StillSecure, After All These Years

How America can get her "groove" back

I blog a lot. Some times I write stuff I think important. Sometimes I write stuff that is not so important.  What I am going to tell you now is most important.  It has nothing to do with IT security and everything to do with the very future of the planet we all share.  If you are going to read only one book this year, make it Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded.  Friedman has written some amazing books, most recently "The World is Flat".  He also writes amazing columns. But never have a I read anything that has so grabbed me and resonated so strongly with me as this book.  Within the first 25 pages I was so drawn and attuned to what he describes that I am ready to go out and volunteer to do my part and I want to convince you to go do your part too.

Friedman says that America has lost its focus, party due to 9/11, partly to the "dumb as we want to be" mentality of our politicians.  We have built ourselves into a "Fortress America", where "even birds don't fly". We have allowed ourselves to think that the blessed American way of life means we don't have to worry about things like energy consumption, educational challenges and national debt. We are America, we will deal with our problems when we want to and it won't catch up to us because we are America. At the same time the world is changing.  It is getting hotter from global warming, flatter with the world-wide rise of a prosperous middle class and the demands for food, energy and resources are quickly outpacing our ability to meet them.  Our uniquely American problem and the world-wide problem can both be solved by America getting her "groove" back.  By taking its place in the world and by leading the way in the 21st century with "Code Green".  A multi-generational, long term plan to solve the urgent issues facing us all.  Not for altruistic reasons, but for the reasons that have always driven this country - profit and our desire to innovate and reinvent ourselves to be the very best and lead the world.

We need to leave our post 9/11 defensive crouch that has us playing afraid. We need America to "play the vital role it has long played for the rest of the world - as a beacon of hope and the country that can always be counted on to lead the world in response to whatever is the most important challenge of the day. We need that America - we need to be that America -more than ever today."  I personally have felt for a long time that we needed a new "put a man on the moon" mission to energize our country, to rally around and bring our tremendous innovation and ingenuity to bear. I have also felt that energy was that next great American mission. The reason that the last century and a half were American centuries is that we led the way in energy production. We need to lead the way with the next dominant energy sources. Everything I have felt around this, Friedman has put to words.  He defines the problems and lays out what we have to do to invent the solutions, while reinventing ourselves and the world we live in. 

Enough gushing on about the book. Go out and buy and read this book.  After you do, try to do your part in making Code Green a success. The life you and your children will lead may very well depend on it!

Are the weather people disappointed?

Is it me or do you all feel that the media people covering recent hurricanes seemed almost disappointed that Gustav and some of the other storms have not been as strong as they could have been and not as destructive?  I definitely sensed it with the coverage of New Orleans. It felt like the media had gathered for a party and it just wasn't up to the level of carnage they expected.

Today though in listening to the weather forecast on Hanna, the next storm coming up, the weather person seemed disappointed that the storm seemed to be losing muster and was not as well formed.  Hey, there is plenty of bad news to go around without worrying about a storm that fizzles out.  Why not report on the economy, the housing market or any one of the other multitude of problems out there. I for one am glad that the storms are not as bad so far!

Where is Shimel?

Sorry readers if I have been slow on blogging but with end of year/quarter work and kids on vacation, blogging has taken a bit of a back seat.  But I am back and hopefully with lots to say.  I spent lots of time at Disney World with Bonnie and the kids over the vacation.  The kids had a ball, even though Orlando had record low temperatures.  We frooze! I won't bother with a top ten list, but my least favorite thing about Disney is lines. I hate waiting on line for everything from rides to food to going to the bathroom.  For the money you pay there, you shouldn't have to do it!

Anyway, holidays are over, the kids are back in school and I am back to blogging.  Stay tuned.

Another rainy night at the airport

I write this entry from the Delta Shuttle terminal at LaGuardia Airport in NYC.  I was supposed to be on a 7:30 pm shuttle up to Boston and in my hotel and sleeping by 9:30.  Well it is 9:30 right now, and I am still here. My cell phone died, so I can not call my house to let Bonnie know.  I sent her an email, but who knows if she will see it tonight?  I used to get really upset by this sort of thing, but I don't know if I am getting older or am just so desensitized, to the point where I just don't care anymore.  It is a fact of life that air travel in the east coast during summer stinks!  The thunderstorms roll in and airports close.  This particular ground closure has been going on for almost 3 hours which is unusual, but what can we do.  I wish the airlines would just put you up in a hotel and put you on the first flight out in the morning, but we all know they don't do that unless their is mechanical trouble.  So instead you wait at the gate area for news.

The food choices here are abysmal. Why can't they have healthy food at airport gate areas?  They have no problem getting alcohol here.  I can diet all week long at home, a good two day road trip with some delay time at the airport shoots that all to heck.  Anyway, let me sign off before I start ranting and raving. Oh BTW, if you can get your hands on the June issue of SC Magazine, have a look at the group tests this month.  I will leave you with that ;-)

Springtime in the Rockies

Out here in Boulder at StillSecure headquarters this past week.  I forgot how beautiful springtime in the Rockies can be.  The area is green, I guess from the all of the snow and rain this winter.  The mountains look beautiful.  It is also good to be back in the office.  I have been on the road and working from home in Florida for almost 2 months.  The office is alive with the vibrancy of a growing company with lots of exciting things going on.  Our marketing team has a full slate of activities being rolled out, the developers are knee deep in new releases of all three of our products and the support people are busy making sure our customer's experience is superb.  For those of you who work from home, it is always good to go back to the office, to really see what is going on and gage the tempo and momentum of your company.   

