ARE YOU CELEBRATING YOUR THIRTIETH? OR IS IT 29? REGARDLESS - WE HOPE YOU HAVE A FABULOUS, RELAXING DAY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHERINE.!!!
I FORGOT.....IT'S CATIE NOW, ISN'T IT. 10 YEARS OLD??? WOW! DOUBLE DIGITS...
80 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Happy BIrthday Grace! I believe she is 31 because last year she rang in the "dirty thirties." Also a belated birthday to Ellen. I hope you both enjoy celbrating!
Hopefully some of you realized I was not blogging all week. Long story short: our computer died and I really hope you all have heeded Ed's previous warnings about back up anything important. We were able to retrieve about 75% of our photos but lost all our music and lots of documents that we don't really need, but things I wanted to hold on to, like tests I had written, lesson plans, etc. Oh well.
I too am curious as to what's going on with Mely and the neurologist and steroids.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE AND CATHERINE!! SORRY I`M NOT A VERY GOOD WRITER FROM JANUARY 28 I HAVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE EVERYDAY. TWO M.R.I`S TWO BLOD TEST AND IMITREX AND TOPOMAX AND MEDICINE NOT WORK SO MY NEW DR. NEUROLOGIST GIVE ME STEROIDS FRIDAY THE 13 AND TODAY THE 15 OF APRIL TODAY I THING IS WORKING YES STEROIDS IS ONLY FOR A WEEK THEN IF THE PAIN GO I WILL BE PAIN FREE BUT IF NO I WILL BE DOING ONE MORE TEST. THE ONE THEY DID IN IOWA CITY ON 1992 I PRAY TO GOD THAT I GET WELL THAT`S MY STORY
Well, I know Grace took a nap and went to a football game... Catie gets to go to an Omaha Royals game today - 20 kids from every school in the metro area get to go based on grades, and one (randomly chosen) gets to throw out the first ball. She's pretty sure it will be her. I'd love to see that. Went to a nice party at Mary & Mike's yesterday - they hosted one for Kathleen Egan's kids Jack and Laura, who made their first communions. Lots of good food. Kathleen is the casserole queen of Nebraska - lots of good, gooey, cheesy, crunchy food and good desserts.
Oh, My phone just died while speaking to Cathy!!! Happy birthday Catherine!!! Hope you get to throw out the first pitch. It's a GREAT day here for a game, 75 and Sunny. Happy birthday Grace!!! Hope you had a great one. Did you get your favorite meal? Spahetti amd meatballs..chinese...steak??? Let us know?
Happy birthday Catherine and Grace! One of you is tatooed & straight haired Ho died on your birthday! Tiny bubbles to celebrate! The birthdays of 2 girls so pretty and great!
A guy walked into Virgina Tech and lined up a bunch of students and shot them with a hand gun. 43 people shot and 22 dead. He's dead too, but I don't know, "how."
It's the deadliest school shooting in US history! If you click on CNN.com there is some very amazing video...one from a student holding a cell phone video camera... the videos are surreal because some of the students are walking among cops on their way to class, like they don't know what's going on...it's very sad. They say the shooter is dead now, but there still are ambulances coming and going!
What I don't get is that the shootings occurred at 2 separate campus locations 2 hours apart. the first was in a dorm around 7am and the 2nd in a classroom. Did the college notify students that a gunman had killed a buncha students in the dorm, wasn't caught or killed yet, and maybe this is a good day to skip class? What would you do as a student and you were notified of a gunman loose on campus? Go to class? Hunker down? Leave campus? If the gut was loose after the first round of shootings, how long does it take for the police to react? Was the gut a West Virginia fan?
I understand that the police thought they were dealing with an isolated incident with the first shooting. As a parent, listening to news of this is just gut wrenching.
Yet another thing to teach our children...how to respond if there is an incident like this on campus. I just talked about this the other day with Joe...after the high school kids were killed by a tornado in one of the southern states. I told him that if someone is telling him to go here or there in an emergency...and if he thinks there what he is being told isn't right...or he has a better idea...to do it...because you can't count on other people to keep you safe.
My mother lives less than two hours from this campus...and several of my cousins and second cousins went to college there. It's a great school...so sad that this is going to be how it is going to be thought of in the years ahead...
