So, my sister and brother-in-law are now thinking of coming out not only visit me early this Summer, they're making plans to coincide their visit with my planned vacation out west. I had initially planned on making either Yellowstone National Park or Glacier National Park (I desperately want to see either!) on my own. Just me, my camera, and Momma Nature.

My sister and brother-in-law, however, did want to, at least, possibly see the Badlands and the Black Hills while they were here, so I told them of my plans. So, now we're trying to make our plans for when and where. Instead of trying to decide with park to visit, we're thinking of now hitting both!

In doing so, I made up a rough draft of what the itinerary might look like. If you're interested, this might be what it ends up being... If not, sometime very similar!

Friday, June 11:
- Leave early morning, south on I-29, stop by Watertown, SD to see Terry Redlin Art Center.
- Proceed to Sioux Falls, possibly stop and see Falls Park.
- West on I-90, stop by Mitchell to see either Corn Palace or Telstar Mustang/Shelby/Cobra Museum.
- Stop by Chamberlain rest-stop (neat overlook of the Missouri River!).
- Get to Wall, SD (find a place to stay) and possibly visit the Badlands before dark.

Saturday, June 12:
- Up early, take the Badlands loop, hike some (if interested!) through mid to late-afternoon.
- Head west to Rapid City and Black Hills, then taking 16A around Custer S.P.
- Overnight in Custer or Keystone.

Sunday, June 13:
- Up early, see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, and travel 16A (very cool scenic-highway!)
- Harney Peak?
- North on 385 to see Lead and Deadwood late-afternoon/early-evening.
- See Spearfish Canyon, then overnight in Spearfish.

Monday, June 14:
- Up early, west on I-90, see Devils Tower.
- Cross the Bighorn Mountains on the way to Cody, WY.
- Enter Yellowstone at Northeast Entrance, see Mt. Washburn & sight-see.
- Hiking?
- Overnight in Yellowstone.

Tuesday, June 15:
- Up early, sight-see central/southern Yellowstone.
- Hiking?
- Overnight in Yellowstone.

Wednesday, June 16:
- Up early, sight-see southern Yellowstone some in the morning, then south to Jackson.
- Sight-see Grand Teton and Jackson, overnight in Jackson.

Thursday, June 17:
- Up early, sight-see the town and Grand Teton in the morning.
- Trek back north, see Yellowstone more (if desired) during afternoon/evening.
- Continue north and overnight in Gardiner/Livingston/Bozeman, MT.

Friday, June 18:
- Up early, then proceed north on 287 to Glacier N.P.
- Sight-see southern Glacier late-afternoon/early evening.
- Overnight in Glacier or nearby city/town.

Saturday, June 19:
- Up early, explore Glacier N.P.
- Hiking?
- Overnight in Glacier or nearby city/town.

Sunday, June 20:
- Up early, possible morning/afternoon exploring.
- Return east on Hwy 2.
- Stop by Bear Paw Battlefield-Nez Pearce Nat'l Historic Park (South of Chinook, MT).
- MT-13 to MT-200S to Glendive, MT, then I-94 East to ND Badlands.
- Overnight in Medora.

Monday, June 21:
- Up early, explore ND Badlands.
- Hiking?
- Return east and north to Grand Forks by early/mid-evening.

It'll be a lot of time in the car and we wouldn't necessarily enjoy a lot of time anywhere, but we would see a lot! Again, this is just a rough draft and never know, we may just decide on one park and just enjoy the time and scenery there. We will see!

I made back into Grand Forks this evening, from a weekend of fun in Minocqua, Wisconsin.

Why was I there?

My parents, Grandma and Grandpa Grimm, would take my sister and I up there almost every year when we were kids. We have friends of the family (from long ago!) that have lived in these parts for years and years. I have precious memories there, but not many I can remember very vividly. I recall the long, hilly roads with nothing to surround us but forests and small lakes. I remember the small cabins we used to stay in. I remember that big-ass Loon in Mercer, Wisconsin. The latter, mainly, because I still have the picture my mom sent me a couple of years ago in a card, up on my 'fridge.

It's been years ago, since I've been there.

My mom, my Aunt Sue, Uncle John, and my younger cousin, Andrew all left Indiana last Thursday to make it up to Minocqua on Friday afternoon. All met our friends (The Meade's) at the Concord Inn. I didn't get there until late Friday evening, since I had to work. I was able duck out of the office early (at 2pm Friday), so I was able to pull into town around 9:30pm.

