Hello, I am new to this forum and I have a few questions. I live in Houston, TX and I curious about what the city and utilities are doing to prepare for Y2K. I sent a question to the power company, but of course I got no response. My brother in law works in television, and has attended several Y2K meetings with local officials. He said that HL&P (Houston Lighting and Power) had to be forced into even sending a representative! That's kind of scary. They had nothing to say on the issue, and refused to answer direct questions. I have been told that our wonderful Mayor, Lee Brown, decided to take a wait and see aproach to Y2K problems. I guess I'm asking if anyone has some information on this area. I don't know what to believe anymore. This city has a massive amount of refineries and chemical plants. If nothing or very little has been done to correct y2k problems in their control and monitoring systems, I'm leaving town. Can anyone help? Please!

-- George R. Bolin (rbolin01@hotmail.com), August 01, 1999

Answers

George,

There's some information about Y2K efforts at Houston's chemical plants, and Houston's power company, on the following thread:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001Ac7

"Thank God, I live in Texas"

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), August 01, 1999.

<I have been told that our wonderful Mayor, Lee Brown, decided to take a wait and see aproach to Y2K problems.>

The problem actually started with Bob Lanier, our former mayor. Lee Brown inherited a lot of problems. I adore Bob Lanier. Even attended several social functions at his previous home on River Oaks Blvd. But he was way behind on Y2K issue.

HERE'S WHY I LEFT HOUSTON: I have some friends who are MAJOR independent oil-producers with holdings throughout the world. Last year I put some technical info together for oil industry to share with these friends - gratis. NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER. One of the guys has a private oil company $600MM and his brother went public last year with another company now listed on NASDAQ. They and their friends are doing "da nada" re Y2K. Fix on Failure.

Wish I could convey a Texas twang ... "Don't you worry. My boy and I saw something on 60 Minutes about that Year 2000 stuff. Bill Gates is going to take care of it."

Another friend who's president of an int'l independent oil company (he previously owned mucho rigs) ... "Don't tell me about the problems. Tell me how I can make money from this Year 2000 stuff."

Another friend who had a Houston-based oil equipment manufacturing plant ... when I sent him information and spoke with him ... "It's not my problem anymore. Last week I sold the company for $45 million cash to an Austrian."

Last time I spoke with these Houston friends was about 6 months ago. I've since sold my home and have moved to Oregon. [Used to live in Memorial.]

My "ex" sold his company for $25MM to a company listed on NYSE, which is comprised of about 12 companies acquired over past 6 years. It took me 6 months to convince him they had a problem - and he's an engineer! He then went on a personal campaign to alert the NYSE listed company that bought his. They laughed at him. He made sure he had his recommendations in writing. Then just gave up.

I was a lunch partner with guy heading Y2K for Shell. I played the dumb female role to get info. He told me that they couldn't test and remediate rigs unless they were shut down - too many safety hazards. "Of course we could shut down to test and remediate, and don't have to worry about safety risks. Only have to worry about money."

Now I've seen where he's quoted (he was president of trade organization) about embedded "chips" not being a big problem. He could safely talk about "chips" cause that is relatively accurate. Embedded systems are the problem. About 100-150 embedded systems on a rig, comprised of about 10,000 embedded "chips". All it takes is one stupid little chip - at a key point - to create havoc.

A friend who inspects Penzoil facilities told me most refineries aren't gonna make it. Pipelines are going to be another big problem.

Another friend who's daughter is in middle-management for an oil firm, forwarded me a note from the daughter. Apparently the oil company told management team that there will be problems and that employees should start making preparations. But, individual level of preparations was best left for them to decide. Company gave no guidance.

Last spring ('98) I met a guy who was plant manager of a large gas transmission plant in Beaumont. He oversaw the construction of the facility about 11 years previously. He was told by the CEO of a $10 million engineering firm that they contract with, that their facility had no Y2K problems. I gave him some technical information and a list of problem areas to look into. They ran some tests. Lo and behold. Y2K problems. CEO of engineering firm initially didn't believe him until they ran their own tests. Y2K problems. Plant manager called and thanked me for saving their company. [I'm not an engineer.] Took me to dinner as a "thank you".

