Archive for April, 2009

Apr 21 2009

Posted by Blake under General Stuff

Sleek Web Design Meets Industry . . . Fellow KP’ers team up for Fresh Look

Matt Hartzell of Hartzell Industrial Services Company (HISC) contacted Blake Miller of  Pro Motion Design to update their website to something new and more informative then what they had going on at the moment.  Matt and Blake agreed that the site was “dated” and didn’t present his image well.  The original HTML code was decent and did the job, but slow, bloated and wasn’t up to current design standards.    Matt also noted that they had their business cards recently redesigned so Blake wanted to tie the “identity” all together.

bcard

Matt's new business card to base new design.

Blake and his team started by drafting up some new static templates, from scratch.  Using Matt’s new business card design, a slick new template was created.

hisc-before2

HISC Before

Once approved, it was then turned into the website . . . sliced, coded and optimized.

hisc-after2

HISC After

The original website used nested HTML table’s to place the text and pictures, resulting in code that was difficult to maintain. In addition, the original website used font tags, which are now obsolete in the current HTML standard.  “Valid” code and css wasn’t even an option with the old site design and methods.

  • The re-designed website uses CSS and HTML to position the content with minimal amount of coding, thus making the pages lighter weight for faster rendering and easier maintenance.
  • We incorporated the look & logo used in the business cards HISC uses within the new design to give the website a fresh clean look and feel that kept the brand identity the same across products.
  • A new navigation system that makes it simple for people to get to the information they want, without getting that “cluttered” feeling the old design/navigation system had.  We also combined the content of pages to reduce the number of navigation buttons.

Matt is extremely happy with the new website and is working with Blake on some other work.  “It’s great to be (finally) doing some work with fellow Kings’ Pointers . . . especially in a slightly different context ;)

View the new website!

Blake Miller’s Pro Motion Design is a full service Graphic & Website Design, Web Hosting, Full-Color Offset Print and Marketing firm focusing on small to medium-sized businesses . . . worldwide.  Contact Blake at 619-840-3572.

Matt Hartzell’s Hartzell Industrial Services (HISC) delivers the services, expertise, project support, and custom software development and rollout for technical industries . . . also worldwide!  Contact Matt at 714-920-7072

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Apr 20 2009

Posted by Blake under KP & Academy News, News & Info

ABC interview at Kings Point & Email from Maersk Alabama

Hello Kings Pointers,

In case you missed out . . . Check out this ABC news clip at Kings Point regarding piracy:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7302684

…and an email from Maersk Alabama: EMAIL FROM MAERSK ALABAMA CREW MEMBER TO SHIPMATE ABOARD MAERSK ARKANSAS

Hey,

Everyone on here is okay. We’re on our way to Mombasa with Navy protection on board. Captain Phillips is still hostage in the lifeboat with the 4 pirates. I hear they’re flying out reliefs for everyone, but I’m not sure what all’s going to happen once we get to Mombasa . Supposedly the FBI is coming out to investigate the crime. Maybe we’ll be on the next CSI Somalia. I wanted to let you know some of the lessons we learned so you guys can better prepare yourselves for something similar.

The only guys actually captured by the pirates were on the bridge: Capt, 3/M, and 2 AB’s. I don’t really know why they stayed on the bridge until the pirates got up there. Then they had keys to everything and were able to unlock everyone’s rooms. The pirates got up to the bridge very quickly once they were on board. We had a locked cage door over the ladder well from main deck, but it only took a second for them to shoot it off. They then got to the bridge up the outside ladders. By that time we had taken control of the engine and steering down below. Mike stayed in the ECR and the C/M was out on deck tracking the pirates’ movement. We kept swinging the rudder side to side. The pirates’ boat capsized, though I’m not sure exactly when or what caused it. After about 20 minutes the engine was killed, I don’t know by whom. At that point I shut off the air bottles and Mike killed power. He was also able to get outside and trip the fuel shutoff for the EDG. I think this was critical. The pirates were very reluctant to go into the dark. We will be looking at a way to shut off the EDG from the ECR in the future. All the crew had been mustered and secured in the steering gear. Our pirates didn’t have any grenades, so they would have never been able to break in there.