That's good advice Kelli...I think that often times in emergencies the people in charge are not very "flexible" thinkers...that school should have been shut down at 7:30am...the first e-mail to the students was sent at 9:30, it's amazing. I think our cousin, Robert Z., didn't listen to what they told people on his floor to do, on 911...and he fled down many flights out of Tower 2 and saved his and other's lives... Say a prayer for all these kids! Caitlin has a good friend at Notre Dame who is from that town and has been trying to call his friends who attend VT, but there is no phone service.
I think there is such a reaction on the part of people in authority to try to avoid a panic that they are totally geared toward keeping a lid on situations. My guess is that the president of VTech is a goner. How do you teach your kids that 99% of the time they should cooperate and keep things running smoothly, but sometimes you just have to trust your gut? This is going to (hopefully) make college administrations and any large campus organizations reexamine their lines of communication and policies. It seems obvious now that they should have cancelled everything, but it's interesting that most of the students being interviewed don't seem to be pointing fingers or blaming the administration. It's a huge place - in a town of 26,000, if there was a shooting on one end of town, would you try to shut the town down, close businesses, tell everyone to stay home?
Have you filed your taxes yet? The great state of Kansas apparently feels that since South Dakota doesn't have a state income tax, Joe should just pay Kansas income taxes on money he earned while living in South Dakota. Rapacious. Poll: How many have ever filed for extensions on income taxes?
I agree...when do yah know that you should stay put and when you should examine other options in a situation that is unpredictable?
I find it unfortunate that police and the administration could be found, to some degree, culpable because they were unable to predict the actions of a crazy person. Hmm. Who knows.
It's being referred to "a town of 26,000" by the Admin., it's their spin, they made a mistake, no doubt! They had a shooting of an 18 year old girl and another student, they are children in their care...They didn't have the shooter, they should have cancelled classes! They could have avoided the massacre! (don't forget they had bomb threats last Friday!) The police chief or security head and the Pres. should be fired.
I agree that classes should have been cancelled. The whole place should have been off limits after the first shooting. How do you just continue the day as if nothing has happened knowing that there is a shooter running around?
I like Blake too. Of course those girls can REALLY sing, (melinda, LaQuisha and Jordan) but I usually don't like the songs they choose.
I feel badly for me being forced to watch it. I only watch it so I can spend time with Nance. Think she would do the same with me and my football or American Gladiator reruns? No way.
I don't actually watch it. I just see the wrapup on the Today show the next morning. The Today show has become NBC's pimp, shilling all their network offerings in between real news reports and fashion, cooking and lifestyle features. Stevo alwaysswitches toCNN when I'm out of the room and I always switch back when he's out of the room. Gotta catch those fashion bulletins.
Happy Birthday Catie!!!!!!!! Your gift will be latie. Sorry!!!!!!! Thanks for the b-day wishes, everyone. Ryan and I went out for a really good steak dinner Saturday, and his mom kept the kids overnight. We had a good time. Mely, I hope your headaches go away. My fingers are crossed for you. I agree that they should have cancelled classes at VTech. Even though they say thousands of students are in transit by 7 a.m, and they thought it was an isolated incident, the fact remains they did not have the shooter in custody. Not to mention two violent deaths on campus. Faculty should have been notified and instructed to inform students there was an emergency situation involving a violent crime, and to advise them to stay off campus or at least stay alert. That doesn't guarantee everyone's safety but it keeps them informed of possible danger. Universities cancel classes for inclement weather - there's already a system in place for disseminating information.
I tried to copy here what Randy sent out regarding the Blacksburg shootings... he has a job going there now, but I cannot figure how to paste the message here... Pat and Cathy have it. If they know how, that would be nice to do.
About emergency responders...if they would have changed the profile of the shooter and called him a possible terrorist..(they are all trained (now) to respond to terror threats)...they would have had that campus SOOO locked down, think about it. Instead, a young girl is killed by a maniac, and some idiot calls it a DOMESTIC dispute...they should have given her death the dignity she deserved...if he had first shot a man, it would have been a different response.
We received a 4 page letter from St. Mary's a few months ago with their plan of action if the bird flu hits...it's pretty impressive.
I've implemented an emergency plan at my office in the case of a deranged shooter. The secretary deals with him primarily (she's the receptionist, after all) and she's got the paralegal for backup. Meanwhile I'm out the back door. Not out of cowardice, you understand, but outside the back door is my emergency base of operations from which I can direct resources to neutralize the situation. This arrangement also works, as an emergency response protocol, for salesmen and the endless parade of community people looking for a hand-out.