We hung out in the hotel lobby most of the evening, catching up on each other, especially between myself and Mike Meade! I hadn't seen that old fart in years! Hah! He was a crazy guy to be around all weekend and a lot of fun to just hang out with and listen to. This guy has so many stories, it's unbelievable.

Saturday morning we woke up, had our continental breakfast, then split up for the afternoon. Andrew, mom and Sue all walked downtown to do some shopping, while I jumped in Mike's truck with John to take a tour of the area. Mike took us all over, telling us stories, showing us where things have changed, took us back to his property to show us his house and the 50 acres he owns. Or so... I can't remember exactly how much land he owns out on 70, west of Minocqua, but it's a lot! He drove us around the property, mainly to show me where the eagles roost. I wanted to try to get a picture or two of some Bald Eagles, and he knows right where they are. He has a river in the back of his property so he drove us back there. We saw a couple back there, but they were young enough so that they didn't have that white crown on their head yet. I tried to take some pictures, but I'm not sure if they turned out that great. I'll have to transfer them over the computer tomorrow night, to see.

We eventually made it to "Handsome Bill's" place. This guy, apparently, a friend of Mike's is a nutcase. And I'm trying to describe this guy in the nicest way possible. Hahah! He's definitely a new breed of man - one that doesn't have a care in the world, doesn't take anything serious, and, in general, is just plain crazy. He's an entertaining guy, that's for sure. Mike and John, specifically stopped at this guy's place, just so I could meet him. ;)

Anyhow, after all that, Mike, John and I met the rest at Perkins for lunch. I then rode with mom, Sue and Andrew to Wal-Mart to pick up some stuff for the party later Saturday evening, while John and Mike went back to the hotel. Along the way, of course, I had to stop by the local liquor store to see if they had the Fat Squirrel. I just HAD to try it. The bar in the hotel had Spotted Cow, so I had enjoyed that the night before!

When we got back to the hotel, Joe had gotten there, another older guy that knew the rest of the clan. The guys got on the subject of "Darlings" (an adult store) down the road and whimsically decided to drive down and check it out. I decided, "what the hell," and rode along. It was interesting, to say the least, but fun as all crap. I love going in those stores, they're just fun to look through - and always bring out the giggles. Hah!

We weren't there very long, I swear... ;)

By the time we arrived back at the hotel, the Meade and Trapp clan had already started to arrive. The kids were all there, in the pool, and the rest were getting food and snacks setup in the dining area. The "beverages" we had to keep in the rooms, since the hotel didn't want them in the common dining area. Which was fine, but a little inconvenient - having to walk back and forth between the room, the lobby, the food, and the pools. ;) After eating the snacks, the pizza, drinking nearly all my Fat Squirrels and chatting/visiting with the Meade's and Trapp's, I decided to jump in the Hot Tub. Most of the family friends were in the process of leaving and/or saying their goodbye's, so it was a good time to jump in. I'm still set on owning one of those things, someday. Man, did it feel great! I slept pretty good Saturday night.

Mother's Day, we didn't end up doing a whole lot. We woke up, went to the Lac Du Flambeau Casino for Brunch and did a little gambling. It was pretty awesome they had fried walleye on the buffet. I think I ate a pound of it! The gambling went pretty good, as well... I came out ahead, but not by much - only two dollars worth! ;)

After the casino, Mike took us all on another tour of the area, with more stories... I distracted myself for a little while by calling my stepmom, Chris, to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. By the time I finished up on the phone, we had decided to drop by Paul Bunyan's to look around there. It's a sort of gift shop along 51. We weren't in there long and after, we filled up the gas tank, picked up some different Wisconsin beer, for myself, then went back to the hotel to relax. We caught a couple movies on TV in the guy's room, then crashed for the night. I will tell you, the Island Wheat Ale from Washington Island (Door Co.) Wisconsin is mighty tasty! The gas station didn't have any Fat Squirrel or Spotted Cow.

This morning, we woke up, cleaned up, and headed for breakfast at Tula's. It's a nice little hole-in-the-wall cafe off of SR-70 on the northwest side of the town. The food wasn't bad at all... We convened once again back at the hotel to say our goodbye's, then headed in different directions. Mom, Sue, John and Andrew went south, I went north.