The previous day we had welded a padeye on the inside of the hatch to the fantail so it was secured from the inside. The only problem with the steering gear was the heat and the shortage of water In the future we will store food and water in various spots for emergency usage. I think we will also run a fresh water line into the steering gear. We were able to make a run from the steering gear to the E/R water fountain and fill up some empty oil sample bottles we had back there. The C/M was also able to get some fruit and sodas from the galley and drop them down the line standpipe. The pirates sent the 3/M unescorted to go look for crew members, so he was able to get away. One of the pirates then went with an AB down to the E/R to look for people. Mike was able to jump him in the dark and we took him prisoner in the steering gear. No one else came down into the E/R. As the day went on the pirates became desperate to get out of there. There boat was sunk, and they couldn’t get our ship moving. The Captain talked them into taking the MOB boat. The three remaining pirates went down in the MOB boat with Phillips. We were then able to negotiate with them over the radio. We dropped some food, water and diesel to them. We started getting the plant back on line. Unfortunately, the MOB boat wouldn’t start. A couple of guys got in the lifeboat and dropped it. They motored over and traded the lifeboat for the MOB boat. We were supposed to exchange their guy for the Captain, but they ended up keeping him. They motored off in the lifeboat. They had no way of getting back aboard, so we followed them. The Navy showed up a few hours later. We stayed close by for some time, but then the Navy asked us to head out. I heard that several other pirate vessels were heading our way and the Navy wanted us out of the way. That’s about it. I’ll give you all the details some other time. Just to reiterate the most important points:

  • Have a well fortified location with food and water supply.
  • Kill all the lights. Leave the alarms going, the noise helped cover our movements through the house.
  • Flashlights and radios are very handy, as well as the sound-powered phone.

Anyway, it was a pretty stressful situation. I have to say I am impressed with how the entire crew responded. We didn’t have anybody who wanted to give up. I’m pretty confident that Phillips will end up ok. They have to know that if they kill him they’ll be done. I assume the company will be forced into taking some kind of action to assure our security from now on.

Hope everything is going well there. I’ll talk to you later.

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Apr 08 2009

Posted by Blake under General Stuff, KP & Academy News, News & Info

Sponsorship Opportunities

If either you or the company/business you work for are interested in sponsoring some of the key events at the 2009 Kings Point Homecoming, please consider the following benefits:

Sponsorship packages are designed to serve your organization’s marketing needs.

Package includes:

  • Either 18×24 color sponsor sign or banner that displays your name or company logo and website information.
  • A website banner, which links directly to your company home or related website, will be added to future email and written correspondence.

You can customize your package with specific marketing needs by contacting your Homecoming planners

  • Tailgating Sponsor - SOLD - Matt Andrews - www.quincannon.com                                                                               Tim Green - www.faststream.us
  • Tent Sponsor - SOLD - Matt Hartzell - www.hartzellindsrvcs.com
  • Dinner Sponsor $1500
  • Uniform Sponsor $1500

If you would like to become a sponsor, please contact:

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Apr 06 2009

Posted by John Bellissimo under KP & Academy News

KINGS POINT GRAD KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

LTJG Francis L. Toner IV, USN, Class of 2006, was killed this past Friday, March 27th, when an Afghan insurgent, apparently dressed as a National Soldier, fired upon a group of Navy Officers running inside the NATO compound at Camp Shaheen, Mazad-E-Sharif, Afghanistan. 

Toner was assigned to the Combined Security Transition Command as garrison engineer training Afghans to assume a security role for their nation.  A Navy Nurse was also killed in the attack and another woman wounded.  It was reported that Toner diverted fire to allow another Navy officer to escape.  LT Matthew Hume, USN ‘02, who shared quarters with Toner, also managed to escape injury. 

While at the Academy, Toner, a Shipyard Management major,   played football (#46) for four years and lacrosse as a first classman.  He dated and married a Long Island girl he met while at the Academy, Brooke Dueling.  He was an extremely popular midshipman and naval officer and brightened the lives of everyone with whom he came in contact.  The family has requested burial in Arlington National Cemetery and a Memorial Service at the Academy. 

Facebook subscribers can join the “Never Forget Francis L. Toner IV” network for more stories, videos and photos.  The Governor of Rhode Island has ordered all U.S. and State flags to be flown at half-mast until Toner is laid to rest.

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