Katrina... and the waves...

How sad... how sad, indeed... last week, I was kinda joking, as we saw Hurricane Katrina approach Florida: "Katrina and the Waves!" Remember that 80's band? They were a one-hit wonder, that became popular with "Walking on Sunshine". How ironic...

Today, it's been a few days and I cannot believe my eyes, watching the total devastation in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It's completely unreal. Today, after the storm had passed through the area, a levee (muro) in New Orleans broke, starting to let water in from a lake toward the north of the city. A mandatory evacuation was ordered, and almost 80% of the city is now under water. It's worse than a Hollywood movie.

I thought I'd share this, that a Show Production student from school posted on our discussion boards:
"I Just lost a family member and their animals to Katrina... And my house back home, looks like it never existed... there isnt even shingles, splintered wood, let alone a concrete foundation... NOTHING remains... nothing... 20 feet of treeline blocked the gulf from my home... all those trees alongs with im guessing parts of neighbors and my home litter the street over 100 yards from where the tree and my home was.... my neighbors house is also gone, but their foundation and steps up to their house remain.."

Tags: weather

Status computadora y fotos

La compu sigue muerta. El domingo en la mannana HP diagnostico sabiamente por e-mail que el disco duro murio. Si no fuera porque Camila, mi cunnada, esta de visita (junto a mi cunnado -su hermano-, Ciro) no estaria escribiendo estas lineas. Por lo pronto, ya ordene el disco duro de reemplazo (casi $180!!) y espero que llegue en unos dos o tres dias. Lo unico que les puedo decir es que nunca dejen de hacer backup a su data. Es lo que me tiene tan tranquilo, a pesar de la perdida. Habiamos hecho una inversion en un disco duro externo, y hacia backup a diario.

Aprovecho para poner aqui una espectacular foto que les tomamos ayer, cuando visitamos Downtown Disney con ellos:
Si quieren ver mas fotos de ellos, Andre, el Papucho y este servidor, vayan al blog del Papucho.

Dia de Playa y computadora muerta

Hoy pasamos un dia de playa. Nos fuimos Andreina, el Papucho y yo, junto a Camila y Ciro (mis cunnados, quienes estan de visita por estos lares) para Daytona Beach. La pasamos genial. Nos quemamos un poco mas de la cuenta, pero que se le hace! :)

La noticia no tan buena es que mi computadora oficialmente pelo gajo. Parece ser algo causado por el disco duro, pero tenia varios dias apagandose de repente y mostrando errores que requeria de un Chk Disk. Esta mannana deshabilite un poco de programas del Start Up y la deje prendida, como de costumbre... cuando llegue esta noche, consegui un mensaje que decia "No OS Found. Please insert correct disk." o algo por el estilo. Mannana llamo a HP... :[]

3 years of posts

Well, it's been three years since my first post in this blog. SO MUCH has changed since then:
-Santiago came into our lives in late 2003.
-I changed jobs twice: first to another company in Phoenix, then (in mid-2003) to Full Sail in Winter Park, FL.
-We bought our home in Orlando, and moved in (June 2004).
-We lived through three hurricanes.
-Henkel got married.
-Andreina started working, after having completed her masters in Interior Design from ASU (November 2004)
-I met some great new people at work, went to Chicago for a Search Engine Conference, and we launched Propeller early in 2005.
-My dad died on January 16, of this year.
-I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2002 and I started using an insulin pump a little over a month ago.

It's unbelievable all the things that can happen in ONLY three years. Makes you wonder where you'll be in another three. I guess we'll have to wait and see. :)

Seven months after he left...

Tonight's an odd night. For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I feel sad.

Yesterday was a rainy day, and I remembered how much I enjoyed rain. I had sort of forgotten it for a while, but then while we lived in Arizona, where you feel like a bun in an oven most of of the year, a few drops of rain come in handy, and make you open your windows to soak in all the beauty of the wetness in the view.

Then we moved to Orlando, and here it rains every day. The "afternoon showers" are a daily thing, but once in a while they go away. And when they do, I miss them. Yesterday we had a rainy day, and I spent most of it with Santiago while Andreina went with my sister- and brother-in-law to Full Sail for a mindboggling tour of the facilities. And, as expected, their minds got boggled! They came back, and they were happy they went. I, for one, between a nap and a dirty diaper, watched Noggin with the baby and played with him around the place.