I'm not sure why everyone is in such a hurry to blame the cops or the school administration. From what I've read and heard the two killings were hours apart with the belief that the gunman had fled after the first killing (they do in 99.99 percent of the cases, don't they?)
And there is talk that there should have been a lock down of the campus. A 2600 acre campus - I'm not real good in judging area but this sounds like the campus was at least the area of say...Algona.
If I were a cop in charge of investigating the first killing I would assume that the killer had fled. And I would think twice about putting the campus on lockdown - can you imagine the criticism they would have come under if ordered a lockdown and only the first killing in the dorm had taken place. "Stupid cops - 2 weeks away from finals and they screw up our schedules."
However, now there will be copy cat killings and a lockdown will be a logical protocol.
I don't know about a knee-jerk lock-down (how can you assume the killer is off campus? It is, after all a double homicide in a campus dorm etc.) but they should have instantly put out as much accurate information as was available to them. So not all the students check their e-mail- a lot will and that's the kind of news that gets around. As far as " Well, a lot of people are in transit at that time" etc.) that's an idiotic comment. Every person you can notify is a person equipped with the best information available. If we can't save all the kids, let's not save any of them?
I seem to remember some initial reports that they thought/assumed, perhaps, that one of the first victims was, probably, the shooter...or,something like that.
Pat, your flashdance singer is going to be featured on one of NPR's music programs. I just forget which one.
We got a shiny new refridgerator today. Any one need one. We have a black side by side if anyone wants it. I'd take it down to the farm if I could figure out a way to get it there easily.
Lisa, This is what I sent out to RDG. You can pass it along if you want:
I am sure everyone has heard all about the tragedy at Virginia Tech by now. For those who do not know, St. Mary's Catholic Church in Blacksburg is a client of RDG. We designed the new church that is currently under construction. Virginia Tech is a beautiful school and until now a very peaceful place.
At least one of their parishioners, a professor, was killed leaving behind a wife and three young children. Fr. Jim has been at the hospital since 10:00 am yesterday meeting with families.
Basically Tom, I was agreeing with you about the rush to judgement regarding lockdown. Perhaps they should have, perhaps not. I can"t fathom the manpower needed to completely seal the perimeter of the campus. That said, I do think the University should have gotten better information out much more quickly. They knew right away that the gunman had fled which means they knew that a gun-toting killer was loose and his last known location was on campus.
How could you call for a lockdown? Its a college campus, with too many building to lock where the shooter might have been in. That a bigger nightmare that would have been.
Regarding the first shots, the shooter was descripted as a white male with different color hair(I think).
Scott pays $15 at the local barber. When he's in downtown LA he goes to a Korean lady for $12 and it includes a neck massage. No happy endings, so don't even go there.
I agree that a lockdown was not feesible, however, if there was a gunman on the loose in Algona, don't you think the community would like to know information to that effect. For their own protection as well as to possibly be on the lookout. I just can't understand carrying on with the rest of the day as if nothing had happened.
When the story first came out it was reported that the authorities were fairly certian that the killer was headed out of state. Maybe that had something to do with thier lag time in notifying the students.
I'm not sure why they thought he was headed out of state. But if they were fairly certian that was the case I could see the logic in not wanting to create a panic situation.
The part I don't understand is the lag time between the first shooting and notification of the "real" police...apparently the campus security was handling it for atleast an hour before a call even went out. Then again, I think, couldn't they have immediately told everyone to stay where they were and closed all entrances and summoned police immediately? I agree with m.e. that they sort of trivialized the first girl's murder. Catie asked me to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and also to tell everyone that she had to go to the emergency room last night and get stitches in her foot from an accident involving a bike, a roller skate shoe and a sandal. The details are not very forthcoming. She left a chunk of flesh at the scene of the accident and her stitches are pretty uncomfortable because they just brought the edges together over the hole and sewed away. I told her a kitty probably ate it by now. Mia says her toes hurt too.