At Embedded Systems & Process Control conference last spring ( '98), head of Y2K for a Pfizer research facility was sitting next to me. He had an IT background. He was there trying to learn about embedded systems.

I had dinner with head of Y2K for AMOCO. Nice guy. Same IT background. Told me embedded systems had been new to him. Took a long time to grasp. Still was learning. Lucky he had some electrical engineers who understood.

At same conference there were 2 people from City of Houston. Both with wastewater treatment. During a break I got together with these guys. According to them, at that point in time - they were the only department working on embedded systems issues - and, even then, had just started.

In March of this year ('99) Houston was looking for someone to oversee Y2K program for Houston infrastructure. I saw the job specifications.

For five years I developed customized software applications for my ex's company (Houston-based). He sold his company to someone listed on NYSE. I did same for them for 2 more years.

BTW: The company designed & manufactured some of those little black boxes that are on plant floors. The ones filled with embedded systems. Boxes that were soldered shut. His company had 85% of the automotive market. Medical market was growing rapidly.

Way back when ... As we transferred files from Lotus to the database, I questioned what a lot of these items were that were listed in the Bill of Materials.

Like "RTC" ... Real Time Clock. Cute little things in those little black plastic boxes of theirs. I have one, so I can show people what they look like.

Purchasing agent (delightful, hard-working lady with high-school degree and no technical experience), would order automatically off of index cards. Eventually did the same off of Bill of Material database.

As orders came in, she went into the back-room and dump the new order of RTC's into a cardboard box, along with what else was there. If one of the BIG black boxes were returned, for whatever reason - and not re-sold, they took it apart ... and put the old parts back into those cardboard boxes. What happened is you had a bunch of RTC's in one cardboard box. RTC's that were ordered over a 1-2 yr period.

This is how I understood just how bad this whole embedded system thing was.

My ex was a Rice graduate engineer. It took me 6 months to convince him about the problem at the company. Even though he sold the company, he was still on the board. When I explained he could run into personal liability ... he learned real fast. He went to the CEO of the NYSE company and explained their problem and where it might be in other companies they owned. They did nothing. Laughed at him. He's no longer on the board. Put warnings in writing to protect himself from liability. Sold most of his stock.

November '97 I met with the technology editor of TIME Magazine to explain the "embedded systems" problem. I wanted engineers & CEO's to understand where vulnerabilities were. All to no avail. When "embedded systems" then became more prevalent in media - he chose not to write anything anymore cause it was no longer a "scoop".

Two years ago I thought this problem could be solved. I don't anymore. I gave up "trying to educate and save the world". I'm tired of being laughed at. My energy is better spent elsewhere.

Probably the strongest emotion I have with this whole Y2K mess, is an overwhelming sense of sadness. I also feel anger, because we should NOT be at the point we are. We should be further ahead. If I was capable of understanding this in the Fall of '97, and knew where to find the technical information to help others ... why in the h*ll haven't those in key decision-making positions been able to??? Greed and ego is what I personally attribute this to.

You've probably already seen this article, "Y2K petrochemical warnings sounded Houston-area plants race computer-driven clock to prevent disaster". If not, read it and take it seriously. http://www.chron.com/content/story.html/page1/195526

Good luck to you.

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), August 01, 1999.

Thank you George for the question, so I could here such a wonderful responce from Cheryl!

-- Les (yoyo@tolate.com), August 01, 1999.

Dear Miz Cheryl

Dear lady, I to thank you. This is excately what I have been trying to tell the good people of this forum...And is why, I have said that it will be the embeded systems which do us in.

I became aware last year at about this time that the RTC, ROM,PROM problems had not been addressed as we had been told in start-up engineering, way back in the 70's and 80's...(and yes, the people who calibrated the systems as we brought them on line, where aware enough about them to bring up the subject in our weekly job conferences.

