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A weather moment
There’s been a bit of severe weather talk this afternoon. We even got an email at work suggesting we keep our NOAA weather alert radios on through the night.
In a way it almost feels like hurricane season (though we didn’t have to bag the computers at the office before we left). I suppose it’s better to be safe than sorry, but it seems like our weather people cry wolf a little too often. It’s a bit much when the severe weather alert is a semi-permanent fixture on the local weather forecast on the web. I wonder if they should include “the psychology of forecasting” in the curriculum at meteorology school.
Everyone has just settled down for the night here, and it’s just now coming down a little hard. It’s a little eery (but in a good way) sitting here in the dark surfing the web while the wind whips the rain against the window and the thunder grumbles in the distance.
I would never have thought it possible as a kid, but part of me likes a good thunderstorm. (I could do without the tornados.) I remember when we first moved here I was half convinced a thunderstorm meant a hurricane was coming. I caught on pretty quick that first summer though… even at eight I knew that hurricanes didn’t strike every other day. Still, they scared the bejesus out of me.
Now they seem kind of cool. The gusty winds, the swirling downpours, the distant rumble that’s occasionally punctuated by a flash-bang that rattles the walls and sends a little chill up your spine… what can I say? I’m a weather junkie. It’s a little thrill that breaks up the routine.
This is probably one more reason (in a growing pile of reasons) to question my state of mind, but I think they’d be one of the things I’d really miss if we ever moved.
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Roads?
NYT:
President Bush rebuffed appeals from the nation’s governors on Monday to increase spending on roads, bridges and other public works as a way to revive the economy.
Hey, it’s not like roads and bridges have any other purpose. We trust people to spend the money on things we really need: Big Macs and video games.
“There’s no short-term stimulus to the economy for some of these projects,” Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said.
Look where long-term thinking got us last time. You really want us to cowboy-up right here at home? No sir! We’ve learned our lesson: no more nation building… not even our own.
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Mad Science
Beth’s been going to an after school science program for the last few weeks, and she’s been having a blast. We’ve had some great after school discussions about things like weather patterns and ecological systems. Cheryl had a different kind of experience this week though, when she discovered a disturbing bag of goo on the counter.
“Ugh, what’s this?” She asked. She was expecting an answer from me because I’d picked up Beth, been home with her the last few hours, and it was exactly the kind of thing Beth is typically responsible for.
Woo hoo! FINALLY! It was my opportunity to say something I’d waited a while to say…
I put on one of those poker faces that looks like a poker face (if that makes any sense) and said, “Looks like some kind of science project to me.”
It was a great opportunity to be completely honest AND a smart ass all at the same time. The sideways glance and groan it produced was exactly what I was aiming for.
Just in case you’re wondering, the stuff in the bags started out as three balls of green gelatin – representing three cells, with M&Ms as nuclei.