets, we went from "just hang out, nothing much happening today" to everybody get to New Orleans as soon as possible. So in about one hour, I packed up, checked out of motel and hit the road south. After a six hour drive, I got signed in and issued my equipment. I was too tired to sit through another two hour briefing so we grabbed a quick bite and headed downtown to a hotel that another inspector Kevin had found. Nice deal! Over $100 per night, no parking (had to pay $15 at a nearby lot for the night.)and NO HOT WATER OR PHONE SERVICE! I will be asking the manager for a discount in the morning .

It's almost impossible to get a hotel room here. All the residents that were evacuated are now coming back to no power in their homes so they are filling up the hotels. We only took this place for one night to buy some time, and so we did not have to sleep in our cars. Tomorrow should be fun .
I still have not handled the rental car situation so that needs to be dealt with and we need to find a cheaper room.

It's been a long day and I'm pooped. Time to turn in.
Later,
Dana.

Update 9/6/08 8:30 AM

2008-09-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

Still here in Bossier City, LA May be moving south soon, lots of help needed that I hear.

My latest challenge is with my rental car from Alamo. I picked it up in DFW on Monday and it times out today at 1:00 PM. Of course, I'm 230 miles away from there so cannot turn it in there.
Here's where it gets crazy. The closest Alamo is in Tyler, TX about an hour and a half away. I'm not supposed to leave the area. I tried to set up a return over here but no other place to do that. If I extend the contract, they charge $10.99 per day over and above the rental rate and the card I used to rent the car does not have enough available credit for another week plus the penalty. Alamo will not let me just use another card. Their "rules" don't allow that. I MUST turn the car in and close the contract and start over in order to switch cards. How stupid is that? I'm over here trying to help people and Alamo will not give me a break and work with me on this. I did get one c/s agent to help somewhat and cut me some slack by waiving up to $500 in transportation charges back to DFW if I turned the car in somewhere else. Problem is that there IS nowhere else I can easily get to to do this.

So now I'm stuck with no workable options. Trying to call Alamo customer service now.
Stay Tuned for the next installment of this soap opera!
Dana

9/5/08 Update

2008-09-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

1:50 PM CDT
Still here in Bossier City, outside Shreveport Louisiana. Just finished a training cycle to do Registration Intake in the shelters. It seems that all the shelters in the north are closed or closing down and the people are going back home. I was sitting by a guy that was making phone call after phone call, trying to find shelters that were still open so we could be dispatched there.
Looks like we will be relocating again to southern Louisiana where the shelters are still open. Still no official word on that yet though so we wait some more.
This is a very expensive proposition for FEMA to have all these bodies here waiting. I've heard from one source that it cost 14 million dollars to field all these people and put them on standby.

Here is how we spend most of the day.

Hanging out, waiting for the word or training in the lobby of the Holiday Inn. We've gotten very good at this pastime. It's either here where there is someone to talk to or back in the Hotel room "countin flowers on the wall", "smokin cigarettes and watchin Captain Kangaroo" as the old song goes. We have been doing this for 5 days now. Hope we get going soon!
Later,
Dana
P.S. Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Update 9/4/08 7:30 PM CDT

2008-09-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

Well.....here I sit, Still! PaRR has been calling in a few experienced inspectors to do registration at the shelters. Not being one of them, I continue to "coast" here in Shreveport, LA. The latest word is that they are having some kind of problem getting together official badges for all the new people that have not been badged yet. This includes me. They said something about issuing some sort of "certificate". Not sure how that meets the "photo ID" requirement. Bottom line seems to be is that they called in a ton of people in anticipation of a big storm only to have it fizzle and not be as big as first predicted. Now that we are here, they are not sure how to utilize us. If i don't get deployed, I'll be taking a loss over all. All the numbers are not in yet, I'm still tracking the expenses and some are unknown as yet. Counting the expenses for lodging, car rental and food added to the loss of income from work at home, it might be a loser financially. I'll need to take a look when the dust settles and make a decision about doing it again.

