Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
old blue backpacks.
i wanted to post about a long lost-ish friend and all the conversations we had...my ever present blue jansport, that chair that was pretty much reserved for my unexpected visits; discussing the topic of the moment, whether that was childhood home stories, upcoming trips, or miniature breakdowns that sometimes included tears (mine).
but that was the extent, so i guess i have nothing else to say.
but that was the extent, so i guess i have nothing else to say.
Friday, May 13, 2011
amarillo's where i'll be.
i am sitting on a hotel bed in amarillo texas, with three of my chase mates, playing the only three amarillo songs i know on youtube. this is day 3 of the chase, and we have covered approximately 1600 miles so far. day one consisted of driving from starkville to western oklahoma in hopes of some good storms. an early set of storms (not predicted by the models) formed, though we still hoped that an outflow boundary would form out ahead, and we could still have a chance of seeing something. the storms formed an MCS, and all the rainfall stabilized the environment and the associated cloud cover didn't let it recharge. we did drive through some heavy rain and saw some cool lightning as we navigated our way through oklahoma city, but all in all, day one ended up a dead end.
we ended up in weatherford, oklahoma for the night. the next day we packed up early and headed south. we set up in a park just across the red river in texas. after killing a couple of hours, a dry line moved into the area and storms began firing. we loaded the van and took off after a storm back in oklahoma, searching for some large hail. the storm was slow moving and had a weaker inflow, and died not long after we reached it. another storm just to the west was looking good, so we drove to antler, oklahoma, to try and core punch it. we got a couple of hailstones, but it was mostly gone by the time we turned back around to find more hail. storms in that area were just not sustaining themselves well yesterday. we drove north and spent the night in mcalester, texas (no tea, i wanted some though, because all i could think about was mcalisters). we saw some cool lightning as we walked to a chilis next to our hotel, though.
day 3 started with a lecture on splitting storms and hodographs, and then we loaded up and drove west. we spend the majority of the day on the road, and we ended up in amarillo. we have a couple of off days before things start getting active again, so tomorrow we are spending the day exploring a canyon and going to the big texan. i also might get the chance to see an old friend. more than likely, we'll spend tomorrow night in amarillo too, and then we'll start making our way north again. hopefully this time we make it out of the states of oklahoma and texas. :)
we ended up in weatherford, oklahoma for the night. the next day we packed up early and headed south. we set up in a park just across the red river in texas. after killing a couple of hours, a dry line moved into the area and storms began firing. we loaded the van and took off after a storm back in oklahoma, searching for some large hail. the storm was slow moving and had a weaker inflow, and died not long after we reached it. another storm just to the west was looking good, so we drove to antler, oklahoma, to try and core punch it. we got a couple of hailstones, but it was mostly gone by the time we turned back around to find more hail. storms in that area were just not sustaining themselves well yesterday. we drove north and spent the night in mcalester, texas (no tea, i wanted some though, because all i could think about was mcalisters). we saw some cool lightning as we walked to a chilis next to our hotel, though.
day 3 started with a lecture on splitting storms and hodographs, and then we loaded up and drove west. we spend the majority of the day on the road, and we ended up in amarillo. we have a couple of off days before things start getting active again, so tomorrow we are spending the day exploring a canyon and going to the big texan. i also might get the chance to see an old friend. more than likely, we'll spend tomorrow night in amarillo too, and then we'll start making our way north again. hopefully this time we make it out of the states of oklahoma and texas. :)
Monday, May 9, 2011
great plains storm chase.
hello all. in approximately 3 days, i will be setting off on the greatest adventure i've had the opportunity to take.
my bag is sort of packed, i have lists upon lists of things to do and buy and pack and take...and i'm ready.
feel free to follow our adventures while we are gone! we have an official chase team blog, where you can see video and pictures of the things we're seeing or doing, and you can also track our progress via an interactive map. our van has gps that reports back to the website and you can follow us through all the storms. the blog also features SPC outlooks, storm reports, and radar for the great plains. in addition, we have a twitter account, and i'll also be updating on my twitter too. beware: if you get updates from me sent to your phone (but who does that anymore, right?) you should probably turn them off.
here's to adventuring and thunderstorms!