Who knows how feasible a "lockdown" is on a campus that size? With the advantage of hindsight, I think whenever there's a homicide on a college campus, classes should be cancelled but everyone kept where they are right then. Of course, in this instance, that might not have saved any lives. Imagine trying to "lock down" the campuses of Iowa State or Iowa or KU - they're just so big. What does that mean? Exactly what is it that could have been done?
Here's my thought: the hauling isnt the issue. it's whether or not Monica's refirgerator will fit into the slot the old one fit into. I do believe it's time for another Kennedy family vacation weekend at the farm, this time with a tape measure in tow.
Isn't the refigerator at the end of the counter in (kind of) an open area? Like there isn't a cut out spot in the kitchen for the fridge like other more modern kitchens. Almost any refigerator would fit there, wouldn't it?
Remember about 6 months ago there was a CAMPUS LOCKDOWN because of a supposed gunman on the loose NEAR campus...that was Virginia Tech! Google it, you'll see...also, they didn't use their loudspeakers.
Some of you haven't seen fancy brochures from universities welcoming your child into their college family, to be nurtured, cared for (they aren't adults yet, some of them are im marching bands!) and then turned out into the adult world...I'm not an angry person just trying to complain, I REALLY feel they screwed up, big time...:-(
By the way, I'm very impressed with the student body at VT, on tv they all seem smart and good looking and polite...the victims also, lots of great students...and the 75 year old professor who tried to save some of his students...it's so sad.
Some parents did get ahold of their kids and put them in "lockdown" from info on the news, after the first shots! That's a parent, hours away, lucky enough to hear the news!
AP just sent out an alert that said Cho sent a package to NBC in the two hours between shootings. It contained photographs and a lengthy manifesto. That explains where he was between shootings: waiting in line at the post office on tax day.
That's amazing (NBC needs the boost!)...he did use the US mail, and (unlike FEDex) i think you still have to wait in line to send pkgs...it's weird. I wonder why no postal worker has been on tv...probably cause it was a busy tax day..
What type of vehicle do you use to tow a tape measure? Is it a very small flatbed trailer with rubber bumpers on all four sides so that the tape measure can ride upright?
It's a beautiful morning in Iowa. Blue skies, warm. How was Phelan's show? I'm worried that a black fridge might not go with the farm kitchen decor. Can we spray-paint it? I'm thinking a nice shade of blue.
I think black would give the kitchen that little edge it needs. More than one decorator says you should have at least one black item in every room. It gives "punctuation." The fridge would be a big balloonlike exclamation point. I am in favor of punctuation. By the way, wait till you see the living room. Say, Stevo and I have talked about this before...now we are trying to set up Memorial Day weekend as scraping and painting weekend for the house. Come on. Who can come? If nobody else does, maybe we can do one side at least, but I bet some of you could. We could devise some kind of competition if that's what it takes.
80 comments:
Happy BIrthday Grace! I believe she is 31 because last year she rang in the "dirty thirties." Also a belated birthday to Ellen. I hope you both enjoy celbrating!
Hopefully some of you realized I was not blogging all week. Long story short: our computer died and I really hope you all have heeded Ed's previous warnings about back up anything important. We were able to retrieve about 75% of our photos but lost all our music and lots of documents that we don't really need, but things I wanted to hold on to, like tests I had written, lesson plans, etc. Oh well.
I too am curious as to what's going on with Mely and the neurologist and steroids.
Oh my gosh, Happy Birthday to Catherine too!
happy birthday grace and catie. do anything fun?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE AND CATHERINE!! SORRY I`M NOT A VERY GOOD WRITER
FROM JANUARY 28 I HAVE MIGRAINE HEADACHE EVERYDAY. TWO M.R.I`S TWO BLOD TEST AND IMITREX AND TOPOMAX AND MEDICINE NOT WORK SO MY NEW DR. NEUROLOGIST GIVE ME STEROIDS FRIDAY THE 13 AND TODAY THE 15 OF APRIL TODAY I THING IS WORKING YES STEROIDS IS ONLY FOR A WEEK THEN IF THE PAIN GO
I WILL BE PAIN FREE BUT IF NO I WILL BE DOING ONE MORE TEST. THE ONE THEY DID IN IOWA CITY ON 1992
I PRAY TO GOD THAT I GET WELL THAT`S MY STORY
LOVE EVERYBODY
MELY
Happy Happy Birthday Birthday
to you and you too.
Happy 31st Birthday, Grace!
Whatcha do?
