Hurricane Katrina came on-shore 1 year ago today. LA and MS are still cleaning up and rebuilding. All the major networks are running Katrina specials; Bush is in New Orleans speaking today.

Posted by Justin Hall at 02:37 PM | Permalink

Tropical storm Ernesto heads for South Florida. Overnight the storm cleared the Cuba mountain ranges. South Florida may be hit by a cat-1 storm - but most likely it will make landfall as a tropical storm. We (Tampa) should be west of the storm's path.

Posted by Justin Hall at 02:35 PM | Permalink

USAToday had an article about the top-10 golf courses in the world. I found it interesting that #1 was in Scotland.

The Ailsa course at the Westin Turnberry Resort was named #1 by USAToday. I've been to Turnberry -- and what an awesome place (and course) it is. Just had to add my two cents worth...

Here is the whole list.

1) Ailsa Course, Turnberry, Scotland
2) Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, Ore.
3) Green Monkey, Sandy Lane, Barbados
4) Ballybunion Old, Ireland
5) Links at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, Calif.
6) Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif.
7) Straits Course, Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wis.
8) Bandon Dunes, Bandon, Ore.
9) Royal County Down, Northern Ireland
10) Prestwick, Scotland

Posted by Justin Hall at 02:46 PM | Permalink

Today we completed the SCUBA course when we made dives 4 and 5. Dive log is here.

Went out about 3 miles from the Clearwater coast. The dives were on a natural reef! Boat left the marina about 11:45am.

GPS Nav: N27 59.214 W82 53.024
Google Map: View Map
Dive 4, 30 minutes, depth of 25'
Dive 5, 25 minutes, depth of 25'

There are two sets of pictures in two formats...

Underwater Pics: Simple viewer | Postcard viewer

Boat and Surface Pics: Simple viewer | Postcard viewer

Posted by Justin Hall at 11:05 PM | Permalink

My first 3 SCUBA checkout dives were completed today. The dive log is here. Pictures are now included!

Went out about 6.4 miles from the Clearwater coast. The dives were on the Clearwater artificial reef, Clearwater C Site. We left the marina at 8:00 am.

GPS Nav: N28 00.858 W82 53.569
Google Map: View Map
List of Artificial reef sites in Pinellas County
Pinellas County Utilities' Reef Guide
Dive 1, 21 minutes, depth of 28'
Dive 2, 28 minutes, depth of 28'
Dive 3, 27 minutes, depth of 28'

My first dive (ever in open water) was quite interesting. The air inflator tube on the BC came lose. My BC couldn't perform it's one function of inflating/deflating and controlling bouyancy! It wasn't all that bad. Our training taught us to be panic proof. I got back to the surface and got the tube connected and latched again.

There are two sets of pictures in two formats...

Underwater Pics: Simple viewer | Postcard viewer

Boat and Surface Pics: Simple viewer | Postcard viewer

Posted by Justin Hall at 11:00 PM | Permalink

Photographs from a Largo soccer game vs. Pasco.

Largo lost to Pasco 2-1. Kenny scored the sole goal for Largo. There are two photo sets and each has two different views.

Photo Set 1 Highlights Kenny:
* Simple viewer
* Postcard viewer

Photo Set 2 Highlights the other team members:
* Simple viewer
* Postcard viewer

Posted by Justin Hall at 10:02 PM | Permalink

I am in West Virginia today spending time with family. My grandfather wanted to eat wild boar meat. There is a restaraunt in Elkins ( that serves boar; a place with a mountain view. The evening culminated in a birthday celebration for mom and dad.

Here are the afternoon and evening photographs.

Simple viewer
Postcard style viewer

Restaraunt information:
The Lodge at Kelly Mountain
Kelly Mountain Rd (33 E)
Elkins, West Virginia
(304)-635-0300

Posted by Justin Hall at 09:34 PM | Permalink

Had the opportunity today to climb at Cooper's Rock with my dad.

Here are the rock climbing photographs.

Simple viewer
Postcard style viewer

Posted by Justin Hall at 06:30 PM | Permalink

The Atlanta based CREDITLogistics finally released their Dealer Financial Services Portal. This is a company I consulted with while working at Perot.

CREDITLogistics launches Dealer Financial Services Portal

ATLANTA, GA, July 31, 2006 - CREDITLogistics, an affiliate of CompuCredit Corporation (NASDAQ: CCRT), today announced the release of Dealer Financial Services Portal (DFSP), a hosted, real-time, web-based solution that serves as a link between lenders and businesses who need financing options for their customers.

"The launch of DFSP is a strategic milestone for our company," commented Bobby Lanier, Chief Operating Officer of CREDITLogistics. "Through the configurable real-time decisioning engine DFSP provides, we can implement customized credit risk rules for businesses across many industries. From power sports to automobile dealerships, we can offer a wide range of instant credit solutions to increase sales where traditional financing is difficult or not possible."

DFSP creates substantial growth opportunities for lenders by taking them into markets and dealerships where they do not yet have a presence. Dealers benefit through increased approval rates enabled by multiple lenders spanning the consumer credit risk spectrum. By leveraging CREDITLogistics' hosted portal, customer service and operations, businesses can maximize sales and focus on their core business.

Scheduled with the launch of DFSP is CAR Financial Services' (www.carfinancial.com) Dealer Select Advance program, an online loan origination system for the Buy Here, Pay Here automobile market. CAR Financial Services selected DFSP to provide credit solutions for large independent and select franchise automobile dealerships. Rick Potter, President of CAR Financial Services, said, "DFSP delivers a platform to offer instant credit options to automobile dealers who've had difficulty getting lower credit score deals financed in the past. It also creates easy access to a new market for many dealers by minimizing the need for a dealer to establish its own internal decision and service resources to work in that market."

CREDITLogistics provides end-to-end credit and consumer lending solutions for businesses who want to extend credit to consumers and small businesses or who want to improve their current consumer lending operations. We leverage our loan origination Dealer Financial Services Portal and integrated fulfillment systems to help businesses develop in areas they are not in today. For more information about CREDITLogistics, visit www.CREDITLogistics.com.

Posted by Justin Hall at 11:45 AM | Permalink