There was no real reason to be unhappy today. After all, last night I put a ton of stuff for sale on eBay that I had been meaning to sell forever... and I caught up with a ton of things too. But I guess it must have been the news of a good friend from work whom I learned had been hospitalized over the weekend. She hasn't been doing too good lately. I guess, in general, if our beginning of the year was a tough one, her 2005 hasn't stopped being tough. I guess I just hope her health can come back and be with her, so her happy spirit can be around us jumping and playing again.

And then tonight I was looking for a picture of the baby's former crib, to put it up for sale on eBay (more stuff to get rid of) and I found a picture of my dad, from the days he was in the hospital. And it hurt... it hurt me to see him again. I didn't cry, but it made me feel sad. And then now, I realize in a few minutes it will be the 16th of August. In a few moments seven months will have passed since his light went off, and he left us. We still miss him very much. Here is a picture I took of him in his last days. I had not had the courage to post it in here until today, and even now I hesitate... whatever... I guess I shouldn't hold on to it.


Listening to: "Pup Tent" by Luna (think Velvet Underground, a bunch of years after, and play on a sad night... it hardly gets any more appropriate).

One month with the pump

I've been on the pump for a full month now. So far, I only have good things to say about it.

My current average (thanks largely to a "bad" blood glucose day last week) is sitting at 139 with a Standard Deviation of 44. As a general reference, what a "good" blood glucose reading looks like is in the range of 100, so I am still a bit above "good", but this is WAY better than where I was at prior to the pump (close to 160 average). Most of my "highs" have been caused by either underestimating the carbs the meals outside that I've had or due to lack of enough exercise (I've not been good at it lately, I admit).

As of today, 65% of my readings (158 in total) are "in range", meaning between 70 and 140. I put the words "in range" between quotes, because technically the range should not exceed 120 (in my opinion), but that is what the reports spit out. :P

It is very convenient and I am gradually getting more and more used to it. I guess the only "inconvenience" it carries along is that it is causing me to have to shave all my belly hair little by little, to eliminate the need to pull on those hairs when I change the infusion set every three or so days. :)

This is a "nice looking" (which I didn't take) that shows pretty much how the infusion set looks like when it's in place.

In The Line of Fire, Jerry Weissman

Balanced and extremely useful account of how to succeed at the art of fielding tough questions

When I first approached this book by Jerry Weissman, I wasn't completely sure what to expect. After all, I wondered, how much can you write about handling tough questions. The answer is: "a lot!" And Weissman, with his 20+ years of experience consulting about this, sure knows every bit of it, as acknowledged by a host of prominent leaders in the book jacket and in this product page.

In a balanced fashion, Weissman takes the reader through a thorough methodology that can be easily replicated (not without practice, of course), by quoting legendary moments, mostly from debates, where the speaker did well and also where he didn't do as well. He ties in his methodology to elements taken from the martial arts, almost to the point of turning the whole framework into an art itself.

For those concerned about political biases here, fear not. The author grants just as much credit to Reagan as he does to Clinton, as masters of this art. He is also able to praise Gore and G.W. Bush over their improved their debating skills after also pointing out their earlier shortcomings. He "topspins" an already great book, by dedicating the last chapter entirely to a leader he considers a role model in terms of his ability to handle tough questions: General Schwarzkopf, the commander-in-chief of Desert Storm in 1991.

Without a doubt, this is the best business techniques book I have had a chance to read since "Death by Meeting" by Patrick M. Lencioni. Get it.

Se fue Ibrahim...

El cantante querido de Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, murio de enfisema pulmonar. Tras de si deja un legado de musica rica para seguir inspirando generaciones de musicos, cantantes y bailadores.

Paz a sus restos.

The Autumn Project: Fable

Enjoy this streaming player of the music from the album by The Autum Project. Reminds me a lot of Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai. All in all, good stuff!

THX for the information, Herb!

iPod Flea

Very funny video. Takes a bit to load, but it's worth the wait. :)