Happy 10th Birthday, Catie!
Whatch get?
Wyeth is going crazy. Gained about 18% value in the last month. Most of those gains last week and today.
Well, Mely, I hope it all works out and you stay healthy and headache free.
P
Well, I know Grace took a nap and went to a football game... Catie gets to go to an Omaha Royals game today - 20 kids from every school in the metro area get to go based on grades, and one (randomly chosen) gets to throw out the first ball. She's pretty sure it will be her. I'd love to see that.
Went to a nice party at Mary & Mike's yesterday - they hosted one for Kathleen Egan's kids Jack and Laura, who made their first communions. Lots of good food. Kathleen is the casserole queen of Nebraska - lots of good, gooey, cheesy, crunchy food and good desserts.
Mely- hope everything goes OK and the steroids work. We'll be praying for you.
Em - sorry about your computer. What a drag.
Oh, My phone just died while speaking to Cathy!!!
Happy birthday Catherine!!! Hope you get to throw out the first pitch. It's a GREAT day here for a game, 75 and Sunny.
Happy birthday Grace!!! Hope you had a great one. Did you get your favorite meal? Spahetti amd meatballs..chinese...steak??? Let us know?
Happy birthday Catherine and Grace!
One of you is tatooed & straight haired
Ho died on your birthday!
Tiny bubbles to celebrate!
The birthdays of 2 girls so pretty and great!
A guy walked into Virgina Tech and lined up a bunch of students and shot them with a hand gun. 43 people shot and 22 dead. He's dead too, but I don't know, "how."
It's the deadliest school shooting in US history! If you click on CNN.com there is some very amazing video...one from a student holding a cell phone video camera... the videos are surreal because some of the students are walking among cops on their way to class, like they don't know what's going on...it's very sad. They say the shooter is dead now, but there still are ambulances coming and going!
Currently:
32 Dead
21 Wounded
What I don't get is that the shootings occurred at 2 separate campus locations 2 hours apart. the first was in a dorm around 7am and the 2nd in a classroom. Did the college notify students that a gunman had killed a buncha students in the dorm, wasn't caught or killed yet, and maybe this is a good day to skip class? What would you do as a student and you were notified of a gunman loose on campus? Go to class? Hunker down? Leave campus? If the gut was loose after the first round of shootings, how long does it take for the police to react? Was the gut a West Virginia fan?
I understand that the police thought they were dealing with an isolated incident with the first shooting. As a parent, listening to news of this is just gut wrenching.
Yet another thing to teach our children...how to respond if there is an incident like this on campus. I just talked about this the other day with Joe...after the high school kids were killed by a tornado in one of the southern states. I told him that if someone is telling him to go here or there in an emergency...and if he thinks there what he is being told isn't right...or he has a better idea...to do it...because you can't count on other people to keep you safe.
My mother lives less than two hours from this campus...and several of my cousins and second cousins went to college there. It's a great school...so sad that this is going to be how it is going to be thought of in the years ahead...
Kelli
Well, after all that sadness, back to some fun.
Happy birthday, Grace and Catie!
Grace and Catie,
Catie and Grace,
Make look good
the human race
they do.
Yoda talk.
Randy has a job going in Blacksburg.
Happy Birthday Catie and Gracie.
Hope you had fun. It was perfect ouside.
Love,
Monica, Joe, Ellen,Sean, Tom and Peter
That's good advice Kelli...I think that often times in emergencies the people in charge are not very "flexible" thinkers...that school should have been shut down at 7:30am...the first e-mail to the students was sent at 9:30, it's amazing. I think our cousin, Robert Z., didn't listen to what they told people on his floor to do, on 911...and he fled down many flights out of Tower 2 and saved his and other's lives... Say a prayer for all these kids!
Caitlin has a good friend at Notre Dame who is from that town and has been trying to call his friends who attend VT, but there is no phone service.
And where was Randy yesterday morning?
I'm in my office today for the first time since I broke my foot, it's weird!
I think there is such a reaction on the part of people in authority to try to avoid a panic that they are totally geared toward keeping a lid on situations. My guess is that the president of VTech is a goner. How do you teach your kids that 99% of the time they should cooperate and keep things running smoothly, but sometimes you just have to trust your gut? This is going to (hopefully) make college administrations and any large campus organizations reexamine their lines of communication and policies. It seems obvious now that they should have cancelled everything, but it's interesting that most of the students being interviewed don't seem to be pointing fingers or blaming the administration. It's a huge place - in a town of 26,000, if there was a shooting on one end of town, would you try to shut the town down, close businesses, tell everyone to stay home?
