Mira Mesa Team Newsletter 2/1/11

Good morning, here is the news:

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

Team Meeting— Thursday, 10 February, my house 10125 Baffin Drive, near Jade Coast and Camino Ruiz.  Unless there is a serious objection, let's start at 6:00.  We'll finish promptly at 7:00.  Bring an FRS radio if you have one, and the manual (yes, yes, the little book of instructions that came with it).   Take it from me, these little critters with their digital displays and multi-step menus aren't all that intuitive, which is REALLY unfortunate.  I thought first time I turned mine on I'd at least be able to figure out how to change the channel.  I did eventually, but it took way longer than I'd have in an emergency.  So we'll get some practice in.   This is a setup for our radio drill next month.  For those of you who were not with us last year, you start from your own residence, or some set point in Mira Mesa.  One of us will go to the rally point and declare a controlled net (more on that later) at a pre-agreed upon time.  If you can hear the controlled net announcement, when it is your turn you will report your assigned call sign and your general location.  You may be asked to relay a message from someone who can't hear the announcement.  If you can't hear the announcement, you get in your car, drive half way to the rally point, pull over and try again.  Might as well start this tirade now, I don't want anyone operating a radio while driving.  When you get to the rally point, we'll plot your original location and the point at which you joined the net.  This will give us some general idea of our coverage.  Last year when we did this, it was pretty impressive.  I want to see if we can duplicate that.  If you don't have a radio, let me know, other Team Members have spares.  OK, back to our meeting next week.  If we finish early, we will review utility shut-off procedures.  This always gets short shrift in Academy, we'll review safe electrical, gas and water shutoff and the reasons for shutting them off (or not).

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

DSW Renewal—Please take a moment to check the expiration date on your card.  If you need to apply for renewal in this period, you MUST get your training records in to our Team Leader immediately.  Leadership has until Friday to submit renewals.  Those of you who graduated from Academy in the last year need to think about getting two CE's and two Team Meetings under your belt within one year of your graduation.  Work with your Team Leader.  Do not rely on your Team Leader to keep your records and remind you when renewal is due, it is the responsibility of each of us to keep our own records and know when we must renew.  Renewals are processed every other month, so if you miss this one, your next opportunity is end of April.

Continuing Education, Volunteering and Your Taxes— The first class is already full, if you are waiting on this one, don't.  The open class is 26 March, 9am—11am down at NTC.  Malcolm Gettman, Battalion Liaison, veteran IRS Agent and straight shooter.  Go here to sign up:

https://apps.sandiego.gov/ereg/cert/courses.php?grp=Continuing+Education+Opportunities

Continuing Education, Incident Command System Online Training— I made a couple of errors in last week's announcement.  The last course is 800b, not 800a.  So the full list of classes is:

100b

200

700a

704

800b

Also, San Diego CERT will count classes you took back to 1 January 2005 If you can produce a certificate of completion.

St. Patrick's Day Parade— Another error I made last week, we have plenty of people who want to do this.  It is in for approval now, so not a done deal yet.  Pencil in 12 March (Saturday) if you are interested, we'll have more soon.

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

-Steve