Ahh the hum of generators and air conditioning, this is the sound of Houston in the aftermath of Ike. Like most of our neighbors, we have power back as well as phone and Internet service. However, we have several neighbors with damaged power lines who remain off the city grid and are using generators or borrowed power to fuel their homes. Thankfully, it is still cool here in Houston this evening.
There is still a lot to do to clean up after Ike. Some of the traffic lights are coming back online which is creating some confusion since some are out, some a blinking, and others are fully functional. Over the past few days, a number of our clients and friends have checked in and thankfully most have had only minimal damage to their homes and are safe. Some are still out of town while others have returned to start putting things back together
Stan Watowich was able to get onto Galveston Island to access his lab at UTMB. He felt that things were in reasonable shape and they could recover quickly as soon as power was restored. While most of his graduate students are unable to get back to the island, he did check their homes and found that most were in reasonable shape but a few of their homes were destroyed.
As for us, we have now moved the Oceanic Ventures command central from its temporary location in Katy to its newest point – our house, where Ann and Ashton are having a bonding experience around our diving room table. We now have the email server, data servers, individual computers all running here – imagine having an entire office worth of computers crammed under your diving room table with cables running everywhere. By Saturday our new credit card machine will be on hand so we can process your purchases and trip deposits.
This week we have met with the water removal specialists from the Steam Team (a very impressive group from Austin), our insurance adjuster, and our landlord. At this point, we are still unsure about what we will be doing with the store. We still have no power there, the dehumidifiers and fans are running on generators, the computer system has been relocated, and the phones have been rolled. We are looking at moving to some temporary space either elsewhere in the complex or nearby. The major problem right now is power – most places, including our building, do not have any.
We are operating with repairs being done off-site and equipment purchases being delivered by appointment. The Fedora Lounge across the street from the store has been popular with cold beer and mixed drinks to keep everyone relaxed and happy.
It has been interesting to see how people are dealing with the storm and the aftermath. Yesterday, the owner of Republic Mortgage, a fellow tenant, hosted a luncheon for his staff and anyone who was around at the time. We saw other tenants as well as the generator delivery crew and the Steam Team members joining with the mortgage staff for some fun and great Mexican food out in front of our buildings.
In talking to the office manager of Semark pest control, when she returned home she found that she had had water in her house. But her attitude was that all of her family was safe and in passing she said she told her husband “I have wanted some new things, now we have the opportunity!” She has a great attitude and a warm thankful smile. We even joked with Kim, who had most of her nail polish bottles crash onto her hardwood floor and break, that maybe she could put a piece of glass over the polish and create an area piece on the floor. Of course, she did not think much of the suggestions but enjoyed the humor in the thought.
It is important to keep injecting some humor in our days right now. Things are a little awkward and they certainly do not run as efficiently as we would like them to. As many merchants are saying right now, “Thank you for your patience.” With some patience and laughter we will get through this!
