The Blog

How to Prepare Your Home for a Hurricane

May 31st, 2013

Protect your family and your home when the next big storm hits.

Some forecasters say 2013 could be an active season for hurricanes in the Atlantic. Even if another Andrew or Wilma doesn’t hit South Florida, it’s best to be prepared. And since it’s Hurricane Preparedness Week, make sure you're aware of the following safety tips:

Secure the Building

  • Protect your windows – If your house doesn’t have permanent storm shutters, you should cover all windows and glass doors with marine plywood cut to fit them.
  • Protect your roof – There are several methods for mitigating wind damage to roofs, including anchoring the roof to the foundation or using special clips designed for the task. You can learn more here.
  • Eliminate potential projectiles – Anything outside your home that could be picked up by the wind and smashed into the building should either be tied down or stored inside. This includes:

    • Outdoor furniture
    • Garbage cans
    • Decorations
  • Strengthen garage doors – Consider installing braces or special wind-resistant doors, as much of the damage in a house comes from wind that enters through the garage.

Protect the Inside

  • If you lose power, don’t use candles or open flames for light.
  • If you’re instructed to, turn off utilities in your home. Natural gas is a particular danger, as leaks after a natural disaster can spark a fire or explosion.
  • Turn off propane tanks.
  • Close all interior doors and brace external ones.

Keep Yourself Safe
The most important thing inside your home is you and your loved ones, so following these tips will protect you, too. You should make sure you have:

  • Battery-operated radios and lights, with extra batteries
  • Food and water for everyone for at least three days
  • Toiletries
  • A first-aid kit
  • An adequate supply of prescription drugs

When natural disasters hit, accidents can happen. The Emergency Care service at St. Lucie Medical Center is ready to assist you. If you have any emergency safety questions, give our free Consult-A-Nurse® service a call at 1-800-449-8345.

Related Posts:
Are You Ready for Hurricane Season?
How to Stay Calm During an Emergency


How to Prepare Your Home for a Hurricane

May 31st, 2013

Protect your family and your home when the next big storm hits.

Some forecasters say 2013 could be an active season for hurricanes in the Atlantic. Even if another Andrew or Wilma doesn’t hit South Florida, it’s best to be prepared. And since it’s Hurricane Preparedness Week, make sure you're aware of the following safety tips:

Secure the Building

  • Protect your windows – If your house doesn’t have permanent storm shutters, you should cover all windows and glass doors with marine plywood cut to fit them.
  • Protect your roof – There are several methods for mitigating wind damage to roofs, including anchoring the roof to the foundation or using special clips designed for the task. You can learn more here.
  • Eliminate potential projectiles – Anything outside your home that could be picked up by the wind and smashed into the building should either be tied down or stored inside. This includes:

    • Outdoor furniture
    • Garbage cans
    • Decorations
  • Strengthen garage doors – Consider installing braces or special wind-resistant doors, as much of the damage in a house comes from wind that enters through the garage.

Protect the Inside

  • If you lose power, don’t use candles or open flames for light.
  • If you’re instructed to, turn off utilities in your home. Natural gas is a particular danger, as leaks after a natural disaster can spark a fire or explosion.
  • Turn off propane tanks.
  • Close all interior doors and brace external ones.

Keep Yourself Safe
The most important thing inside your home is you and your loved ones, so following these tips will protect you, too. You should make sure you have:

  • Battery-operated radios and lights, with extra batteries
  • Food and water for everyone for at least three days
  • Toiletries
  • A first-aid kit
  • An adequate supply of prescription drugs

When natural disasters hit, accidents can happen. The Emergency Care service at St. Lucie Medical Center is ready to assist you. If you have any emergency safety questions, give our free Consult-A-Nurse® service a call at 1-800-449-8345.

Related Posts:
Are You Ready for Hurricane Season?
How to Stay Calm During an Emergency


is Free really Free?

February 21st, 2012

I spend some time in mobile application markets for inspiration every couple week. Yesterday I found a free live wallpaper application with interesting permission requests. (more…)


WordPress Plugin: WP jQuery Accordion Menu v1.2

January 1st, 2012

I received an email from another coder yesterday about using links to load content in a div on the same page.  I added an extra code field into widget settings and now you can add your own jquery code to modify the way menu links work.

Enjoy with version 1.2 and happy new year.

You can visit plugin page (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-jquery-accordion-menu/) for download.


WordPress Plugin: WP jQuery Accordion Menu v1.1

December 15th, 2011

I just sent 1.1 version of my WordPress plugin. I fixed a minor bug about css classes. If you used custom id name for menu and had issues , you should try version 1.1

You can visit plugin page (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-jquery-accordion-menu/) for download.