Have you filed your taxes yet?
The great state of Kansas apparently feels that since South Dakota doesn't have a state income tax, Joe should just pay Kansas income taxes on money he earned while living in South Dakota. Rapacious.
Poll: How many have ever filed for extensions on income taxes?
I agree...when do yah know that you should stay put and when you should examine other options in a situation that is unpredictable?
I find it unfortunate that police and the administration could be found, to some degree, culpable because they were unable to predict the actions of a crazy person. Hmm. Who knows.
I don't think Sanjaya's so bad...
Blake has always been my favorite since the audition process.
It's being referred to "a town of 26,000" by the Admin., it's their spin, they made a mistake, no doubt! They had a shooting of an 18 year old girl and another student, they are children in their care...They didn't have the shooter, they should have cancelled classes! They could have avoided the massacre! (don't forget they had bomb threats last Friday!) The police chief or security head and the Pres. should be fired.
Happy Birthday Grace & Catie!
The only upside to this shooting is that we won't have to hear about Anna Nicole and Don Imus ad nauseum.
I'm not sure you can so quickly call for people to get fired without all the facts.
Tom
I agree that classes should have been cancelled. The whole place should have been off limits after the first shooting. How do you just continue the day as if nothing has happened knowing that there is a shooter running around?
I like Blake too. Of course those girls can REALLY sing, (melinda, LaQuisha and Jordan) but I usually don't like the songs they choose.
I feel badly for Melinda. Although, she has great talent...I think her, "look," may hold her back. :-( I liked the, "edgy," girl they voted off.
I feel badly for me being forced to watch it. I only watch it so I can spend time with Nance. Think she would do the same with me and my football or American Gladiator reruns? No way.
Tom
Wah, wah.
I don't actually watch it. I just see the wrapup on the Today show the next morning. The Today show has become NBC's pimp, shilling all their network offerings in between real news reports and fashion, cooking and lifestyle features. Stevo alwaysswitches toCNN when I'm out of the room and I always switch back when he's out of the room. Gotta catch those fashion bulletins.
Happy Birthday Catie!!!!!!!! Your gift will be latie. Sorry!!!!!!!
Thanks for the b-day wishes, everyone. Ryan and I went out for a really good steak dinner Saturday, and his mom kept the kids overnight. We had a good time.
Mely, I hope your headaches go away. My fingers are crossed for you.
I agree that they should have cancelled classes at VTech. Even though they say thousands of students are in transit by 7 a.m, and they thought it was an isolated incident, the fact remains they did not have the shooter in custody. Not to mention two violent deaths on campus. Faculty should have been notified and instructed to inform students there was an emergency situation involving a violent crime, and to advise them to stay off campus or at least stay alert. That doesn't guarantee everyone's safety but it keeps them informed of possible danger. Universities cancel classes for inclement weather - there's already a system in place for disseminating information.
I hate the Today show and GMA now because I never get any real news. And there are a billion commercials.
A billion? Yea, that's too many.
Tom
I tried to copy here what Randy sent out regarding the Blacksburg shootings... he has a job going there now, but I cannot figure how to paste the message here...
Pat and Cathy have it. If they know how, that would be nice to do.
About emergency responders...if they would have changed the profile of the shooter and called him a possible terrorist..(they are all trained (now) to respond to terror threats)...they would have had that campus SOOO locked down, think about it. Instead, a young girl is killed by a maniac, and some idiot calls it a DOMESTIC dispute...they should have given her death the dignity she deserved...if he had first shot a man, it would have been a different response.
We received a 4 page letter from St. Mary's a few months ago with their plan of action if the bird flu hits...it's pretty impressive.
I've implemented an emergency plan at my office in the case of a deranged shooter. The secretary deals with him primarily (she's the receptionist, after all) and she's got the paralegal for backup. Meanwhile I'm out the back door. Not out of cowardice, you understand, but outside the back door is my emergency base of operations from which I can direct resources to neutralize the situation. This arrangement also works, as an emergency response protocol, for salesmen and the endless parade of community people looking for a hand-out.
