I've started a new blog. I realize that your faith, and by 'your' I'm speaking to the 3 of you who occassionally check this guy, in me to keep it updated is essentially nil but check it out...
www.jeremeyhoran.wordpress.com
ok.
thanks.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
ATL Shorty!
I'm sitting in SFO waiting to board my delayed flight, fighting every urge in my body to buy Dan Brown's new book...I realize that I'm a sucker, but I don't care. I like trashy, mindless, adventure books that I can plow through...my addiction to Vince Flynn is evidence of this.
anywho...I sit here in SFO waiting to go to Atlanta. Hot, humid/muggy, buggy Atlanta...heavy rains have produced a 500 year flood causing states of emergency to be declared in 17 counties. I'm going to meet up with 2 other HODR (www.hodr.org) guys to see if we can be useful in expediting the recovery process.
Hopefully we can lend our growing expertise in flooding situations like this by providing direction and the framework for Counties overwhelmed by the scope of the disaster.
you should go to www.hodr.org and check out the flickr site for photos.
anywho...I sit here in SFO waiting to go to Atlanta. Hot, humid/muggy, buggy Atlanta...heavy rains have produced a 500 year flood causing states of emergency to be declared in 17 counties. I'm going to meet up with 2 other HODR (www.hodr.org) guys to see if we can be useful in expediting the recovery process.
Hopefully we can lend our growing expertise in flooding situations like this by providing direction and the framework for Counties overwhelmed by the scope of the disaster.
you should go to www.hodr.org and check out the flickr site for photos.
Monday, August 24, 2009
movin' & shakin'
I'm not sure if you're up on NY State politics so I'll connect some dots for ya real quick: The sexy stud on the right is yours truly (check out the shapely gut shot...nice huh?) and the man donning the suit pumping his fist is Senator Charles Schumer...
like I said: Movin' & Shakin'.
DAMN!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
It's my Birthday
no seriously...it's my birthday. Ruminations on aging another year and what an incredibly fun day I've had with Claire to follow...plus details on the 'mystery trip' that we embark on tomorrow...
life is good.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Hopping Around
This is in a park nestled in Chinatown. I worked at this series for about 45 mins and still couldn't land the drop. I shall return.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Excitement
For the past 11 months I've worked for Hands On Disaster Response (www.hodr.org) as a project coordinator. This means that I've played a supporting role while Hands On has been on project; I've coordinated volunteers, managed the daily work flow and tracked what we've done for reporting purposes. I've been a volunteer with Hands On since 2005 after Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast and since, have been on projects with them in Indonesia, Peru, Iowa, Haiti and Arkansas.
This morning I sat down with the Executive Director and he offered me a full-time position with the organization! As of June 1st I will be a Project Director for Hands On Disaster Response--I will be focusing on domestic response but available, should the need arise to go abroad and I couldn't be happier. The past 11 months have been, at times, a struggle--personally, financially, and socially and i know that maintaining a balance in my life moving forward is something that will require a lot of energy, but I am confident that it can work and am willing to run myself into the ground to make it happen.
Tonight, I celebrate :)
This morning I sat down with the Executive Director and he offered me a full-time position with the organization! As of June 1st I will be a Project Director for Hands On Disaster Response--I will be focusing on domestic response but available, should the need arise to go abroad and I couldn't be happier. The past 11 months have been, at times, a struggle--personally, financially, and socially and i know that maintaining a balance in my life moving forward is something that will require a lot of energy, but I am confident that it can work and am willing to run myself into the ground to make it happen.
Tonight, I celebrate :)
Friday, April 17, 2009
greetings from Mena
Arkansas that is! haha...I realize that is in no way funny but...well, it's my blog so deal.
After a quick breather in San Fran I'm back on the road again. This time I am in Mena, AR assessing tornadic (yeah, I think I made that word up...but again, it's my blog) damage. We're setting up shop for 30 days and will help removing debris (trees and brush) from homes as well as support the volunteer reception center, help sort donations and tarp some roofs. We announced the project a day or so ago so Bill and I have our hands full with prepping our new home at the Mena Church of God and getting everything ready for the volunteers...
So if you have some free time check out http://www.hodr.org/ for more info
here's some of the damage we'll be cleaning up:
After a quick breather in San Fran I'm back on the road again. This time I am in Mena, AR assessing tornadic (yeah, I think I made that word up...but again, it's my blog) damage. We're setting up shop for 30 days and will help removing debris (trees and brush) from homes as well as support the volunteer reception center, help sort donations and tarp some roofs. We announced the project a day or so ago so Bill and I have our hands full with prepping our new home at the Mena Church of God and getting everything ready for the volunteers...