Soccer is back, but on the horizon ...

Well it has been almost four weeks, but this Sunday the BRYAA Soccer league that my sons play in and I coach, is finally going to resume.  We have not had practice in all this time, so I am not sure what to expect from the kids.  I think we will have lost what ever momentum we had and will be starting from scratch.  It will be good to get back to playing though.  The fields have been certified as safe, however the lights are still not working, which means no practices, as it gets dark early now.  The light fixtures are those really tall ones and you need a crane to fix them.  The regular cherry-picker type of trucks that fix most of the electric down here are just not tall enough.

More ominous though is tropical storm Gamma heading our way for Monday.  That's right another storm coming here.  With everything still hanging on by a thread and not yet back to normal, I am afraid to think what this storm can do.  Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Power is on!

Well Saturday night at about 7pm we got word that our power has been restored to our house in Boca Raton.  I can't even begin to tell you how good it made me feel.  We have been "hurricane refugees" up here in Orlando since Wed.  We will be leaving early tomorrow morning to return home, restock the fridge, clean up the mess and get on with our lives.  While this week was extremely stressful for Bonnie and I, the kids and my dog have certainly made the best of it.  We did two days at Universal Studios and then went over to Sea World today.  The kids had a blast!  I guess when you are 4 and 6, how bad can things be when you spend your days going from one theme park to another. 

My dog, Jake spent the time in the Absolute Heaven Pet Spa and Resort, where he enjoyed some pampering and group playtime.  I understand he made good friends with a Shar Pei there and had a great time.  He finished off with a nice bath, manicure and massage.  Its a dogs life! 

Well this will be one hurricane I will never forget and though everything should be back to normal soon, I don't think it will ever be the same.

We are safe but have been through hell!

Well, I write to you from a hotel room in Orlando, Florida.  The last 2 to 3 days (I don't even remember anymore) have been a living hell.  Hurricane Wilma came right at us in Boca Raton.  We were on the eye wall on the eastern side on the way in and on the backend of the storm were on the southern eye wall which was wicked.  We had sustained winds of over 100 miles an hour.  I was in real fear for the safety and life of my wife and children.  This made the previous hurricanes look like a walk in the park.  After about 4 to 6 hours it was over.  Though our house was still standing we had lost many of the large trees around the house.  They crashed and crushed our screen enclosure in our back.  A tree fell on Bonnie's car.  We also had no electricity, our water needed to be boiled and our phones (both cell and land lines) were totally out.  We were lucky.  Many of our friends suffered much more damage.  Our development looks like a war zone.  We had to throw out everything in both refrigerators.  Finally today when raw sewage started coming up the street drain, we got the heck out of there and came up to Orlando.  They say our electric may not be on until Nov. 7th or later. 

This is serious stuff and I strongly am considering how I can put my family in this type of danger again.  Boca Raton is beautiful but this is just over the top.  May you never have to experience anything like this.

Battle of the bands

It is a little after 1AM here and the first storm bands are hitting us.  Winds are only about 35 to 40 mph, but the rain comes down in sheets.  You can hear it as the wind rips through the palm fronds.  At this early stage the bands are infrequent, but when it comes through you can hear it, like the freight train sound they talk about.  Keep in mind the eye of the storm is still about 140 miles south-southwest of the western coast of Florida.  We live on the east coast, between Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.  They estimate tropical force winds will cover about a 400 to 500 wide swatch from Tampa-Orlando all the way to Havana, Cuba.  The bad news is they think the eye of the storm will come right across us sometime tomorrow.  They anticipate lots of power outages. We are locked down and at this point whatever is going to happen is going to happen.  Hopefully, I will be able to update tomorrow morning as it passes through.

On Hurricanes and Football

Prior to the last few years, anyone writing about hurricanes and football would obviously be talking about the University of Miami and their often time national champion 'Canes football team.  Not so anymore.  Florida has become the bulls-eye of the hurricane universe.  No one told us about these hurricanes when we moved down here a few years ago.  By now our response has become ritualistic.  First make sure we have plenty of bottled water, flashlights, radios, batteries and food.  Next, take in anything that is not locked down.  You don't even realize how much stuff laying around the house could become a missile in 100 + mile an hour winds.  Rearranging the furniture in the play room so all of the patio furniture can come in, filling the garage with everything else.  Then the waiting starts.  The local news channels of course have coverage on 24 hours a day and when the storm is bearing down on you, you are drawn to the news like moths to a light! 

Today, perhaps a sign of how "normal" this has become, we first went to the boys soccer games and after locking down the house, watched the Steeler-Bengal game on TV. I am a huge Steeler fan and of course the boys are now too.  Landon is really getting into watching sports and we played math games adding up different variants of football scores. I get such a kick out of watching sports with him.  He wants his team to win so bad!  Can't imagine where he gets that from.  It was a nice diversion, but the game ended, the skies are getting darker and the watch is on.  For anyone never having the privilege to witness a hurricane, I can tell you it really does get scary.  We have been extremely lucky as our electric has never gone out, neither our TV nor our phone or Internet.  Just about everyone else we know has suffered this though.  Anyway, I will post from the middle of the storm if I can later.  Sort of like a newscaster, with the wind whipping around him reporting from various locations here in south Florida that we watch to pass the time away.  Lets hope alls well that ends well and safe!