Author Archives: Kerch McConlogue

How long should a reaction take?

According to a CNN article on Tuesday, September 27,

Former FEMA director Michael Brown aggressively defended his role in responding to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday and put much of the blame for coordination failures on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

“My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional,” Brown told a special congressional panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe.

Here’s what I don’t get. How come he didn’t know until Saturday? I’m not saying that Louisiania was dysfunctional at all. But if Michael Brown was inclined to think they might be, how come it took five whole days to decide?

I understand that deciding is a problem for alot of people. But if you are in a position that requires you to react… like say an emergency management job… then I think maybe a mean time between action and reaction should be something less than five days.

Katrina was a big problem, requiring a big action. And I understand requiring more than five minutes to decide what to do. But waiting five days? That just seems excessive.

I wonder how long it takes Michael Brown to choose an entre from a two page single spaced menu?

Why is there no burn with this crashing?

Here’s a link to a site that has given me a great deal of mindless pleasure. Grab hold with your cursor and sling the figure into the bubbles. www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm

Links to New Orleans Times-Picayune Aug 31 thru Sept 3

Here are direct links to the pages I found posted by the New Orleans Times Picayune for the days since Hurricane Katrina.

The links which follow go directly to each page of the paper. The photographs are amazing. The editorials — usually found in the last couple of pages — send a very clear message to the rest of the country.

Wednesday, August 31

Thursday, September 1

Friday, September 2

Saturday, Septmeber 3

Sunday, September 4

New Orleans Times-Picayune Keeps publishing

I’m so impressed that the New Orleans Times -Picayune Newspaper got back to publishing so quickly.

Here’s the link to the first page of the pdf from Wednesday, August 31

www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/pdf/083105/a1.pdf

I can’t seem to find a way to access the 14 page pdf all at once. Maybe because it would take a long time for a lot of people to be able to download it an see it, so it’s just be uploaded one page at a time.

Anyway, you have to change the end of the address to.. a2, a3 etc. so you can see the whole edition.

And if you change the part before that to 090105/a1.pdf etc..
www.nola.com/hurricane/katrina/pdf/090105/a1.pdf
then you can step thru subsequent on line editions.

What an amazing story. What amazing pictures!

Being Barista. What needs to be done?

Iâ€™m learning to be a Barista! My sister has a very cool, very friendly coffee shop in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. The Stoudtburg Village Coffee Shop is only about two years old and itâ€™s growing day by day. Carol is taking her daughter from school in Georgia to school in Colorado. It seemed a shame to close up for two weeks in the middle of summer. So I figured, I could help out here.

Iâ€™ve helped out on busy weekends but mostly making sandwiches and keeping up with brewing the coffee. But now, Iâ€™ll be on my own for almost two weeks!

What I am hoping is that working in someone elseâ€™s business, doing things the way they think it should be done is going to teach me some things about what I think it the right way.

I really am a little nervous about it all. Will I make the crÃ¨me just right on the espressos? Will I remember my glasses so that I can read all the posted notes that explain exactly what goes into a BrainFreeze? Will I push the right buttons on the cash register?

But more important than that,

I want to practice being separate from my own worry about that.

I want to practice being separate from my motherâ€™s worry that itâ€™s a long drive across the country and maybe my sister shouldnâ€™t have gone.

I want to practice being separate from my worry that my sister might be right and maybe I will screw it all up and crash her business into total ruin in a mere 12 days.

And I want to focus on what needs to be done.

The shop needs to stay open â€“ to break stride of operating hours now would be a mistake.
People need to get what they order and it has to be a pleasant experience for them.

What needs to be doneâ€¦ is really nothing about me or my worries. But itâ€™s all about what is NOT me. It feels like a much calmer place.

And while I am sure â€œbaristaâ€ is not a calm place, I am looking forward to the idea of working at something Iâ€™m not used to. Besides, my sister is a barista, my daughter has been a barista.. .. before she was a barrister.. ok.. no, not really.. but a paralegalâ€¦ anyway. Now Iâ€™ll get my chance.