30
Dec

How Much Do You Rely on Your Cell or Mobile Phone in an Emergency?

Fire burns Walnut Creek home
By Malaika Fraley
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

WALNUT CREEK - An electrical malfunction sparked a two-alarm fire that caused $150,000 in damage to a Walnut Creek home today, the Contra Costa Fire District said.

Firefighters called to a Walnut Creek home at 9:53 a.m. found the front room engulfed in flames. The fire spread to a bedroom before it was extinguished 20 minutes later. Other rooms had heavy smoke and heat damage, said Battalion Chief Dave George.

Firefighters crawled into the house to search for an elderly woman that a man on the street feared was inside. They later learn the woman was away, George said. No one was injured.

The street was closed for three hours as crews mopped up.

Source: Contra Costa Times

The elderly woman is my mother. Fortunately, she was staying with me for the holidays when the fire broke out in her home.

I’m taking the time now to write because I feel the need to express my fears, frustration, and anger over our emergency response system. I must first preface this story by commending the brave men and women of the Pleasant Hill Fire Department and the kindness of the Walnut Creek Police and their dispatch unit.

I received a call on Thursday, December 28, 2006, my mother’s 77th birthday, from the Walnut Creek Police Department. Since I’m a training consultant for the City of Walnut Creek I initially did not think much of the call, but that quickly changed as I learned that my mother’s home was on fire and the fire department was attempting to find her. I let the officer know that my mother was not in the home and was safe with me.

I thought that the story was as simple as a house fire. Little did I know.

C.H.P. To Hire More 911 Dispatchers
After Complaints Of Backlog

Dec. 28 - KGO - This story is about something you hope never happens - a man called 911 on a cell phone today to report a fire, and was put on hold. The CHP says most 911 cell phone calls are routed to one call center, which can mean delays.

Max Burchett: “I tried to get 911 on the cell phone, but it never did go through.”

Max Burchett noticed flames shooting out of the living room window of his neighbor’s Walnut Creek home on his way to work. Worried the elderly disabled woman who lived there was inside, he pounded on the door, and then used his cell phone to call 911.

Max Burchett: “It said, if this is an emergency press any key - and it rang and rang and rang. A computer recording answered saying all our operators are busy.”

Frustrated, he called out to neighbors who got through to 911 on a land line. Fire crews converged on the quiet neighborhood in Walnut Creek and were able to extinguish the fire, luckily, no one was inside.

Alan Hartford, Contra Costa Fire Battalion Chief: “Unfortunately, the way the cell phone 911 system works, all the calls get routed to the CHP dispatch center. They’re working on a better fixes for 911 cellular usage — but as of right now it is what it is, and it’s unfortunate.”

The dispatch center in Vallejo handles 5,000 911 calls everyday. The positioning of cell towers in the Bay Area means all calls, except for parts of San Francisco and Marin County, are routed here. At any given moment, four to 11 operators are on call and it’s not uncommon to have to wait several minutes to be connected - but that’s about to change.

Elizabeth Gomes, CHP Dispatch Manager: “Currently, we’re in the process of hiring 40 to 50 new dispatchers within the next six to seven months and that will allow us to evenly distibute more people across our shifts and handle more 911 calls.”

So by summer 2007, cell phone users calling 911 should begin to notice a much faster response time.

Source: abc7news.com

Suppose my mother had been in that house? How many minutes were lost while Mr. Burchett risked his own life trying to gain access to the house while on hold with 911?

What scares me even more is that we have come to rely on our cell phones so heavily. I even armed my disabled mother with a cell phone and programmed a quick dial for 911 so she could carry it in her pocket at all times if an emergency was ever to occur. Suppose she had been trapped in that home when the fire broke out and called 911 on her cell and was put on hold? I sit here crying thinking about the possible outcome. While we may have lost possessions and pieces of family history we still have my mother. How many people may not have been as lucky as my mother and our family?

I know a lot of people who have given up their “land lines” in favor of cell phones; some for convenience some out of economical necessity. I have a lot of friends who have given their children cell phones because they think they will be “safer”. Many people have cell phones only for travel emergencies. We pay a state 911 tax on our cell phones to fund emergency services. So many count on these devices, but I wonder how many people will die while waiting on hold for a 911 operator…how many children will be abducted while trying to reach out for help with their cell phones?

If you do rely on your cell phone, program your local police department and local fire department’s numbers into your phone. Program friends who you know are home a lot and can call 911 from a “land line”. Don’t count on 911 from your cell phone.

We worry about web site accessibility on mobile devices when what we really need to worry about is access to emergency services on our mobile phones. Awareness needs to be brought to this issue because in my humble opinion summer of 2007 is not soon enough for change. I don’t live in a small town, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area; if this happens here, it can happen in your area — it can happen to you or your loved one.

The California Highway Patrol needs to hire and train more people now; “it is what it is” is not an acceptable answer when we’re talking about people’s lives.

22
Dec

Web Design and Development Forum

Have you checked the Web Design and Development class forum lately? Many Web development, technology, and job search resources have been posted over the last several months. The forum is still being updated while we’re on vacation from class.

Have a wonderful holiday!