The drive back and forth wasn't bad at all. The distance wasn't bad and the time went by fairly quickly, as well. It took all but 7.5 hours (from 2:05pm, Friday afternoon to around 9:30pm that evening) to get there, and just over 8 hours to get back (from 11:30am this morning to 7:45pm this evening). The longer trip back to GF was mainly because I made a few stops along the way. Namely, in Mercer to get a picture of that gigantic Loon, at a scenic overlook near Saxon, WI, in Ashland, at the public beach near downtown and on the west side of the city to get some pictures of Lake Superior, at a rest area near Cass Lake to get some pictures of developing storms... then along the Truck Bypass around Crookston to get more pictures of storms.

It was a great weekend trip and one I'll have to repeat sometime in the future, if and when the family comes up again. It was a blast.

I'll have to log the total mileage tomorrow. I forgot to check the odometer before I got out of the car earlier tonight!

Toodles for now...

Hello folks,

Just a little news to pass along. I will be out of town beginning tomorrow afternoon. I will be traveling back home to help support my cousin and his wife through a very difficult time.

If you would need to contact me, please give me a call. Internet access will be somewhat limited, but I'll try to check in on my E-mail, as well, as often as I can.

Thank you, as well, to everyone that have sent thoughts and prayers to the family. It is greatly appreciated.

Hello folks,

Just to let you know... Beginning this evening, I will be away on vacation until late Monday. My brother-in-law and I will be traveling along with a few co-workers of mine to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota. We look to do some hiking, camping, and sight-seeing.

Yes, we realize it's going to be in the 30's at night. Call us crazy, but it's something we're all looking forward to...

If, by chance, you need to contact me, I'll have spotty cell coverage, but you can certainly try me there first. As always, the contact information is linked above.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend!

Hello everyone!

Effective later this afternoon, I'll be out of town on vacation. I'm hoping to be on the road and on my way home back to Indiana by 5:00 PM. That would put me in Bluffton by 8:00 or 9:00 AM Friday morning, at the latest.

If there is anything you would need to get a hold of me for, I will have Internet connectivity from home, so I will have access to E-mail. Otherwise, I obviously, will have the cell phone with me, so by all means, feel free to give me a ring any time. My contact information (E-Mail address and phone number) is linked above.

Also, I will have my GPS operational throughout my drive home. If you would like to track where I'm at on my trek through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, feel free to check up on me on my GPS Tracking web-page. My position updates by the minute and the page will update every two minutes. Also, note you can zoom in and out of the map by using the "+" and "-" buttons in the upper left-hand corner of the map and can maneuver around the map by click and dragging the map from left to right, to up and down.

Take care, and some of you I'll see very soon... Others, I'll see you in about a week and a half!

Yes, that is right... He has returned to his hometown of Grand Forks.

It's been a little difficult to get back into my normal routine after been gone an entire week, but it's slowly coming back to me. I had my first shift at work last evening and it was actually not quite as bad as I thought it may be, getting back into the groove of forecasting.

I'm working on a few things late tonight and just finished up my last post from Saturday and Sunday over in the WeatherBlog. I hadn't yet written up my summary from the last two days of my chase-vacation.

I now just need to compile the posts into a log and post that to my web-site. I also need to work on getting photos and video up in the gallery and site from the trip. I have Thursday and Friday off this week, so I'm hoping to get to it then.

Good to see some of you, already and to those of you back home in Indiana, I'll see you all in August, when my next vacation is scheduled.

Ta-ta, for now!

Hope everyone is doing well this fine evening... I'll be hopping into bed here soon, but I wanted to let everyone know, that doesn't, that I've been keeping a chase diary of my days here on the plains over the past several days, over on my WeatherBlog. You can reach it by clicking on the tab above.

It's nothing entirely complete, but it does summarize what we've seen and where our travels have taken us. I don't have any pictures posted yet, but eventually I'll have some posted to the photo gallery. I'm hoping next week when I get some time off work, that I'll be able to process things and get them uploaded.

Jared and I are definitely getting pumped for tomorrow... Very nice flow in the models and with the thermo's setting up the way they are, it could turn into the best tornadic potential we've seen all week. Not to get too technical to you regular readers, but the new Day 1 Convective Outlook from the Storm Prediction Center late tonight is indicating a 15% "hatched" area for their tornado probabilities. The probabilities indicate confidence of a tornado report within 25 miles of a point in the outlined area. The "hatched" area is to indicate a higher concentration of reports or when a higher number of significant reports may be expected.