Meanwhile, I got to explore Bossier City, a suburb of Shreveport, a little bit today. It's pretty much like anywhere else I've been. One thing is different, there are lots of casinos here. Not my thing since I lived in Reno and Lake Tahoe for many years. Pretty bored with that scene and no spare money to waste on gambling. Been watching a lot of TV since there is not much else to do. The Weather Channel is a popular one. LOL

Tomorrow is a new day, maybe I'll get sent out. Here's hoping.
Later,
Dana

9/4/08 UPDATE

2008-09-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

9:21 AM
Got in about 10:30 PM last night. Easy drive, nice road all the way, little traffic and only a light mist rain for part of the drive.
Checked into another Motel 6 in Bossier City, LA. Fairly cheap and clean. No amenities to speak of but the price is right! Once we get settled in, I will try and hook up with another inspector and share a room in a little bit nicer place. I did that in Dallas and it worked out well. This time, that inspector got sent to Baton Rouge.

Unfortunately, the air card I use for my internet is not getting a very good signal here at this location and checking my emails etc. is painful. Another good reason to relocate.

PaRR communicates to its field force via "broadcast voice mail" . Several times a day, each inspector checks their mailbox for updates. If there is a direct message for a particular inspector, PaRR has an automated system to call them directly.

Many of the Dallas standby team was dispatched to here for "registration intake" duty and others were sent to Baton Rouge to do inspections. So far, for me, and I assume, the others in the Shreveport crew, we are on hold while PaRR finds all its equipment that was shipped by FedEx yesterday and sets up a place for us to work. I just keep checking the voice mail every so often. Guess I'll head out and find some coffee and a bite to eat.

Stay Tuned
Dana

UPDATE 9/3/08, 5:45 pm

2008-09-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

In spite of rumors to the contrary, it looks like I'll be here for a while. Just got a call from PaRR to hot foot it to Shreveport, LA tonight to start Registration Intake there tomorrow morning.
Shreveport is about 200 miles east on I-20. 4-3 hours, depending on traffic.

Madly making calls now to make new hotel reservations, map the route, pack etc.

Gotta run now,
Dana

Hurry Up and Wait!

2008-09-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to report, still sitting on my butt in Dallas. It looks like FEMA was not taking any chances this time and loaded in a lot of resources in the form of personnel. Most of use are now sitting around cooling our heels in various Hotels around the area.

They have launched a few (about 100) experienced inspectors to Louisiana but the rest of us are still hanging loose. It appears that most of the damage was east of Texas and not as bad as originally though.

The inspections are actually not done by FEMA directly but by Contractors. There are two Disaster Inspection contractors, PaRR and Parsons-Brinkerhoff and both companies are manning up this Gustav storm. There in lies the tail I think. There are issues with FEMA co-ordinating who is going to be doing which area. There is some political infighting I think, these are lucrative contracts for both companies and they are fighting over the areas. This is also a very expensive operation for the contractors and ultimately FEMA and the tax payer.
It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a day to have all of us standing by and not really producing anything. It also costs the inspectors since we are "sub-contractors" and responsible for our own expenses like rental car, lodging and food. At this point, I'm "upside down" with more money paid out than taken in. Not good! If they cut us loose today or tomorrow, I loose money on this whole thing and will need to take a long look at doing this again.

It might pay off in the long run though. I've met many people here, both men and women, that do this as a full time career. There is substantial money to be made in a fairly short time. The down side is the waiting game, living out of a suitcase, being away from home and family and the out of pocket expenses until you are actually deployed to actually do inspections.
As a "newbie" at this, my chances of getting sent out this time are slim. If I do not get sent out, I take a loss and have to do it again, hoping to get out in the field and get some experience.

There are a number of aspects to this game to consider. The pay potential is great IF you go out. It is conceivable that you could make $10,000 to $20,000 or more in a few weeks. This could buy some "coasting time" back at home between deployments. Given that FEMA deals with fire, floor, storms, earthquakes and any other disaster, it is possible to work 3-4 deployments per year and make 6 figures. Not too bad for a few months work.

Stay Tuned, more later.

News from Dallas

2008-09-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Well, made it to Dallas around noon today. Great flight on American Airlines out of Burbank, CA.
The plane left on time and landed in Dallas on time. Picked up my rental car and headed out to the FEMA field office down in Desoto, TX. There were tons of people there waiting to check in. I think FEMA is not taking any chances this time and is putting lots of resources in place well in advance of the need. Someone said they thought there were 300 inspectors here!

Did not have time to attend the "Orientation" briefing today. I will do that in the morning.
We still do not know what is going on or when or if we will be deployed. Rumor has it that the storm petered out pretty fast when it hit land and did not do all that much damage. We could get sent home earlier than anticipated. I've been watching the news but they tend to really hype things up to get more ratings and watchers so I don't really know what to expect. Guess I'll find out tomorrow.
TTFN from Texas
Dana

It's Official, going to Texas!