my bag is sort of packed, i have lists upon lists of things to do and buy and pack and take...and i'm ready.
feel free to follow our adventures while we are gone! we have an official chase team blog, where you can see video and pictures of the things we're seeing or doing, and you can also track our progress via an interactive map. our van has gps that reports back to the website and you can follow us through all the storms. the blog also features SPC outlooks, storm reports, and radar for the great plains. in addition, we have a twitter account, and i'll also be updating on my twitter too. beware: if you get updates from me sent to your phone (but who does that anymore, right?) you should probably turn them off.
here's to adventuring and thunderstorms!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
dramatics.
disclaimer number one: i am dramatic. maybe it comes with the territory of being a girl. maybe it's just me. either way, now that i can publicly announce it, i would like to say that i will be joining the mississippi state university department of geosciences with the great plains storm chase 2011.
all dramatics from last post aside, i did get chosen to go, and though i only know one person going on the trip besides myself, i am excited beyond words. our first meeting about the trip is this week.
speaking of severe weather, i had a dream last night about monday's severe weather possibility. i dreamed that i was in class in hilbun, and the front came through sooner than expected, and we were all still in class. instead of being a supercell outbreak (which was what the models were hinting to as of thursday evening), it was a strong squall line with embedded tornadoes in the front edge of the line. one such tornado came through the msu campus area, and they made us all go to the basement instead of staying in the climate lab.
anyway, i woke up this morning and looked at some model runs for monday afternoon, since i have an assignment to follow them daily until my class monday afternoon. i was reading the discussions on the national weather service site and the spc's day 2 outlook, and they both mentioned the storms should be more linear instead of supercellular. spc also went on to say that even though there is shear vectors parallel to the main flow, the bulk of the shear is so strong that there can be spin up along the line and tornadoes embedded in the squall line as it moves through.
now, i've noticed a trend in the last few years of my life that when i dream about tornadoes (or severe weather), we usually have one soon after. it doesn't always coincide, because there have been days were the weather is hot and boring and i'll dream about a tornado outbreak. or there will be times when i'll dream it and it will happen somewhere else in the country. but today i felt like a wizard.
there's probably some psychological reason for the fact that i dream about tornadoes before they happen, like the fact that i've been up to my eyeballs researching different severe weather events today and analyzing dozens of upper air charts. but i like to think that i have magical powers.
all dramatics from last post aside, i did get chosen to go, and though i only know one person going on the trip besides myself, i am excited beyond words. our first meeting about the trip is this week.
speaking of severe weather, i had a dream last night about monday's severe weather possibility. i dreamed that i was in class in hilbun, and the front came through sooner than expected, and we were all still in class. instead of being a supercell outbreak (which was what the models were hinting to as of thursday evening), it was a strong squall line with embedded tornadoes in the front edge of the line. one such tornado came through the msu campus area, and they made us all go to the basement instead of staying in the climate lab.
anyway, i woke up this morning and looked at some model runs for monday afternoon, since i have an assignment to follow them daily until my class monday afternoon. i was reading the discussions on the national weather service site and the spc's day 2 outlook, and they both mentioned the storms should be more linear instead of supercellular. spc also went on to say that even though there is shear vectors parallel to the main flow, the bulk of the shear is so strong that there can be spin up along the line and tornadoes embedded in the squall line as it moves through.
now, i've noticed a trend in the last few years of my life that when i dream about tornadoes (or severe weather), we usually have one soon after. it doesn't always coincide, because there have been days were the weather is hot and boring and i'll dream about a tornado outbreak. or there will be times when i'll dream it and it will happen somewhere else in the country. but today i felt like a wizard.
there's probably some psychological reason for the fact that i dream about tornadoes before they happen, like the fact that i've been up to my eyeballs researching different severe weather events today and analyzing dozens of upper air charts. but i like to think that i have magical powers.