I'm not sure why everyone is in such a hurry to blame the cops or the school administration. From what I've read and heard the two killings were hours apart with the belief that the gunman had fled after the first killing (they do in 99.99 percent of the cases, don't they?)
And there is talk that there should have been a lock down of the campus. A 2600 acre campus - I'm not real good in judging area but this sounds like the campus was at least the area of say...Algona.
If I were a cop in charge of investigating the first killing I would assume that the killer had fled. And I would think twice about putting the campus on lockdown - can you imagine the criticism they would have come under if ordered a lockdown and only the first killing in the dorm had taken place. "Stupid cops - 2 weeks away from finals and they screw up our schedules."
However, now there will be copy cat killings and a lockdown will be a logical protocol.
Tom
I don't know about a knee-jerk lock-down (how can you assume the killer is off campus? It is, after all a double homicide in a campus dorm etc.) but they should have instantly put out as much accurate information as was available to them. So not all the students check their e-mail- a lot will and that's the kind of news that gets around. As far as " Well, a lot of people are in transit at that time" etc.) that's an idiotic comment. Every person you can notify is a person equipped with the best information available. If we can't save all the kids, let's not save any of them?
I really don't quite understand your point.
I'm just saying that the very day this thing happened people were calling for heads to roll without knowing all the facts.
Tom
I seem to remember some initial reports that they thought/assumed, perhaps, that one of the first victims was, probably, the shooter...or,something like that.
Mely,
are you feling better yet? I hope so.
Pat, your flashdance singer is going to be featured on one of NPR's music programs. I just forget which one.
We got a shiny new refridgerator today. Any one need one. We have a black side by side if anyone wants it. I'd take it down to the farm if I could figure out a way to get it there easily.
Take it to the farm! Put it in the Explorer and drive it down.
Something tells me that you will need a pick-up truck. :-)
Nonesense! I am sure it will fit in the Explorer if you take the back seats out. Nance can help you.
Since you took a vacation at the farm you owe it.
It won't fit. The Explorer isn't tall enough. Unless, it's the double-decker style Explorer...than, it may. :-)
Lisa,
This is what I sent out to RDG. You can pass it along if you want:
I am sure everyone has heard all about the tragedy at Virginia Tech
by now. For those who do not know, St. Mary's Catholic Church in
Blacksburg
is a client of RDG. We designed the new church that is currently under
construction.
Virginia Tech is a beautiful school and until now a very peaceful place.
At least one of their parishioners, a professor, was killed leaving behind
a wife and
three young children. Fr. Jim has been at the hospital since 10:00 am
yesterday meeting
with families.
This is truely a small world.
Randall L. Milbrath, AIA
Basically Tom, I was agreeing with you about the rush to judgement regarding lockdown. Perhaps they should have, perhaps not. I can"t fathom the manpower needed to completely seal the perimeter of the campus. That said, I do think the University should have gotten better information out much more quickly. They knew right away that the gunman had fled which means they knew that a gun-toting killer was loose and his last known location was on campus.
How could you call for a lockdown? Its a college campus, with too many building to lock where the shooter might have been in. That a bigger nightmare that would have been.
Regarding the first shots, the shooter was descripted as a white male with different color hair(I think).
That last post wasn't me.
Tom
My Dad pays $8 and I think that's too much! He say that he pays them to, "find 'em," not necessarily cut 'em! Ha, ha. :-)
Scott pays $15 at the local barber. When he's in downtown LA he goes to a Korean lady for $12 and it includes a neck massage. No happy endings, so don't even go there.
I agree that a lockdown was not feesible, however, if there was a gunman on the loose in Algona, don't you think the community would like to know information to that effect. For their own protection as well as to possibly be on the lookout. I just can't understand carrying on with the rest of the day as if nothing had happened.
When the story first came out it was reported that the authorities were fairly certian that the killer was headed out of state. Maybe that had something to do with thier lag time in notifying the students.
I'm not sure why they thought he was headed out of state. But if they were fairly certian that was the case I could see the logic in not wanting to create a panic situation.
Tom
The part I don't understand is the lag time between the first shooting and notification of the "real" police...apparently the campus security was handling it for atleast an hour before a call even went out. Then again, I think, couldn't they have immediately told everyone to stay where they were and closed all entrances and summoned police immediately? I agree with m.e. that they sort of trivialized the first girl's murder.
