Rita's Ramblings

Day 9 - May 22, 2011

2011-05-23T16:03:00.002-04:00

When we got up we decided to have something to eat at the Golden Corral. The food was pretty good - it was a buffet. I ended up having a bit too much dessert though lol. We decided to head East towards Missouri / Oklahoma. There was some nice mamatus that I caught a picture of out the car window. We then stopped by a field that had a nice view of the storm and I actually caught some lightning pictures by hand. We ended up crossing into Oklahoma and we took a dirt road (because of the limited roads) that lead us to a field where we saw a nice wallcloud that was close by. It was just cranking. We then got some cold outflow, which pretty much killed the wallcloud. So we decided to continue. We then passed through what was supposed to be a town according to the GPS, however, it looked like a ghost town. There were very old houses that were abandoned and falling apart. There were also a lot of sand piles that ended up forming rocks under it. It was very weird. After passing through there we ended up in a town called Miami… Oklahoma lol. This was a very developed town that had high buildings, etc. However it did look like a tornado passed through there at one point in time, as there was still some damage. The roads were very winding and hilly so it was hard to get a good look at the base of the storm. We heard on the radio that there was a tornado on the ground in Joplin, Missouri. We were about 5 miles away from it, but we couldn’t get close enough because of the roads and there was also a lake. On spotter network a stovepipe tornado was reported for Joplin. However, it was completely rain wrapped and you had to be right under it to see it. We tried to go into town but they had closed the road. We stayed there because it was on the hill so we could see the base of the storm pretty good. We ended up seeing 2 wallclouds. Tom thinks he saw a very, very faint tornado in the distance, but it was very hard to tell, so we are not sure if it even was a tornado. After calling it quits, we passed over a lake so we got some video of that. When we got a fair distance away we were able to see the tower of the storm, so we stopped in a field to take some lightning pictures. The lightning was very intense and very frequent. It was an amazing light show. When we decided to call it a night we headed South towards Tulsa. On the way a storm popped up to our West and was headed right for us. Thankfully we managed to get past it without going through the core. However there was intense lightning. We stopped in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the night (near West Tulsa). My heart and prayers go out to Joplin, Missouri. Very devastating…

Day 8 - May 21, 2011

2011-05-23T16:01:00.001-04:00

After we packed up the car we ate at McDonald’s. We also went to Walmart to pick up a few things – I ended up getting a second set of the seat belt clips since one already broke lol. We had a few options today, either head North or go to the chaser bbq in the South. Well, we ended up deciding to go for the storm to the North. On our way to the target, we were all starving so we decided to stop in the nearest town to get something to eat. We stopped in Marion, Kansas and we found a little shack that we decided to try. It was called Wagon Wheel Express. I got fresh cut fries and cauliflower buds (it is basically battered cauliflower with cheese). The food was really good! I even got a lemonade lol, and for anyone who knows me, that is very rare. We chatted with the couple that owed the place and they were very nice. We then headed East towards a storm that popped up. We stopped on top of a hill because it had the best view and we saw a couple funnel clouds. Trying to keep up with the storm we ended up in a town called Tonganoxie. There was a tornado siren that was very close to us across the road that started to go off. Man is that thing ever loud!! While driving we saw a nice sunset that was underneath the storm. It looked beautiful. However we did not stop, so I grabbed a couple pictures from the car. As night came around, we stopped to take some lightning pictures. There was a house nearby that I guess was having a party, so there were a few people who came up to talk to us. They were very friendly, and the one guy asked if we had any Canadian money to trade with him lol. Unfortunately no one of us had any. As we watched the storm pass by, there was another storm that formed to the West of it that was headed towards us. We had to move from our location to get around the storm. As we were driving there was very intense lightning and there were CG’s hitting not too far from us. We saw on spotter network that a sheriff had reported a tornado in Reading, Kansas. However we weren’t sure how big it was as there were no chaser reports (it was a night tornado). Once we decided to call it quits on the storm we decided to pass through Reading to see if we could see any damage. As we got closer to town we saw a lot of tree damage by a bridge, however, police had closed off the road because of down power lines, etc. Tom was trying to see if we could get around it to get into town but there were only dirt roads, however since it was night and the roads were muddy, we decided not to try. We stayed in Emporia, Kansas for the night after we got some food at Taco Bell. The food was actually pretty good lol.

