zman13

If you liked Cameron Graves last album, he's got a new live album: https://www.mackavenue.com/store/live-from-the-seven-spheres

Improvements, hiring at Austin Water likely remedies for boil-water notice - Austin MonitorAustin Monitor The city appears likely to approve a special budget item that will pay for more than a dozen new hires and operational software improvements at Austin Water. City Council’s Austin Water Oversight Committee voted unanimously Thursday to support the recommendations of staff that were the result of the investigation into what caused a three-day boil-water notice in early February for customers of the utility. That vote moves the proposed expenditure forward for a vote at a future Council meeting. City leaders had considered making a bill credit to customers part of the after-action steps, but recent memos from Austin Water have supported making investments in staff, equipment and software instead. The cost for those improvements, including 16 full-time positions, is expected to be around $2 million. Earlier this week, Austin Water released the report detailing its internal investigation into how the turbidity, or cloudiness, of water coming out of the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant increased far past allowable levels on the evening of Feb. 4, leading to the shutdown of the plant and the boil-water notice the next day. The report found the three-person overnight team monitoring the plant overlooked notices of equipment issues that needed their attention, misdiagnosed the cause of the increasingly cloudy water, and failed to inform supervisors of the problems that accumulated over the course of the 12-hour shift that ended at 7 a.m. When the next day’s team took over that morning, they quickly noticed and diagnosed the problems and the plant was shut down in about two hours. Stephanie Sue, water treatment operations manager for the utility, said the incident shows a clear need for Austin Water staff to work on training around following standard operating procedures. “It is sad and it’s frustrating that the inaction by this team that night was the direct cause of the boil-water notice and impacted the lives of the citizens of the city of Austin,” she said. “And above that it’s unfair that the staff that is doing great quality work and are hard-working at my plant are now having to suffer the intense scrutiny that’s being brought by this boil-water notice.” It was the city’s third boil notice since late 2018. Sue said that changes to practices including making it possible for supervisors to remotely check in on plant monitors will help prevent a repeat of the episode. But she said a severe shortage of workers and open positions has put excess pressure on her staff. “The business of running a water treatment plant is not something we can automate. It’s not something robots can do, so it’s something where we have to rely heavily on our people and invest in our people to be successful,” she said. “We are very challenged with our workforce right now. We have numerous vacancies and we have a market study happening right now that’s shown on the operations side that we are not competitive with other utilities, not to mention other businesses in Austin that pay more for less responsibility.” Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter said she wants Sue and other water utility leadership to report back with a timeline for the planned improvements and hiring, with details about other possible information gaps that need to be addressed. “The piece that confounds me is with the supervisory side, in particular in 2022 there are systems that enable alarms to be sent to supervisors but we didn’t have autonomous notifications going out to supervisors,” she said. “Why didn’t we have that set up, and where else don’t we have that set up where we need it in our plant?” Following the disclosure that a team member involved in the problem had said “weak crews talk to supervisors” as an explanation for why there was no notification of the deteriorating conditions, Council Member Ann Kitchen said training and work to change culture and attitudes may be necessary. “I’m trying to get an idea if what we’re talking about is a lack of knowledge or a lack of recognition of what the issue was, as opposed to not understanding the importance of bringing in supervisory assistance,” she said. “I would hope that drilling down into that kind of an attitude or culture can be addressed, in addition to what’s going on just with the knowledge base.”

Austin Water issued a report on the recent boil water notice: https://austintexas.gov/edims/pio/document.cfm?id=379790 Summary of the report: Report IDs Austin Water staff missteps that preceded Feb. boil-water notice - Austin MonitorAustin Monitor

- go roller skating inside an old church at Church on 8 Wheels http://www.churchof8wheels.com/ - Check out the Wave Organ at high tide. It's a wave activated sound sculpture that is made of pieces of demolished cemetery. And has a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge - https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave-organ - A free walking tour to learn about the history of gangs in Chinatown - https://sfcityguides.org/tour/chinatown-family-associations-tongs-and-gangs/ - If you find yourself in the Pier 39 area (which I don't recommend you visit), salvage the visit with a side trip to Musee Mechanique - https://museemecanique.com/

Ride the streetcar (cash only) Walk down Bourbon St in the early evening. Stop in at Lafitte or Carousel. Then walk up Frenchman St to see bands on the street Go to City Park, rent bikes, visit the Sculpture Garden and play mini golf and finish up at Cafe Du Monde Rent bikes and bike along Crescent Park Go on a bayou tour and see alligators

Boil Water Notice Caused by Human Error, Ongoing Problems: "Ultimately preventable" at Ullrich - News - The Austin Chronicle

Check out the FIRE thread:

Three Austin Water employees were placed on Administrative Leave also: Austin Water director resigns, 3 employees placed on leave following days-long boil water notice | kvue.com My money is on the results of the investigation of the three employees will be very interesting. Processes not followed, employees not trained, management ignoring issues that were brought up to them, etc.