Catie asked me to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and also to tell everyone that she had to go to the emergency room last night and get stitches in her foot from an accident involving a bike, a roller skate shoe and a sandal. The details are not very forthcoming. She left a chunk of flesh at the scene of the accident and her stitches are pretty uncomfortable because they just brought the edges together over the hole and sewed away. I told her a kitty probably ate it by now. Mia says her toes hurt too.
Who knows how feasible a "lockdown" is on a campus that size? With the advantage of hindsight, I think whenever there's a homicide on a college campus, classes should be cancelled but everyone kept where they are right then. Of course, in this instance, that might not have saved any lives. Imagine trying to "lock down" the campuses of Iowa State or Iowa or KU - they're just so big. What does that mean? Exactly what is it that could have been done?
So what will St. Mary's do in the event of a bird flu outbreak?
Hey! I'M, "just asking." Who the heck are you? I'm confused. Oh, wait a minute...am I, "confused?"
That was me.
Whew.
BAck to the refrigerator.
Here's my thought: the hauling isnt the issue. it's whether or not Monica's refirgerator will fit into the slot the old one fit into.
I do believe it's time for another Kennedy family vacation weekend at the farm, this time with a tape measure in tow.
We're off to Phoenix for 4 days. Everyone have a great weekend!
Isn't the refigerator at the end of the counter in (kind of) an open area? Like there isn't a cut out spot in the kitchen for the fridge like other more modern kitchens. Almost any refigerator would fit there, wouldn't it?
Remember about 6 months ago there was a CAMPUS LOCKDOWN because of a supposed gunman on the loose NEAR campus...that was Virginia Tech! Google it, you'll see...also, they didn't use their loudspeakers.
Some of you haven't seen fancy brochures from universities welcoming your child into their college family, to be nurtured, cared for (they aren't adults yet, some of them are im marching bands!) and then turned out into the adult world...I'm not an angry person just trying to complain, I REALLY feel they screwed up, big time...:-(
Regarding the space, at farm, for fridge: Oh yah...I think so. :-)
By the way, I'm very impressed with the student body at VT, on tv they all seem smart and good looking and polite...the victims also, lots of great students...and the 75 year old professor who tried to save some of his students...it's so sad.
Some parents did get ahold of their kids and put them in "lockdown" from info on the news, after the first shots! That's a parent, hours away, lucky enough to hear the news!
Phelan is having a solo show tonight in Chicago! Desmond will be there, maybe we'll have some photos!
The fridge will fit. There are no cabinets around it. The problem is getting it there.
They should have used the speaker system at the school.
AP just sent out an alert that said Cho sent a package to NBC in the two hours between shootings. It contained photographs and a lengthy manifesto. That explains where he was between shootings: waiting in line at the post office on tax day.
That's amazing (NBC needs the boost!)...he did use the US mail, and (unlike FEDex) i think you still have to wait in line to send pkgs...it's weird. I wonder why no postal worker has been on tv...probably cause it was a busy tax day..
What type of vehicle do you use to tow a tape measure? Is it a very small flatbed trailer with rubber bumpers on all four sides so that the tape measure can ride upright?
Who is this snippy anonymous person?
It's a beautiful morning in Iowa. Blue skies, warm.
How was Phelan's show?
I'm worried that a black fridge might not go with the farm kitchen decor. Can we spray-paint it? I'm thinking a nice shade of blue.
I think we should camo the fridge. I volunteer my truck.
Tom
We could cover it in stickers? Or, maybe Monica & Joe could just buy one, for the farm, that would look a little nicer?
I think a black fridge will bring good luck to all the hunters!...D-day black fridge for all the wild MEAT! Run fast little possums!
I think black would give the kitchen that little edge it needs. More than one decorator says you should have at least one black item in every room. It gives "punctuation." The fridge would be a big balloonlike exclamation point. I am in favor of punctuation. By the way, wait till you see the living room.
Say, Stevo and I have talked about this before...now we are trying to set up Memorial Day weekend as scraping and painting weekend for the house. Come on. Who can come? If nobody else does, maybe we can do one side at least, but I bet some of you could. We could devise some kind of competition if that's what it takes.
Good luck, Lisa on your auction dinner. Like you even have time to look at the blog.
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