Day 7 - May 20, 2011

2011-05-21T03:12:00.000-04:00

Today we weren’t expecting too much to happen in terms of storms, however there was a possibility to our West. So, after getting something to eat, we headed West. The storm had actually fired up fairly quickly, so after getting some gas we had rushed to get to the storm. We got some nice structure pictures and we ended up seeing a wallcloud. However, it ended up going linear and dying on us. We then noticed a second storm popped up behind it, so we ended up going for that. However, it didn’t last very long and was very similar to the first storm; except no wallcloud. Once it ended up dying, a third storm had popped up towards the South (near Pratt/Greensburg). This storm looked to be fairly promising. The core kept getting bigger and bigger. We stayed on the backside of the storm. It was awesome! Since it was near sunset, there were brilliant colors and such a great contrast with the ground and sky. This was also going to be the last storm of the day. Because of this, and the fact that it was the only storm around, there were a lot of chasers on this storm; and I mean A LOT! lol Everywhere we went on a side road there were at least 2 other vehicles there. This storm also had very nice structure. While we were trying to get to this storm we ended up going through this very small town, and there was a sign that said “Dip” (in the road). And oh boy, did it ever mean a dip! LOL We didn’t see the sign in time so we hit it going fairly fast. The car hit the road with the front and back. That was sure a bump in the road lol. Tom asked us if we were okay, and Laura and I said we are fine, but what about the car?! LOL The car, of course is fine though. However, my seat belt adjuster broke! Thankfully there were 2 in a pack. Whew! All that work to find one only to have it break a day later LOL. Once the sun started to go down we found a nice area to pull off the road and get some good shots of the storm in front of a wheat field. Before we knew it, a few cars pull up, then a couple more, and some more. I think there had to be at least 7 other cars on that road lol. It was nice to meet some fellow chasers, but I was more concentrating on trying to get good pictures. Since there was more of a core to this storm it had a lot of lightning. So we tried to get some lightning shots. I ended up getting several shots so I am very happy. After a couple hours the storm started to die out and move further South, so we decided to call it quits and call a hotel to book a room (since there were a lot of chasers in the area it might be hard to find one). But we manage to get 2 rooms in Wichita, Kansas out of the 3 that were available. After stopping in a town (Kingman, Kansas) to get something to eat we made our way to the hotel. When we got there we found out that they are giving us the suite rooms for the price of a double regular room – sweet!! So, we are staying in Wichita, Kansas for the night. Tomorrow we are either going to chase to our East, or head South to the chaser party.

Day 6 - May 19, 2011

2011-05-20T02:09:00.001-04:00

Well, last night I didn’t get too much sleep. A guy we met at the hotel ended up posting saying that he found 3 very alive and very angry brown recluse spiders. If you don’t know what those are look it up via Wikipedia. He ended up switching hotels. Laura and I stripped our beds apart and searched the entire room, but didn’t find anything – thankfully! However, it was around 3 am before I finally felt comfortable enough to go to sleep.
Since we were around our target area for the day we were able to sleep in a bit. Once we got up and Tom and Laura looked at radar, we went to Braum’s – I was the only one who ended up eating anything lol.
We then decided on our target area which was North West. We ended up going to a town called Harper, Kansas where we stayed around there for most of the day. After waiting around we ended up decided on our target storm, which was going to pass just right beside us. We were able to get some nice structure shots of the storm. We even saw a really nice wallcloud. However, the storm ended up just dying on us. So, it was off the storm target #2. Targeting around Rice, Kansas. However, before we even got there it dyed out on us. So, we saw another storm just to the North of it. Target storm #3 lol. Which was around Salina, Kansas. The storm looked really good on radar, however, in reality, not so much. However, it ended up intensifying and we got caught in a huge downpour of rain. We stopped under a bridge to have a look at radar again, etc. However, I ended up seeing the strangest thing under the bridge – tons and tons of birds nests! They looked more like wasp nests with a small opening in the front, and birds were flying in and out of them. It was really strange, so I ended up getting some video of it.
Once we decided that the storm was dying out on us again, and Laura said that it was just like the crap storms we get in Southern Ontario (yes this is important to mention lol) we ended up getting gas. Once we finished that, another quick look at radar and the storm is intensifying again! Wow this was a strange storm. So we were off to try to get out of the rain and to where the rotation was in the storm. We stopped several times to look at the storm and where we thought a tornado would drop. However, it never ended up producing a tornado. There was a report of a funnel cloud, however, it was a false report because we were in that area at that time and we didn’t see anything that looked remotely close to a funnel cloud lol. The storm ended up slowly dying out so we decided to call it a night. We stopped in a town called Clay Center. We ended up going to Pizza Hut to get something to eat. And then we were going to look for a hotel, however, there were no hotels in this town! Augh! lol So, we headed South towards the next closest biggest town. So, we are staying in Junction City, Kansas for the night.