2008-08-31T16:47:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:
I finally got the call about 11:30 this morning PDT. I'm officially deployed to hurricane Gustav as a FEMA Disaster Inspector. I leave at 7 AM in the morning for Dallas. All packed and ready to go. Motel booked, vehicle booked, flight booked, boarding pass in hand, banking done, bills paid.

Nothing left to do but wait now. I'm a bit excited! I didn't sleep all that well last night waiting to hear the final word. Been a scramble today getting my local jobs covered by others.

Looks like New Orleans will get their butt kicked again from what I'm seeing on the weather maps. Heavy storm surge looks like it will pound southern Louisiana in addition to the high winds. Currently, Gustav is a Cat-3 to 4 with hurricane force winds out to 65 miles from the center and tropical storm force wind out to 220 miles. It's moving north west at about 18 mph but should slow as it approaches land. It is about 200 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi now.
Dana

Gustov Hits the South

2008-08-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
The big news today is hurricane Gustov that is coming in out of the gulf somewhere in the LA and TX coast area. I'm waiting with baited breath too. You see, I'm a FEMA Disaster Inspector and I've been alerted via email to get ready to deploy. Not sure yet where or IF I'm going. Waiting for the call today. It will be either Texas or Alabama if I'm deployed per what I've been told so far.

I'm madly creating lists of things I'll need to take for a potential 30 day deployment. Think about it. What would you bring along if YOU were going into a disaster area for 30 days? Will there be rooms to rent, cars available for rent, phone service, internet, even food and drink? It will be an adventure for sure!

We are "independent contractors" so we must foot the bill for food, lodging and car rental while we are there. Essentially, all living expenses. An all this must be done with only a few days notice. Of course, we are paid well for doing this, the potential income is pretty substantial but the hardships are there too. And then there is the help flow aspect of the whole process. I will be helping a lot of people get their life back together if they are impacted by the storm damage. This is important and rewarding work in itself aside from the money. I know that FEMA got a black eye on Katrina but this time they have gotten their sh** together and are manning up way in advance of the storm. Things should go better this time.

I've been told that I will be flying into Dallas/Fort Worth area and then staging at a suburb called Desoto, TX until deployed. After that, who knows. If I have Internet service, I will be able to blog this whole experiance here as it unfolds. I will be taking my computer and broadband access card along to keep my life on track as much as possible. I pretty much run my life on the "Net" so I'm hoping that can continue. If not, drop back 5 yards and punt!

Stay Tuned to this channel, I'll be blogging about this adventure as much as possible right here on "Thoughts from A Boomer"

"Doing Your Duty", Jury Service

2008-08-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to report to the Los Angeles Superior Court to be a part of the "jury pool". Talk about "hurry up and wait", this was the epitome of that concept.

Instructions on the paperwork say "Must arrive by 7:30 AM and enter through such and such door only". Well, at 7:30 AM, they opened that door only to tell up to go around the side to another door where we got to wait some more.
Once in the "Jury Assembly room", we wait a while longer while they get it together and wait for stragglers. (the last finally showed up at 8:30 AM!) The clerk runs through all the info about what is going to happen, how to fill out the form, (which was supposed to be done already) and talks about reasons that might be valid for excusing from service or postponing it. Blah Blah Blah.....

Finally, at about 10:00 AM we get called up to the court room for MORE instructions and more "weeding out". Remember, I've been here since 7:30 AM!

First, we get to meet the lawyers and the principals in the upcoming trial and listen to what is essentially their opening arguments so we can get a feel for the trial issues.

Then the Judge explains his estimate of how long this particular trial will take.
He estimates this case will take 22 trial days! Counting the various holidays and other commitments he has, this case will run all the way into October. Holy Crap! I can't be off work for this long. I will be pushing a shopping cart by the middle of September!

The Judge explains his process for culling out those with "extreme financial hardship" claims and proceeds to do so. He also explains that he is one of the few that allows this during his selection process. Others do not do this and if he excuses someone today, it's a crap shoot if they might get worse from another Judge and trial since they do not allow for financial hardship excuses.

Long story short - I am able to get excused and, after lunch, return to the "holding pen" for another assignment. Here I sit for another two hours or so and finally, at around 4:00 PM, we all get released. Yeah, that's the end of it. No more requirement to serve for another year.

