September 30, 2004
Morning Musings from the Edge
The affect of the sea is a very strange thing. Up before sunrise? Who me? The night owl supreme?
Had I slept another hour, I would have missed the full moon over the water in dark sky at five a.m. but bathed in pink and golden tones by just after six.
Pelicans flying in formation under the moon while the first light of day paints the sky is truly a magical site to behold.
I found it strange to turn my face back toward the east and see the cranes (of the mechanical, non-feathered sort) moving into position over the ever marching wall of high rises with which we humans try to block the breezes and views of the shores from the rest of the world. We really are like cockroaches in the way we continue to multiply and infest the planet.
Also, the thought of the massive devastation just a few miles down the coast has almost an unreal ring from where I have been standing this morning. Were the roads between here and there open and passable, an hour's drive west on the coast road would change the realities of the day completely.
God's speed in recovery to all of you in the area just to my west. My eye has been cast toward you more than once since I arrived. I know I am not welcome there at this moment when, by necessity, you must close your ranks and heal your lives. I wish you all the best from down the road as I would be a burden, not an asset to you at this time. My heart is with you.
No photos this morning as I just sent the camera off with *himself* on a deep sea fishing. He loves boats and fishing, but neither is my cup of tea. I like the expanse of the beach and sand between my toes. Bouncing and confining boats of any size, shape or description have never held much fascination for me. What I love is the feeling of standing on the edge of the world with my back to the walls we have built and staring idly across the endless sea. I can understand how people of ancient times believed the world was flat and that if you went far enough, you could fall off the edge.
It certainly feels that way this morning while watching the sunrise from the edge of the world.
Farron
[the temporarily AWOL _^..^_ slave ]
September 21, 2004
Lots of West Beach Footage! ~ Gulf Shores
WWL-TV out of New Orleans has posted a long version of the video flyover from last Thursday, September 16th. If you are still searching to see if a building is standing, many seem to be finding their special spots in the world on this footage:
It is about thirty minutes long and I am fairly certain you will need broadband to grab and play it.
The real estate agents are starting to post more photos as well. I am not sure the shots on the Meyer site from West Beach are all properties they manage. I know I saw a Kaiser sign smushed in front of at least one of the houses.
There are a large number of photos there. You can go through small, thumbnails one by one on each page and click to enlarge any that might be of interest, or click on the "slideshow" link to roll through them all one by one. They appear to be updating and adding as they are able to access properties for at least a glimpse.
Best wishes and good luck to anyone seeking information on their home or a dearly loved vacation spot.
Farron
[and beach indifferent _^..^_ ]
September 20, 2004
Building to a Higher Standard
Maybe the real title of this post should be "How to Sneak a Web Standards Plug Into My Hurricane Ivan Obsession"?
I have been watching for a certain little house in Gulf Shores to post results of how it weathered the storm. Some of you may remember that, about two years ago I was dancing around with glee at the owner's use of MiracleGro and Rice Krispies in floor treatments, and a wonderful mosaic shower. All sorts of things. This lady should really write, "A Million Uses for MiracleGro" along the lines of published lists of all the ways you can use duct tape or baking soda. I had a blast reading that part.
But what was, really interesting to Tony and to me was how carefully they were paying attention to building the house to a standard that would withstand a major storm. From the pictures and comments she is starting to post, it appears all that hard work and attention to detail paid off:
Moral of the story as related to web design? Make it pretty, make it fun, but when you get lazy (like I often do) and want to fudge on serious structural details, think about some of the other buildings you have seen in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and other points on the NW Gulf Coast that are all over the news and linked in posts all over these blog posts. Think of them as pages designed with old fashioned tag soup, twisted table layouts and codes that do not comply with minimal W3C standards. Much of the time they will plod along and hang in for *sunny day viewing.* But hit them with a serious storm of all the different issues which can affect page display, accessibility and usability and BAM, down they go in a crumpled heap. Strucutral failure supreme.
Then think of this little house when you are grumbling about taking the small amount of time to design up to standards. Sure, like this house your site/page will need a few tweaks and adjustments after a serious battering, but it will weather the winds and rain.
Why do I get a funny feeling that the tiny building itself, left alone with out loving owners to watch over it, stuck out it's little dac-art tongue and gave ol' Ivan one of our quadruple cat dares, just begging him to hit her with his best shot? He did just that, but doesn't seem to have been any match for her southern strength and stubbornness. Too bad, Ivan, take your wind & rain to Huntsville where you can really terrify a house. [wink, wink]
Now that is your standards driven page comparison. It may have a bump or a bruise, but it's still usable, it's still accessible (provided you can get past the mandatory blockades and the *stuff* in the road) and it's still standing strong.
