Dirkmonster

The epic Nashville flood - One year later

How symbolic it is that we have a gray and rainy day one year after the greatest flood the Nashville, TN area's known history.

A year later, Nashville is remembering the deadly torrent of water and marking the progress of the recovery.

We were in the middle of it on May 1-2, 2010 and I was able to capture some images.  Here is a repost of what I saw a year ago:

Video of the May 1 flash flood near our home in Brentwood, TN:

 

Lyn escaped from the flash flood but had to abandon her car which was a total loss:

http://www.dirkmonster.com/2010/05/escape-flood-waters.html

The Tennessee Volunteer Army clean-up:

http://www.dirkmonster.com/2010/05/tennessee-volunteer-army.html

Tornadoes threaten Middle Tennessee every year and they can wreak every bit as much havoc.  But I will never regard heavy rain in the same way.  Water is perhaps the most destructive force of nature.

 

 

Steve-O is one sober Jackass

"What's the most painful thing that ever happened to you?", asked a drunk girl in crowd at Zanies.

"Getting asked that same question every f---ing day is the most painful thing!", said Steve-O. And then later he put a lot of hair spray on his head and lit it on fire.

The most compelling side to Steve-O is that he's clean and sober going on three years now.  In his stand-up act he jokes that when Johnny Knoxville stages an intervention for you, it's a pretty clear indication there's a problem.

Although extraordinarily vulgar, Steve-O was pretty charming.  He was having a great time after the show taking pictures and signing autographs for anyone who wanted one.  He actually preferred to take the picture himself and afterwards reviewing it on the camera to make sure it came out.  You just don't expect that from a guy who tattoos four letter on his fingers.

Chilled in the moment

I took a plunge into the 45 degree water of Percy Priest Lake on New Year's Day and didn't want it to end.

It was an awakening to some of the spiritual forces that can make my life full on a daily basis.

• When I summon the courage to follow through on something I feel is right for me (especially when others think it's crazy), I feel good about myself. 
• I realize how something daunting is easier to face in community rather than alone.  I stood on the shore of that lake among hundreds of fellow "Polar Bears" and plunged forward without hesitation because we were doing it together.
• Overcoming the fear and stinking thinking is the greatest challenge.  When I woke up to find it was raining, I actually thought of skipping the plunge because it would be unpleasant to get wet and cold.  It was easy to see through how silly that rationalization was.  Maybe I can draw on that the next time I want to find an excuse to avoid the unknown - hitting the water was worth it and I am glad fear didn't deprive me of the experience.
• It is a good thing to leave my comfort zone for a bigger comfort zone.
• Submerging myself in frigid water is an awakening to how thrilling it is to be super concious in the moment.  Too often I spend the present moments that make up my daily life thinking about the past, worrying about the future or trying to escape reality by just tuning out the here and now.  I recognize how damaging it is and yet it's so tough for me to consistently overcome.  But when I went in that lake, all that disappeared naturally and the experience came alive in a mindful rush of the moment at hand.

So it all leaves me thinking, do I have to go to extremes to be alive in the moment?  Or could there be value in realizing that I have it in me and I would benefit from practicing mindfulness on dry land?

I am grateful to the YMCA's Camp Widjiwagan for organizing this event.  The programs and facilities of the YMCA have been a blessing to us over the years.

While this was my first "Polar Bear Plunge", cold water has been floating my boat for awhile.  Here's why. 

Lessons from Emma's cyber-security breach

Nashville based Emma, an email service provider to thousands of businesses, just experienced the ultimate nightmare scenario.  Hackers apparently compromised their database servers and accessed clients' email lists.  The company says that the hackers were able to export email lists and decode usernames and passwords in order to send spam from the client's own account. 

As an email marketing industry veteran, this gave me chills.  It's also an object lesson for me in the only way a company such as Emma can possibly survive it.  Just imagine if you were one of Emma's clients and you discovered your email service provider had been attacked, and unauthorized emails might have been sent to your customers from your account.  You're definitely thinking of finding a new company to host your email marketing capability.  But here's why if you're an Emma client, you have good reason to rest easier: Emma handled this crisis with transparency, made no excuses and you can bet they'll have the some of tightest security in the industry going forward.

