Yes folks, I have returned... The world can go back to spinning the way it did before I left, the sky can turn cloudy, the temperatures can go cold again, the air - cool and stenchy, and happy people everywhere can return to their gloomy outlook on days ahead.

Heh.

What a negative way to start out a post.

Nah, deep down I'm actually in a fairly good mood. I'm just not showing it very well. I have mixed feelings right now but don't really feel this is place to share that. I desperately want to write about certain things that have transpired over the past few days and why these feelings are bubbling up.

The only thing I can do is live my life - enjoy "The Office" tonight on TV (yippee!!), eat dinner the way I always did before, drink my water, blog occasionally, and listen to the Embassy CD I finally got in the mail last week.

Boy, you know, if only more people knew about these guys. What a great CD. It's been playing non-stop in the car, on my Chocolate, and in my head since I opened the thing. Since I was in direct contact with the band, they even sent me a song that's coming up on a future album. If there was a legal way to post it to the blog here, I'd do it. It's that good. Also, apparently, they are undergoing somewhat of a a transformation; attempting to rename the band and getting a new web-site together and so forth. The main reason it took so long for them to process my order and get the CD mailed out. Busy times for them, I suppose. I can understand that. I hope they are still playing gigs in August when I get home, because I really want to check them out live. I really do.

The workshop went really great. Lots of great presentations, lots of notes I want to go back through, and lots to information I have yet to really mull over. The "Frontogenesis during the warm season" presentation was very interesting and the Northwood, ND tornado re-analysis case was one I enjoyed very much. I saw some familiar faces, got to reacquaint myself with them, met some new people and made some friends. They didn't announce where next year's workshop will be held, but I'm pulling for Rapid City to step up. That would make for a longer trip next April, but that would be awesome to take a few additional days off and stay out there and enjoy the area. Do some hiking in the Black Hills or Badlands, maybe? Bismarck was very new to me. I hadn't ever been out there. We familiarized ourselves with the area around the Ramkota, though and Turcotte, Lawson and I had a pretty good time. We were able to upgrade the room to a poolside one, so we enjoyed some time in the pool and especially in the hot-tub both nights.

I WILL own one of those one day. Just wait, you'll see.

Hey, you know what, I'm finishing up here during the commercial break. I'm gonna sit down, enjoy my Lean Cuisine and "The Office."

And look, the Cubbies are winning! Ahhh, the Earth IS spinning, once again.

Just to remind everyone...

I will be out of town beginning this afternoon. I will be in Bismarck attending the Northern Plains Convective Workshop through Wednesday afternoon.

I should be back in town Wednesday evening.

Should you need to contact me, I will be observing presentations through much of Tuesday, but should be available later in the evening. Presentations will resume Wednesday morning, with the workshop slated to end around 2:00pm. I'll have my cell phone and most likely, it will be on, so if you feel the need to call and I miss it - be patient. I'll return your call when I can.

Ta-ta!

So, I realize it's been like forever since I've updated this thing... Sincerely apologize, by the way!

Anyhow, not much new up this way. Work has really slowed down lately. Our contracts with Alberta and Iowa ended about mid-April and our responsibilities shifted only to the Northern Indiana districts about the same time. The contract with Indiana ended at the end of April as did Wisconsin. So, we're pretty much into our quiet season at Meridian. My schedule is fairly reflective on that. I only work two seperate shifts the whole month (8:00pm to 4:00am and 8:00am to 4:00pm shifts) and work 4 days of office shifts. So, at least there's some consistency with this month's schedule.

I've really been under a serious crunch financially. After a few unexpected expenses over the past couple of weeks, I'm literally broke. Even though I got my raise a couple weeks ago, it really hasn't helped much in the short-term. Hopefully, it'll start to make more of a difference in a couple of months, when (hopefully) I can get back on my feet. In the meantime, I've been trying to cut back on a few things. Amanda and I are still seeing each other off and on and even though it makes me sounds like a cheap-ass, I'm trying not to just go out everytime, when we do see each other. I've been trying to find ways to spend time together without having to spend money. I had her over the other night and I cooked dinner for her and stayed in to watch a movie. So, see... We can find things to do that don't cost money! Plus, it was something a little different for me. It was (if you can believe it) the first time I've ever cooked dinner for a woman! Neither of us keeled over, so I guess the food turned out alright. The grilled chicken could have been better had I started the rest of the food sooner!

The trip down to Aberdeen for the Convective Workshop went great! The presentations were top-notch and were very interesting. I was very impressed with it. Even though a majority of the folks that were there were NWS employees, I still had a great time. It seemed like they accepted me as an employee of the private sector, so it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. There were a lot of nice and intelligent people there. I learned quite a bit from the presentations and I honestly feel I left having taken something away from it. The only part of the whole experience I could have done without was who I went with. The guy is a co-worker and I get along with the guy for the most part, but I'll be brutally honest (can't help it), he was simply embarrassing to be around. I don't know what it is, but he has some serious beef with the NWS and he deliberately criticized the NWS and many of it's practices - AND openly. He criticized the Grand Forks office on numerous occasions when it was clear that the Grand Forks employees were standing very nearby. It was embarrassing and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I don't know if he actually realizes that what he says sometimes can be very offensive or not, but frankly, it is. So, yes, if you haven't taken anything from my rant here, I am implying my attendence next year will not be with him. Which, by the way, I learned that the Grand Forks WFO will be sponsering next year!

