Ernesto Lands, Applies For A Green Card

Tropical Storm Ernesto landed on the Key West shores a few hours ago. This is our first large scale storm of the 2006 Hurricane Season so let’s be smart about it.

First of all, you can track the status of the hurricane at weather.com. They have a new trajectory map and tracking that is better than most news reports. As we all know these storms tend to change in power, trajectory, speed and danger so if you have not evacuated please bunker down. Better be prepared than to think back..

Stay tuned to the FloridaDisaster.org, our state division of emergency management. They have full advisories and most up to date information feeding from all other emergency organizations and reporting systems. Look to them as the first source in case of wide-spread damage.

Finally, and most importantly, all IT events this week have been cancelled.

Orlando IT Pro meeting has been cancelled.

Orlando events by Microsoft Corporation have been cancelled. The following email is courtesy of Matt Sharkey, the events cancelled include Microsoft Connections, Microsoft TS2, Microsoft Technet and Microsoft MSDN. Please do not show up at Waterford Lakes location on Thursday:

Subject: Microsoft Event Session Cancellation Notice to Registered Customers 

Thank you for your interest in Microsoft Connections.

Unfortunately, the event that you are registered for has been cancelled.

Event: Microsoft Connections

Event Code: 1032299248

Location: Theater – Regal Waterford Lakes Stadium 20 

We apologize for any inconvenience to you and your schedule. Please visit www.microsoft.com/connections to find the next event in your area, register for a webcast or download an episode of connections:unplugged.

Finally courtesy of Chuck Poole, if you are in South Florida and this turns out much worse than expected, here is a PDF file of Palm Beach Publix and Gas Stations operating on generator power. This is important in case you have not planned or have extenuating circumstances after the disaster as all refrigerators, pumps, payment processing systems, etc require power to run. Power is among the first things to go so thse will be your best bet.

Will keep you updated in case things get worse. Please stay tuned in to your local emergency management organizations. This is a very weak storm but a very good opportunity to practice, evaluate and revise your plans for the real diaster possibility as mentioned yesterday.