It's after 5 p.m. on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend - the official start of summer. Yes, you may now wear summer whites.

I want to write about how to display flags on Memorial Day, and why we should pause and reflect on those who have made "the ultimate sacrifice."

I want to write about The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation and their AED awareness initiative:

Want to help us save some lives? Raise awareness; submit your video today! - http://bit.ly/cE027R

I want to explain how the Coast Guard response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is structured, so people will understand that they really are doing everything they can to stop the spewing oil. 

Each of these are posts on their own, and long ones at that. A friend asked me a week ago when the last time was that I totally unplugged for 24 hours - no computer, no wireless connection, no smart phone, no Tweeting, no email...no electronic devices. I flew to Los Angeles last fall and had no wifi for 6 hours each way...and other than that? I could not and cannot remember.

I answered the head shaking and smirking by protesting: I work in emergency management - I have to be available! I have a 14-year-old - I have to know where he is and he might need me! I MIGHT MISS SOMETHING!!!

It's unlikely that I will totally unplug for 3 days, but in the spirit of summer and the holiday weekend, here are some thoughts. It's not as detailed as I would like, but here goes:

-I love the American flag, and I get teary at parades. If you have a flag pole, fly the flag at half staff on Monday until noon, in remembrance of our nation's military veterans, then raise it to the top.  If there's a parade in your town, bring the kids and watch for a bit. If you have a worn flag, treat yourself to a new one, and check with the Boy Scouts about properly disposing of the worn one.

-Enter the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation video contest and your child's school might win an AED for your school. Follow @YouCanSaveALife on Twitter. Learn about your risks of heart disease. http://bit.ly/cE027R

-The U.S Coast Guard is operating a Joint Information Center (JIC) under the Incident Command System (ICS.) You can follow the JIC  @Oil_Spill_2010  on Twitter. They have a web site and are updating it frequently. 

We are blessed to have a proud military history in the United States. We have people who want to save lives and increase awareness about what to do if a heart stops. We have Guardians who are working with about 20,000 people from a myriad of places at all levels of government and the private sector to clean up a huge mess.

I am blessed with a healthy family, clean water, a home in a beautiful community, friends I adore who are always there when I need them, a church I love, health insurance, work that I'm passionate about, books to read... 

What abundance of blessings can you share?

When I thought of Good Fortune Friday in lieu of Twitter's #FollowFriday, I had a million ideas about what I could write about. It turns out, as with most good intentions, it's harder than it looks. This week, it's a pretty easy choice. It is National EMS Week, and as it turns out, we needed to call 911 on Monday.

I wrote earlier this week about "Adventures with Nana Mary" (my Mom.) I was venting about the toll it takes sometimes to deal with an aging parent, and although all turned out well, I could have done without the drama.

Because Mom had not charged her car phone, a Good Samaritan stopped and let her use his. He had to leave her, and I was still a little unclear about exactly where she was. It took me 28 minutes to drive to her, but in the meantime, I called the local fire department. I called the business line because it certainly wasn't worthy of dialing 911. I gave them her approximate location, told them her name and age, and specified that she has some health issues and should probably have her blood pressure checked.

When I arrived, she had been visited by the ambulance, a command car, a police cruiser, and a police motorcycle. She was less than pleased with me for calling them, but she was impressed that the police cruiser had come by again to check on her a second time.

I often describe first responders as providing the ultimate in customer service. You call with a problem, day or night, and a live person answers the phone, usually by the second ring. 911 callers aren't especially their calmest or most focused when reporting an emergency, but within minutes, someone is on their way to help you. The dispatchers stay on the line until help gets to you, usually while handling more incoming calls.

Compare that with the last time you had to call the cable company. 

Not only does the dispatcher send help, those who arrive are highly-trained emergency response professionals. Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics received extensive training. And most of the time, the police officer or fire fighter who arrives at the scene is also either an EMT or Paramedic.