Monday, March 21, 2011
lessons and regrets.
i've been alone a lot in the past week and a half, and i've had way too much time to think. and if you know me, or follow my blog (whenever i write, which is hardly ever these days) then you know that when i have time to think, a post shall follow.
since being in college, i have learned that i am not a good roommate. i am not good at sharing a small space with another person (i have yet to test out the theory of apartment roommates, though i think i shall fare better there). so i figured that when i got the RA job and had a private room, that everything would automatically be better. instead, all i got were more lessons to add to the book.
i've learned that student affairs is not my cup of tea. i do not like confrontation. i would rather just smooth things over or ignore small problems until they go away or fix themselves, just to keep the peace. i like to be friends with everyone. however, with my job, this is no longer possible. i've made some enemies (go figure) along the way, and those people seem to make it their mission to make my life as miserable as possible. which bums me out immensely.
i've also learned that i need a job with set hours. and honestly, i don't mind having the duty phone and being on call for 24 hours. because at least i know that i start duty at 5 pm and as soon as the clock hits 5 pm the next day, i'm done. it's the fact that i'm never really done that gets me. i may not be on duty, but i'm still responsible for my hallway. i may have the flu and be medicated and trying to sleep at 11:30 pm, but if people are in my lobby talking so loudly i can hear their conversation in my room, then i have to get out of bed and ask them to follow the quiet hour policy. i need a job where i can go to work, be at work, and when i get off work, i can go home and not worry about being on the job until the same time the following day.
another lesson to learn was about commitment - my level of commitment to my schoolwork, my job, my friends, and myself. i had to figure out a way to balance life so that no one felt left out, but that i didn't feel overwhelmed. i failed at that first semester. i'm a little better about it this semester. but i've realized that it is more than just the idea of committing to something...that i must actually have the motivation to do something about it. for example, though my broadcasting today verses when i started is like night to day, i am still not good at it. i am graduating in nine months, and i am still not good enough to excel at a job. though i know that i need to go practice multiple times a week in our studio, i have yet to make it up there more than once a week.
and then there are the things i've committed to that i regret. i got a job this summer as a summer RA in my building. now, there are both pros and cons to this. and while the pros definitely outweighed the cons when i applied for the job, and probably still do, i regret the chance to spend my last real summer at my house being a bum. i didn't realize how homesick i was for my house and my family and just generally being in the comfort of a house until i went home for spring break. there are the little things that no one thinks of - having a regular sized refrigerator, not wearing flip flops in the shower, not having to eat in the same room that you sleep in, not looking for a parking spot, and having more than one room to hang out in - that you don't realize that you miss so much when you're on a campus all the time.
maybe it's because part of me fears that i won't have as carefree of a summer when i'm confined to a job that requires me to be around a building so much. maybe i feel like summer should consist of road trips with the windows down and good music and lots of sunshine with people you love, and i think that i won't get that experience being on a campus. i feel like i will get stuck in a monotonous rut and wish my last summer away.
part of me also regrets applying to storm chase again. i knew that i would get my hopes up, no matter what i told myself about applying. because i want it so badly, i know that i will be crushed when the final verdict comes out. the odds of me getting chosen, especially since i've already been passed up in a previous year, are very slim. even knowing this, i still applied and i still got my hopes up. and while i know that i have other options (seeing kenny chesney in concert in tuscaloosa and saving money!) it will still be a giant letdown when the email comes out. it's been so long since applications were due, that now i expect the worst.
i will end with this, since this post is long enough to make up for not posting anything but pictures since new years. the last regret i will mention is not graduating with my class this spring. though it was the best decision for me, i feel like if i would have gotten my act together early in the college ball game, i could have tested out of certain classes and gotten more classes in a smaller amount of time. also, being assigned a new advisor in my last year of college didn't help either. i don't begrudge justyn for leaving me, because he got his dream job, but it did leave me in a situation where i had to end up taking a couple of extra classes. therefore, with all the extra stuff i took that i didn't have to, there was almost no way for me to graduate this april. especially with the awful semester i had last fall, with all those hours and no time for anything else. but i'm going to miss my classmates. we suffered through physical together and did all our dynamics homework together, and they'll go off and leave me while i will still be here, the lonely meteorologist.
i'm burning out on school. it's been a long seventeen years so far (kindergarten through four years of college, that's seventeen, right?). and while i might not continue this when i'm in a better mood, i've decided that for now, it's okay to begin the countdown to graduation and the start of the next part of my life. only 263 days to go.