Emma sent an email to customers alerting them to the situation and letting them know if they were affected.  Emma posted details about its embarrassing and business threatening disaster on the company's blog.  Emma got humble and asked for outside help to address the issues.  And Emma did it all in a timely manner.

Here are the lessons this underscores for me:

1. A company that has clients needs a blog and needs to know how to use it to build relationships. Emma had a blog and had made it relevant long before this crisis.  They had clearly gained the trust of many of their clients through the blog.  Otherwise, you would not see dozens of positive and supportive comments from customers in response to Emma's embarrassing debacle.
2. A company that has clients needs a disaster plan.  For big companies like Emma, a disaster plan is a required document in order to get certified.  Emma clearly had it and knew how to implement it.
3. I'll stick with a company that knows how to handle itself when the stuff hits the fan.  Every one of Emma's clients now has to make a decision about whether to stay or go.  I'm advising my clients to stay with Emma.  We now know we can trust them and they are now tested by fire.
4. A company with clients needs an email marketing strategy and, with few exceptions, should leave the technology to the experts.  Deploying commercial email is a technologically advanced undertaking.  And as this episode demonstrates, it's dangerous.  FedEx delivers packages, but does it make its own airplanes or trucks?  No, it outsources that critical technology to the people that do that for a living.
5. This is a warning that there are sophisticated, dedicated and capable cyber-terrorists out there with an ambition to ruin American businesses.  Companies should examine their own security and look also to ensure their vendors are, like Emma, prepared for an attack.

Companies with web-based services live on the edge.  The service can become instantly popular and grow at an incredible pace.  Just as quickly, it can disappear if those who run it have not cultivated the trust of their customers.

Tennessee volunteers cleaning up after flooding disaster

Before today I thought "The Volunteer State" was just a nickname.  I know it's the real deal now.  It's a spirit that's in action across neighborhoods and homes all over the state.  Today I saw it at work in the River Plantation neighborhood in Bellevue.

In this area, the volunteers seemed especially well coordinated.  I checked in at Crosspoint Church's command center where I was given a location to join up with others on the team.

Out in River Plantation, the water is gone and the demolition and cleanup is underway.  Hundreds, maybe more than a thousand volunteers are working in homes of people they've never met.  It's just there to be done and it's too much for anyone to handle on their own.  So strangers, an army of them, are working and working and working. 

There is a different group of volunteers serving the volunteers.  About every 15 minutes, a group comes by pulling coolers of bottled water and other drinks.  They also have homemade sandwiches and snack food.  They are cheerfully nourishing strangers helping strangers.

My mind cannot comprehend the devastation and loss.  There are thousands of victims of this flood that  lost everything.  At least one drowned right in this area week ago.  There is a profound sadness that stands in contrast to this bright sunny day.

The routine approach seems to be to haul 90% of the contents of the home outside and onto a trash pile. Then the flooring, carpet and padding is ripped out and piled up outside as well.  Then the outlet plates come off the walls.  Finally the water logged wall boards are torn out and piled up outside. Home after home with the contents, floor covering and walls in trash piles.

I worked inside the home of a woman in her 80's (many of River Plantation's residents are older folks).  Mrs. Wilma was trapped in her home with her husband last weekend as the flood waters rose so quickly that there was no escape for them.  She told me that just as the water was up to her neck, volunteers came by in a boat and rescued them.  This is what the flood caused:

Volunteers are taking it all outside to create this:

We found a few things that could be saved like some silver she said her mother gave to her.

Personally, I've never seen devastation like this.  But when loss beyond comprehension comes, so do the people in the spirit of love thy neighbor.  The Volunteer State is the real deal.

Downtown Nashville flooding pictures via Flickr

Some of the best still photos of the downtown Nashville area as the Cumberland river is over 10 feet above flood stage - May 3, 2010.

J.D. Souther sings "Best of My Love"

From my seat at the Tin Pan South songwriter festival - Hard Rock Cafe, Nashville.

J.D. Souther disses Jonathan Cain at Hard Rock

Song writer J.D. Souther admitted to being "snotty" Friday night as he repeatedly went passive aggressive on Jonathan Cain, a fellow legend.

I kept thinking, now I know why Don Henley thinks it's cool to be an arrogant jackass!