Can your web page design handle abuse so well? If not, get to work! And yes, I am looking at myself in a mirror and pointing a finger as I say that! I need a good storm to blow away a few gazillion old ones still lurking out there.
No, I do not know the owners or builders. (Except that the owners are also Tennesseans. ;^) I've just been watching for that one to surface online because it has really interested me for quite awhile now. And it was such a joy to see someone withstanding this storm. Amazing what some advance planning and attention to detail can do for you, isn't it? (Stop making faces Slacker!! I know you write stellar codes, even if you don't like to admit it! ;^)
The place is actually inspiring me to clean up this outdated mess at Catartis and, finally, get it moved to a new system. Like their south side hurricane shutters, it seemed like a good idea when it was created (with NN4 still in mind) but that's been awhile. I have lived and learned since then. Besides, I am deathly sick of that butterscotch color and have been too lazy to do anything about even that over here. Shame on me!
Hummm, and I could shorten the number of days that posts stay on this main page while I am it. With my recent obsession, load time is more than a little heavy at the moment. To put it mildly, haha!
Excuse for this story: Design to Standards! Go above and beyond them in your attention to details. Plan for the worse, enjoy the best and easy, sunny days. Doesn't matter if it's a house or a web page. The principle holds true.
So did I sneak enough web stuff in here to get back to my current obsession? There is one more house I'd like to find online and see how it fared. The pink one we dilly dallied and didn't grab. I have a funny feeling that it may be okay except for the lower level *under pinnings* as long as the foundation didn't shift or sink.
Needless to say, I am taking notes and filing ideas for our future home in Gulf Shores. It will happen.... someday. *sigh*
TaTa for now,
Farron
[and _^..^_ who wants to know if he really has to ride in a C-A-R to move to the beach]
September 19, 2004
Baldwin County Red Cross Donations
I should have noted last night that the Meyer Real Estate site [posted below] has an internal link where you can make donations directly to the Baldwin County Chapter of the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
The Red Cross general disaster relief donation link has been noted earlier in this blog, but I for one, wanted to add a bit extra that was targeted directly toward the people of Gulf Shores and Baldwin County who have made my life joyful on many occasions.
Anyone else feel the same way about the area and the people there? If so, do not forget that every little bit helps, especially if we all do that!!
Farron
[ _^..^_ says "Do It Now!!"]
Perdido Key, FL Message Board
For those interested in information on the Perdido Key area, I found an area specific message board.
This board is hosted by the "Pensacola News Journal." Hope it helps!
Farron
Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival 2004 Cancelled??
Per a note I just found on the Meyer Real Estate site:
http://www.meyerre.com/content/storminfo/hurricane.htm
it appears the Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores has been cancelled for this year.
That sounds reasonable, given the condition of the area at this point, but what a shame. I know from my wanderings that many residents and owners were hoping it would continue on a smaller scale. They need a reason/excuse to celebrate.
It was also noted that Meyer will be cancelling all rental reservations prior to October 16th, 2004. This could change, but that is the current, estimated date.
If others follow suit, it appears we will not be able to stay in the area for a night or two on our way back to Nashville from Panama City Beach. I was hoping to talk Tony into that. *smile*
I am posting based on my assumption that this information is as accurate as possible at this time. I do know Meyer is an extremely reputable company and a strong presence in the Gulf Shores community. Their information should be good and from reliable sources.
But then, everything is subject to change when your world has just been flipped and tumbled upside down and backwards.
Hang in there Gulf Shores!!
Sweet dreams of better days to come.....
Farron
[sensible _^..^_ is asleep]
Gulf Shores, AL ~ Hurricane Damage Updates
As of today, only a few areas of Gulf Shores have allowed access to residents and property owners. No others are allowed in at this time.
If you are looking for information or photos of certain areas or properties, landmarks or the area in general I have found several grassroots message boards where owners, residents, long time visitors and well wishers are sharing information, links and photographs as they become available.
I do not know how many of these links will stay active or topical in the long run, but even if they go dead later, I wanted to collect some of them here in one place. Hey, I have lost more in my obsessive wanderings than I still have at the moment.
*** Note: All links open in external windows. Simply close the page to return here. ***
Message Boards
For Gulf Shores, AL:
http://www.al.com/forums/gulfshores/
For Dauphin Island, AL:
http://www.hwforums.com/2144/index.html
UPDATE:
A new message board has been created with area specific categories for communities up and down the Gulf who experienced Ivan's wrath. Condo and Home specific information is being posted there. They welcome any information you may have:
http://forums.sunnygulf.com/index.php
General Hurricane Info:
http://members.boardhost.com/hurricanecity/
Some photo sites:
This has some of the best shots of the West Beach area. Much of what I had been searching for was here.