Later, Dana

I'm Baaaaak!

2008-04-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Wow! been gone from here for a while. Lot's of stuff been going on.
The Title of this whole Blog is "Random Thoughts from a Baby Boomer" and Ive been thinking about things from that viewpoint for a while now.
I'm now 63 years old and have had a fairly eventful but normal life up to this point. Planning on a bit more for sure!

As you may know by reading previous posts, I'm in the process of dealing with Prostate Cancer.
Until it entered my universe, I had little knowledge about it. As it turns out, it's pretty prevalent in men my age. It's been said the "more men, at age 80, will die WITH Prostate Cancer than from it". I guess my lack of knowledge was mainly due to the "threat potential" (or lack of it in my mind) of the disease. That is not to say that PC is not a threat, it is and can kill you though a process called metastasis. The Cancer can spread from the prostate, via the lymphatic system, to other parts of your body like the bones or brain. Part of the "staging"process in the cancer treatment cycle is to determine if it has gone extra-capsular. (moved out of the actual prostate gland) There is a term "clear margins" that applies to the post operation biopsy of tissue removed during the operation.
There were a number of post operation procedures on the table. Primary was anti-androgen treatment with a hormone suppressor called Leupride. Its job is to suppress the hormone Testosterone which is thought to "feed"the cancer. The regimen is one year on Leupride with shots given every three months. I'm on # 3 now. We started before the operation.
There are a number of potential side effects of Leupride; Impotense, weight gain, muscle loss, something called gynocomastia (man tits) and loss of libido or sex drive.
I've not experienced all of them but some are a bit of a bother. The loss of libido and impotence sort of go together. Wouldn't do much good to have a strong libido and and nothing to work with. LOL Oh! another one is HOT FLASHES! Boy, those are interesting. Out of the clear blue you start to sweat. I bit annoying sometimes. Thankfully, those have subsided.
On the up side, the PSA (prostate specific antigen, a marker for this type of cancer) is down to almost undetectable with normal blood testing. The idea is to have it stay in that range AFTER the Leupron has been withdrawn and has vacated my body. If so, Cancer Free! WOOT! time will tell.
Another of the recommended treatments on the table was pelvic radiation. A course of one treatment a day, five days a week for seven weeks. "Just to be sure" I opted to do the Leupron thing and see how that goes. I'm not big on radiation. Too many additional side effects and risks for my tastes.

One of the side effects that does bug me is the weight gain (about 20 lbs) and the loss of strength. In combination, it does impact my day. I got locked out of a house I was inspecting the other day and had to climb over a back fence to get back in because the Realtor had left and wasn't expected back for an hour or so. (the house was vacant) Oh Great! Now I have to sit here doing nothing for an hour or more! Then I remembered that the door to the back yard was open. I proceeded to TRY to climb the fence. It was comical. I'm not a little guy at 6 foot 2 inches and 260 pounds. Trying to get that over a 5 foot high iron gate was a struggle. I would have normally just grabbed the top and hoisted myself up and swung over. Not this time. I tried but couldn't even pull my self up far enough to swing a leg over the adjacent and lower block wall! I started laughing and that didn't help at all. I finally made it over and finished the inspection by the time everyone got back. Ahhh Well. This will pass.
Later All

Update on "the big C"

2007-10-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hi again,

It's now October 2 and I thought I should update this situation.
Last time (see previous blog) in March, I said that I had been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.
The next step in the process is called "staging" to determine the extent of the cancer. This involved many, many tests. I've had MRI's, CAT scans, Ultrasounds, blood tests (seems like dozens) EKG and the infamous DRE. (digital rectal exam)
I thought they would never stop poking and prodding me through every orifice they could find!
The bottom line, yeah, I have cancer and it needed to be operated on to remove my prostate.
I had mentioned about the Di Vince Robotic operation but that was not an option since my HMO didn't have that available and my urologist was not trained in it's use. We went the old fashioned way, big incision down my belly.

Attractive isn't it? Much better now but still ugly

It was scheduled for August 3rd and I was in the hospital for 4 days, pretty much out of it on Morphine drip. At first, even with the morphine, it felt like someone was twisting a hot knife in my guts when I coughed. That gradually abated. Took some Vikadin for about a week or so then stopped that too. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. I also got to wear a catheter for three weeks and diapers or pads after they took that out until I regained control. That was a major PITA!