Day 5 - May 18, 2011

2011-05-19T01:37:00.000-04:00

Today was hopefully going to be our first real chase day in South Oklahoma. When we got up it was fairly cold (I think it was around 9 Celsius). I first had my shorts on, but when I stepped outside it was cold and raining, so I changed to pants. Well, when we drove down to Chickasha, Oklahoma the temperature shot way up (to around 31 Celsius!) I was melting lol. I eventually changed back into my shorts when we had a pit stop (changed the oil, got gas, and had something to eat).
After rearranging the car, we found a side road that was pretty much dead (I mean it didn’t even look like a road lol). We stayed there for quite a few hours to wait to see if the storm would fire up. Everything looked very good on radar, however, nothing ended up firing up. If it would have went, we were in the perfect spot for it. The place were we stopped had a bunch of huge red fire ants crawling around *shudders* lol. So we had to be careful where we stepped. After we decided that it probably wont do anything we decided to drive around the town and then go have something to eat. We had Sonic again. I know its bad, but it is soo good! lol We also went to a Walmart. And guess what I found?! A seat belt adjuster clip!! My mission is complete lol. After staying around the Walmart parking lot and using their wifi we decided to call it quits and head North to position ourselves for tomorrow.
We are staying in Blackwell, Oklahoma at a Comfort Inn for the night. Hopefully tomorrow we will get something good ☺ At least I got some much needed sun today.

Day 4 - May 17, 2011

2011-05-18T02:57:00.002-04:00

We got up a little bit earlier this morning. We were hoping to possibly have a chase day today in West Kansas area. We stopped at Sonic to have something to eat. Yay! I love Sonic lol. I have been trying to eat healthier on this trip; however, it is not going so well so far lol. After that we went back to the Oasis pit stop. We were using the wifi there to look at radar, etc. I ended up having a vanilla bean frappuccino. After a while we decided to head back West towards Burlington, Colorado.
While there we met up with a couple other chasers at a pit stop. We stayed there for a while, but Tom noticed a boundary forming to the East. So, we headed back East lol. We stopped in a little town in Kansas to look at radar, etc. It wasn’t doing too much, but we decided to wait it out to see if it would organize. It ended up organizing a little bit, so we went for it. So, we headed back West. Confused yet? LOL Anyways, the storm we were chasing didn’t turn into anything. However, the storm North of it ended up producing a land spout. Unfortunately we did not go for it because we needed to head South East towards Oklahoma to position ourselves for tomorrow. We did however get some nice pictures of the storm. After we finally gave up on the storm, we started our long trek South West towards Oklahoma. Before we got onto the interstate, we almost hit a deer again (it was during the day), but it crossed the road well before we got there. And further up the road were 2 more deer on the side of the road (we installed the deer whistles this morning, so I wonder if that helped). And never mind all the birds we almost hit again today LOL. It’s like all the animals think, oh there’s a vehicle coming, I think I’m going to walk in front of it lol.
Anyways, so we are driving along with maybe over half a tank of gas. We decided we would get gas at the next station. So we are driving, and driving… and driving… (and all this time there is construction on the road for miles and miles) by this time we are down to a quarter of a tank. We finally came across a gas station, but it was closed. Grr!! lol So we drive some more, and finally when we were on the last quarter of the quarter we found a station that was open. We also got something to eat at Wendy’s to eat in the car because we have a long trek to do still.
After a while we decided to stop because Tom, our only driver, was getting really tired. So we stopped for the night in Newton, Kansas at Best Western. Target for tomorrow: South Oklahoma, North Texas.