Some are slow loading, others may not load and you need to use IE to access the slide show.
http://www.ci.gulf-shores.al.us/Slideshow.htm
I, for one, salute whoever went and took these pictures and uploaded them. Whatever their web skill level might be, they obviously worked furiously to get information to those who cannot access this dearly loved area.
And don't take a good, close look at this post, btw. I am sort of *slamming* and ignoring proper structure, too. [sheepish look]
My bet is that they were shooting on Friday and up all night to get the photos in place by early Saturday. Thank you! Thank you! and Applause! Applause!
Photo Gallery at al.com [a growing list]
Some early shots of different Phoenix properties from Brett-Robinson.
Pensacola News Journal: Photo Galleries
Navarre, Pensacola Beach, Perdido
From Atlanta Newspaper:
www.ajc.com
Alabama Photos
Florida Photos
Geological Studies: Some before and after shots
Dauphin Island Photos:
Scroll to bottom of this page:
http://king-o-coals.com/ivan.htm
Aerial Video Footage
ABC Affiliate from Birmingham
From this list in weather section. [Others may follow]
And the first ones out of the gate with video!
WWL-TV out of New Orleans
Main Listing Page
See reports September 16-17, 2004 for flyovers, reports of damage, FloraBama footage and more live coverage. Others may follow.
Gulf Shores Talk Radio Online Broadcast has been filling in details as they receive them.
http://whep1310.com/
Zone Information for Gulf Shores
http://forums.sunnygulf.com/viewtopic.php?t=124
Also check the official city websites for more information and up to date bulletins on who is allowed back in the area and when. I do not have them all at hand this second, but they should be easy to find via Google.
Whew! That's all I can handle tonight!
Farron
[with ever helpful _^..^_ in lap]
September 17, 2004
Gulf Shores, AL ~ West Beach/Little Lagoon!
Whew!
I have been obsessing off and on all day trying to get information and photos regarding the condition of one of my most dearly loved spots in the world. West Beach/Little Lagoon area of Gulf Shores, AL.
Late afternoon and evening tv crews seemed to be getting some photos on the air. Prior to that, many, many thanks to WWL-TV out of New Orleans for the aerial video on their website:
To access the video, you need to go to the main page, look in the left sidebar for new videos. If you are not already a *member* there, you need to sign up. It is free.
The shots seem to be in random order, and there are some really heartbreaking views. As I sat near tears the first time I viewed the rubble that remains in many places, one bright ray [for me, anyway] appeared in appeared in the last ten seconds or so of the film. Beach side of Little Lagoon in approximately the 1800 - 1900's blocks [just west of Lagoon Pass] seems to be in fair shape! I am sure there is more damage when the buildings are inspected at close range, but the vast majority of the structures seem to be standing and totally fixable. How those little houses survived with so many other larger, seemingly stronger buildings crushed defies my version of logic. But there they are. The only thing that crosses my mind is that they were just enough to the west that they missed total leveling by inches.
Or, as I believe, they truly are magical and a protective, enchanted bubble was cast around them.
That is the part of the world cast a spell on me from day one! The word that came clearly into my mind the first time I set foot on that stretch of beach was *HOME!* I will have one there one day. And I will be a returning guest until that time. .
Anyone who has been in that area knows that the Little Lagoon ~ West Beach area has the most beautiful sunsets that can be found!!! Its survival was such a ray of hope!
If you are trying to find more information on houses or businesses in the Gulf Shores area and how they weathered the storm, another helpful spot might be the Gulf Shores Forum at al.com:
http://www.al.com/forums/gulfshores/
It is a small, grassroots board, but people are jumping in and sharing bits of information they have and trying to help others find what they want or need to know. No one can physically return to the area, but as with all things online, people from across all walks of life each get different bits and pieces of information. If they come here and share them the overall picture starts to become clearer.
Goodnight to one and all!
Farron
[ _^..^_ has totally lost interest ]
September 15, 2004
Blogs About Ivan
The Irish Trojan's Blog - Hurricane bloggers has links to several bloggers who are in Ivan's path.
Catartis sends thoughts and prayers in their direction. Stay safe, ya'll!
Farron
[& _^..^_ in Tennessee]
September 14, 2004
Hurricane Ivan: Watching and Waiting
With Ivan approximately 300 miles and 24+ off the coast, eyes are turning toward Mobile and Baldwin Counties in Alabama. That's my dearly loved, Gulf Shores!