since being in college, i have learned that i am not a good roommate. i am not good at sharing a small space with another person (i have yet to test out the theory of apartment roommates, though i think i shall fare better there). so i figured that when i got the RA job and had a private room, that everything would automatically be better. instead, all i got were more lessons to add to the book.
i've learned that student affairs is not my cup of tea. i do not like confrontation. i would rather just smooth things over or ignore small problems until they go away or fix themselves, just to keep the peace. i like to be friends with everyone. however, with my job, this is no longer possible. i've made some enemies (go figure) along the way, and those people seem to make it their mission to make my life as miserable as possible. which bums me out immensely.
i've also learned that i need a job with set hours. and honestly, i don't mind having the duty phone and being on call for 24 hours. because at least i know that i start duty at 5 pm and as soon as the clock hits 5 pm the next day, i'm done. it's the fact that i'm never really done that gets me. i may not be on duty, but i'm still responsible for my hallway. i may have the flu and be medicated and trying to sleep at 11:30 pm, but if people are in my lobby talking so loudly i can hear their conversation in my room, then i have to get out of bed and ask them to follow the quiet hour policy. i need a job where i can go to work, be at work, and when i get off work, i can go home and not worry about being on the job until the same time the following day.
another lesson to learn was about commitment - my level of commitment to my schoolwork, my job, my friends, and myself. i had to figure out a way to balance life so that no one felt left out, but that i didn't feel overwhelmed. i failed at that first semester. i'm a little better about it this semester. but i've realized that it is more than just the idea of committing to something...that i must actually have the motivation to do something about it. for example, though my broadcasting today verses when i started is like night to day, i am still not good at it. i am graduating in nine months, and i am still not good enough to excel at a job. though i know that i need to go practice multiple times a week in our studio, i have yet to make it up there more than once a week.
and then there are the things i've committed to that i regret. i got a job this summer as a summer RA in my building. now, there are both pros and cons to this. and while the pros definitely outweighed the cons when i applied for the job, and probably still do, i regret the chance to spend my last real summer at my house being a bum. i didn't realize how homesick i was for my house and my family and just generally being in the comfort of a house until i went home for spring break. there are the little things that no one thinks of - having a regular sized refrigerator, not wearing flip flops in the shower, not having to eat in the same room that you sleep in, not looking for a parking spot, and having more than one room to hang out in - that you don't realize that you miss so much when you're on a campus all the time.
maybe it's because part of me fears that i won't have as carefree of a summer when i'm confined to a job that requires me to be around a building so much. maybe i feel like summer should consist of road trips with the windows down and good music and lots of sunshine with people you love, and i think that i won't get that experience being on a campus. i feel like i will get stuck in a monotonous rut and wish my last summer away.
part of me also regrets applying to storm chase again. i knew that i would get my hopes up, no matter what i told myself about applying. because i want it so badly, i know that i will be crushed when the final verdict comes out. the odds of me getting chosen, especially since i've already been passed up in a previous year, are very slim. even knowing this, i still applied and i still got my hopes up. and while i know that i have other options (seeing kenny chesney in concert in tuscaloosa and saving money!) it will still be a giant letdown when the email comes out. it's been so long since applications were due, that now i expect the worst.
i will end with this, since this post is long enough to make up for not posting anything but pictures since new years. the last regret i will mention is not graduating with my class this spring. though it was the best decision for me, i feel like if i would have gotten my act together early in the college ball game, i could have tested out of certain classes and gotten more classes in a smaller amount of time. also, being assigned a new advisor in my last year of college didn't help either. i don't begrudge justyn for leaving me, because he got his dream job, but it did leave me in a situation where i had to end up taking a couple of extra classes. therefore, with all the extra stuff i took that i didn't have to, there was almost no way for me to graduate this april. especially with the awful semester i had last fall, with all those hours and no time for anything else. but i'm going to miss my classmates. we suffered through physical together and did all our dynamics homework together, and they'll go off and leave me while i will still be here, the lonely meteorologist.
i'm burning out on school. it's been a long seventeen years so far (kindergarten through four years of college, that's seventeen, right?). and while i might not continue this when i'm in a better mood, i've decided that for now, it's okay to begin the countdown to graduation and the start of the next part of my life. only 263 days to go.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
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