Loading help on Dec 27th in oakland

East bay Depot has a container filled with Parkas and Jackets for Pakistan. They need help during the holiday season to unload, inventory and shrink wrap these products and place them on pellets so that they can be shipped to Pakistan. I am working with East bay Depot to do this on TUESDAY DEC 27th at 10:00 am inside the abandoned OAKLAND ARMY BASE
700 Murmansk St
Oakland, CA 94607

Please let me know who can meet me up there. I can also take four people with me from San Fran. Please let me know if you can help or forward this to anyone you can guilt into helping. It would be nice to get 4-6 people working for 3-4 hours

East bay Depot is also sending out a flash appeal for parkas, jackets and blankets. They can be dropped off at their location in Oakland Monday thru Sunday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm

East bay Depot
6713 San Pablo Ave,
Oakland, CA
Major Cross Street: Ashby Phone: (510) 547-6470; (510) 547-6535

Good Old PAF

Something that occurred to me as I am settling into my regular life and I do web analytics instead of need assessments (although MS Excel is one skill that is consistent) . . .

I have been blessed with many friends and relatives who have supported me emotionally and financially on this so called Mission Kashmir (yes, I am hard pressed to give up on my theatrics). These people are spread all over the US and Pakistan. However, only one person volunteered to go into the effected area. He lives in San Francisco and we are acquaintances but not great friends. One thing that we do have in common is that we are Shaheens (Falcons) or alumins of the Pakistan Air Force School System (PAF).

I am not in contact with any school friend from PAF. It is not convent, or a fancy private school, in fact a grade C school especially when compared to elite schools like Karachi Grammer School, Aithison, APS, Habib Public, Beacon House or City School. However, I did not run into any alumnis from these prestigious schools so this serves as an amazing if somewhat narcisstic coincidence. Maybe the PAF propaganda and the Starfighters in the playground did do some good:)

Got a Parka to Spare

Thinking of sponsoring a 40 ft. container of donated goods from Port of Oakland, California next week. This was collected during an Oregon State Football game with the slogan ‘Parkas for Pakistan’ by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County in Eugene, Oregon and East Bay Depot in Oakland. Both are non-profit social service organizations which have managed to collect a large number of good quality winter coats, jackets, parkas, and blankets. The cost is $2000 which you donations are covering. I am meeting with them to take some pictures so that we can see the quality of this stuff.

However, for all LOCAL BAY AREA people, if you have NEW/USED but CLEAN, RAINPROOF PARKAS, Jackets, gloves, caps for Adults and Children, please let me know and I can figure out a way to pick them up and send them with the shipment.

IT in Emergencies

Interesting article on IT in emergency situations, ‘IT under the gun’
Lesson learned from Beesian base camp near Balakot.

1. Laptops, Excel and USB drives rock (Don’t leave home without it)
2. Cell Phone based internet connections would be a great solution. Here is a company, Smith Micro that offers a kit to make that work for under < $50
3. Google Map requires a 3-d graphic and does not run on 28.8 dialup connections
4. Printers and floppy disks are unnecessarily finicky
5. Desktop computers don’t work with diesel generators (need 3 Phase AC supply)
   

Ask Jeeves Blog

My blog is featured on Ask jeeves official blog. So much for shameless self promotion :)

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pit in Quake Zone

Visiting Ghari Habib Ullah, dammit, I missed her :(

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10199415/