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Ground Zero plus 6 months

I don’t know about you but I find it hard to believe it’s already March!  Last October I posted a story comparing Hurricane Rita from September 25, 2005 and Hurricane Ike from September 13, 2008.  These were two different storms with two different types of destruction.  Likewise, the clean up and recovery are also very different.  I can now see that.

March 13 will be 6 months since Hurricane Ike came to town and in many places, it still looks as if it were only yesterday.  Nearly 4000 homes were damaged in Bridge City, Texas alone.  Work is well underway in many of those homes to rebuild while many others remain untouched.  Still others have been cleaned out and gutted down to bare studs and stand empty either waiting for the next available work crew or with a “For Sale” sign out in the front yard.  The “For Sale” signs are everywhere but every now and then you see a “Sold” sign as well.  There are also lots of signs that read: “We Pay Cash For Damaged Homes.” [Read the rest of this entry...]

I know, I know…. this post is a week late.  But I have a good reason.  The event I wanted to share with you this month was scheduled for February 1 and then rescheduled to February 8, today.  The event: the Baptism of our Godchild.  It was a special day.  It was a day of family, many families in fact, as well as a day of community.  I wanted to wait and write about the Baptism AFTER the event rather than before for two reasons.

The first reason was that I thought I could do a better job having just experienced the day rather than trying to describe what I thought it was going to be like.  Sound good?  Well, the second reason is really why I waited.  I waited because I was not satisfied with what was coming to mind to write about.  There were several things bouncing around in my head and I wasn’t able to put them together the way I wanted.  That problem was solved today.  For me, the beauty of the Baptism we experienced today magnifies the sad moral times we now live in.  Have you heard of FOCA?

FOCA, the “Freedom of Choice Act” is a piece of legislation that is important to President Obama and many of our legislators.  According to the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment (NCHAL), FOCA is “a Radical Threat to Human Life.” [Read the rest of this entry...]

Well, the end of December 2008 finds me right back where I was at the end of last month, in the Texas Hill Country visiting with friends and relatives and spending time in the woods. I have not been here the whole time however (unfortunately), I did return to Orange for a couple of weeks. Believe it or not, I had work to do!

Since closing PNX many of you asked me how I liked retirement. I preferred to use the word transition rather than retirement. I’m not ready to retire but I was ready for a change. Perhaps more ready that I realized. Following my announcement that PNX was closing, several individuals asked me to consider talking with them about my possible employment with their company. One of those individuals was Joe Benoit with Conarc. Conarc is a design/build general contracting firm located in Vidor, TX, co-owned by Joe and Ed Allen. Conarc was a PNX customer for years. As a customer I came to know Joe and Ed. They have an excellent reputation and I always enjoyed our visits. When Joe asked me about coming to work with them it was as if I was being shown the next step in my journey. After several meetings with them and discussions with my wife Elaine, I agreed.

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I’m writing this on Wednesday evening, November 26, the night before Thanksgiving, 2008. For the past few months, I’ve tried to complete my post to have it ready to publish by the first day of the month. For December I’m a couple of days ahead of schedule. The main reason is I’m out of town and I know I won’t have an Internet connection on December 1^st because I’ll be in the woods!!!

I’ve spent the past 6 days in Central Texas and a good part of each of those days in a deer blind. Yes, I’m a hunter. I’m a Life Member of the Texas State Rifle Association and a Life Member of the National Rifle Association and I love to hunt. But this post is not political. I could climb on my soapbox given the anti gun administration that will take office in January but I won’t. Instead, I want to share with you what I’ve been thinking about these past 6 days while I’ve been in the woods: my Dad.

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Originally I planned to write about politics and the general election for this month’s post, but that all changed as a result of my recent trip to Cleveland, Tennessee. I took a road trip to meet the new owner of PNX Internet, Mr. Craig Thompson.

Queen of the Hill

When Craig and I worked out the details of the purchase of PNX Internet, part of the deal included several pieces of hardware including three different servers; the data base server, the web server and the mail server, a router and a network switch plus several other pieces. Originally we planned to take the equipment, especially the servers, down late one afternoon, box them up and ship them overnight, early morning delivery via UPS. We figured this would be the best plan to minimize the down time of PNX email. [Read the rest of this entry...]