How Self Reliant are You?

For the sake of accuracy, let me state that I have a lot of fellow gate guards that I have never met. I consider most of them friends. In today’s age of electronic communication that has become the norm.  It is interesting how you can determine a person’s mindset and personality via their writing. I feel I have formed a kinship with Andy; who also has a blog (apparently more popular than mine)- www.myoldrv.com. He is also braver than me when it comes to speaking his mind.

Anyway, Andy’s topic today was the apparent lack of preparation shown by a lot of the folks affected by the recent “super storm”. More importantly, he commented on how those folks seem so dependent on government help to get by-even for a week! I wanted to comment, but held back out of respect for those suffering. Now that “the cat is out of the bag”, I guess I can make some observations. I do not know what was broadcast in the Northeast. Here in South Texas the television broadcast non-stop about the size and ferocity of the storm. Still, we had folks who apparently did not fill up their vehicles or containers with fuel. We also had folks on the coast that refused to evacuate. For those of you not familiar with basements; they flood. So much so that most basements have a sump pump in them. Yet we had a hospital with a back-up generator in the basement. Worse than that; the primary generators fuel supply and pump were also in the basement. Bet that gets changed pronto. Folks might say it is insensitive to comment while the emergency continues. Fair enough, but like Andy I have lived through a lot of emergencies. My Mom spent the first week (and many more) after hurricane Andrew working like a dog cleaning up the house. She and my Dad were resourceful and got through it. I think the type of destruction was similar to Sandy’s. Interestingly it was said that had the storm hit a little further North we would have had an impact in the Miami area. Imagine the outcry and wailing that would have ensued had that happened. As it was, the folks in the affected area felt neglected by the folks up North as they had plenty of water and electricity. More recently, we lived through almost two weeks of no electricity during an ice storm in Oklahoma. While I realize I was fortunate to have an RV, I still had to be resourceful and ration what I had. We bled electricity off of the RV generator to keep the house from freezing and slept in the RV. For some reason I never thought of seeking out a news crew and complaining about my plight. And believe me two weeks without power is a LONG time. I look back now and realize how much more self sufficient I have become since going full time in my RV. I see that folks are now pulling together and helping each other out. You have to do this when these things happen. The government folks are going to have as hard a time as you (at first) getting around. While you may smirk at the survivalists out there, there is a lesson to be learned from them. I don’t know if you need to dig a hole somewhere and stash a year’s worth of supplies. I do know it is prudent to keep some cash in the house, at least some non perishable goods and some water. I do not in any way wish to diminish the pain and suffering of those caught in this storm’s path. I do hope that it serves as a wakeup call. On a broader scale our infrastructure remains much as it was fifty or more years ago. We still have yet to revamp our electrical grid, along with the water and sewer systems. And, as Andy eluded, how much longer can our ever growing society continue to burn through money and continue basic public services. At some point the borrowing will have to stop or our society will roll over the edge. When I see reports of companies losing millions of dollars in a quarter and our cities drowning in debt; I am left to wonder how long the travesty can continue.

The Fat Lady is Warming Up

I never put much credence to the saying that says politics are wrangled over in smoke filled rooms. As I have gotten older I have realized just how true that is (with the exception of the smoke). I have previously voiced my concerns about the media's election onslaught, especially it's slanted polls. Now they're dragging out boards depicting the states and their electoral numbers. No matter how they shuffle the states and votes, they show Obama winning. I guess there is just no way for the media to remain unbiased and broadcast that way. The thing that concerns me the most is how much credence folks out there give this propaganda. I say vote (first and most important) and follow your principles and moral values. Finally, it is truly a shame that our system has reduced us to voting for the lesser of two evils-or anyone but the incumbent-or change for changes sake. Lordy, do we need a viable third party!

TV in the Oil Patch

Receiving and sending a clear signal to your television can be a challenge in a recreational vehicle. My coach had top notch technology when it was built in 1996. Now the “over the air” antenna is useless without a signal decoder and the satellite dome only has one LNB which limits the channels you can receive. To receive a satellite signal with high definition and local channels you need a dish with three LNB’s. Your dish will also either have a built in switch or you’ll have to add an inline switch so that the correct LNB transmits the signal to the television. In other words, most locals come in on one LNB, high definition on another and the remainder on yet another. Read Andy’s blog at www.myoldrv.com for everything you want to know about receiving satellite. Basically you will need the aforementioned dish, an HD receiver and a HD television to receive high definition television. These days it is MUCH easier to get Dish or Direct to come out to an RV and to establish an RV account. Dealing with RV’s is still fairly new to them, so you may have to be persistent. If you feel confident, money can be saved by purchasing the equipment through E Bay, Amazon or other sources. Remember when you purchase used equipment-every receiver has a card identifying it and you need to check that number out with your satellite provider to make sure the account is not owed any money. You will need to order the receiver, the dish and the tripod to hold it. You will also need the co-axial cable to connect to the dish and short lengths to go between the receiver and the television. You can also connect the television and receiver using an HDMI cable on later equipment. Our dilemma, once everything was up and working was how to record conflicting programs. There are several solutions. You can go through an outside provider and purchase a channel package with east, west and central time zone programming. Dish network also has a Hopper option that has an ungodly amount of recording capacity.  We added a second receiver to record conflicting programming. If your partner is like mine, he or she will have their shows and this will eventually become an issue-trust me. Better to nip it in the bud while planning your installation.

Why are we Waiting on a Gate?

I was glad to see that Andy (www.myoldrv.com) again raised the alarm warning gate guards about the lack of gates down here. He has a much wider circulation than I do, so hopefully the word will get around.  I have been beating the drum for months now; especially after our field superintendent put the fear of God in me a while back. Budget concerns, the election, a very unstable market, etc. are all conspiring to put a damper on things down here. Now I am not given to preaching; but a lot of what veterans have long said is proving true. Most anyone that can get past the background checks and get licensed can get on a gate-eventually. It’s after you are released (if you last that long), that the rubber meets the road. This is when you’ll find out if you’re employer wants to keep you around or not. That’s the flip side of the surplus of guards right now. Companies can afford to be picky and hire the best candidates. They can also afford to let you go. As has been said ad nauseam, are you polite, professional and situationally aware on your gate? Do you hit the door when the alarm sounds, regardless of the time or conditions? There is little if any seniority in the gate guard world. Good performance is rewarded with continued gate assignments. You will find great reward if you simply do a good job, ingratiate yourself with the rig hands and support folks and become familiar with the “movers and shakers” with your exploration company. I have no doubt that our continued employment is in no small part due to the company men continually requesting us to be assigned to their gate. One final tip and word to the wise. Limit your calls to your service people and/or company supervisors. Make sure you truly have a problem you can’t resolve and whether waking them up in the middle of the night is justified. Very little upsets a guard company more than this.

(I had no internet when this was written on 10/21)