I have been on a hormone therapy called Lupron that suppresses the production of testosterone, which apparently feeds the cancer, since two months before the operation. Each shot lasts three months. I got another one two weeks ago. This treatment totally suppresses your libido and I have been getting hot flashes as a side effect. Great fun.

More Joy! I've just been to see the radiation oncologist and he feels that a course of radiation is called for since there was some residual cancer in the surrounding area per the post-op pathology report. He recommends the Lupron for at least a year along with a 7-1/2 week course of radiation. Once a day, five days a week. That should be great fun. Talk about disruptive of your life schedule! Actually, I'm lucky in that I'm partially retired and only work in the afternoons so it shouldn't be too bad.

Stay Tuned
Dana

The Big "C"

2007-03-31T23:26:00.000-07:00

Yep, I've been told that I have the "Big C". Diagnosed with prostate cancer in January.
Not great news but imminently survivable. Most men that reach age 80 will die with prostate cancer but not from it. It's that prevalent in our Western society.

I've been going through the "clinical staging" process for the last two months. Bone scans, MRI's, biopsies etc. So far, no spread, so due to my age (I'm 62) surgery is indicated. The down side of the surgery is a very low potential for incontinence and impotence if the surgeon can't spare the nerve bundles that control those things. Not good!

I'm looking into the new procedure called "Davinci Robotic Surgery". I've seen some video of it and it's pretty cool. Being a "techie", it really seems the way to go. A lot less time in the hospital and much faster recovery. No work, no eat! I'll be down for four weeks at least if everything goes well. Need to build up the war chest a bit for that much time off.

Rather than cut you open from navel to nuts, the robotic method works through 5 small incisions in the abdomen with robotically controlled tools and manipulators. the tools and manipulators are actually able to do things the surgeon cannot do due to a better range of motion. Plus, the whole thing is done under magnification so the surgeon can see much better and be much more precise.

I'm waiting to see my Urologist now to discuss the options and timing. I'll keep you posted.
Dana

Getting "Hooked Up"

2007-03-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I told of the move to a new home. As any of you that have done so recently knows, getting all the places notified of you new address can be a pain.

One of the benefits of being a "techie" and virtually living on the Internet is that this part went rather smoothly. I use a password manager to keep track of all the places I visit and/or do business on the Web. It's called "Roboform" and it's a huge time saver. It can be found at http://www.roboform.com/ Check it out. One of the features is the ability to set up a profile that will "auto fill" forms for you with all the proper information. It is password protected. I simply marched through the many "passcards" I had for all the various sites. Click on a passcard and the browser goes to the site's login page and RoboForm logs you in. Then I just went to each profile or "My account" section and used the saved profile to change all my info to the new address etc. I handled the changes on over 150 sites in about two hours.

The next hurdle was getting my DSL transferred to the new location. Whoa! Big Shock! I had been paying for and getting 2+MBs speed at my old location. Sweet! But that was not to be at the new digs. Because of the increased distance from the Central Office (CO) I could only get about 700 KBs down. Only 1/3 of my previous speed. Oh Well! It works okay for now. Nothing I can do about it anyway but hope for a "booster" station somewhere in the future. I use satellite for my TV so no high-speed cable access. I've been on DSL since 1999.
The transition did not go smoothly. The were supposed to kill the service at my old location and start it at the new place the next morning. No such luck. It finally took an on-site call from AT&T tech and a new dedicated line to my computer room to get it going.

My business depends on the Net, it's where I get my work. I planned for such outages and have a high speed data plan (SprintPCS) and Ev-DO card for my tablet computer. I had to run on that for four days till AT&T got it together. It was well worth the $60 a month that costs me.

I remember not all that long ago when I ran a company with 8 crews in the field, no cell phones and only pagers for contact. Seems so primitive now. He He !

Later, Dana

I'm Still Here! (damn)

2007-03-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted here. Lots going on. Last time I talked of getting out of LA. It almost happened! A certain "health" challange cropped up that requires I stay a little longer. This is where my doctors are located and it wouldn't be all that convienent to commute from the SLO area for appointments and treatment. Oh Well, this too will pass.

I did manage to get out of the one-bedroom dump I was living in. My new wife came complete with three dogs and a cat. That was a bit much for the space so we found bigger "digs".