We see blue lights or a fire engine, and we pull over to let them pass (shame on you if you don't.) They are always there when we call, often in minutes, and the positive outcomes far outweigh the negative ones.

I heard this week that a fire department had not been able to replace damaged "turn out" gear. That's all of the specialized clothing, boots, helmets, etc. that fire fighters wear to stay safe, and can run $2,000 per set. They had lost 5 sets in an oil spill response, and they had never gotten the funds to replace them. One firefighter is wearing an old jacket with another guy's name on it - he retired a while ago.

We look at these first responders and think, "Well, the city/town/county pays for all their gear." True. But don't forget, that is us - the taxpayers - the ones who grumble at town meeting and complain about overrides. There is not enough money in the world to compensate highly-trained, professional first responders for their willingness to protect us, and we need to remember when budget and election time comes around.

Next time you have a chance, thank an Emergency Management Service professional. Remember that it is up to the us to fund the gear and training they need to keep us safe. They are always there when we need them, and this week, our own family had the "Good Fortune" to receive that wonderful care.

I though Mercury left retrograde last week, but apparently Nana Mary's car did not get the memo. Nana Mary is my mother. She's had a bunch of minor problems with her 1996 Neon the last couple of months, but this morning, the brakes let go. She was approaching a red light half way between her house and mine, and thanks to the grace of God and a million angels, she did not get hit, nor did she smash anyone or anything. 

I'm still a little unclear on all the details, but a very kind young man stopped and moved the car out of traffic. Mom's mobile phone was not charged, so he let her use his. I was able to determine was that she was at an intersection, no one was hurt, the guy with the phone had to leave, and she was fussed about calling AAA.

I knew the intersection, and I knew it would take me at least 30 minutes to get there. I called the non-emergency number of the Whitman, MA fire department and got the combined police/fire dispatcher. I explained where I thought she was, that I was concerned for her safety, that she walks with a cane, and that I was on my way.

Much to her great chagrin, they sent a cruiser, an ambulance, another vehicle and a motorcycle. The police officer moved her car to a better location in the parking lot and made sure she was safe and sound. He told her I had called and was on my way. One of them gave her the name of a local garage, and a phone number that turned out to connect directly to the patrol supervisor.

Once they determined she was safe, they left, but the cruiser stopped back by a little while later to check on her. 

It took me 28 minutes to get there. I called the Whitman PD to let them know I had arrived. I thanked them for taking care of her and for sending the cruiser back to check on her. The patrol supervisor was very nice and seemed surprised I was thanking him. I'm not sure if he was thinking, "Hey lady, it's what we do," or "Wow, thanks for saying "thanks." " 

We called AAA and the tow truck came in about 15 minutes. I had already called Sullivan Tire (@SullivanTire) to see where their nearest location was. Off we went, and now we are waiting for the "Here's what's wrong and this is when it will be fixed.)

I don't care how much the estimate is, because I trust Sullivan Tire to be fair and honest - and I knew them a long time before there was a Twitter. I will miss Pilates tomorrow so I can take Mom to her two doctor's appointments. I am now about 6 hours late on a deadline for an event on Wednesday. We stopped for lunch, which included bacon for both of us. Bacon makes everything better.

Now that we are all safe and sound, I can tell you that Nana Mary's adventures take a toll on me. She's had 2 bouts of cancer since 2002. We've had the "Kidney Stone Adventure of 2008" - 4 weeks at our house. We've had the "Broken Hip Adventure of 2009" - 2 weeks in hospital, 3 weeks in rehab, 5 weeks at our house. 

I have a younger brother who lives fairly close by. Let's just say he's about as helpful as a fish with a bicycle. The care and feeding and decision-making about Nana Mary falls to me, except she's still of sound mind and younger brother still feels entitled to an opinion. And, they are not always too nice about it. 