So, yes, we are definitely anxious to see how things turn out.

Take care, everyone...
I'll see or talk to you soon!

Hello folks,

Beginning early tomorrow morning, I will be out of town tending to my chase vacation with some former colleagues of mine. I plan on being on the road by 7:00am and will be driving southward towards Sioux Falls. From there, we will either target southeastern South Dakota or eastern portions of Nebraska.

My expeditions will continue through through May 31st, with my return coming either during the late evening of the 31st or early on June 1st.

So as long as I have a signal, I'll still be available via cell phone. So, if you need to reach me, just give me a jingle. My number can be found by navigating through the "Contact Me" tab above.

If you are curious as to our whereabouts, you may take a gander at Jared's tracking application at his web-site. As long as he has his GPS and web-cam in operation this page should update every 10 to 15 minutes. Obviously, we can't guarantee this will be operable the entire time we're on the road, but hopefully, we'll be able to update our position sporadically through the week.

Be prepared for photos, as I'm sure I'll have lots to share upon my return...

Have a great week, all!

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!

Hello folks,

Just thought I'd drop in and say that vacation is going great thus far! I spent the first weekend doing a lot of relaxing and helping out my sister and brother-in-law on their property here in Bluffton. They are currently in the process of fixing the place up for resale or rent. It still needs some work, but hopefully they will be able to get it completed soon! I've been in Fishers since late Sunday night staying with my sister and brother-in-law, but will be heading back to Bluffton at some point tonight. Friday, we'll all be heading up to the lake for our annual Lake Vacation! I'm getting anxious and pumped for that!! Looks like the weather should cooperate with more sunshine and somewhat cooler temps.

More later... Maybe!

Heya folks,

I'm working an office shift here at work, so I don't have a whole lot of time, but thought I'd jump on here quickly, to let you all know, I'm still alive and kicking. The trip to the Badlands and Black Hills, SD went really well... Lu and I both had a great time hiking through the Badlands and seeing all the historic downtowns of Deadwood, Lead and Custer, and driving in and around the Black Hills National Forest. It was beautiful out there and we both have LOTS of pictures to share with you all. I'll have pictures uploaded within the next couple of days to the gallery.

Yesterday was an exhausting day with the spelunking tour at Jewel Cave and the drive home... and I'm currently (still) nursing the cold I've been suffering through and now aches and pains from the cave tour! Ugh! ;)

I'll write more later tonight and tomorrow with a much more detailed look at our experiences this past weekend.

Hope all is well!

Wow, has it really been since the end of May when I last wrote in here? It doesn't seem that long ago. Anyhow, lots has happened since, but since I don't have a whole lot of time, I'll save it for a future post...

I just thought I'd drop by and let you all know that I will out of town on vacation beginning tomorrow. I will be in Sturgis, SD through Sunday... A friend of mine and I are traveling south to the Black Hills to do some sight-seeing, hiking, and spelunking! Yeah, that's right, spelunking... It's something I've never done before, but it should be a lot of fun. Jewel Cave in the Black Hills offers spelunking tours, so we've set up reservations to try it out.

Anyhow, if you need to reach me, please try my cell phone. If not there, you can also e-mail me. I will be taking my laptop with, so I will have access to that, as well.

Take care everyone... I promise to have plenty of pictures to share with you when I get back!

Hello folks,

I figured I would let you all know that I'll be out of town starting tomorrow, Monday, December 18th. I'll be back in Indiana visiting family and friends over the holiday. I shall return on the 26th! ;)

Also, while I'm thinking about it, I want to send along a congrats to the Indianapolis Colts, who today clinched their division. They don't play until tomorrow night, but with the Jacksonville Jaguars losing today, they've clinched things up. Hopefully our defense shows up against the Bengals this week. Otherwise, it'll either turn into a shootout or a loss!

Merry Christmas, everyone!
Have a safe and fun holiday season...

Has it really been a month since I last wrote in here? God damn!

It seems that each of my last 2 or 3 entries in here I've apologized that I haven't written and that'd make an effort to write in here more. Heh... I don't think I've upheld my promises very well. So again, I'm sorry! ;)

My sister and brother-in-law were up here over Thanksgiving, as well, so I didn't really feel like sitting on the laptop and writing when I had company to entertain. It was really nice to have them up here for almost 2 weeks! They drove up on the 18th and were here through the 27th. It was fun having them around... and I'm looking forward to going back home for Christmas. Yep, my vacation actually went through and I'm actually going to get to go home for Christmas now! Woohoo!

