Well, it’s almost time to go for me. Plane leaves at 11:17 in the morning, putting me in San Antonio at about 6:30 PM. Josh, the Kelly Team Chief called me tonight, and apparently there were some miscommunications. There are currently 10 or so people down there, primarily of the Infrastructure Team. The problem is red tape won’t let them on-site. No one has seen the inside of Kelly AFB yet. The local Red Cross knows what’s up and really wants the help, but they can’t let us in until national Red Cross leader people rubber stamp the form. So everyone is waiting outside. It’s absolutely absurd that for the support we have (FCC, FEMA, ARC, Intel, Cisco), the EXPERTS on-site, the TRUCKS of equipment, that the only thing holding us back is someone’s signature. This is a DISASTER, people. You have to act FAST. It kills me to know that there are 25,000 people bunkered up inside Kelly with ABSOLUTELY NO communication to the outside world. We’re there, ready to provide that crucial link, but can’t. That’s just wrong. So it could end up being early next week when we get physical access to Kelly. Which means I could have stayed home a little longer. Oh well. There’s got to be some reason I’m going now, and I’m determined to make myself useful in whatever capacity I can until they’re ready for Systems.
Other news-o-the-day. The official press release came out of OSU today. I’m new to this whole press/publicity thing, but think I sound a bit larger than life. I should probably also clarify that, contrary to what the article says, I am NOT leading the entire operation down at Kelly. That is Josh. He’s our Team Chief and pretty much the man. What I AM leading is the Systems Team, which will be responsible for all the computer-related aspects of the deployment. So far I’ve been contacted by two other media outlets: the Gazette-Times newspaper in Corvallis and KPAM radio in Portland. KPAM caught me coming off a nap to cure a splitting headache, so hopefully I made sense. Let me know if any of you hear that. The last bit of news I have today is a follow-up on the job I wrote about yesterday. I was informed today that, due to "Equal Opportunity Employment" rules, they will not be able to interview me over the phone, while requiring everyone else to be in person. But who’s getting denied the "equal opportunity?" I guess that in the event they find none of the current applicants acceptable, I’ll be getting a call. Here’s hoping! I’m going to head off to bed now, a little earlier than usual. I’ve been running at full speed getting ready for this trip, and my body is starting to complain. This is its last night to rest though, so I’m going to treat it. A big THANK YOU to those of you who have donated stuff to me so far. My little button up there has brought in $110 so far, which is amazing for the 3 days this has been up. My friends Ian and Mike have also hooked me up with some gear I needed. Thanks, guys. It’s great to know that so many of you are supporting me in this. My next post will be from San Antonio!
- Matt (currently in: Portland, OR)
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