I posted this a few days ago but it may have been lost in the Great FIRE War of 2022, so I'm reposting it: Looking for ideas about health/dental insurance under the age of 65. I've looked around the Affordable Care Act website. Lots and lots of plans and it looks like you'll need to go above $1200 per month for something decent. As an example, a lot of plans offer free primary care visits but will only cover 25% of emergency room visits. That's a big potential expense if you go to the ER. Anyone have any experience shopping around or purchasing plans for the 45 to 65 age group?

It's the only opening credits I don't fast forward past.

Austin Water waited 12 hours before issuing boil water notice. (statesman.com)

Looking for ideas about health/dental insurance under the age of 65. I've looked around the Affordable Care Act website. Lots and lots of plans and it looks like you'll need to go above $1200 per month for something decent. As an example, a lot of plans offer free primary care visits but will only cover 25% of emergency room visits. That's a big potential expense if you go to the ER. Anyone have any experience shopping around or purchasing plans for the 45 to 65 age group?

New theory of mine - some staff at the Ullrich have not been following procedures and cutting corners for a while. It wasn't just a one day issue. When the water failed the test, the upper management started asking questions and discovered a deeper issue.

A new place serving corny dogs from the South has opened! A new place serving Korean corny dogs from South Korea has opened! Went last night. Was very tasty and everyone was happy with their corny dogs. They have a wide variety of corny dog options, from the simple (hot dog) to more interesting (cheese filling with sweet potato embedded on the outside). Also had some teriyaki egg toast and it as good also. https://www.ohkdog.com/menu In the same shopping center as 99 Ranch.

I agree that my idea of realism could definitely vary from others. Maybe I've watched too many shows/movies where characters who are reluctant to talk about their crimes actually don't talk about it. Ozark is similar to the movies where they rely on a climatic court scene with a crafty lawyer who gets another person to confess to the crime and frees their client! Sure it could happen and probably does once in while, but I'm guessing it's pretty rare. Usually the guilty party shuts up. About the Shaw/Javi interaction - Javi is refusing to supply Shaw because of the FBI raids on his trucks. She buys from another source. At this point, unless I missed it, Javi is still refusing to supply Shaw. Shaw could 1) continue to buy from Darlene 2) start buying more expensive product from Madagascar again or 3) hope that Javi starts supplying again. Shaw chooses to rat out the Byrds and cuts off the supply from Darlene. Javi is still refusing to supply Shaw. So by ratting out Darlene, Shaw is hoping that the Byrds can smooth things over with Javi and he'll start supplying Shaw again. She didn't even ask for that. Shaw just gave up Darlene and put all of her eggs in one volatile basket. She may hope that the Byrds can smooth things over and get the supply from Javi going again. He's already screwed her over by refusing to supply over an issue that Shaw has no control over - how does Shaw know that Javi won't do it again in the future? Seems like a bad business decision to choose a volatile, threatening Javi (currently not supplying) vs Darlene (already supplying). And if she's really intimidated, she has her own murderous psychopath she can send to eliminate Javi. The show has characters like Shaw make dumb choices to advance the plot and create more puzzles for the Bryds to get out of. The whole Shaw supply was a series of dumb choices to create drama.

If you are not watching the short bit after the end credits, do so.

Anyone making summer plans to places that are currently closed to visitors, like Japan or Australia? Most countries are admitting travelers but there are a few countries that are closed off. Curious if anyone bought tickets, hoping the country would re-open.

Enjoying the show very much. Reminds me of the 80's action movies like Commando but with better jokes

I wish I lived in the Ozark universe. Every time a character talks with with someone, they tell them key information, even if it's not in their best interest. Everyone seems to dislike the PI but they keep talking to him. There's no reason to talk to him. This conversation is a perfect example:

The level of unbelieveableness has hit new unbelieveable heights!

Join the local "Buy Nothing Sell Nothing" group on Facebook. People will line up for crap that most people would throw in the trash. They'll come to your place to pick it up.

For those who have been to El Cuyo, how was it?

Enjoyed it but it felt too long (like many series on Netflix). Should have been six episodes. Dragged in the middle.

Episode 10 was awesome. Small nitpicky question about most towns lacking power. I feel with solar power getting more and more popular nowadays, I feel that more towns would have scavenged panels and had power. But I think the book/series chose to have only the airport have power for story/emotional reasons.

Finally went to China Family Express. Got two meals. One (spicy fish and spicy chicken) was really good. The other (general tso's chicken) was okay. I blame that on ordering general tso's chicken. Portions seem a little small for the price. The main location on Airport has much larger portions for only a few dollars more.