Hurricane Charley

Wow! Now that was a wild storm! I've been meaning to write something here for awhile, but I've been really busy since the storm hit in August. One storm after another.. It was grueling, but today I'm definitely better prepared for the next storm. This hiatus from this blog has given me time to sort out everything that happened August 13th and since.

Hurricane Charley

August 13th, 2004 (Port Charlotte, Florida) - My wife and I didn't prepare for this storm. I managed to scrounge up the last of the duct tape and masked our rear sliding glass door. Everyone expected this storm to make land near Tampa, but it didn't happen that way. When I heard the newscaster say the eye veered east and headed for N. Fort Myers, I knew it would more likely make land in Charlotte County.

I was entertaining thoughts about blogging the Hurricane while collecting video of the storm, but I also considered my wife & 2yo daughter. I compromised and blogged a few briefs as the storm approached, but I knew it would end when we lost power.
My parents were also concerned about the storm surge and wanted us to evacute to their home 7 miles away on higher ground. Our home resides betweem the Peace & Myakka rivers and is surrounded by canals. My parent's live in a heavily wooded area of town and I didn't like the idea of trees falling around us, so we decided to stay put.

As the storm approached, I sent my wife and daughter to our safe room (the bathroom). My wife prepared it ahead of time and it was well padded with no windows and no exterior walls. I decided to wait out the storm in the living room and prepare for trouble. It didn't take long for trouble to find me. The front door was banging as the storm approached. The howling behind that door was wicked with the sounds large trees cracking in half and moving down the street. I'd mumble "that didn't sound good" to the worst offending noises.

Now, after seeing the storm track map it's obvious our home was being battered by the eye wall the whole time. As Charley moved up the Peace River toward Arcadia the winds change direction and started hitting the back of the house. I moved to the kitchen to check on the sliding glass doors. It was the waskest spot and I didn't like what I was seeing. The glass bowed to the wind and I was nervous it would explode. So, I did the most stupid thing in the universe and held the door. Yes, I've heard the horror stories.. I got lucky and don't recommend it unless you have a death wish.
I kept a close look out for flying debris and was prepared to clear out. Opening the door did ease the pressure during the heaviest gusts and it was scary.

Once the storm passed, the electric was out and we knew the running water would be contaminated. We still had phone service and I placed a call to my parents. The storm was still slamming them and their roof was leaking badly. My 87yo grandmother had just cleared out of her bedroom before the ceiling collapsed destroying two rooms. I inspected our home and was pleased we only lost our lania screens and some facia & soffets. Our yard was littered in debris with shingles from our neighbor's roofs, branches and assorted crap. It filled many many cans of garbage which sat roadside until Thanksgiving.

After the storm, my parents needed me to take pictures of their damage for insurance. What normally is a 15 minute drive turned into an obstacle course. The entire town was ripped to shreds. Everywhere you could see was littered with trees, branches, powerlines, traffic signals, and assorted garbage. Many of the roads were impassable and hunted for alternate routes. People were just emerging from their homes and they were dazed by the destruction. Trailers flipped over, trees toppled on roofs & cars. I had to park at the end of the street and walk in to my parent's property. Dozens of oaks trees had given in to the wind and blocked in the homes. My father & brother were already out clearing the path with a chainsaw. Two giant oaks gave up their canopes and fell on the driveway. Luckily, my dad had is '89 Camaro Convertible in the shop for restoration. It would have been flattened. They moved the other car in the garage and parked the van snug against the house. Again.. very lucky when the branches missed it by inches! Here are pictures taken immediately after the storm. My parent's home suffered $70,000 in damages. My home is still awaiting repairs.

That evening we fell asleep as soon as it went dark. The next morning I knew we'd have no power or water for days. The baby wouldn't be able to handle the heat and stress, so we moved in with my wife's grandmother in North Port. Even though it's only a 15 minute drive awsy, North Port was not significantly damaged by the storm.
I remarked to my wife how even the cheap political campaign signage still upright & intact compared to Charlotte County where I witnessed electric poles snapped in two like toothpicks. After unpacking, we decided to return to Port Charlotte with supplies and a hot meal for my parents when our car engine started to smoke & sieze.
My wife wondered what was making the horrible noise only for me to tell her it was our car. Ugh! Thankfully, my wife's mother let us borrow her car for the week and we rented her a econo car to drive until we found a replacement.

Electric and water were restored a week later. We are glad to be home and we'll never forget the wrath of Charley on Friday the 13th.

Riding The Storm Out

Three days ago, I downloaded a new freeware weather utility called WeatherPulse by Tropic Design and am really impressed! If your hobby or livelyhood depends on the weather, this program is for you. I live in SW Florida and didn't even consider a major hurricane would be bearing down on me when I decided to give WeatherPulse a try, but I'm glad I did!