So if you have some free time check out http://www.hodr.org/ for more info
here's some of the damage we'll be cleaning up:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
and I'm back...
I awoke this morning not to the sound of roosters or buses with supercharged air horns but to...well I can't really remember what I woke up to but it wasn't what I had grown accustom to.
I am back in San Francisco after a 7 weeks away and am happy as a dumpling (we now live right near Chinatown--I intend on expanding my knowledge of dumplings...mmm, dumplings).
I have photos and thoughts on Haiti that will be put to paper and eventually blog but for now, I'm back, happy and healthy and unfortunately sans sweet Haitian sneakers. I will say that a valiant effort was made whilst in Port Au Prince to procure them but to no avail. C'est le vie...they would've been sweet though.
more to come...
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Stress
Stress used to be such a large part of my life. Basically, it was my job at the time that was the root of that problem so when I quit it was quite refreshing to be "free."
Since that time I've had a relatively stress-free existence; living in Aspen can hardly be considered stressful, unless choosing where to ride counts, and being involved in an organization that I believe is doing meaningful and important work may be demanding...the stress, when it's there is something that I can deal with.
So fast-forward to the morning I'm flying to Haiti:
It’s 5 am, I've been up since 2 and slept maybe an hour in total; I’ve already checked in for my flight and I'm feeling good...only one thing left to do…get some cash so that once I arrive in Haiti, I can actually leave the airport. Being the veteran that I am at withdrawing money from ATM’s I had little reason to think that my next transaction would go awry. The only time an ATM denies me is an hour before I embark on an international flight to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere…as it stood, I had 1 dollar on me and this stupid machine wouldn't give me ‘my money.’ I proceed to get on the phone with my bank and find out that my account had been frozen because I had requested an amount above my maximum (something I didn’t know existed)…so I had to wait for the Fraud Protection agency to open in order for them to unfreeze my money. I get on my flight from MSY to MIA still with only a dollar and a pit in my stomach because I was told that the Fraud Protection Dept wouldn't be open until 12pm EST. Sweet, that helps me because my flight for Haiti leaves at 9am (or so I thought) and I have transport pre-booked from the airport to my guesthouse.
Given my situation, I think I handled it quite admirably…I called my credit cards to see if I could activate a pin number to get money that way—no dice. They can only send those via mail to an address. So I called Wells Fargo again hoping for a miracle…and that’s what I got. The woman who I spoke with the second time told me that the Fraud Protection Agency opened at 6am PST….WOO-HOO, salvation! Wait a second, my flight leaves at 9—FUCK! In my head I put another contingency plan into place, I would get on a later flight, use Skype to cancel my ride and re-schedule, get my money situation cleared up and chill in the Miami Airport for 4 hours and board a later flight…no biggie.
I write 'no biggie' but in actuality I had a mild breakdown...I'm used to rolling with the situation and making it work but I didn't see a way out that wouldn't cost me some serious cash and a lot of headache...not to mention that I was going to haiti and the travel advisories had me nervous that I was going to be kidnapped at the airport.
Well it turns out that I’m an idiot. 9am was my boarding time…my flight was at 10; so at the stroke of 9 I called the Fraud Protection Agency and proceeded endure a battery of questions akin to the Spanish Inquisition. They were asking me security questions I wasn’t sure I had set up and then proceeded to walk me through my transaction history for the past several weeks….all the while “Group 1 may now board…” is blaring in the background. Why is it that getting a straight answer out of those people is so damn hard? As a former telemarketer, I apologize to all those I badgered via telephone…paybacks a bitch. Finally I get my funds thawed out and I sprint to the nearest ATM which was out of order and then to the next which feels like miles away…take out my money and sprint back to the gate—I made it--there were seven boarding groups for this flight.
I've since been in Haiti a little under a week and things have gone smoothly...it's a hard place to describe but I hope over the course of my trip I gleen insights that I can relay...that and lots of photos.
Since that time I've had a relatively stress-free existence; living in Aspen can hardly be considered stressful, unless choosing where to ride counts, and being involved in an organization that I believe is doing meaningful and important work may be demanding...the stress, when it's there is something that I can deal with.
So fast-forward to the morning I'm flying to Haiti:
It’s 5 am, I've been up since 2 and slept maybe an hour in total; I’ve already checked in for my flight and I'm feeling good...only one thing left to do…get some cash so that once I arrive in Haiti, I can actually leave the airport. Being the veteran that I am at withdrawing money from ATM’s I had little reason to think that my next transaction would go awry. The only time an ATM denies me is an hour before I embark on an international flight to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere…as it stood, I had 1 dollar on me and this stupid machine wouldn't give me ‘my money.’ I proceed to get on the phone with my bank and find out that my account had been frozen because I had requested an amount above my maximum (something I didn’t know existed)…so I had to wait for the Fraud Protection agency to open in order for them to unfreeze my money. I get on my flight from MSY to MIA still with only a dollar and a pit in my stomach because I was told that the Fraud Protection Dept wouldn't be open until 12pm EST. Sweet, that helps me because my flight for Haiti leaves at 9am (or so I thought) and I have transport pre-booked from the airport to my guesthouse.
