It has long been said that if you don’t like the weather in Texas just wait 20 minutes and it will change. This afternoon we are watching the weather closely as the national weather service has issued a Tornado watch for north and central Texas until 10:00 PM CST. Tornado’s, In January? Maybe Al Gore was right about the whole global warming thing….

Microsoft has been kind enough to send us the latest Windows 7 application compatibility list. While this list does contain a lot of popular applications, it not all inclusive or in anyway complete list of programs that will work on Windows 7. Because all of the software programs we produce are web-based, Theme Park Innovations currently does not have any programs which qualify for the list.

Windows 7 Application Compatibility List

As a new season is upon us we begin to make preparations for the influx of new employees that must be trained to our clients standards. For some, this will be their first job. For others, the passion of working in the entertainment industry is enough to justify their reenlistment. Those that returned from the previous season are battle hardened and ready for another season. A little older, and little wiser. For new employees the first person they will likely meet will be a park/department trainer. Ultimately this person has the difficult and complex task of transferring the knowledge, skills, rules, and expectations of the organization to many different audiences. The skills learned in training will reflect upon the park as a whole for the entire duration of the season. A great trainer is an employee who has the experience, knowledge, and persona to address employees in many different age groups with many varying levels of experience.

Understanding, engaging, and entertaining your audience is a great way to deliver a message across. If you walk into an auditorium and start preaching about company polices like your reading from a book, the likely hood that your training program to succeed is going to diminish. However if you walk into an auditorium and immediately entertain, and engage the audience. Your prospective employees are going to be more apt to pay attention and absorb the knowledge you are giving them. From the moment you start talking they must be able to easily relate to you, and trust you. Employees are equally the heart and soul of any park, as much so as any ride or attraction. With out their dedication and support success would be very limited.

The role of the trainer is always evolving, there is always room for improvement in the training material and methods. Annually evaluating employee performance as it relates to the training material, and adjusting policies as necessary should be part of your standard training procedures. Another important role of the trainer is address employee grievances. Some of the most common training mistakes we see are rushing threw the training material. Not stressing the importance of procedures and policies, and trying to force feed information. Trying condense three days worth of training material, and two days worth of department training material into two one day sessions is just to much.

On January 15th 2009 we will begin the bulk database tasks for the IAD platform. Please make sure you have your seasonal edit list filed so that we can add/delete employees as needed.

Global Warming? An artic cold front has pushed across north Texas dropping temperatures into the low twenty’s / high teens and bringing with it frozen precipitation. This latest storm is challenging to TPI because the air temperature is so cold, that any contact with vehicles underway creates instant leading edge icing. Combined with high winds gusting 30-40 MPH, sleet, and a layer of ice on the road already, it makes for a very dangerous storm. While we are prepared to operate in icey conditions, the high winds associated with these storms may cause a vehicle to be pushed off the ice resulting in a collision.

At this time, due to highwinds and freezing precipitation, we are suspending all service calls including AM safety checks. We will resume normal operations as soon as it is safe to do so. We anticipate conditions will warrant further evaluation later in the day. Updates will be posted here, in the client portal, and on operations service hotline. Currently there are 135 school closures listed in the area, including our school district, Denton ISD.

On behalf of the Theme Park Innovations family, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!

We are watching the weather very closely this evening and into tomorrow morning as snow and freezing precipitation continue to fall across north Texas. This is the second time this year we have had snow in Dallas, and we were even fortunate enough to have a snowy Christmas. Something they say hasn’t happened in Dallas in 80 years or so. We have enabled the weather advisory system in the client portal and via the automated phone response system. Please keep us advised of your organizations operating intentions so that we may adjust your services accordingly. As TXDOT had a very slow and limited response to the icy conditions in the previous storm, service delays will most likely be experienced in this storm, updated information will be available in the client portal. Also if you need to arrange for delivery of deicing salts, sand, anti-freeze etc, please open a service ticket in the client portal.

Last night in anticipation of the incoming winter weather, we prepared our service fleet for ice operations. We currently are experiencing service delays of about 15 minutes, however everything will run as scheduled today regardless of the weather conditions. Please login to the client portal for up to date service times and fleet status.

Please be advised that this recall has ended; All eligible laptops have been recovered.

On December 2nd 2009, an HP “DV9235NR” laptop owned by TPI suffered an unknown component failure and started to smolder. We feel that if the unit had been left unattended during this incident, there would have been an inherent risk of fire. Based on the lack of technical response from HP, and the numerous other recalls associated with these units. We are issuing a voluntary recall of all HP DV 9000 series laptops sold in between January 18th 2007, and December 9th 2008. This includes units that have been serviced under previous HP recalls, such as the left hinge replacement. Recall notifications by mail have been sent out as of December 3rd 2009.

Recall Procedure

1. Please open a support ticket or contact TPI by phone at 214-453-0060 .
2. We will verify your laptop is affected by this recall, and give you instructions on how to backup your data.
3. We will overnight you a replacement laptop and a pre-paid return box for your old DV9000. Please include all accessories that originally came with the laptop.
4. Your new laptop will prompt you on how to migrate the data from your old unit to your new one from the TPI live backup system.

If your HP laptop is operating abnormally hot, is suffering from video defects or has a strange smell. Discontinue use and remove power to the unit immediately. Do not leave the laptop unattended or plugged in for extended periods of time.

Please be advised that this recall has ended; All eligible laptops have been recovered.