TheCapeBlog

Check out the plummeting barometric pressure and the wind speeds measured at Buzzards Bay: http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/buoy/BUZM3.html.
Evidently they haven’t closed the bridges, which is somewhat of a surprise.
Per NStar, 33,000 customers were without power at 5:30. By 6 p.m., most of Falmouth was without power, including huge chunks of Woods Hole, and parts of Yarmouthport, Dennis, Bourne, Harwich, Brewster, Marstons Mills, Centerville, Sandwich, and Wellfleet.
5 1/2 hours to go.
The kids called a little while ago, they’re scared, but fascinated.
A tree fell outside Emmeline’s window, but didn’t cause any damage (we’ll see tomorrow what happened to the fence). I’m not entirely surprised, was worried about that one because it’s on the North side of the house. If anything, I’m grateful that it’s down.
James is not pleased, a tree fell in the back yard, near the swing set.
I’m just glad that I had so many trees taken out a couple of years ago.

This storm is a monster – 953 MB, about the same as the “Perfect Storm”. NOAA now considers it a Category One hurricane:
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION AND TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED IN
THIS REGION. THIS STORM SHOULD BE TREATED AS A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE.
THE BRUNT OF THE DAMAGING NORTH WINDS WILL OCCUR THROUGH 10 PM WITH
SUSTAINED WINDS OF 40 TO 55 MPH AND PEAK GUSTS BETWEEN 70 AND 85
MPH. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR OVER THE OUTER CAPE AND
NANTUCKET.
So far, we’ve lost two trees at 11 Edgewater and one at 20 Dixon.

We were lucky, hurricane Noel is passing 75 miles to our East, but we are getting some backlash, expected to continue for another 9 hours or so.
James’s school is having their sixth annual crafters fair, which I’m happy to have attended this morning before the weather got too crazy.
I wanted to drop by the KofC today for a Wampanoag cultural event, but between the slick roads, the leaves and especially the high winds, opted to stay put.
You have to feel sorry for anyone who planned an event for today.
From NOAA:
A HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EDT TONIGHT.
DAMAGING NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND
EARLY EVENING. THE PERIOD OF STRONGEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO
OCCUR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING BETWEEN 3 AND 10 PM.
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION AND TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED
IN THIS REGION!
SUSTAINED WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE INTO THE 40 TO 50 MPH
RANGE BY THIS AFTERNOON…WITH PEAK GUSTS BETWEEN 65 AND 85 MPH
POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WINDS THIS STRONG ARE
CERTAINLY CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AND WIDESPREAD
TREE DAMAGE. WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES ARE ALSO EXPECTED.
IN ADDITION…PEOPLE IN MOBILE HOMES ARE URGED TO SEEK SHELTER.
MOBILE HOMES ARE NOT SAFE WITH THESE EXPECTED WIND SPEEDS. THE
DAMAGING WINDS WILL DIMINISH BY LATE EVENING AS THE STORM PULLS
AWAY.

There’s a High Wind Watch in effect from 6 am to midnight tomorrow and possibly torrential rains as well, side effects of Hurricane Noel (as in Nole, not No-Elle).
“Power outages are likely”. Well, of course.

The famous chupacabra has turned out to be a coyote, albeit a hairless one.

A lesson for those corporate moguls who are slavering at the mouth to offshore their software development work: the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games’ online ticketing system crashed this week shortly after tickets went on sale.
So, on top of exporting dangerous toys and poison in toothpaste, the folks in China can’t seem to write a high-volume e-commerce website.
Maybe they should have farmed out the job to web developers in the US.

Had a golf lesson in the morning, did a little housework and laundry, paid bills, prepped a demo for today, drove Peter (who landed in Iceland this morning) to the Logan bus, plugged in the lights at P&B’s, then walked the grandkids around their neighborhood for trick-or-treating.
It was a mild, clear night, ideal to be out.
The kids live in a very family-friendly area, and we covered about five blocks on foot, including one “haunted” yard, with a friend of Bonnie and Peter’s and her son.
After unloading their first round of treasure, the boys hopped in the back of the truck and we finished canvassing the neighborhood. The high point was a house with a miniature phosphorescent village and train track in their garage, and a return trip to the haunted yard. We wrapped up a little after 8 pm.
The kids had a great time, and, having left a big box of SmartFood packets on the doorstep, I was very happy to see that my place hadn’t been trashed.

Workplace PTSD has been studied from several different angles, including causes of and reactions to physical violence; the impact of stress on sick leave and turnover; and conflict resolution techniques that go beyond mere disciplinary action.
I’ve been surprised to discover that there is also a literature on the causes and effects of bullying, in the workplace and in the schools.
The Andrea Adams Trust has identified the following characteristics of a workplace bully:
* unwarranted, humiliating, offensive behaviour towards an individual or groups of employees
* persistently negative malicious attacks on personal or professional performance which are typically unpredictable, unfair, irrational and often unseen
* an abuse of power or position that can cause such anxiety that people gradually lose all belief in themselves, suffering physical ill health and mental distress as a direct result
* the use of position or power to coerce others by fear or persecution, or to oppress them by force or threat.

Continue reading Bullying and PTSD in the Workplace

I’ve reached my limit with the vain and the pretentious.
Earlier today, I had a phone conversation with a youngish-sounding gentleman who was, to say the least, self-effacing and low-key.
He invited me to meet with him next week; I thanked him for the courtesy and we set a day and time.
Little did I realize that he’s the CEO of his company and has written articles for MSDN and other industry magazines which can be readily characterized as influential.
How very nice to interact with someone who has absolutely nothing left to prove.

I liked The Godfather Part III very much and had the great privilege of meeting Francis Ford Coppola immediately after the film’s release.
For all its supposed faults, III gave us one of the best lines from any movie, ever: “Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in.”
And on the subject of III, I thought Sophia Coppola, who was eviscerated by the critics*, was a much better actor than Talia Shire.
So, there.
*Ms. Coppola was vindicated several years later when her film “Lost in Translation” won an Academy award for best original screenplay and a Golden Globe for Best Picture, her redemption (III’s principle theme) thus proving that life, indeed, does imitate art.