Looking for a rental here in LA is no fun. The ads depict a palace but most turn out to be suitable for raising farm animals. And they still want a crap load of money for them. The landlords out and out lie in the ads. Things like saying there is a garage when all there is, is a metal frame and a canvas tarp. One place advertised "four car garage parking" Guess what? A falling down lean-too with plywood leaning against the front for doors, holes in the roof and many posts holding up the collapsing roof timbers blocking access to anything but a bicycle is not four car garage parking by any stretch of anyone's imagination. Sheesh! What balls some people have.

Well....we lucked out and found a great place at last. The landlord had been raised in the house. They then completely remodeled it for their son. New plumbing, electrical, HVAC, custom paint, crown moldings, refinished hardwood floors throughout and a complete new kitchen with new appliances. Even a new washer and dryer in the garage. Nice detached two-car garage (the real deal) and a huge fenced back yard for the dogs. They are in heaven.

We are still in the process of moving the last things in. We overlapped the rent for a month so we had time to do it right without a huge one weekend thrash. Smart move. You do get a little smarter as you get older. Last thing to do is my garage. Bringing the last things over this weekend.

TTFN, Dana

I'm Tired of LA!

2006-08-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of Los Angeles! I'm burnt out on the traffic and the very expensive rents for crappy housing.
My rent is fairly low at $895 but that only gets me a very old one-bedroom duplex that has not been well maintained. To move to a larger, newer place with more modern amenities would cost $2000 per month or more plus several thousands for the "deposits".
The basic things like electrical supply and plumbing are very old and worn out. It can take a half hour to fill a bathtub because the water pipes are clogged up. I cannot run my computer and my wall A/C at the same time because the electrical service was installed by Thomas Edison himself! Only 30 amps of service for the whole place. It seems that every outlet in this four room unit is on the same breaker. One hot days, the breaker trips every half hour or so. I put a UPS on the computer so this constant breaker tripping would not kill it.
It's been very hot here as many know. This space is unusable without the A/C. And the A/C works poorly when it is running.
As for the traffic! When I have a full schedule day (I'm a Home Inspector) I'm out of the house for 13+ hours a day. About half of this time is spent driving or waiting. What a waste! If I get a scheduled inspection on the West side, (only 20 miles away) it can take me two hours to get home because of the traffic. I made one trip home from there and never got out of first gear till I got within about 3 miles from home.

I am seriously looking at moving out of this area to the Central Coast area of California. It's about 220 miles north of Burbank. I've spent several weekends up there and love the area. It's the San Louis Obispo county area of Paso Robles, Atascadero, Santa Maria area. There are also very nice beach area communities of Morro Bay and several others along the coast. After all the driving I've done down here (to get nowhere effectively) driving 20-30 miles up there only takes a half hour. Big difference! The rents are reasonable, vehicle insurance is about half, gas prices are similar. Now if I can only get my inspection business going up there, I'm set!

Till the next rant..............Dana

Comments about MS Office 2007 Beta

2006-06-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends;

I recently downloaded and installed the new Microsoft Office 2007 beta. So far, the experience has been great! I put it on both my Compaq desktop 2.4 Ghz running Windows XP SP-2 and my Motion LE-1600 slate tablet (same specs except that the tablet is only 1.5 Ghz). I added OneNote 2007 to the tablet as well. I was already running OneNote 2003 on the tablet. Great application, but more on that later.

I love to run the latest and greatest so I also use the new Windows Media Player 11 “Urge” and Internet Explorer 7. So far, no serious glitches or incompatibilities discovered.

I writing this Blog using the new blogging system in Word 2007. I works very well. Compose and publish right from within Word! What could be simpler?

I really love the new “ribbon” UI in the 2007 Office products. It is very intuitive. I’ve been a Office user for years. My current version (until now) has been Office Premium 2000. It has done yeoman duties for me for many years. Nothing the MS has offered up till now has tempted me to replace it. Enter Office 2007 with a complete re-work of the UI and a lot of new features. I think it’s time to upgrade. I will buy this one when the trial expires in February, 2007.

The setup on the UI is very intuitive as I said. Being an Office user for a long time, there was almost no confusion. Everything is setup in tabs across the top of the screen. Activate the tab and the “ribbon” interface switches to a large menu ribbon along the top that is specific to that particular task. All the things you can do with a Word document are displayed and easily accessed. None of the options that do not apply are shown. Same for each application in the suite. Very Cool! This makes working with any application very easy. I read in another story, linked from Digg.com, about how MS spent a lot of time working out the UI to be immediately useable with little or no training. I think they succeeded for the most part. At least I have had no transition issues. In fact, I love it. Every day, I find a new “wow” item or feature. Just ask my wife. I’ll be playing around on the computer and utter another “wow” comment. She’ll say “What now?” It’s become somewhat of a joke around my household.