The scene was a Tin Pan South event in a packed room at The Hard Rock Cafe Nashville.  There, lined up on stage, were 4 incredible artists:

Jonathan Cain, who wrote many of Journey's greatest hits.

Brett James, who wrote four #1's last year.

Alyssa Bonagura, a youngster with rare talent.

And, Souther, with his foundational contribution to The Eagles catalog and other classics like "You're Only Lonely".

Cain began the night with a medley of the songs he contributed to Journey - tunes that sold 20 million copies of Journey's Greatest Hits.  When J.D. Souther's turn came around, he snidely described the melody as "chicken" and then showed Cain who his daddy was with an astounding rendition of New Kid in Town.  

That's the thing: Souther could say anything he wanted and then back it up with his book of music.  He could have let the music speak for itself and everyone would have noticed the contrast between Souther's and Cain's style: Poetry set to rock music and Pop cotton candy. Heartache Tonight vs. Don't Stop Believing.  Best of My Love vs. Lovin Touchin' Squeezin'.   Souther anchored the songwriter's rotation leaving Cain to follow him every time in the next round.  By the end of the night, Cain became the peanut butter in a Souther sandwich.

Souther: Plays New Kid in Town
Cain: Brings the crowd to its feet with Don't Stop Believin'.
Then the youngster Alyssa Bonagura offered a tribute to Souther by performing Faithless Love (along with her parents Michael Bonagura and Kathie Baillie of "Baillie & The Boys").

Souther even kicked Cain off his own keyboard so J.D.'s favored pianist could accompany him.  Anchoring the set, Souther glanced back at Cain and said, "What did Journey's Greatest Hits do? 10 million?" Souther chuckled as we all knew what was coming: (Eagles Greatest Hits) "30 million."

LP Lot R Parking a Preds Game Power Play

The new and affordable downtown parking option for Predators games added a thrill to tonight's 4-3 shootout victory.

The city of Nashville and Park It! Downtown have teamed up and fans are the winners.  My pal Scott Tansey and I rolled into Lot R at LP field this evening around 5:45 and were quickly directed to a space, parked and hopped a shuttle for $3 apiece that dropped us off less than a block from Bridgestone Arena.  The attendants were friendly, the shuttle buses were comfortable and clean, and the whole process moved swiftly.  On the way out, the buses were lined up at the corner and whisked us back over the river.  There wasn't even a jam getting out of the lot and onto the interstate.

The shuttle bus folks said there weren't many concert goers - maybe 60 cars or so - that used Lot R Monday night for the Muse concert at Bridgestone Arena.  Hockey fans, on the other hand, were fired up and excited about this alternative to the downtown snarl and the Central Parking rip off game.  Hundreds of cars came to Lot R - which offers over a thousand spaces.

Here's the bottom line: If you've got the time and your gang is not afraid to walk across the pedestrian bridge, this is a parking power play.  You can even claim you got your exercise in.  If you need to use the shuttle, perhaps because you have some little ones along or the weather is bad, it may add up to the cost of a downtown parking lot.  Still, it's less of a hassle than navigating the construction zone and vying for one of the few spots left downtown.  I'm going to walk it Thursday night and see how that goes.

The Park It! folks say the city is committed to this option through May when they'll evaluate how it's going.  I'm rooting for it to continue.

Central Parking is the latest Predator near Bridgestone Arena

The Predators came back from the Olympic break with an exciting 4-3 win over Edmonton Tuesday night.  On the Forecheck has all the victorious details.

A number of changes greeted Predators fans - all but one were pleasant.

Central Parking

Central Parking, the nationwide corporate behemoth with a tight grip on downtown Nashville parking, boosted prices as much as 50% to take advantage of a shortage of spaces produced by construction of the new convention center south of the arena.  In the Hilton underground garage, parking is now $15 (shout out to @joelhepler for picking that up).

I could have predicted these Robber Barons would pull something like this.  But the city should have as well.  Metro government could have prevented or curtailed such "predatory" business practices as part of the convention center plan.

We should be interested to learn how much the city paid central parking for its lot south of the arena and how much revenues jump over the 36 months as construction constricts downtown parking.

I heard a lot of people talking about it at the game - please comment below on other lots or better solutions before I go broke before the end of the season.