Tomorrow is June 1, the first official day of hurricane season. That means my blood pressure will go up about 10 points and stay there through November. In our public affairs shop, we work with people across campus to try and ensure that we can still communicate with you, whether you are here on campus or scattered to the wind (poor choice of words, huh?). There are some interesting new things happening at UTMB this year. We’re reaching out to partners (some new, some old) across the state to piggyback on their systems and resources should our own go down. We’re embedding new technology into our plans, things like dedicated satellite phones for voice and data and a third-party-hosted institutional information blog. We’re working more closely than ever with state, county and city officials on a coordinated response. I think we’re as ready as we’ve ever been. Let’s hope it’s all for naught. Remember: the SOM’s Hurricane Laboratory Preparedness meeting is on Friday, June 9, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Clinical Sciences Auditorium, Room 362. The meeting targets the UTMB research community but there’s useful information for everyone. The presentations from the May 22 all-staff preparedness meeting are also now online. The scary one was the one done by the National Weather Service speaker. If you’re brave, take a look. I’m off to check on my supply of plywood and beanie weenies.