No one knows exactly where the strongest hit might be, but everyone in the area will be adversely affected. This one has the makings of a monster.
We were sulking about a delayed or cancelled vacation. Shame on us for such selfishness. We are counting our blessings at the moment and trying to send some of those along to those whos lives are in the potential path.
Don't forget that the Red Cross Disaster Fund can help to make life a little easier for these displaced souls in time of need. Every little bit helps.
Donations of any sort or size are made easy at:
Check the link if you have a few minutes or dollars to spare.
Farron and _^..^_
September 13, 2004
Is He Sleeping in or Gone?
Hummm, there is *a girl* reporter in PCB this morning. They flew her in from Atlanta yesterday/last night(?).
Is Indiana Weather sleeping in or have they sent him a bit west? The track is ever moving but staying in that general area of the NorthWest Gulf at the moment. Hard to tell much at this point.
Here is a good, easy to load tracking map that seems to be constantly updated right now.
Track seems to keep wobbling. Last night's prediction was a direct hit near Destin. This morning west to Gulf Shores, right this second back closer to Destin again.
There seems to have been a big pow wow meeting at the offices of the people putting on this trip. Sounds like it will be moved to the end of the month. Yah! for us, but that doesn't lessen the fact that people in some part of that area are getting ready to get slammed! My thoughts and prayers are with them.
And I am still watching this like a hawk.
*THE* _^..^_ is not out of the woods on that trip and the vet stay yet. If it's just a bit later, we may be able to stay a day or two longer like we normally do, too. He may have just fixed his furry little wagon. purrrrahahahahaha!
Farron
[and an over confident, sleeping _^..^_ ]
September 12, 2004
A Smile While Grumbling
Looks like I am not the only one who thinks Jim Cantore's location is *THE* spot to watch. Mr. Storm = Indiana Weather.
Amazing what you might find while mindlessly surfing and sulking. ;^)
Farron
Media Coverage and Ivan the Terrible
I am just waiting for the "I told you so's" from Butzi.
Media likes to get right on top of the worst spots in a storm, right?
Well take a look where The Weather Channel has their ace hurricane chaser/storm magnet, Indiana Weather, and look where the Weather Bug guy has gone.
Right where we are supposed to be this week. Anyone besides me think this is where they are betting the worst hit will occur?
Curses! Curses Foiled Again!
Tony and I are convinced that our *dear* Cat with his Russian name (Tchaikovsky) has been channeling to the spirit of Russia's Czar Ivan the Terrible to keep us from leaving and shipping him off to cat prison for a few days.
He gave me that innocent cat look when I asked him directly. But I'm not buying his story. Lil Rat! He'd better adjust that path in a big hurry!!
Farron
[who is not speaking to the _^..^_ right now!]
Update: As I was getting ready to post this, the local news said that PCB (where we were going) is the best guess at this point of the spot which will take the direct hit. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Hurricane Magnets!!
Oh No!
I have been watching to see where the Weather Channel moved my hurricane hero, Indiana Weather [aka. Jim Cantore]. That guy is a hurricane magnet.
Guess where he is?
You don't have to click if you know me... yup, he's in Panama City Beach. I just KNOW *The* Cat sent him there!
Trip is suddenly not looking good, even from my delusionary optimistic point of view. Dern, I should have that blog up and running right now. lol
I still haven't quite given up the ghost, but the one indicator I pretty much swear by just rolled in. [grumble, grumble]
Farron
[and a now smirking _^..^_ ]
Hurricanes and the Best Laid Plans
Well that old Hurricane Ivan is trying to creep westward and rain on my parade. Wonder if this is all part of the cat network plot to try to keep *THE* Cat from having to go to boarding prison next week? I see he is aiming his body so he is breathing toward the west. Any of those other cats he corresponds with doing the same thing?
So far, the PCB weather report on weather.com is still looking good after Wednesday, when we will only be there later in the day since there's a really good chance we will stop for dinner Tuesday night and piddle to somewhere within 100 miles or so from the coast and grab a room for the night in one of those "close to the road" cookie cutter motels. Just somewhere for a snooze and a shower. No need to rush since we will be leaving late in the day.
We have learned the hard way that getting a room at 2:00AM at the beach when your condo isn't booked until the next day is not as easy as it sounds. Not that many of the fun ones have someone at the desk at that hour. That was when I discovered there might be hope for Tony as a runaway bag purrrson yet. When we didn't find a crash pad right away, his response was not to panic, but to say, "Well, there's always Waffle House." Good answer! *grin*
Those roadside things like Ramada, Holiday Inn Express, Comfort Inn, etc. are better bets for all night desk service.