It was my lady, who first told me that they had not been addressed where she had heard it hadn't, I do not know. My first respondse! "Of course there isn't any problem! Honey we knew about this thing way back when! And we where told not to worry about it-that it would be fixed before 2000 came.....Her reply, was to go out and purchase a computer and make me get on the interne. In a short time, I found out that the systems had not been fixed!!! My first respondse was to get MAD! But in a day I began to become scared! On the third day I began to make preps for The End Of The World As We Know It....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shakey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Shakey (in_a_bunker@forty.feet), August 01, 1999.

Cheryl,

Wonderful response!

I am in mid-management in an oil company in Houston (Memorial area) and on the Y2K team. We ain't gonna make it.

I kept hammering the City Council to post Y2K stuff on their web pages here, both for Harris County and the City of Houston. They finally did it in April, I think. Not much there, though. Traffic lights have been tested, and the water treatment system plans to stockpile extra chemicals and have full fuel tanks in case of blackouts. Whoopee. At least now I know that they will fail. Earlier I had some thoughts that they would be serious about the problem.

There have been few reports in the Houston Chronicle about Y2K, but the one Cheryl mentioned was classic.

I'm absolutely not going to be in Houston for rollover. This place is a giant firecracker, with a city government run by idiots.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), August 01, 1999.

Thanks George for the thread. Thanks Cheryl for the information. I work in Houston and have been following this issue since July '98. Haven't seen any community preparedness,other than the Christian Coalition meeting I went to in Fort Bend Co. in Feb. There was a representative from Reliant Engery (HL&P/Entex). Got the basic "we're working on it" yada, yada, yada. The response my job received from HL&P when asking about electrical disruption was something like, "we can't guarantee eletricity now" I forget the actual wording. I guess what they're saying is that there's always a possibility of disruptions.

I understand that the 1st Baptist Church is having y2k meetings on Wednesdays. This is second hand information, so call and see. Some places for purchasing items for preparations are: *Amish Barn - Old Town Spring 281.651.9209 *Harvest Time Products - 281.807.6581 (Houston)

-- quietly (queitly@preparing.com), August 01, 1999.

How many times is it now that Cheryl Houton has reposted that same tired clip in response to a question about Texas? Needless to say, ata over a year old is pretty outdated. But thats just fine, the mantra of the day is prep prep prep.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), August 02, 1999.

Paul Davis:

George Bolin said he was new to this forum. He asked, I guess I'm asking if anyone has some information on this area. I don't know what to believe anymore. This city has a massive amount of refineries and chemical plants.>

You may have read this before. He hadn't. Besides, all of my interaction with Houston independent oil-producers has been within past 6 months. Info on my friend who inspects Penzoil facilities is about 5 weeks old. Houston employment specs are 5 months old.

If there was a search option for this forum, I would have gladly just posted a link to my previous post for reference. But, as you know - there isn't.

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), August 02, 1999.

Cheryl, just ignore Paul. He thinks he is the only one who knows anything. He gets my vote for "most self-righteous" poster on the forum. In case you didn't know, he is one of the debunkers who wants to destroy this forum.

-- (sick@of.paul), August 02, 1999.

I just wanted to say thank you to Cheryl for posting the info. about Houston. It was really the kind of information that I was hoping for. I am really new here, but I have to say that by my observations this forum is way too political. Lighten Up! My wife is an elementary school teacher and her kids act better than some of you. If you do not have information to answer a persons questions, BUTT OUT! If you just want to say "The world is ending" to everything, please go crawl into your bomb shelter and unplug you PC. I'm sorry to sound like a bull, but if I wanted to hear nit picking comments, I'll go sit with a bunch of women at the retirement home. I am trying to find information to a very serious question. My family is depending on me because I am the only one who is computer literate. It's sad that so many people with simular interests can't get along better. I hope it changes for the better.

-- George Bolin (rbolin01@hotmail.com), August 02, 1999.