Randomly Thinking

Wow ... This hurricane is the worst I've seen ... I lived through Allision and picked up the Blonde Queen from a flooded out car on a Saturday morning. Katrina is exponentially greater than Allison.

More tomorrow. Tonight, I'm fried.

A new feature for hurricane info: the blog.

Here's one of the best posts I've seen.

Read the post at 4:52 p.m.

My wife thinks I'm the only one that focuses on #2.

It's been a pleasant Sunday in Houston. Real life reality TV is unfolding in front of our eyes on CNN, FNC, and MSNBC. Hurricane Katrina is going to hit the Gulf Coast and level a significant portion of of Louisiana and/or Mississippi.

It's funny. On Friday, I stepped out of the shower and heard the Today Show talk about the path of the storm and mention Fort Walton Beach and Destin. Because of family interests, I laughed when I heard that. Here we go again for storm number three to hit that area. I was in Destin in March and they were still recovering from Ivan.

Then on Saturday, it had Biloxi and New Orleans in mind. But, the turn hadn't happened at that time. It could still head to Houston, depending on some upper level winds and various pressure systems.

This morning I woke up for my long run as I train for the Chicago Marathon. That's when I heard it was a category 5 storm. After a two hour run, I spent the better part of the day between tasks with the television on one of the cable news channels watching this storm move toward the Big Easy. This is real life reality television.

Over the past few years, we watched Big Brother, Fear Factor, The Bachelor, and Survivor. Those shows got ratings and created water cooler chat. Now, it's Survivor New Orleans. Real Life, In Front of Your Eyes.

I studied hurricanes in a couple classes at the University of Wisconsin. Camille was always a benchmark for studies. The hurricane parties that happened with storms, the damage, the development of the numerical strength category always used Camille as a guidepost until Andrew came along. Camille is still a bigger benchmark in many academic's minds because it is a more studied storm. Katrina will trump both Camille and Andrew in magnitude, real dollar damage, and more.

Tomorrow evening, we'll see what's left of the city and see how the oil markets reacted to the situation.

Thoughts:

- Astros need to score runs. Fast. Clemens is pitching his brains out and has no run support. Why return next year?

- The Texans could be in a lot of trouble this year.

- So might the Badgers.

- NASCAR is the new great American sport.

- Cruises are the best vacations to take.

- I'm gonna miss New Orleans. It was a great weekend getaway. Great food at Court of Two Sisters, the Port of Call, and Felix's. Plus the Sheraton - a great hotel on Canal Street. Then, there's the Tropical Isle - a must stop on any trip to New Orleans. I've always said "I love going to New Orleans and I love leaving New Orleans."

Time to exit ... Coming up more reporters getting blown away by the storm.

-30-

Back to the blog after a busy summer. It shouldn't be too hard to update a blog on a regular basis, but I've been a slacker when it comes to posting. I'm going to try to post on a regular basis now that football season is here and the baseball playoffs are approaching (the Astros won't make it).

For starters and speaking of slackers, here's a new website that I love: Slacker Manager. This dude writes about business issues and more.

I'm also a big fan of Richard Justice in the Houston Chronicle. For an old dude, he's pretty hip and knows how to entertain and inform. He's fantastic on Sportsradio 610 on Wednesdays with his behind the scenes info and the stories that don't get printed on the newsprint or posted on a reputable website.

This morning, I went to Wal-Mart down the road from my house. I needed chlorine for the pool. I searched the Wal-Mart for the chemical and couldn't find it. I asked the overweight teenager who was wearing a Wal-Mart smock and hovered near an endcap. I asked where the chemicals for a pool were located. He said they were a seasonal item and had been removed in favor of Halloween candy. Halloween is still 65 days away. In Houston, the temperature is going to be in the 90s for the next three weeks - at least. Pool maintenance is going to be required through November.

Now, this story is not meant to bash Wal-Mart, but to illustrate a point. Wal-Mart's distribution system is renowned in the world of supply-chain management. But, while moving almost all operations to a central location (Arkansas), they've taken the regionality out of their stores. In southern Missouri, pool season is almost over. Give it another month. In Houston, I'll need chlorine in November. The local manager didn't make this decision. He or she was told to stock this product and make sure the floors are swept. No local decisions.

If Wal-Mart wanted to shed it's big, bad image, it should embrace the local community. Pool supplies in Houston shouldn't be a seasonal item. But, since the buyer and merchandiser are in Bentonville, Arkansas, the decision is made beyond the store and regional level. Hell, even soda is purchased through Bentonville. I'd have to do the research, but I bet more Dr. Pepper is stocked in Texas than in Montana. So, pool chemicals could fall into that category.

Wal-Mart is still an American success story and not the big bad monster. Yes, it forced traditional retailers out of the game. That's the way the business world works. A better business model will win. The market always prevails - unless you're in Cuba. Eventually the market will prevail there too and then they'll be some fantastic diving.

Enough for today. The real reason the postings were few and far between - I was editing the novel. Look for publication in late November. It'll be a great book and self-published.

Now, back to complete coverage of the Little League World Series on the ESPN family of networks. Is it me or is a little creepy that this event gets more play than the Tour de France? These are 12-year-olds. Too bad for ESPN that Michael Jackson isn't a Nielsen household. Coming this week - football chatter.


-30-