Have a Good Day

Dana

Joys of the Open Road

2006-06-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about living in Southern California is it’s proximity to a ton of great riding areas. Pacific Coast Highway, Angeles Crest Highway , the many, many canyons in the Santa Clarita Valley, out through Mojave to Highway 395 north and on up though Mammoth to the back side of Yosemite and Tioga Pass. The list is endless and varied.

The last trip I took was up the 101 Highway to the Central Coast area of San Luis Obispo, Atascadero and Paso Robles. It was about 225 miles north of Los Angeles, one way. I have long loved this area for it’s unmatched beauty and un-crowded back roads. It reminds me of the area where I grew up in the Southern Santa Clara Valley, before it went “urban”. When I was there, up until 1964 or so, it was still un-crowded and rural. Now it’s a bedroom community to Silicon Valley, full of miles and miles of rooftops of the urban sprawl. There are still some pockets of “ruralness” here and there but not like it was. But then, what is now days?

Back in the day, I rode a collection of beater motorcycles, often as my only mode of transportation. I covered about every inch of the back roads of the south county area . All the foothills had rural back roads leading to nowhere. But, often that was the point! For a true motorcycle rider, it’s about the ride, not the destination. I remember a trip a couple of years ago up to Grass Valley, CA via Highway 49 along the western foothills of the Sierras and then back down 395 to La La land. All the way down 395, I kept seeing these little two lane roads disappearing up into the foothills to the west of the highway. It was all I could do to not turn up those roads just to see what the ride would be like. It’s a wonder I ever made it back home.

It’s summer time here in L A now. Riding in this very hot weather is no joy. It’s time to “get out of Dodge” once again. I’ve discovered a fantastic website called www.pashnit.com who’s author is even more of a touring junky then I am. He has put together a wonderful site that details literally hundreds of rides and routes throughout California. Check out this site, you won’t be disappointed if you are a rider. He has now started leading guided tours through some of the most beautiful areas of the state. I may just have to sign up for one.

After all the many and varied “beater” bikes I have owned, I have finally risen to the top of the food chain. I ride a world class touring bike called a Honda Goldwing . This machine is the epitome of comfort and luxury. It’s got everything but doors. I’ve mounted satellite radio, GPS navigation via a PocketPC and a helmet system with it’s own speakers and intercom. This baby is design for just the type of trip I like. Luckily, my new (est) wife loves to ride as well. It’s a good thing or she might not see much of me on my days off! I may have to add trailer towing capability to the “Wing” to handle the extras that need to come along when she travels with me. She only has two feet, why so many shoes?

Here’s a couple of links to touring groups I belong to: http://www.gwrra.org/
http://www.gwta.org/ If any of you are in the southern California area and want to talk bikes, touring or riding in general or get together for a ride, drop me a line at d.bostick(at)Gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.

Opening Shots!

2006-03-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Here we go! Just had the idea to post a few thoughts from the viewpoint of a "late blooming" Baby Boomer Geek.

I have always been a SiFi fan and interested in technology. I began reading SiFi novels by the old masters like Heinlein, Pohl, Hubbard etc. in my early teens or before. Not only was it "escapist" but predictive. I couldn't wait for the things these visionaries spoke of in their writings. I've been delighted with the progress and frustrated with the poor implementation or lack of developement of others.

I've been "riding two horses" for most of my working life. While I WAS a Geek at heart, I couldn't seem to make it pay. I tried several times. My fallback was my not unsubstantial talents with my hands. I've been in the construction trades for over 30 years and am still a general Contractor in California where I live. I've been a factory trained auto mechanic for 12 years, a chicken farmer, telemarketer, business owner, ex-Navy & Viet Nam Vet and motorcycle rider. I currently own my own Property Inspection business. This is only a "short list", I've been around the track more than one time to say the least.

Where am I today? Older, somewhat wiser and no richer, sad to say. Not to say I didn't enjoy the trip. I very much did and am still enjoying it.
Having been self employed for most of the time and easily bored, I never generated any sort of retirement plan. Now at 61, I face the prospect of working many more years trying to put something in place. No regrets, just deal with it.

Having said all that, I will return to my first love. Beeing a Geek! Conveniently, Geeks are "cool" now days.