Vps server experience with Atlantic.Net, GoDaddy and myHosting.com – Part 2

December 12th, 2011

Continue from earlier post…

Godaddy part of the journey:
After I lost data with Atlantic.net I decided to try GoDaddy and I bought a virtual dedicated server with cPanel. First thing that bugged me was server setup time. Setup took almost 6 hours and a guy from tech support said that it’s because of cPanel installation. The server was ready at middle of the night and I started to work on it next morning. (more…)


Vps server experience with Atlantic.Net, GoDaddy and myHosting.com – Part 1

November 30th, 2011

I’m a freelance developer and there are some other freelance workers (writers and coders) who work with me from different countries. I decided to buy a vps server to use it as a development server to organize my projects. So all coders are able to upload their works to the same server and all of us can track the progress. I decided to use vps server because I believe vps servers have to have fail-proof backup system.

Candidates were GoDaddy, myhosting and Atlantic.net. I decided to use Atlantic.net; short email response rate, nice network background and most of all the company has a data center and office in Orlando. I also wanted to support a local company.

But my supporting a local business decision was going to ruin things 10 months later. (more…)


Writer & Programmer

November 29th, 2011

I really enjoyed this quote from Brent Simmons in an interview with John Gruber.

I’ve always thought of it this way: a good writer reads a lot of books. They see how other writers solve problems. They pay attention to what’s happening now as much as they pay attention to the classics. Good writers are readers first, but eagle-eyed, careful readers.

I think good developers are the same: they look at other apps. They “read” those apps, the problems they have and how they solve them. They notice trends, they notice new solutions, they notice when things work and when they don’t.


WordPress Plugin: WP jQuery Accordion Menu

November 21st, 2011

I was in need of a plugin to add vertical drop-down menu to sidebar. I searched in wordpress plugin library but could not find one and decided to write my own: WP jQuery Accordion Menu

It basicly creates vertical dropdown menus from wordpress pages with wp_list_pages function using jQuery. I added some extra features for various usage possibilities. You can add menu using either widgets or function in theme file. Handles just 2 levels and supports every parameters wp_list_pages has. Also you can set menu div’s id and class by additional parameters. (more…)


Additional function for WordPress: is_parent()

November 19th, 2011

I was in need of a wordpress function to check is current page child of specific page or not. WordPress doesnt offer a function like is_parent() and wrote mine. I hope it would help you too. (more…)


Beware “Low Quality Product at IKEA”

November 13th, 2011

If you are living in a small apartment, more likely, keeping the big stuff packages is a little bit problem, for that reason I throw packages away if I decided to keep items.

I had no problem with this approach until yesterday. (more…)


I am a Senior Web Designer with a message!

June 30th, 2011

This is a message from someone like me, he tells exactly what I would say..

I am a senior Web Designer, and I am creating this post to educate the public about the differences between a Creative Designer, a Web Designer, a Technical Designer, a Web Developer, and a Software Engineer. (more…)


Using Dropbox as a Repository

June 2nd, 2011

dropbox

What is Dropbox?

Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc. which uses cloud computing to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the Internet using file synchronization. Simplest definition might be online version of usb memory stick. It’s free for 2Gb space or you can get more space with paid membership. (more…)


“Follow Me” Button for Twitter

June 1st, 2011

follow_like

Sharing a content on Facebook by just one click to the “Like” button made promoting content on Social Media more easy and more effective.

Twitter just implemented the same idea and you can place a “Follow” button to your site, so people don’t have to visit your profile on Twitter.com in order to follow you. (more…)


Writing Application for Facebook: Royal Pain

May 20th, 2011

facebook_logo

I’m working on a Facebook API related project for last couple months and I’ve to say Facebook has worst documentation I’ve ever seen.

Looks like I’m not alone. I took this snapshot from this documentation page Feed Dialog and there are 151 people who share same idea. (more…)


Scrolling for Elders

May 12th, 2011

scrollMore

Controlling a mouse and dragging scroll bar might be difficult for elder web site visitors. I work for a hearing aid website (centuryhearingaids.com) and I wrote a jQuery function to scroll down web page with just 1 click for elders.

I modified scrolling function of my old website (tuncay.demirtepe.com/old).

I hope it improve their accessibility. (more…)


I made a mistake about 12 years ago

March 31st, 2011

Mistake

I choose a path about programming languages when I graduated from university about 12 years ago. There were 2 options for me: – Microsoft way; ASP for web development and Visual Basic 6 for windows application development. – Alternative way; PHP for development and Delphi for windows application development. I took Basic and Turbo C as a part of my syllabus and I had an idea on both languages, and finally I decided to walk with Microsoft. I learned ASP and used it for 4 years. I made very nice projects, made money and get couple prizes. I was good at what I did and happy. (more…)


Connect to Bigcommerce via Dreamweaver

March 28th, 2011

DWCS5

This weekend, I needed to do some changes on a Big Commerce website. I thought the easiest way was connecting from my editor software (Adobe Dreamweaver) to edit template files. Big Commerce offers ftp connection through FTPES (FTP over explicit TLS/SSL) and looks like it’ll be standard soon.