We have been in a fairly active pattern lately, weather-wise and as such, we've had several clippers pass through the region. Nothing significant has come of them, but we probably have about an inch or maybe an inch and a half out there on the ground. Just enough to get the roads and parking lots around town all nice and ice-covered for us. And believe me, they are! The roads aren't actually all that bad, but the parking lot, in particular at work, is horrible. It's nothing but ice and that has made for some interesting treks from the car to the office.

The only real news to share, I guess, is that I recently upgraded my cell phone! If you really care to know, that is! ;) If the title to this entry is any clue, I went with the LG Chocolate phone. I received a mailer just the other day from Verizon advertising their holiday promotions and apparently I'm eligible for an advanced upgrade. My "New-every-Two" contract is up for renewal in January, and apparently with the promotion I was able to upgrade early. So, I went into the Verizon store yesterday (Wednesday) and got the phone. It was free with the upgrade credit, so all I paid for was the 1GB memory card I bought for it. It's a pretty sweet little phone and I love the mp3 player feature! The touch-pad is a bit sensitive and that has taken some getting use to, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I haven't received any calls on it yet and I haven't even made a phone call on it as of yet, either - so I'm anxious to see how the reception is and if others can hear me alright. We'll see soon enough, I need to make my rounds to the family before long, anyway. You know, call them all up and see how they've been. It'll be especially nice, because I'll now be able to call more than two people now without having to charge my phone back up! My old phone's battery was friggin' horrible at keeping a charge!!!

Work has been going alright, I suppose... I found out today the one thing you should never say to any forecaster - "Why was your forecast so shitty?" If you can believe it, my boss actually asked me that today... Apparently, we had some backlash with our new clientele in Indiana this afternoon about Wednesday evening's forecast, which incidently was my forecast! I don't know what it is about my boss, but he has the worse way of approaching people. I don't mind the criticism of my forecast or the fact that it was my boss who approached me about it... BUT, I have a major problem with him referring to my forecast as "shitty!" I would have a major problem if anyone made a statement like that! There is simply no respect in making that statement and especially makes me feel like I'm two inches tall. Not because of the fact that he's speaking down to me like I'm inferior to his "supernatural" powers as the BEST FORECASTER IN THE WORLD, but because he chose to say all this in front of my co-workers... It was totally uncalled for and, in my opinion, very unprofessional and disrespectful. I don't want to get into what all the issues were, but I came out of the "meeting" having learned a little something about what exactly these folks in Indiana AND Ohio really want. I'll work on the problems and fix them - and hopefully that'll be something my boss will appreciate. More effort and a little more attention to detail will help, I'm hoping.

Anyhow, the ol' ticker is calming down and I'm getting a bit hungry for a snack. Hopefully, everyone out there is having a pleasant day, evening, or whichever. I'm sure you're all feeling much better about yourselves than I am feeling about myself right now...

More later... (there I go making promises, again!)

Hello folks,

I'm back into town and am getting settled back into the routine. You know, the working, sleeping, eating thing... Vacation went really well. Even though it seemed to just fly by, I was able to do pretty much all I wanted. I wanted to visit and catch up with friends - which I was able to do a lot of, to visit with family - which I was able to, and to relax - of which, I did quite a lot of, as well.

Traveling went pretty smooth... I ended up getting on the road by 12:30am on Friday the 4th, and with the weather cooperating, I nearly made it home in record time. Besides some hang-ups within the Chicago suburbs, traffic flowed fairly well. To avoid the apparent heavy construction on I-80 south of Chicago, I decided to take Highway-30 east off of I-39 in Illinois. This routed me through several very small towns and through Aurora, Plainfield, Joliet and Chicago Heights... and with construction going on within Plainfield and Joliet, it went painstakenly slow through that area. Still, I made it back into Bluffton by 4:00 pm. The same was true on the way back west on Friday the 18th, but the travel went even slower with scattered, light showers affecting traffic-flow through much of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Heavy rain in western portions of Minnesota really slowed things down... I was going 30 mph at one point because I couldn't hardly see in front of me.