Once you enter you location or zip code.. the program is feature-laden with current weather conditions, 10-day forecast, hourly updated forecasts, detailed forecasts, satellite images mapping, streaming video feeds courtesy of AccuWeather, and a weather alert system to warn you if danger approaches. Another nice feature is the ability to add other forecast feeds you may rely on.

Well, I just checked Charly's position and I think I have a few hour window to pick up any loose debris and prepare for the storm.

Give WeatherPulse a try! The price sure is right!

AIM Exploit!

A critical security flaw has been discovered in AOL's Windows-based Instant Messenger client by two security protection firms. Internet Security Systems and European-based Secunia are warning AIM users that their systems can be loaded with malicious code if they're enticed to specially-crafted Web sites.

The problem is with AIM's "Away" function, which displays a user's current online status to other contacts. The vulnerability is caused due to a boundary error within the handling of "Away" messages and can be exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow when supplied an overly long "Away" message (approx. 1024 bytes). A malicious website can than exploit this glitch via the "aim:" URI handler by passing an overly long argument to the "goaway?message" parameter.

Engineers believe the most likely form of attack would be of an embedded link in an instant message leading users to a hacker's website.

AIM v5.5 is vulnerable and earlier editions are suspect. Though AOL is planning to release a new beta version to fix the problem soon.

Remember, this type of hack attack relies on social engineering. Until this is fixed be very cautious chatting with strangers with links.

Not Too Swift dem Vets

Typically, this blog is technology based.. however, I'd like to speak about something that occurred this weekend that really bothered me. I like watching the news and was utterly disgusted over two events.. the X-Box killings in Deltona, FL and a group of Vietnam vets called, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Also known as "Swiftvets".. this group has written a book, created a website, and is promoting it all over the news talk shows for the sole purpose of slandering John Kerry's service record in Vietnam.

It's not like these guys ever served alongside John Kerry. Instead, they have re-created history without any direct observation of events and have packaged it with the sole intent of discrediting Kerry's service and re-electing Bush. Bush's political allies used this same tactic successfully against Sen. John McCain in the 2000 primaries. As a matter of fact.. the people who brought us those lies are the same liars who are trying to sell us this shit. From where I sit.. Bush and his pals all think we're stupid. These "Swift" vets are simply bitter, old men with an agenda and willing to lie to see it through.

Thanks Swiftvets! This year, I'm voting Kerry-Edwards and I'm encouraging everyone I know to do the same.

Microsoft Helps Build Relationships

Microsoft is finally preparing to distribute the long-awaited XP Service Pack 2. This release should finally patch some of the embarrassingly big glaring holes in their software. It really is amazing it has taken them this long to get a fix out. Now I only wonder how many people will patch their systems.

Even though the process of updating the XP syatem is a no-brainer, there are many people who just won't do it. My father has worked with computers for 20 years and he still freaks out when something pop-up's mysteriously without warning. Even if he knows it's a Microsoft warning, he's afraid he'll screw up his computer. I could explain it til I'm blue in the face, but it's just easier to install the patches for him. I have plenty of clients with the same mindset. Considering.. Service Pack 2 XP Home Edition will be a 70mb download and XP Professional will be about 92mb a broadband connection is preferred.

Well, it's time to call Dad and exchange a bbq dinner for tech work this weekend.

No Fly By Night

Last Friday, the wife and I attended the Rush concert at the newly-built Ford Amphitheater located on the Florida State Fairgrounds. (see setlist) I've attended concerts at the other area venues, however the unobstructed views and great acoustics make this the BEST PLACE in Tampa to see a concert!

I promised the wife before we were married that I'd take her to see Rush. It's her favorite band and she was a little jealous that I've seen them 5x's previously. I couldn't shake the feeling I was re-living my past. Based on the average age of the audience and the band.. I'm sure it was a shared experience.

All the leftover energy inspired me to catalog and rip my CD collection. It had been a while since I peeked into my mp3 folder and gazed over my catalog. Many of the songs where downloaded during the Napster heyday and of very dubious quality not to mention legitamacy. I downloaded the latest trial versions of Nero and MusicMatch Jukebox and wasn't thrilled with their limitations. So, I ended up using my old, reliable CoolEdit Pro v2.0 and it performed like a champ. It whipped out mp3 tracks with ease, grace and speed. Much like the band I saw Friday night.

Trash Time

This week I've had my hands full cleaning up my home computer. If you're like me there are things I didn't even know I still had. My first 286 computer had a whopping 40 meg hard drive. I recall a family friend tell me "That's all you'll ever need!". He admitted sometime later that he didn't know what the hell he was talking about.

Back then, I knew every filename almost intimately. It's not like that anymore. Instead, my drive is chuck full 'o crap. From websites I created 8 years ago to useless downloads I long forgotten.
Not to mention, the deleted programs that failed to completely removal themselves, the temp file folder that attacked back and other assorted sundries. It's time to clean it all! Does anyone know a good use for 5-1/4 floppies? ugh!