Given my situation, I think I handled it quite admirably…I called my credit cards to see if I could activate a pin number to get money that way—no dice. They can only send those via mail to an address. So I called Wells Fargo again hoping for a miracle…and that’s what I got. The woman who I spoke with the second time told me that the Fraud Protection Agency opened at 6am PST….WOO-HOO, salvation! Wait a second, my flight leaves at 9—FUCK! In my head I put another contingency plan into place, I would get on a later flight, use Skype to cancel my ride and re-schedule, get my money situation cleared up and chill in the Miami Airport for 4 hours and board a later flight…no biggie.
I write 'no biggie' but in actuality I had a mild breakdown...I'm used to rolling with the situation and making it work but I didn't see a way out that wouldn't cost me some serious cash and a lot of headache...not to mention that I was going to haiti and the travel advisories had me nervous that I was going to be kidnapped at the airport.
Well it turns out that I’m an idiot. 9am was my boarding time…my flight was at 10; so at the stroke of 9 I called the Fraud Protection Agency and proceeded endure a battery of questions akin to the Spanish Inquisition. They were asking me security questions I wasn’t sure I had set up and then proceeded to walk me through my transaction history for the past several weeks….all the while “Group 1 may now board…” is blaring in the background. Why is it that getting a straight answer out of those people is so damn hard? As a former telemarketer, I apologize to all those I badgered via telephone…paybacks a bitch. Finally I get my funds thawed out and I sprint to the nearest ATM which was out of order and then to the next which feels like miles away…take out my money and sprint back to the gate—I made it--there were seven boarding groups for this flight.
I've since been in Haiti a little under a week and things have gone smoothly...it's a hard place to describe but I hope over the course of my trip I gleen insights that I can relay...that and lots of photos.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Roadtrippin...
Greetings from the Midwest. I want to say that I am absolutely crushing the midwest right now...in the past week or so I've racked up 3 new states--Michigan, Indiana and Missouri...and ladies and gentlemen we're not done yet. I've still got Tennessee and Arkansas to go.
Like I said...absolutely crushin' it.
The cause for this little roadtrip is to meet with agencies and organizations like the Minnesota Conservation Corps, Americorps St. Louis, The CRWRC, etc... We've (and by we've I mean Hands On) worked with these groups over the course of the past year and this was an opportunity to go in and shake some hands, exchange some business cards and essentially say hi. While a trip of this nature requires a lot of time in the car, I think it's great to meet with these people outside of the hectic environment of wherever we happen to be deployed--so it's good, I'm learning and making some connections.
The next big thing on my agenda is going to Haiti. This is something that has been on the radar for a little while now and it looks like it's finally going to happen. I am excited--so excited. The opportunity to go to a place like this (albeit, only for a month) has me giddy. Hands On has a project in Gonaive, a city north of Port Au-Prince by about 4 hours where they've been working on a variety of projects with the people affected by Hurricanes Ike and Hanna since November. The projects range from removing Mud from homes to well ring construction, playing with children at a safe space, etc...for more info on the projects go to www.hodr.org because the work being done is absolutely amazing.
So yeah...I have a camera ready to capture this experience and will try to post some either here or on facebook when I can.
Like I said...absolutely crushin' it.
The cause for this little roadtrip is to meet with agencies and organizations like the Minnesota Conservation Corps, Americorps St. Louis, The CRWRC, etc... We've (and by we've I mean Hands On) worked with these groups over the course of the past year and this was an opportunity to go in and shake some hands, exchange some business cards and essentially say hi. While a trip of this nature requires a lot of time in the car, I think it's great to meet with these people outside of the hectic environment of wherever we happen to be deployed--so it's good, I'm learning and making some connections.
The next big thing on my agenda is going to Haiti. This is something that has been on the radar for a little while now and it looks like it's finally going to happen. I am excited--so excited. The opportunity to go to a place like this (albeit, only for a month) has me giddy. Hands On has a project in Gonaive, a city north of Port Au-Prince by about 4 hours where they've been working on a variety of projects with the people affected by Hurricanes Ike and Hanna since November. The projects range from removing Mud from homes to well ring construction, playing with children at a safe space, etc...for more info on the projects go to www.hodr.org because the work being done is absolutely amazing.
So yeah...I have a camera ready to capture this experience and will try to post some either here or on facebook when I can.
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