The first night in town, I spent over at Jeff's (Justin's brother)... Justin and I decided to go swimming in his pool, since it had been a rather warm afternoon. Plus, it sounded really good to me, since I had been stuck in the car all damn day! Then it was off to Webster Lake, Saturday morning... Amy and Chris went along with us this year - it was the first time they had gone up with us. We had a pretty good time. Most of the time Saturday we were out on the water, tubing, or hanging out near the cottage, talking, drinking, and catching up with each other. It was nice to be around some of my closest friends again. It was nice to see Brian and Becky again, as well. I hadn't seen either in a long time... Sunday, the boat broke down, so we were forced to stay ashore most of the day. It got a little boring at times, but it was still nice to just be there with friends, relaxing.

The rest of that first week I was home, I spent down at Amy and Chris' down in Fishers... Chris is still in the process of beginning his real estate venture, so I was helping them out fixing up a home in Greenfield. It went pretty smooth and I enjoyed just helping them out and hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law for a week. Plus, they took me to Carrabba's - and damnit, that made it all worth it! I love that place!

Back in Bluffton, on Friday, I had to make it out to my dad's that evening for a cookout he was hosting for me. Several from my step-mother's family wanted to see me while I was home, so they were all there. It was nice to see them and visit for several hours. Saturday, I spent much of the day with Justin, Brian and Amy. Brian evidently had bought a new gun, so we were out at his parents shooting away. I have never enjoyed guns, per se, so I didn't shoot much, but did shoot his .45 caliber hand-gun. I didn't think it was going to be so loud, so I didn't have ear plugs in, initially. After that one shot, I put a pair of headphones on. As if my hearing isn't bad enough already! Then Sunday, my mother had yet, another cook-out for me. Members of my mother's family wanted to see me, as well, while I was home. It was nice to see them, as well, since I hadn't seen them in nearly 2 years.

Most of the second week, then, I spent at my mother's home in Bluffton. I was able to hang out with friends during the week and mostly just relaxed. My mother and step-father took me up to Bandido's for lunch on Wednesday (the 16th) and Justin, Brian and I all visited Bummies for dinner on both Tuesday and Wednesday. That's the one thing we lack up here in Grand Forks - a drive-in restaurant. As far as I know, we don't have one at all...

Thursday, I primarily spent packing things up... I wanted to visit with my dad, once again before I left, so I went out to his place for dinner Thursday evening. It was nice that they offered to make anything I wanted. :) I asked for my dad's famous fried potatoes. Ahh, were they good. Plus, they know how much I love steak, so they had steak on the grill ready, as well!

All in all, it felt really good to be back in Bluffton. And even though, I always said that I wanted to make it out of that small town, in a lot of ways, I miss it. I miss my friends a lot of the time and miss being close to my family. It was sad having to leave Friday morning - but I still have this thing deep in my heart for my career and know that eventually, I'll have a family of my own someday to love and support.

Maybe that will be my next "thing" to accomplish this year... To finally meet someone that just may be my next serious relationship. We'll see!

Enough for now... Phew!

Hello folks,

Thought I would let you all know, beginning late tonight, I will be out of town for the next two weeks. I'll be on vacation back home in Indiana visiting friends and family. I'll have sporadic access to the Internet, so I will try to make some updates in here, but I can't guarantee anything.

If you need to get ahold of me, e-mail should be the safest bet, however my cell phone number is on my web-site if something urgent comes up.

Take care and I'll think of you all while I'm soaking up the sun at the lake this weekend! ;)

- Matthew

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!

Hey folks,

I haven't written much lately... and mostly, because of the work schedule and well, being lazy. This past weekend, I did a lot of catching up on some sleep and got some things done around the apartment. I was tempted to go driving around some of the smaller towns around the area Saturday to take some photos, but got busy doing laundry.

I haven't been sleeping very well lately, just because I've had some things on my mind. My mother mentioned to me some sleeping pills she's taking the other day - I may just look into those. *grin

I've been slowly working on getting the Gallery all put together and just tonight, I worked on getting the rest of my VACUUM and VUSIT photos all uploaded. All I need to do now is upload my photos from the 350D. And I may just try the batch-add feature to do it. It's so much easier doing it that way, but grudgingly uploaded the rest of the photos through the Coppermine user-interface. It works, it's just a little slower. When using the batch-add it uses a completely different directory, so I'm going to use that for the 350D photos. I have a few new ones to add to the gallery, as well, so I'm getting anxious to get them uploaded.