Day 3 - May 16, 2011

2011-05-17T01:38:00.005-04:00

Today we are headed towards West Kansas, possibly Colorado. Since we are within a few hours drive, we were able to sleep in. Once we got up we went to have some breakfast at Perkins. Man was I ever hungry lol I ended up getting 3 pancakes, a plate of hash browns, and some bacon. As well as I ate some of Laura’s meal, which was fried green beans. Mmmm they were soo good! After we ate, we decided to prep the car up for chasing. Then it was on the road towards Colorado.
After we entered Colorado, we found a nice area that was pretty flat. So we stopped to take some pictures. Tom recorded some video and he asked us what we thought of Colorado. I said it was very windy. And then I said they don’t call it the windy city for nothing. Both Tom and Laura both said uh, that would be Chicago. Oops! lol I guess I don’t know my US states very well. After heading back out on the road for a while, all of a sudden, the road stopped and turned into gravel road. Doh! lol So we were trying to figure out how to get back to the main road, and we happen upon this old abandoned broken down barn. So we stopped to take some pictures. They actually turned out pretty good.
Continuing on our way, Tom had put the video camera on the dashboard and was recording some video. Well, we were just driving along, and then all of a sudden, WHAM! Something ended up hitting the car, but none of us knew what it was. When I looked behind, all I saw was a poof of feathers. So, I guess we hit a bird. Poor birdy. About 50 miles later, we stopped at a pit stop and when I got out of the car I noticed something in the bumper of the car. Turns out, it was the bird. It was pretty gross; the body was shoved in the bumper and its head was hanging out. Well, of course the cameras come out and Laura and Tom take pictures of it lol. I didn’t because, well, it was just to gross lol. Tom ended up pulling it out while I took video of it lol. He threw it into a nearby field after trying to figure out where to dump it. It was hilarious! LOL Tom said it looked like some kind of a hawk.
After that excitement of the day, we headed East. We stopped on a side road to take sunset pictures. It was pretty nice. We ended up stopping in Colby, Kansas at the Oasis pit stop. We looked around then decided to have something quick to eat. I saw a few funny t-shirts, but I didn’t get any. We decided that we will stay in this area for the night. Once we booked our rooms and got set up, Tom called Laura and I over to his room to show us the video that was recording on the dashboard while we hit the bird. Apparently, the bird was on the side of the road, and then it walked right in front of the car. It tried to fly away, but obviously it didn’t lol. The video was pretty funny lol. It basically went down like this. Driving along, Laura burps, and then the bird walks in front of the car, WHAM, and then Laura says ‘what the f**k’?. None of us actually saw the bird hit the car, but because the video was on the dashboard, it got everything in front of the car. Video

Day 2 - May 15, 2011

2011-05-16T03:18:00.002-04:00

Since today is another travel day, we were able to sleep in a bit. We had breakfast at Ihop. I had cinn-i-stick pancakes with bacon and hash browns. The pancakes were soo good! It was like a cinnamon bun, and it wasn’t very sweet either.
We went to Walmart to pick up a couple of things. However, I am still looking for a seat belt adjuster (so that the seat belt is not cutting into my neck). No one seems to have any! lol
Our initial plan for today was to go visit Laura’s friend, Jeff, in South Souix City, Nebraska. However, we had a few rest stops and we ended up figuring out that we wouldn’t get to his place until 9:30 / 10:00pm. So, we ended up postponing our visit.
At one of our stops I found coconut M&M’s! They were pretty good. I still haven’t had the coconut Twix yet though.
We had made a pit stop to have something to eat at McDonald’s, and we stayed to watch the sunset. It was very pretty because there were a few windmills beside it.
We are headed towards Kansas to position ourselves for tomorrow.
On route, we almost hit a deer. Thankfully Tom is a good driver and had seen it coming, but he still hit the brakes hard. We missed it, thankfully. One of the things we got at Walmart this morning was a deer whistle. I guess we will be installing it tomorrow lol. I am still on my search to find a seat belt adjuster though… It is my mission to find one lol. I am checking every single store whenever we stop at a rest stop.
We are staying in Kearney, Nebraska for the night at Days Inn. We ended up rolling in around 1:30am local time. Target for tomorrow: Kansas. I can’t wait to see the Great Plains again!

Day 1 - May 14, 2011

2011-05-15T02:53:00.004-04:00

The day has finally arrived! This year I am going storm chasing with my sister, Laura, and Tom.
Today is pretty much just a travel day, so there wasn’t too much exciting lol. We left our house in the afternoon. Since there were only 3 of us, Tom rented a car. I got dibs on the back seat – this is going to be nice, having the whole back seat to myself. Yeah! lol
We made good time to get to the border. However, once we were in line to get through, the first line we were in ended up closing just as we were the next ones! lol So we ended up going into another line. It didn’t take too long to get there, however, the lady there was grilling us. She was asking things like where we worked, how long we’ve been there, when the last time was when we crossed the border, and how we knew each other, etc.
Once we got out of Detroit we got something to eat. Then it was back on the road for a long haul.
Picture
We ended up stopping for the night in Morris, Illinois at a Super 8. We changed time zones to CST now. Woo hoo! We get to sleep in an extra hour lol.
During one of the pit stops I ended up getting my big rice krispie bar! I am now very happy lol. I also got a coconut twix bar – I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks very good.

Chasecation 2011

2011-05-13T22:07:00.002-04:00

I am just finishing up packing and everything. I am getting really excited! :)

You can track us here, and you can also check out my sister's blog

Storm chasing 2011!

