Why yes, that is my real name.
Archive for March, 2009
Quick Update
Mar 31st
I have now activated PingPressFM, which is a nifty plugin that will update all of my sites. I hope that it works properly.
And, being productive, I’m using this opportunity to test it out.
Thoughts on the Flood
Mar 31st
I feel kinda bad for not keeping my site up to date with the latest flood information. To be honest, that’s what the newspaper and media sites are for. I have been keeping informed, by checking with the National Weather Service, and with local media outlets.
To be honest, I have lost faith in our elected officials. After watching the morning press briefings and flood coordination meetings, I don’t think that Mayor Dennis Walaker is the one who is “saving our city.” To be honest, it’s the hundreds of city, county, state, and federal employees manning the emergency operations centers and department heads sitting around that table that are given 5 minutes to speak. THOSE are the people who are keeping your house dry, and keeping you safe. Supporting them is the community of volunteers who are put so much hard work into this fight. In any other city, we’d all be in about 5 feet of water by now I’m sure. The overwhelming support from the community is such a powerful factor.
So why do I hate the Mayor and other elected officials so much? For starters, Dr. Mahoney, city commissioner, keeps wearing that stupid reflective vest. I don’t know if he thinks it makes him look like he’s been out fighting the flood. To be honest, its almost insulting. Unless he’s been at the sandbag production sites directing the dozens of heavy machines around, or out directing traffic like the National Guard, he has no reason to wear it. Take the damn thing off!
Second, our Mayor is not a very good speaker. I have heard from friends who are out of the area hearing Mayor Walaker on the national news, and they ask, “Is he really your mayor?” Yes, that is the person that somehow won the election a couple years ago. If only I could have voted. He didn’t save this city in 1997, either. That was done by the numerous city staff and engineers, along with volunteers. He can drive the snow plows, but he sure can’t be mayor.
As far as the overall morning briefings, I think for the past few days, Walaker has had to apologize or re-state something he said the day before. Or he’s been eating. I just wish I could still stand to watch the meetings. I find myself trying to get the critical information out without getting pissed off at our officials.
Alright, I think that’s an adequate amount of ranting for the day. Leave your comments, in, of all places, the comments section. I do read them. In fact, I get a nifty email when you leave one.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-29
Mar 29th
- is seeking a volunteer opportunity that best meets his skills. Electricity need be involved. #
- has closed all flood-related tabs in FF and is going to bed. #
- is having issues sleeping. #
- finds it hilarious that I’m listening to KFGO online…and KFGO’s 2-way radios on the scanner. #
- wants to help, but doesn’t want to sandbag. #
- finally went and sandbagged (filled em at the dome) #
- is, to be honest, in shock. #
- is at DEFCON 2! FARGO REQUIRES ADDITIONAL PYLONS! #
- Why does there have to be a woot-off going on while everything is going wrong? #
- was a little scared after having to pass a Nat’l Guard Humvee to go help sandbag. #
- would like to help the red cross/salvation army again. I hope they call. #
- If you’re just bored, or need some fun: http://ping.fm/6LDzP #
- is going to watch the 8am flood meeting. Let’s hope the mayor doesn’t say anything stupid. #
- just finished his taxes. And now wants to sleep for some reason. #
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IMPORTANT! You should read this…
Mar 26th
The city of Fargo will be putting into effect a travel ban soon (midnight CDT 3-27) and will cut off volunteers from going to the Dome and Sandbag Central. It is IMPERATIVE that any NDSU student able bodied goes to the Fargodome to make sandbags. The river is coming up so fast that we need help.
Water, Water, Everywhere
Mar 25th
Undoubtedly you’ve heard of the flooding going on in Fargo, and throughout North Dakota and Western Minnesota. To be honest, living here, it’s quite scary. Reports are coming in at this point (3pm Wed Mar 25) that the river will reach 41 feet. As a guideline, the highest the river has been since records have been kept is 40.1 feet. The devestating flood of 1997 reached a record crest of 39.57 feet. Here, on the National Weather Service’s River Information page, which has probably received more hits than Google in the past week, the river currently stands at 35.86 ft.