I am grateful she's still able to live in her own home and that she still drives. It irritates the crap out of me that she refuses to discuss any of her preferences if neither of these things can continue. The only reason she was able to return to her own home after the hip incident is that she is connected to Lifeline - if she falls and can't get up, I'm 75 miles away.

Now we are discussing the fact that a car charger for her cell phone might be a good idea. It'll probably be about $10, and it's another stitch in the safety net. The reaction would lead one to believe that's the first step of my devious plan to drop her off at a nursing home. It's not going well.

I'm going to go do some errands. I'm afraid I'm going to say something I shouldn't. That these adventures scare me. That they cause me to miss work. That they create stress in the family. That's she's not being smart about making good decisions.

I'd go buy the car phone charger, but as Nana Mary just pointed out to me, I left her phone in her car. 

I guess that will have to wait. In the meantime, I'll be out, looking for the "don't lose my temper" department in the grocery store. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or Not?

 

As many of you know, we have a 14 year old son. I refer to him mostly as the  "14 yro" on Twitter, because I'm not always comfortable with the idea of sharing his name with my "imaginary friends."

My introduction to social media was through him when he started a Facebook page and didn't want me looking over his shoulder to see what he was doing. I created my own page, and the kid fell for it - he "friended" me. (My Twitter thing is all @skydiver's fault, but that's a story for another day.) The 14 yro has a pretty eclectic collection of friends, including his Godmother, a number of my social media friends, giggly girls, cousins, and his mother and father. I feel like he's under pretty solid adult surveillance there - if he does something stupid, both he and I will hear about it in "real" time.

What I hadn't considered is that he's also under Facebook's surveillance, which means he has no privacy. I've been reading blog posts, Mashable, TechCrunch, The New York Times, and hundreds of Tweets about how Facebook has sold us all out and that the founder of Facebook doesn't care about privacy.

I don't use my Facebook account much. I may have updated my status two or three times since January. Mafia wars and Farmville don't appeal to me. Many of my friends cross-post content between Twitter and Facebook, so by the time I get around to looking at Facebook, I've already seen a lot of it. I use the FB Message part sometimes, but I could probably find other ways to communicate "privately" with those folks.

I'm thinking about deleting my Facebook page because it doesn't have much appeal to me and because at some level, they seem pretty arrogant about the concerns of their members. I've shown the 14 yro all the ways to fix his privacy settings, but I'm not sure they've worked. To be honest, I haven't done a thing with mine.

Here's the problem: Facebook is my 14 yro's only social media network. He spends some time there. Many of his eighth grade classmates are his friends there.  He plays Farmville, pretty successfully from what I can see. He "likes' a lot of things. Are the privacy settings available, complicated as they are, enough? Should be get him change his status to "protected?"  Should we delete the account, and be prepared to suffer the wrath of a teenager who would now be publicly embarrassed by his parents?

He's a great kid, but he suffers from "teenager selective hearing." He doesn't always listen to Mom and Dad. What are other parents of teenagers doing? Is this something that people entrenched in the social media "bubble" are obsessing about, while the rest of the world doesn't really care? 

Any advice? What are your thoughts? 

Thanks!

I had two Twitter conversations yesterday that have left me feeling...incomplete. One started as a result of answering a Tweet about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The other started as a DM (Direct Message) I sent to a friend about something I saw related to the Komen/KFC Pink Bucket Breast Cancer campaign. The DMs quickly went public, which is fine. It's something that deserves discussion.

I feel like I have unfinished business in each conversation, and Twitter's 140 character limitations are not going to help me now.

Someone remarked that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was "Obama's Katrina." Having been in the U.S. Coast Guard, and having just spent two evenings working in the Massachusetts State Emergency Operations Center this week on the #Aquapocalypse water main break, I got my back up about what goes on in Incident Command.

The Komen/KFC Pink Bucket Campaign bothers me for a couple of reasons: Komen recommends a low fat diet as part of breast cancer prevention. They could have at least connected the promotion to their grilled chicken product.

