Thursday, December 2, 2010

Mira Mesa Team Newsletter 12/1/10

Good morning, here is the news:

*****MIRA MESA********

Training hours due today—If you have not already turned them in, please get them in to me today.

Team Meeting—No Team Meeting for December.  Next scheduled meeting Monday, 10 January 2011.   Some of you have asked why I don't post these on the web site under Team Meetings.  It's mainly because we don't have a regular meeting place (still working on that), but also it leaves us the flexibility of changing the format /content without having to update the web site every time we do.  Because we have a weekly newsletter that announces the Team Meetings several times, I don't think we need to use the web site to communicate this information.

*****BATTALION 5*******

Training Hours—just a few words about training hours, they are due at the end of every month in the same month when you took the training.  You cannot accumulate a bunch of classes, turn them all in at once and get credit towards your DSW card.  Why are we so wrapped around the axle about this?  Mainly because we regularly apply for grant money for CERT business, and sometimes we actually get some.  Some grant requirements are tougher than others, but in general good grant administration builds a body of documentation that should survive a comprehensive participation audit, and that means a document trail all the way back to your physical signature on a roster.  So help us out with this.  If you have questions, your Team Leader can answer them.

Next Academy—The start date on the Notify Me page:


is not quite real.  It is currently set to 1 February 2011, but we don't really have Academy 26 scheduled yet, and the system requires some sort of date in that space.  So, please continue to send friends and colleagues to this page to register so we can let them know when Academy opens, but also make it clear that the actual start date will be later than the one shown.  I develop web software like this registration system for my alleged living, and I can tell you that there are many good reasons to make the assumption during design that there will always be a legitimate date.  It's not a bug, it just doesn't take this very special case (no date) into consideration.

Occasional Rant—It's been rather brisk the last few days.  Which brings me to the subject of head covering.  Most of us San Diegans know that a hat is an essential piece of gear on sunny days, but it is equally important in cold weather.  The old Mountain Man adage is "If you are cold, put your hat on". We lose about 20% of our body heat from our heads.  A hat can reduce that substantially, and it doesn't have to be a knit cap made from alpaca of whatever, your all-purpose bucket hat can work pretty well.  Ok, maybe not as good as a really good wool cap, but WAY better than nothing, and you don't have to carry two hats.  So, even if you think you look silly in hats, have one on your call-out list, it's essential.

That's all for this week, questions, comments, contact your Team Leader.

-Steve

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