Pre Hurricane Rita Update
It is currently Thursday, the 22nd of September 2005. 3:50pm Texas time.
Here it is in a nutshell...
Last Sunday I left for Vail Colorodo to meet with some co-workers for a conference that lasted all week. I knew there was a tropical storm out there, but had no idea where it was going to go.
Starting Monday I was keeping an eye on it, and as it passed through the straights between Cuba and the Florida Keys I had a sinking feeling it was going to head toward Houston. (as I write this it's 400 miles from Galveston, aiming toward Winnie, TX.)
By Wednesday morning I knew I was either going to have to walk people that were here shut down my network at the hotel, or get here and do it myself. I kept in touch with family that was getting ready to leave. As a group we were throwing ideas around as how to get the hotel hurricane proof.
Thursday morning when we got to the conference we got word from corporate that the best way was for me and Ira and Richard (staff from the Houston property) to get the first flight we can and head back.
I know some of you are thinking that's crazy but this building is very sturdy...
Soooo... As you can see from the photo's we all ran to our hotel, packed up, worked on calls to continental airlines and watched the news for a few hours.
Finaly a call came from the conference sponser that they got through for us and got us flights out first thing Thursday morning. (today)
At that news we grabbed our bags, packed up the rented SUV and started the 2 hour drive down the mountains into Denver.
I admit, i made that 2 hour drive in less than an hour and a half... and NO ONE complained about my speeding this time, ha ha.
We pulled into the Magnolia Hotel Denver with bursting bladders and checked into our room. Not 5 minutes later we were at Harry's Bar right off the lobby for a few libations. Being has I was driving I had some catching up to do. I had been up since 4am that morning so the couple I had hit me hard. We all split up at about 10pm to head off to bed, seeing as we had 3am wake up calls.
Lo and behold, just as I'm about to hit the hay, I get a call that the Houston Night Auditor didn't show up for his shift so a group of us stayed up till 2:30 am doing the audit FROM Denver via remote desktop.
I went upstairs and tried to get a quick nap but couldn't fall asleep due to the anxiety.
I pretty much made a pot of coffee and showered and packed up again.
You could tell there was a somber feeling among us guys, as a week long working vacation had turned into a dangerous trip back home to Texas.
Alex from Dallas and John from Houston's Central Reservations office were on thier way to Dallas to await equipment that was being driven up from Houston in order to set up a temporary office durring the ordeal.
Ira, Richard and I were on our way to Hurricane central to help batten down the hatches in the Houston Magnolia Hotel.
Basicly the reason I'm here is that there is NO way to save the data on the server from possible flooding as the server is down in the basement. I'm going to be keeping it on until the storm STARTS hitting the coast. I dont want to wait till the last minute and have power cut off or have water break through the basement or whatever Kill the server and network.
Once i bring everything down (with lots of planning) I'll be physicly moving the server, Network storage server and tape backups upstairs to a secure room on the 4th floor.
I've met with all the department heads informaly to give them an idea of what I'll be doing tomorrow. We have a dinner in the General Manager's suite tonight (Texas Brisket!) and I've told some of the guys I'd hang out and have drinks with them tonight.
After about 10 hours sleep tonight I'm going to start rallying the troops to prepair going manual (meaning no computers) tomorrow night. Of course I'll be helping put up plywood, washing sheets, carrying luggage, whatever it takes.
When the time comes, down goes the server and network and I kick into gear moving our equipment upstairs.
After that, the idea is to get our guests into the ballroom and help keep them safe.
I'm guessing this is going to be about a 10 hour ordeal once the heavier parts of the storm reach our area. Then again, i'm going on a few cat naps since 4am yesterday (Colorodo time), so what do I know?
I'm going to go relax for a bit and watch the news...
More updates and pics as time goes on...
Just know as of now the Hurricane is going east of us, so the worst part is away from me.
Love you all,
-Willy
Here it is in a nutshell...
Last Sunday I left for Vail Colorodo to meet with some co-workers for a conference that lasted all week. I knew there was a tropical storm out there, but had no idea where it was going to go.
Starting Monday I was keeping an eye on it, and as it passed through the straights between Cuba and the Florida Keys I had a sinking feeling it was going to head toward Houston. (as I write this it's 400 miles from Galveston, aiming toward Winnie, TX.)
By Wednesday morning I knew I was either going to have to walk people that were here shut down my network at the hotel, or get here and do it myself. I kept in touch with family that was getting ready to leave. As a group we were throwing ideas around as how to get the hotel hurricane proof.
Thursday morning when we got to the conference we got word from corporate that the best way was for me and Ira and Richard (staff from the Houston property) to get the first flight we can and head back.
I know some of you are thinking that's crazy but this building is very sturdy...
Soooo... As you can see from the photo's we all ran to our hotel, packed up, worked on calls to continental airlines and watched the news for a few hours.
Finaly a call came from the conference sponser that they got through for us and got us flights out first thing Thursday morning. (today)
At that news we grabbed our bags, packed up the rented SUV and started the 2 hour drive down the mountains into Denver.
I admit, i made that 2 hour drive in less than an hour and a half... and NO ONE complained about my speeding this time, ha ha.
We pulled into the Magnolia Hotel Denver with bursting bladders and checked into our room. Not 5 minutes later we were at Harry's Bar right off the lobby for a few libations. Being has I was driving I had some catching up to do. I had been up since 4am that morning so the couple I had hit me hard. We all split up at about 10pm to head off to bed, seeing as we had 3am wake up calls.
Lo and behold, just as I'm about to hit the hay, I get a call that the Houston Night Auditor didn't show up for his shift so a group of us stayed up till 2:30 am doing the audit FROM Denver via remote desktop.
I went upstairs and tried to get a quick nap but couldn't fall asleep due to the anxiety.
I pretty much made a pot of coffee and showered and packed up again.
You could tell there was a somber feeling among us guys, as a week long working vacation had turned into a dangerous trip back home to Texas.
Alex from Dallas and John from Houston's Central Reservations office were on thier way to Dallas to await equipment that was being driven up from Houston in order to set up a temporary office durring the ordeal.
Ira, Richard and I were on our way to Hurricane central to help batten down the hatches in the Houston Magnolia Hotel.
Basicly the reason I'm here is that there is NO way to save the data on the server from possible flooding as the server is down in the basement. I'm going to be keeping it on until the storm STARTS hitting the coast. I dont want to wait till the last minute and have power cut off or have water break through the basement or whatever Kill the server and network.
Once i bring everything down (with lots of planning) I'll be physicly moving the server, Network storage server and tape backups upstairs to a secure room on the 4th floor.
I've met with all the department heads informaly to give them an idea of what I'll be doing tomorrow. We have a dinner in the General Manager's suite tonight (Texas Brisket!) and I've told some of the guys I'd hang out and have drinks with them tonight.
After about 10 hours sleep tonight I'm going to start rallying the troops to prepair going manual (meaning no computers) tomorrow night. Of course I'll be helping put up plywood, washing sheets, carrying luggage, whatever it takes.
When the time comes, down goes the server and network and I kick into gear moving our equipment upstairs.
After that, the idea is to get our guests into the ballroom and help keep them safe.
I'm guessing this is going to be about a 10 hour ordeal once the heavier parts of the storm reach our area. Then again, i'm going on a few cat naps since 4am yesterday (Colorodo time), so what do I know?
I'm going to go relax for a bit and watch the news...
More updates and pics as time goes on...
Just know as of now the Hurricane is going east of us, so the worst part is away from me.
Love you all,
-Willy
posted by Blind Willy at 3:47 PM
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