I don't know the guy who was commenting about the oil spill other than on Twitter. I let the conversation drop, because it seemed too hard to give a complete explanation of my views. 

I know two of the people I brought into the Pink Buckets conversation, and it wasn't going well, in my opinion. I got sidetracked by an eighth grade homework "crisis" in the offline world, so I signed off for the night.

I feel like I owe the oil spill guy a further explanation of what I think we learned during Hurricane Katrina that I see being applied in the Gulf oil spill. Should I call him? Track down his email address? He was checking into airports on Foursquare today, so I know he's traveling. 

The two friends who were at opposing ends of the Pink Bucket conversation will adore each other when they meet in real life. One is a breast cancer survivor and the other is a really smart business guy with a delightfully snarky sense of humor. 

I feel like I owe them a conference call to introduce them (getting us all together by tomorrow would involve an airplane) so they can "meet" and get some context and history. They may agree to disagree, but I know they will love each other.

That 140 characters is sometimes not enough is a blatant understatement. I've been antsy thinking about it today. I try to get back to people, and I try to be nice about it. I feel like I wasn't nice to the oil spill guy. I feel like In threw a couple of people together over something important without a proper introduction and bailed in the middle of the conversation,

Unfinished business is not comfortable. I don't like it when people leave me with loose ends. None of this is earth-shattering, but it's something I want to tie up. 

I get a little nervous posting #FollowFriday recommendations on Twitter - I'm always afraid I'm going to hurt someone's feelings by leaving them out. People have been creating #FF lists in blogs and posting links for a while, which is one smart way to handle it.

Something came up this week that is too long for 140 characters, but it got me thinking about how to share. I'm going to try "Good Fortune Friday." I hope to find one person or organization each week that is doing something good or that makes me remember to count my blessings. 

This week, my friend Carissa (@CarissaO on Twitter) and her family celebrated the 4th birthday of their very own "Wonder Girl." She was in quite a hurry to get here and arrived at 29 weeks. After a bit of a bumpy start (please read ironic understatement) Wonder Girl told me recently that she is "growing like a weed!" She's smart and funny and just perfect, thanks to her loving parents and a great group of medical professionals.

Carissa is spending the day before Mother's Day, Saturday, May 8th, walking in the March of Dimes March for Babies - see the link to her page here:    http://bit.ly/9ETjfo .

I am going to donate in honor of Carissa and her Wonder Girl. My Hubs just told me that he has to leave on Mother's Day for North Carolina for a week-long business trip, so I may just surprise Carissa at the finish line.

This is a perfect start for "Good Fortune Friday" - I found a person and an organization that I feel great about supporting and recommending, and it reminds me to count my blessings - our 6'2" 14 yro! I invite you to join me in donating to Carissa's effort or one closer to your heart and home. Or take a minute to count a blessing. Either way, thanks for being here to share my "Good Fortune Friday!"

 

Are you having computer or mechanical issues? Are things like cars and washing machines breaking down? Are you having trouble communicating? It's not just you, my friend. It's the whole planet. It's temporary for sure, but strange things happen when the planet Mercury is in retrograde (April 18-May 11.) It usually happens three times a year, but 2010 has a bonus 4th Mercury retrograde - yea us. According to Astrologycom.com (chosen randomly from 172,000 Google search results):

The only way to learn is to try something new. Every now and then, I have something to share that takes more than 140 characters and is not directly related to crisis management. I like to spread good news, but I've also been known to go off on a rant about something. I am a big fan of common sense. I like connecting people, making people laugh, and getting things done. I'm a serial procrastinator, so getting things done is challenging - feel free to give me a nudge if you see me veering off on a tangent. Or, come along on the tangent with me. Sometimes, the best adventures begin when you get to a fork in the road and a take it (Yogi Berra. I looked it up on "the Google.")

I thought I'd try something new today...