If you haven’t volunteered yet, go out and help someone. I felt rather guilty until I went and volunteered. It was hard work, but was extremely rewarding. To see all those people at the Fargodome filling sandbag after sandbag was amazing. I saw kids, students, parents, even grandparents grabbing a shovel and working.
If you have any pictures (DON’T go and get some, sightseers will be thrown in jail) let me know in a comment.
Links:
- Eden Photography – Beth has taken some amazing pictures of the sandbag effort on their farm.
- National Weather Service AHPS Page – River levels for stations around the region
- InForum.com – Local Newspaper that has extensive flood coverage
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-22
Mar 22nd
- huzzah for Gnome widgets. I just tricked out my panel! Oh, and will be posting to the blog soon http://andrewrlynch.com #
- will be consuming vast amounts of food this week. And is totally OK with that. #
- “Is this like Oprah?” “No, but I’m pretty sure she’s a man” #
- will be in Tampa for the day. #
- is quite tired after a long day at the beach and a play and getting lost #
- will be going to SeaWorld today. #
- will NOT be going to SeaWorld today. Going tomorrow. #
- is in fact going to SeaWorld today. Today being Friday. #
- has been having issues uploading pics to http://andrewrlynch.com and guesses he’ll fix it later. #
- will be relaxing this last day in Orlando #
- all I have to say is all of me hurts. #
- feels severely distracted #
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I Think Gallery2 Hates Me
Mar 21st
Shamu
So, I enjoyed SeaWorld yesterday. I also enjoyed taking about 400 pictures. However, Gallery2, the software I use to display pictures here, will not accept more than 100 pictures into an album before erroring out. This could be due to the terrible Internet connection, or CPU load restrictions in place on DreamHost. Either way, I have to find a solution, which may be to re-upload the pictures in 100 count chunks. It will be annoying, but doable.
For now, I’m going to put the pictures onto my Picasa Web Albums account, until I can get all of them up on Gallery2. The problem with Picasa is that I can’t put ALL of them. I want to put ALL of them up as a remote backup and so that you can see all the fun I had at SeaWorld.
If you have any ideas or comments, leave them in the comments of this post.
From the beach…
Mar 18th
I’m currently on the beach. Sitting typing away on my laptop. I got a wifi signal from an unprotected linksys AP, probably from the many residences and hotels around this area. I’ll post more later, pictures included. Though the WIFI here is much better than the stuff in the hotel.
Weather where I am: here
Photos and Orlando
Mar 16th
Trail from the Space Shuttle Discovery out the portside window of an airplane.
I’ve finally installed one of my favorite web applications, Gallery2, onto ARL.com. It will be located at http://andrewrlynch.com/photos/ . I will be updating it with pictures as I cruise around Orlando, and will eventually move my old pictures from Picasa to this platform.
The old Picasa photos are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/lurch89/.
Also, when I was flying in to Orlando, we were able to see the space shuttle lift off from the runway. After we landed we could see the flare from the rockets as it blasted off. It was quite awesome. I will be posting a picture of it as soon as I get a hold of it.
Photo credit: John Baird
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-15
Mar 15th
- is having a terrible day #
- will be listening to the scanner…all day #
- Blizzard Info: http://ping.fm/uqZZZ #
- thinks NDSU should wait til noon. WF and MHD have cancelled, FPS and NDSU should follow suit. #
- hats off to the guy who called in to KFGO asking for FPS to cancel. #
- early morning…sleepy….idk why i do this #
- hates hw #
- should get up and go to work, and then class #
- says that you shouldn’t mess with something that has just been messed with. Yes, FB, I’m talking about you. #
- just realized that its Pi Day! #
- is now less than 24 hours from Orlando #
- has to run an errand or two, and then is flying to Orlando! #
- is in MPLS at the airport, awaiting a flight to ORLANDO! #
- is in an AWESOME resort in FL. #
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