Well, the Dallas class has been up about 5 days now and is already starting to fill nicely, that is always a good feeling. The last thing an instructor wants is an empty class, and it's not good for the pocket book either.

The "Texas Blizzard of 2010" has been a real hoot!  Texans FREAK OUT when the mercury drops below 60 and this time was no exception. Local news channels ran segments on "Recognizing the onset of hypothermia" and the like, I nearly fell out of bed.  The temperature has dropped below freezing and they fear people getting hypothermic in their homes? Give me a break!

So, my previous warning about "fueling the generators" was accurate. Last night about 8:00 pm, one of our towers dropped power. How did we know? Well, we have a trick. We use an old Senao CB3 (don't know what that is? Try Google) with an IP address plugged into the wall (not on UPS) and we ping it using MikroTik's Dude. ping fails, that means we lost power and we have about 30 minutes to get out there with a generator. We even put the utility's trouble call number in the name of the device so we can call them on the way way and tell them to start getting the squirrels running in the generator wheels again...

Funny thing, my number one tech Ricky arrived on the scene, got everything out, and as he plugged in the generator the utility restored power. He was cold, tired and slightly ticked off.

Fortunately I had already called him and said "drop the generator and go home, I'll go out and pick it up." which bought me lots of brownie points I didn't have to pay for.

So, the  "Texas Blizzard of 2010" is still underway so be safe and recognize the warnign signs of hypothermia before it strikes you in your easy chair.