Thursday, April 20th, I also attended the basic and advanced Skywarn training here in Grand Forks. Adam Lowe (a co-worker of mine) and I went down to it. Even though we're both rather extensively trained in the science of meteorology, it was still nice to be at a training session up here. I'm not sure, but it may have been the first session that Adam had been through. This will make the 8th or 9th time I've been through Skywarn training and the 2nd time I've been through the advanced session. I met a couple of the Hams at the session and also met the vice-president of the ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) network up here. He had invited to their monthly meeting, but I couldn't make it because of work. I haven't looked close enough at the work schedule, but hopefully I don't work the last Tuesday of this month... They hold their monthly meetings then. I've never been a part of ARES, so I'm a little green on how it runs and all. It would be interesting, however, to sit down and meet everyone and see what it's all about.

Since then, not much more excitement to speak of. The cruise control on my car has been malfunctioning over the past couple of weeks... and I should probably have it looked at. Which I would, if I could afford it - or if I had the time. With me working these 8pm - 4am shifts, I haven't been getting up until 3 or 4pm and by the time I get around and get my shower and everything, the dealership is closed. One of these days, I need to get my ass up and drive it over there.

Anyhow, speaking of which... I still need to get my shower and it's getting to be about that time. Hopefully, everyone has been doing okay and hopefully you're not mad that I haven't been updating this more often. I apologize. In the future, I'll try to get in here and write more.

More later...

In the meantime, though, for you guys out there... You better be voting for your Hometown Hotties for Maxim. Their annual contest has been going on now for 10 weeks!

C'mon, you have to support these hotties: http://www.maximonline.com/hotties/

Personally, I think it's a toss up between the two "Christina's." Christina (Dallas, TX) from Week #1 and Christina (Orlando, FL) from Week #8. You're votes will decide!

Edit: 19 May 2006 @ 1:35pm CDT

Hey folks,

I just thought I'd let you all know that I'll be out of town Monday through Wednesday. I will be attending the Northern Plains Convective Workshop down in Aberdeen, SD. If you need to reach me, I'll have my cell phone on me. You may want to double-check the workshop agenda, as well. It will, in general, let you know what I'll be doing and when.

Hope all is well!

I learned yesterday at work that over the course of the 3-4 day snow event over the central and northern plains this past weekend, that we received over 300,000 calls on our 511 system. At one point, supposedly during the morning hours of Monday, we were receiving calls at the rate of one every 3 seconds for our customers in Kansas and Nebraska. I don't have the exact numbers, but if I remember correctly, it was close to 345,000 total calls, give or take 2-5,000. Damned if I've ever heard of so many phone calls! That's just crazy...

I completed my 10:00am to 6:00pm shifts yesterday, have today off, then work a couple of mid-shifts (12:00am - 8:00am) tonight and Friday night, then pretty much have the weekend off. I don't have any major plans for the weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to get out and do something. I feel guilty for spending money, but I need to get out of this apartment. Last weekend, I was just feeling miserable (battling some sort of cold, I suppose) and was just too lazy to get out and do anything. I felt I accomplished some things - I got all my laundry done, cleaned up the apartment, and filed away some bills and some papers (something that's needed to be done for a couple of months).

I also received my federal tax refund check in the mail Monday. So, I've now received both my state and federal refunds. I guess I can say, that I'm fairly proud of myself for that. This is the first year I've completely done my taxes on my own. I went out and bought TurboTax, but for some reason it wouldn't let me complete my state forms... So, I took it back to Best Buy and decided to fill out the forms manually. Call me old fashioned, but it's cheaper (you don't have to pay for some stupid program or pay extra for e-filing). I'm sure Chris (my brother-in-law) would be proud to hear that! heheh... Anyhow, both of the refund checks are going to my credit card to pay off the purchase of my Digital Rebel XT. The federal check should take a good chunk of the balance off the credit card. I hate using my credit card because the interest rate is so frippin' high, but well, if you knew how bad I wanted this camera, you'd understand why I finally decided to use it. ;)

I've decided to attend the Northern Plains Convective Workshop down in Aberdeen in a few weeks (April 17-19). Initially, although I knew about it, I wasn't planning on going - mostly because of financial issues and, of course, getting the time off of work to go. I realized, however, Monday that Mr. Russ Schumacher is giving a presenatation on Extreme Rain Events... Russ and I were colleagues at Valparaiso University, so it'll be kind of neat to see him again. Hopefully, I'll be able to run into him and see what he's been up to after all these years. I'm going to eMail Erik Zarnitz, as well, to see if he's going to be there. He's living somewhere in South Dakota (I can't remember where...) so I'm wondering if he's considering it. It should be a fun experience and hopefully an informative and educational one, as well. I haven't attending any conferences in a couple of years, so even though I'll probably be spending $50-80 on the trip and for hotel accomodations (it's a 2-day event) I think it'll be worth it. I should know by tomorrow if I'll be able to get the time off work, but if I do, I'll be heading down with Justin Turcotte, a co-worker of mine. Which will work out even better... That way, we can split the costs of traveling and accomodations. I'm getting anxious for that, it should be fun!

Well, as we "Hartman's" tend to say... I'm running out of gab... LOL!
Have a great day, folks!