Besides weather.com, I am keeping an eye on the blog at weatherbug.com.
They are the ones with the young storm tracking team I enjoyed following during Charley and Frances for a different sort of viewpoint. It concerned me when I noticed last night that they had moved their destination airport from Ft. Meyers to Tallahassee. Dern, they are planning to hang out in the northwest sector of the state.
Ah well, I have said that *I* am going if the Carrier guys go and the whole deal isn't cancelled. No good old boy is gonna call me a weenie. haha
Besides, if it doesn't *really* hit there and turns out more like TS Hannah was on this same trip two years ago, that is something I find interesting. Stormy days at the beach are actually quite beautiful and wild feeling. As long as you are not truly in harm's way.
We shall see. At least we are very blessed to have a choice in this matter. Those who live in whatever areas might be most affected are not so lucky. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
I am turning *THE* Cat to face and breathe the other direction just for good measure though.
Farron
[and one grumpy for being disturbed _^..^_ ]
September 09, 2004
Wonderful Color Tools
My buddy, Liann of the Incredible Designs, has a new entry regarding two really slick color tools.
When she talks design... it is well worth your time to pay attention. She's good... REALLY good! *smile*
Back to fixing that dinner I was just talking about.
Farron
Styles for Small Screen Rendering
There is an interesting article at ALA regarding small screen rendering.
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pocket/
I was enjoying the section about Opera and stylesheets for the small screen in particular.
Here's a quote from the start of that section:
"Opera works under the assumption that most web pages are not designed for handhelds. If "fit to screen" is enabled, which it is by default on most devices, author styles are ignored and pages are reformatted for the small screen unless the page has a style sheet specifically aimed at handhelds."
Now I need to go check out some of the included links and see what information I can dig up on other browsers. Have to say though, if I were to break down and buy one of those "electronic leashes" I have been so stubbornly avoiding, I think I would have to grab Opera as my small screen browser of choice. They appear to have really been working hard to fine tune for that market.
Opera & Small Screen Rendering
http://www.opera.com/products/smartphone/smallscreen/
Back to more reading ... after dinner. That is an all important time at the Cathouse, you know.
Farron & One Hungry _^..^_
September 08, 2004
The Peter Peppers Are Here!
Peter Peppers Drawn and Diddled
Yes! You can grow your own, ladies... I did! Dozens of them.
Yes! They are real and they are fun to diddle. In film and on the puter anyway. My fingers were stinging from chopping a couple to use in dinner tonight. They are hot stuff. Ouch!
September 07, 2004
Validation of (X)HTML Files with messIE ~ SP2
There seems to be yet another problem for those unfortunate souls who still use messIE and have downloaded SP-2.
When attempting to validate code on a local .html/.htm page the following error/warning will be generated:
"Sorry, I am unable to validate this document because its content type is text/plain, which is not currently supported by this service.
The Content-Type field is sent by your web server (or web browser if you use the file upload interface) and depends on its configuration. Commonly, web servers will have a mapping of filename extensions (such as ".html") to MIME Content-Type values (such as text/html).
That you received this message can mean that your server is not configured correctly, that your file does not have the correct filename extension, or that you are attempting to validate a file type that we do not support yet. In the latter case you should let us know that you need us to support that content type (please include all relevant details, including the URL to the standards document defining the content type) using the instructions on the Feedback Page."
There seems to be very little documentation of this problem online. Purrrrhaps because so few designers bother to validate their codes? *sigh*
Huge thanks to someone I do not have the pleasure of knowing named Lachy for this blog post with a potential fix.
I still think the best solution is to lose that funky browser and steer clear of SP-2 at this point in time, but that's not always possible for one reason or another.
The _^..^_ simply says:
but he's much better and coming up with the sensible solution than I am. For those of you who will not listen to the sage advice of *THE* wise senior feline, the alternate fix may be of assistance.
Farron
[proud to learn at the paws of *THE* Master _^..^_ ]
September 03, 2004
Lose messIE! Browse Happy!
For some reason, I had not noticed the Browse Happy Campaign at WaSP
I am jumping on that band wagon by adding a button link to my sidebar here
and by running over and finding a spot on the classroom pages which release to our students tonight to add a larger, more *in your face* version. Maybe even the big, blinky one? haha
_^..^_ and I are trying to work to change the web, one student at a time.
Now if I'd just clean up this lil mess over here and get it moved to the spot where I am working on a more current, standards driven layout. One that looks better, too. lol
What a difference a year or so can make in the way you like to code, huh?
That's all for now!
Farron and that _^..^_