Other goings on... Not much else is new up here. Things with Amanda are going alright, I suppose. I really need to call her and see how she's been, since it's been a few days. It sounds silly, but sometimes I kind of like it when a woman calls me... And she just doesn't call me all that much. I find that I call her most of the time. But, either way, it doesn't really bother me all that much. I've been tossing around the idea of sitting down with her to talk about where I think this is all going. She has a right to know, and I realize that. I need to talk to her - I just keep puting it off. I kind of met someone else over the 'net the other day, but don't really know for sure where I want that to go either. It's weird that I have options and find it awkward that it's tearing me apart trying to figure out what I want. A month and a half ago, I was bitching because I was sick of being single and wasn't getting out to meet anyone. Now look where I'm at... I need to sit back and re-evaluate who I am and make a decision on who I can see a future with. It can't be that hard of thing to do, can it?

Anywho...

For those of you back in Indiana that read this thing... I turned in my vacation for August last Friday. Since Cory worked with me last night, he told me he would take note of the request and that it shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure exactly how much vacation I'll have by then, but hopefully I'll have enough to be able to take a couple of weeks off. I've asked for the time between Friday, August 18th through Friday, September 1st. That should be a great time to be home... My friends, if they go to the lake again this year, will likely be going up the third weekend of August and that should be the first weekend of my 2-week vacation. It's always a great time going up there... I'm anxious to go home. I haven't seen my friends or my parents in so long.

Well, I'm getting hungry, so I'm gonna go find a midnight snack and watch some TV.
More later...

Hi folks,

I realize I haven't posted in a while, so first off, I apologize. Not much is new up here in Grand Forks. I was able to chase some up here the past couple weeks and hopefully, I'll have all my logs and some pictures and video up from those in the near future. Until then, I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be heading out on my Chase Vacation here in a few hours (after some sleep, of course). So, while I won't be available thru eMail for the next week, I will have my cell phone with me, if you need to reach me. My cell phone number is on the Contact Info page, if you do not have it.

We don't have a tremendous setup for severe weather, but there should be, at least, the potential for storms. And really, you know, I am a 'storm' chaser, so if even if I see one storm on this entire trip, it'd be worth it. Ahh, who am I kiddin' I wanna see monster supercells shredding trees with 2" hail, intense inflow/outflow, and big tornadoes... ;) Will I see them? Probably nothing of that caliber, but you never know, tornadoes keep surprising us, when and where they form and well, hail and wind can come from any strong thunderstorm. I'll have cameras in stow, so hopefully upon return, I'll have some to share with you all!

Cheers -

Hey folks,

It's been quite a while since I last posted to the blog here, but since I'm finished with my Indiana forecast grids fairly early this evening, I have some spare time to finally put something in here! Hope everyone hasn't missed me much. Things in Grand Forks have been improving over the past week. Temperatures are up, spirits are up, and I'm even finding myself a bit happier. Maybe it has something to do with the warmer weather... or maybe that the snow that's been on the ground since January is finally gone!

It's nice to get up in the morning, open up the windows in the apartment and to relax some. With work a bit less stressful, I've been finding it easier to sleep and I think after being up here for 6 months I'm pretty much settled with the sleep/work schedule. I can't believe I've been up here for 6 months already. It sure doesn't seem like it's been that long. And strange enough, I was talking to my cousin, Brian, on the phone just the other day and he was saying that it has seemed so long since I've moved away from home. I guess when you talk to me about my friends from back home, it does seem so long ago that I saw them last. Even though I don't get homesick as much, I really do miss my friends... I have a great time with the friends I've made of my co-workers up here, but I just know in my heart I'd have such a better time with the friends I grew up with back in Bluffton. I just can't replace them...

As far as anything else new, not much. Besides watching college basketball and managing my NCAA Tournament Brackets, Fantasy NASCAR and getting my Fantasy Baseball team setup, I haven't really done much. With the tax return this year (which was much more than I thought I'd get) I purchased a cell phone and decided to cancel my phone service at the apartment. I also set aside a big portion of the tax return for a chase vacation at the end of May. I'm taking a 7-day stretch from May 27 through June 2nd off to chase the Plains with a few of my college buddies... So, of course, I'm getting anxious about that already!

I suppose I should get back to my Indiana forecast to get my sites completed, so take care everyone! Hope all is well...

Cheers! -- Matthew