Friday, September 9, 2016

Where Were You? (Repost)

I remember where I was when President Kennedy was shot, so do you. I remember where I was when Bobby Kennedy was shot, so do you. I remember where I was when Dr. King was shot. I will always remember the day I watched Neil Armstrong take that first step on the lunar landscape. You have to be a mature American to recall all those events.

You can be a child as young as 12 and remember the most significant event since the shot heard around the world that was fired at Ft. Sumter, South Carolina somewhere around 1861. That event was September 11, 2001. The Ft. Sumter event was the impetus that led to the most blood ever spilled here in America since the Revolutionary war.

When those planes flew into the World Trade Center and our Pentagon approximately 3,000 innocent Americans shed their blood, innocent, collateral damage in a cowardly act of terrorism. Since then one of the most evil dictators in history was captured, tried and hanged. Our soldiers still are taking it to the terrorists and those who have harbored terror. Many additional lives have been lost in an effort to make you and I feel safe once again.

I was in Baton Rouge, La. with DuPont. I had flown in on 9/10. Myself and 2 colleagues were doing software training for 2 cardiology groups assembled at the Baton Rouge Hilton. I had been to breakfast and had read a little article in USA Today about the establishment of 911 as the emergency number for the nation. Some sort of commemoration was scheduled somewhere on 9/11 to apply a little numerology. When I left my room to go down to the meeting room my colleague, Roger, came out of his room with a funny look on his face and announced that an airliner had just flown into the World trade center. I thought back about the article I had read and I said " No that is just some sort of gimmick to promote the establishment of 911 as the nationwide emergency number." Boy was I ever wrong.

We went to the meeting room checked in with our management and called off the training and went to pack. I was fortunate enough to think about getting a rental car. I had National Car Rental on speed dial. After I speed dialed it about 10 times I was able to successfully reserve a car. By the time my colleague from Birmingham, who had driven down, got us to the airport all airports across the country had been closed. Air Force One was heading to Louisiana, where I was. I had a guy at the rental car desk offer me $1000.00 for my rental car. He was trying to get home to Los Angeles. My other colleague and I drove the 8 hours back to Tallahassee and then he went on to Sarasota. We were scared. I just wanted to be home with my family.

I remember my daughter stood in line in Gainesville at the University of Florida, along with her room mates, to donate blood. People went to church in droves. Retailers sold out of flags. The mood of the country was anger towards the terrorists.

Where are we now? Blood donations have become a way to buy dinner for some. People stopped going to church in droves. Republicans hate the Democrats. Democrats hate the Republicans. Everyone hates the war. Tea parties abound. GM's principal owner is the U.S. Government. Financial institutions are owned by the government. The government wants to own health care.

What scared us to death back on 9/11/01 is now just a bare memory. If you fly into New York City there are new structures going up to replace those twin towers. It is hard to remember what they looked like in our mind's eye.

The same resolute planning that effected 9/11/01 is still going on in some Al Queda camp somewhere. Death to America still motivates people to strap bombs on thier children and send them into a crowd.

I wonder when and what the next 9/11 will be. Sure makes you pause and reflect doesn't it.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Surviving an Itty Bittty Hurricane

Living in Florida means one thing pretty consistently. You are vulnerable to a pretty volatile meterologic environment. I'm talking a consistent rash of thunderstorms, a much lesser occurrence of tornadic activity and a miniscule threat of tropical storms and hurricanes. Someone once said that this is the cost of living in paradise. I really cannot dispute that statement. One consistent thing about Florida is the hot and humid weather.

A couple of weeks ago my wife, Nancy, and I were laying in our bed. Around midnight we were awakened by the distant sound of thunder and could see some bright flashes of lightning. The storm was sort of pretty and melodic mixing flashes of light with rolling cascades of thunder. As the storm approached our address we could tell that it was going to roll pretty much right over us. Sure enough it did. After a few minutes of being a bit on edge we heard a zap and a ping and then a heavy retort. We had either endured a direct hit or one very close by.

The next morning we were disappointed to learn that we had no cable, internet or phone service. Life without TV is very difficicult for my wife as well as myself. I only watch sports on the cable. Her viewing is much more wide and sophisticated. I am an internet junkee. I find it unnerving not to be able to look at Real Clear Politics, Alabama.com for my team, ESPN.com, LDS.org and  local news all driving to and culminating in the many pithy tweets I send out via Twitter.

It took us 4 days to restore our TV and internet. Life was not pleasant. I also make my living via access to the internet as do so many other people. Thank heavens for the IPhone. We had to buy a new TV as a result of one being fried. That meant a little larger screen just in time for football season. Little did we know what lay in store for us.

We get somewhat Tropical storm weary in this part of the world. Seems like every year about this time there are numerous tropical depressions floating around in the Gulf or the Atlantic. In my world of real estate the significance is that if there is a named storm floating around in the "box" then real estate closings come to a grinding halt. The box is an imaginary space 700 miles X 700 miles. If a named storm moves into that box then property insurance issuance is frozen. If insurers won't insure, lenders won't lend and most buyers cannot buy. I had 3 closings scheduled this past week and was keeping a close eye on TS 9 out in the Gulf. Having barely managed the closings and getting past them I suddenly realized that TS 9 is now Hurricane Hermine.

Two of the families I was helping were out of town move ins, one from Atlanta and one from Niceville. A race was on to get closed, beat the storm and get moved in. Both families accomplished their moves and settled in prior to the storm settling in on a direct line for our location .

I had been so involved in business that I was totally naive concerning the storm. All of a sudden here it is Thursday and all manner of storm preparation has broken out around me. Fortunately, my wife, Nancy, is always in a state of preparedness for most things. We had plenty of water, food, snacks and batteries, meds, fresh clothing, etc. I settled in to watch two football games Thursday night. Both were humdiingers. I began to realize the seriousness of the matter when the wind started blowing and rain was hitting my house sideways. It really got my attention when in the space of seconds my house was darker than the inside of Marianna caverns. The only sound manifested was the whistling of the wind. It seemed like morning would never come. It did.

We awakened to trees down all over our neighborhood as well as the Big Bend region. 150,000 people were without electricity across the region. One of the clients I had closed had a tree down across their house on the first night they had stayed in it. Of my three children they all had power. My son's thankful to a home generator that powers his whole house, even AC.

We were without power for 60 straight hours. We were able to cook, keep two refigerator's cool, light a couple of lamps, power a TV and run fans thanks to a small generator. The absolute worst was being without AC. We could watch cable and take baths over at our daughter's house but laying in bed sweating is no fun.

As always it is nice and disappointing to see people at their best and worst. Tree removal people were out in droves after the storm. My client with the tree on her house was offered a removal service for $1000 per hour and it was going to be a 5 hour job. Fortunately, she was not born yesterday. Her husband is a police officer and hopefully this contractor will hear from the AG after this cools down. Be nice to see him pay some heavy fines and maybe even do a little time.

It was also nice to see people treating  each other with courtesy as they approached traffic lights that were not working. Dangerous intersections were being negotiated very carefully as people very kindly yielded to one another as they moved through the intersections. I checked on a neighbor who is a very capable widow. She assured me that she was fine. As I left I provided her with an ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper from a cooler on my back seat. She smiled and hugging me accepted the treat and wiped away a little tear. Just a little kindness goes a long way when people are stressed out and disadvantaged.