Here’s the schedule:

8/15-8/21 Washington DC and all related goings-on (I’ll try to blog, but no promises)
8/22 Cable people come to turn the internet on in my apartment (2 years without computer-based internet…  Daisy is a mighty fine substitute)
8/23 Tropic Thunder with Spawn and Princess
8/25 Back to mundane work
8/26 American Teen with Princess
8/29 Mom’s birthday
8/31 my birthday and party
9/1 Labor day and little brother’s birthday

Meanwhile, people are trying to get me to make plans for October!  And February!  And April!  Oh hells no.  I’m just trying to get through the month of August right now.  I can’t even think about trying to get out to Boston to visit Girl and see The Dark Knight in IMAX.  I can’t even think about Spawn’s birthday (9/24) and what I’m going to get him…  the bar is really high right now.

And I just keep thinking about how someday…  somewhen…  I’ll be able to sleep.  Or even just to rest.  Yeah, I’m looking forward to THAT day.

I think, in the past couple of nights, I’ve totaled some 10-12 hours of sleep.

I overslept this morning and wound up RUNNING to the bus stop, shouting "Wait!  Wait for me!" and barely making the  bus.  I found out that my regular driver in on vacation, so we have the crappy driver who is rude, almost always running late and insists on certain rules that don’t actually exist outside of his head.  Of course, he couldn’t be on shift during the week I’m gone, it has to be the week where I have so much other stuff to do that this just makes it all that much more annoying.

I’m coming to realize that no matter what I’ve got planned, if I’m going out of town, there’s always a trial that I have to go through before I leave.  At least I do get to leave…  and it makes being away from my regular routine that much more pleasant.

But I still have a ton of things I *have* to do, a bunch of things I’d like to do before I go and very little time to do it all…  I also still need to find a way to fit sleep into the equation.  I’m not really sure how any of that is going to happen, but I’ll do the best I can…

Just looking at that list makes me tired.

How did you do?

You know, after coming back from Falcon Ridge, I read a number of accounts of the major storm we weathered on Sunday.  It wasn’t until days later that it was labeled a "mini-tornado" (mini because there was no touchdown of a funnel).  I honestly believe that not knowing what was happening and not having that "Oh my gods, it’s a TORNADO" thought looming over us was a big part of what kept people from panicking.

As I stated before, there were no major injuries.  Some people lost some things, but considering the number of people there, it really wasn’t much.  In fact, people stayed really together and focused while it was going on.  Which is not to say that things didn’t get pretty hairy out there for some people, but sometimes you have to put your fears on hold and come back to them when the situation is already resolved.

People keep talking about what "should have" been done, or what "should be" done in the future.  Things like sirens that will alert people to emergency situations or larger security patrols.  The more I think about it, the worse an idea it seems to me.  Again, I think that part of the reason that people didn’t panic was because we didn’t know we should be.  We didn’t know what was going on.  We didn’t have time to think about what we should do.

Some people immediately drove offsite, which isn’t the smartest thing to do in that weather.  Some people wouldn’t or couldn’t get to shelter, needing to prevent their gear from causing damage to other people/things, to find members of their party who were lost or to help "save the world".  Sirens blaring in that situation wouldn’t help anyone at all.  All it would do is cause people to freak out and no longer be calm while still not offering any advice on what to actually do.

To me, with the exception of emergency vehicles sirens sound like:  Panic!  Panic!  Panic!  Few, if any, of them actually offer viable information that can be used.  In fact, if I’m in my house (for example) and I hear a siren blaring, I am most likely going to STEP OUTSIDE MY APARTMENT to find out what’s going on.  I’m pretty sure that the sirens indicate that people should behave in exactly the opposite way to that, but since the noises have never been explained to me (and still occur from time to time), I don’t know what the appropriate response really is.

But if I’m IN an emergency situation, a crisis situation, I know what to do.  Not to be able to plan ahead, but I’m able to assess the situation and fill whatever needs present themselves.  Sirens will distract me, make me wonder what the hell is going on and cause me to panic, at least a little bit.

So what do you think?  Have you been in a crisis situation?  How did you handle it?  How do you react to sirens or other indicators of emergencies?  Do you think that people are more or less likely to handle a crisis well without actually knowing what’s going on?

I’ve tapped my sources and asked around for a place to start.  Give me a link to a basics guide, I’ve asked, and no one can seem to do this.  They want to help and show willing, but when it comes to actual documentation or sources, it’s all…  "Well, what exactly do they want you to do?"

The problem is that what they want is "In your free time, start learning Unix."

It’s like to make me cry.  I don’t understand it and I have no idea where to go to get an explanation other than "want me to stand there and tell you what to do?"  Well, yeah, I do.  If it will help.  And to top it all off, I left my "For Dummies" book at home.

I can’t remember feeling more stupid.

I am not Unix.  At all.