Last year a neighboring community applied for a grant to attend a week-long class – E930: Community Specific Integrated Emergency Management Course – at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. After hearing they received the grant, they invited other agencies to attend with them. Fortunately I was one of the people invited and attended…
Winter Safety Game in Second Life
The other day my friend, LuAnn Strine Phillips, posted a link on Facebook to a project she's been working on: a winter safety game created in Second Life. (LuAnn said, "This virtual learning environment is sponsored by the Cooperative Extension through its eXtension Initiative.") Since cold weather safety is important to public works professionals, I visited her…
Should We Give People Free iPads?
Over the last few days I've been exposed to two ideas that interest me in how each demonstrates the need to properly vet an idea. (As an aside for for all of you familiar with MMORPGs: I figure if life was a game, "Vetting an Idea" would be considered a passive ability for those in the engineering profession.) First on…
Establishing Professional Goals
With the dawning of a new year I see so many people talking about their resolutions and goals for 2013. Annual goal setting is not really something I've dedicated much time to in the past. Instead, I always seemed to follow a rolling, unwritten list of goals that are separate from the ones I have at…
Good FOIA Gone Bad
When I saw the map of gun owners printed online by a publication owned by The Gannett Company and the public reaction, I thought of my last supervisor. He was a wise man with whom I could discuss any idea without fear of ridicule or repercussion. When the ideas were good, he would fully support…
Hurricane: Preparedness and Response Training
There's a little known secret out there among emergency professionals – FEMA has an awesome training facility in Emmitsburg, Maryland where public works professionals working in local government can get free, high-quality emergency response training. In July of this year, I was fortunate enough to attend a week of training there and plan to share…
How Much Credit Do You Have to Give?
This is the horse and the hound and the horn, That belonged to the farmer sowing his corn, That kept the cock that crowed in the morn, That waked the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tattered and torn, That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the…
Orangeburg – a “coal tar impregnated toilet paper tube”
As a homeowner, Orangeburg is most definitely not the word you ever want to hear. But for many, they will not only hear it, but they will also face the consequences of having had this pipe material used for their home's sanitary sewer. So to prevent experiencing any unforseen problems caused by this material, it's…
Why is the Illinois Department of Agriculture Determining Stormwater Rules for Cities?
Recently I wrote about the draft release of Post-Development Stormwater Runoff Performance Standards for Illinois. And in discussions with colleagues over the last few weeks, I have not heard any positive support from anyone who has a professional background in stormwater management or regulation. Instead the consensus among stormwater professionals regarding the draft is that the…
Engineers Leverage YouTube to Spread Christmas Cheer
Today I noticed in my Facebook feed a post by the Illinois Section AWWA account highlighting a holiday greeting from the Baxter and Woodman Engineering Consulting Firm. Because it was such a great example of how firms are leveraging social media tools like YouTube, I thought I would post it here and share it with…