Adrienne Culpepper: June 2010 Archives

I'm trying to remember the last time I attended a ribbon cutting.  I think it was at my friend's hubby's grand opening of his real estate brokerage in League City.  It was all very professional: the local Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors were there in their fancy maroon blazers and name tags, armed with their own stack of personal business cards...  There was a nice reception in the office afterwards, everyone mingled for a while, but by 9:45am, the party was over and everyone had to head off to work... After all, what good is a Chamber without any Commerce?  (or Pot, or Maid, or Lain for that matter?!)

But a Chamber ribbon cutting on Galveston Island???  And for IBC's very own WILLTHING???  I'm sorry, but that just won't cut it. 

Enter the first ever residential-keg party-ribbon cutting by the Galveston Chamber of Commerce.  Yes, there was a keg of Shiner.  Yes, there were homemade hors doeuvres (pictured below in the "food prep-slash-launder-ing facilities room" - please don't call it the dryer).  Yes, there were Chamber Ambassadors, and yes there was a ribbon and it was fantastically cut (the funny extra-large clown scissors really do have a working blade!) by Willthing himself.  

(note the approval and glee on Halvsie's (Sean O'Leary) face after seeing how Will handled that ribbon)

I'm afraid the VP of WILLTHING Operations, shown in the above right photo, was not in the best mood that day - she just wasn't feeling the group pictures. 

 (I like that there's a pinata that is about 11 months old hanging just above the Ambassadors' heads - they all took it in stride, though and I'd dare say it didn't seem to phase them a bit!)

Hurricane Season is here and I think we all know the importance of being informed and prepared.

One of the ways to be sure you know a "storm's a- brewin" and we may need to evacuate (aside from the fact that it'll be blaringly obvious due to the INSTANT. INSANE. MEDIA. FRENZY. that will swarm the Island and will manage to find the single-worst looking palm tree, stand beneath it among a pile of fallen fronds, and make that very spot reporting headquarters so all of our family and friends watching the news from far away will surely tune in to be reassured that this little sandbar that we're all "so crazy" to live on (crazy like a fox, eh?!) is sure to be wiped off the map in a matter of days...) is to sign up for the City's Emergency Notification Program. 

The Emergency Notification Program is basically a (free to us) tool that allows the City to send out a mass voice mail and/or text message to our land line phone, cell phone and/or emails.  What might they call/text/email us about?  The City lists a number of situations including "unexpected road or street closures, the need to evacuate buildings or neighborhoods due to situations like hurricanes, severe weather, abnormally high tides, and water service suspensions."

Note: residents and businesses with listed phone numbers have already been included in this system, but if you're unsure or if you'd like to register a few other contacts, go online today and get started - it takes less than 2 minutes complete online!  (If you'd like to discontinue your use you can do that online too - check out the "opt out" link here...)