21
Dec

Let’s Attend Macworld San Francisco on January 12, 2007

Peachpit Press is offering free passes to the Macworld Expo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from January 8-12, 2007. This is a great opportunity to see new technology and learn more about what’s happening in the computer industry. I’ve requested 40 passes for the event, so if you are enrolled in class and would like to attend please let me know via email or when we return to class in January.

We can attend the event as a group on January 12, 2007. There will be a substitute in class that day for those of you who cannot attend. We can meet at Pleasant Hill BART and go over together or meet-up at the Moscone Center.

If you cannot attend on January 12, 2007, but would like to attend one of the other days for free please email me and I will give you a Web address and a priority code for a free expo pass.

16
Dec

Photoshop CS3 Beta One-on-One Preview

Lynda.com is offering free access to this new Photoshop CS3 tutorial @ http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=327.

You can actually download Photoshop CS3 beta @ http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs3/. Note: In order to run this software for more than two days you must have a copy of Photoshop CS2, Creative Suite 2, Production Studio, Adobe Web Bundle, or Adobe Video Bundle.

We have ordered Creative Suite 2 for the classroom. We also purchased the upgrade insurance so we should have CS3 as soon as it is available!

13
Dec

Help to Support Free Web Hosting for Students

Comments Off

Happy holidays to all!

Currently I am personally paying for a reseller account to offer free Web hosting for all students in the ROP Web Development program. These accounts allow my students to showcase their work for future employers and to gain the experience of using real world Web management tools. I had originally hoped to offset some of the costs by offering paid hosting to graduates of the program, but this isn’t really working out as planned since I don’t have the extra hours to provide extensive technical support for paid hosting. Since the Web Development program is growing, the costs will also increase.

To help to support the growing cost of hosting student Web sites I have created an Amazon Store. The referral fees earned from this store will go to offset the student hosting costs. I have personally selected books that relate to our program and there is also a search feature in the store that will allow you to search all of Amazon books, etc. You can also use the Amazon search box located in the sidebar on the right-hand side of this page to search for any product sold at Amazon.

Using the Amazon Store or the search box will not increase the product cost to you, Amazon simply pays a referral fee to any site owner that refers customers.

Thanks for your support and happy holidays to you all!

12
Dec

Career Resources Available in Class to Help You with Your Job Search

You may not be aware that we have a variety of books available in class to help you to write your resume, prepare for an interview, or to help you to make decisions about your future career choices.

Here is a list of books that we have available in class:

  1. Resume Magic - Personal Favorite!
  2. Job Search Magic
  3. The Quick Resume and Cover Letter Book - Personal Favorite!
  4. What Color is Your Parachute 2007 Edition
  5. 225 Best Jobs for Baby Boomers
  6. Networking for Job Search and Career Success
  7. Over-40 Job Search Guide
  8. Job Interview Tips for People with Not-So-Hot Backgrounds
  9. Do What You Are
  10. Expert Resumes for Career Changers
  11. Expert Resumes for Managers and Executives
  12. Expert Resumes for Baby Boomers
  13. Expert Resumes for Computer and Web Jobs
  14. Expert Resumes for Teachers and Educators - Personal Favorite!
  15. Encyclopedia of Job-Winning Resumes - 400 Resumes
  16. Competency-Based Interviews
  17. Competency-Based Resumes
  18. Monster Careers: Interviewing
  19. Monster Careers How to Land the Job of Your Life
  20. I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know it’s Not This
  21. Radical Careering
  22. Taking Charge of Your Career
  23. The Elements of Resume Style
  24. 100+ Winning Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions
  25. The Ultimate Job Search
  26. Job Search Basics

I also picked up Resume Maker software to assist you with writing your resume. This software walks you through the process of creating an accomplishments based resume. It also has career help, a virtual interviewing tool, and other helpful career tools. I found this software for under $10.00 at Half Books in Concord; they had several copies of the software on their shelves.

05
Dec

CSS: The Missing Manual

Yesterday in class I mentioned the new CSS unit using CSS: The Missing Manual. This will be a required book for all new students entering the program and an optional book for students who are currently enrolled.

I have to say that this is an outstanding book on CSS. It is an excellent introduction to CSS and also a great read for those who are experienced with CSS. The techniques discussed are very current and it even discusses issues with Internet Explorer 7. One of the things that I really like about the book is that as it demonstrates techniques it also discusses the pitfalls and solutions in different browsers, especially Internet Explorer 6 and earlier versions. The book is also filled with hands-on tutorials for practical experience.

I have started to develop the assignment sheet for this book; it’s available at http://www.jobskillsnow.com/webdes/cssmissing.htm

We will be selling the book in class, meanwhile you can order CSS: The Missing Manual via Amazon for $23.09.

Also, many students have asked about Flash/USB drives for storing class work. Flash/USB drives are available at any store that sells electronics and you can also find them at Amazon. These are very portable devices that allow you to store and transfer small and large files from one workstation to another. They’re quite handy and very easy to use; much easier than having to burn CDs of your classroom work. Some students even use these drives to store and run software programs that they like to use in class.

01
Dec

Last Computer Class Orientation for the Year

Hello everyone!

Just to let you all know we will be conducting our last official orientations for the year on Monday, December 4, 2006 @ 9:00 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and need to upgrade your computer skills to get a great job or to advance in your current career you may want to look into our computer training program. We offer quality, affordable Microsoft Office and Web Development training. You can learn more about our programs at http://www.jobskillsnow.com.