OK I thought I would take this time (now that I have some) to point out some people who have really made a difference in the last two weeks.

Mark M. This guy is a star. He was the first person to get through to me a couple days after the storm to see if we were all OK. He also informed me that I was on a missing persons list. We were on our way up to the beach (where there was good cell signal) and my phone rang and while it was scratchy, we got the message through. As soon as I got back online, he was there, too. He checked the Costco stores in around Austin for the Coleman Portable power Kit that I was desperately trying to get my hands on. Since then, he's put together a big “care package” for us down here at The Ranch with some dry ice in a “5-day cooler” and sent it to Cayman Airways Cargo for us. We should get it this coming weekend.

ICP Solar Generators are starting to come into the island now, but those are going to restoration, construction, and the upper 2% of the population. The rest of us unwashed (literally) masses are still without power & water. ICP makes the Coleman Portable Power Kit which is a solar-charged radio, flashlight, ambient light AS WELL AS puts out enough juice to charge cell phones, cameras, etc and comes with a bunch of different tips for different phones, as well as a USB plug for devices that can be trickle-charged via USB. ICP Solar's Customer Servive Dept has been a huge help in coordinating ICP's efforts to get some of these devices to the relief collection points in Miami. Currently only available online at Amazon or Costco, this thing should be a part of everyone's basic hurricane/any other disaster kit.

Packet8 VoIP As soon as our office got power again, our leased circuit came back up (but not our phone lines) this allowed me to get here and post updates and photos as well as send out a couple hundred “im ok” emails. Since we had an internet connection, we plugged in my Packet8 ATA to the switch, a regular POTS telephone into it and took advantage of it's flat-rate calling plan to the US and Canada. Staff was able to come into our office and make a call, we were able to communicate with our office & command post in Miami, and we were able to start contacting suppliers and vendors to get orders rolling to replace some of our IT infrastructure to get our staff back to work. Packet8 ATAs are now available through Tiger Direct (who also have a retail outlet in Miami) and we have a couple more ATAs on our wish list for emergency communications.

Nera SatCom Nera SatCom is a base station for satellite calling that has a cordless phone base station built into it, as well as ISDN, Serial and USB connections for Satellite Data at 64kbps. Slow as molasses in January (other than down here) but it worked and was reliable. I was able to use that setup with a borrowed laptop from Kenyon International Emergency Services and get online and post the first article here after the storm hit.

Iridium Satelite Phones We had three Iridium Satelite Phones in our command post at the airport and were invaluable for getting information in and out of here.

Cable & Wireless Who in their right minds ever thought I would be giving props to Cable & Wireless? Usually whenever I spoke of C&W, it was followed by “shot down like dogs when the revolution comes”. In this crisis, they really proved their mettle. During the storm, I called home every two hours with an update “I think this is the worst of it now, Mom!” after which it would get worse. :-p I was able to text message with George hiding out in the KPMG building all the way through til about 10am Sunday the 12th. At this point, Im glad I stayed with C&W for my mobile phone service when I switched my phone and number. AT&T came back up in Georgetown after a few days, and Digicell came back up Tuesday the 21st, after having their generators stolen a couple times.

Brad Nelson We all give Brad a hard time about his choice of swimwear, but it's all in good fun. Brad's been a huge help with transportation. We piled into his Samurai the day after the storm with the video camera and checked out our apartments, and he's been helping me try and get some of the now-former-staff's cars running so we have something to drive in the short term. Brad is an excellent shade-tree mechanic. I know a fair bit about cars, too but that's limited to proper tools, proper shop, and spare parts. Brad is a whiz at fabricating new parts out of things you never would have thought possible.

CUC Caribbean Utilities Company was already out with bucket trucks surveying the mess the dat after the storm. By Friday the 17th the bucket trucks were out in force and had power restored to the airport and hospital lines and all the way down Walker's Road. Last week they went from Central Georgetown all the way up to the Hyatt (Lone Star re-opens today from 11-9 with hot food and cold beer) With the help of linemen from Fortis in Newfoundland, Belize Power (from Belize no less!) and linemen from the US, they hope to have the entire power grid island-wide back operational in 90 days or less! I'm hereby swearing off of Newfie jokes for ONE WHOLE YEAR.