2011-05-13T20:32:00.003-04:00

I have decided to go storm chasing again this year. However, this year, I am going with my sister, Laura, and Tom.
We leave tomorrow morning - I can't wait!! :)
Today was an interesting day though. Laura and I went to Breslau airport to register our gear. Wow is that place ever small! lol
For supper we went to a place called The Cedar Barn. It was very good food - and since we had the feature - it was cheap too. On our way there, we saw that the sky was getting darker, and darker. When we got there, we heard some thunder. So Laura took some pictures.
And today is Fri May 13.
I think the omen's have started lol

Day 17 - May 18, 2009

2009-05-21T19:12:00.005-04:00

Today is Victoria Day in Canada. Which was a good thing because that way we weren't really rushed to get back home.
Today was pretty much just strickly travel though. Of course we did have pit stops through out the day.
We went through the Detroit border this time on the way home. However just before the border, they are doing soo much construction. So, we were stuck on the highway for a good half hour. But we managed to cross the border (with no problems at all) around 5:30pm.
Ben was the first one to be dropped off as he lives in London. So, when we dropped him off, Ron had this joke that was basically went like this:
Ben: "Thanks for everything Ron and Sandra"
Ron: "No time for that, get going! I'm going to slow down the van a little bit so you can jump out."
LOL it was very funny, but it was a quick goodbye. Well, that just turned into a whole joke the rest of the way home lol.
We ended up going to Ron and Sandra's place first. Pam had her car parked in their garage, so she got all her stuff and left. So, we dismantled the rental van so that Jack could take off to return it. That took quite a while, but we eventually got everything out. Ron said he would drive Laura and I home in his car, so we put our things in there.
We eventually got home around 10:30pm EST.
Man, I'm really not looking forward to going in to work tomorrow! LOL I need time to recoup! haha
Anyways, I, of course, had alot of fun on this trip, and I do plan on going again next year. :)
I would like to thank everyone for making this a wonderful trip. :)
Please be sure to visit Ron's site at: www.stormchasing.ca

Day 16 - May 17, 2009

2009-05-18T00:40:00.006-04:00

Today is a travel day.
Since the drive home is so long to get home (15 hours from Springfield, Missouri), we decided to break it up over 2 days.
First Ron and Jack had to return the other van. So, by the time they came back, we pretty much loaded it up and left (which was just after 8:00am CDT). The van was pretty tricky to load because there were 2 tires in the back (from the other van, they had flat tires). Thankfully we got everything loaded, but I wouldn’t of wanted to be the one to open it up lol. The trip back home is going to be very squishy as every seat in the van will be occupied. Very comfy and cozy in the back seat’s lol..
Before we started our trek home, we went to say goodbye to David, Michelle, and Louise. They were staying at a different hotel. We got a group shot with everyone.

We then started our long trek home. But first, we decided to have some breakfast. So we went to the Cracker Barrel. I had blueberry pancakes, and they gave me a little bottle of blueberry sauce and maple syrup. I used the blueberry sauce, but I took the maple syrup one with me lol.
After a while of driving, Ron mentioned if we wanted to do any sightseeing. Of course we all said sure. So, we went to the Meramec Caverns in Stanton, Missouri.

This is apparently where Jesse James’ hideout was. Ron had treated us all to some ice cream, and then we went into the cavern. The cavern was very cool. I’ve never been in one. The onyx was very cool; made for great pictures. At the end there was a light show on some onyx which they called a theatre backdrop because it looked like a sheet. It was pretty cool. After hanging around there for a bit, we decided to continue the drive home.
Shortly after, we were trying to decide what to have for dinner. We pretty much all agreed to have whatever. Ron knew of a pizza place in St. Louis, Missouri that made these pizza’s called ‘Pointersaurus’. He didn’t tell us too much about it. But, just judging by the name mostly everyone figured it out. Well, let me tell you; it was a HUGE HUGE HUGE pizza!! We sat outside because there wasn’t enough room inside. And the box took up half of the picnic table lol. It was insane! And it actually tasted very good. Well, between all 7 of us, we polished that thing off lol. It was ridiculous!

So, of course, after our dinner, we needed dessert. So, Ron knew of this place that had a ‘mile high pie’. He said that when he went several years ago that the pie was almost 2 feet high! They had the pie’s sitting out on the counter for everyone to see. We all ordered pie’s, except for last minute I cancelled mine because the pizza was finally starting to settle in and I was getting fuller by the minute lol. The pie looked good, and everyone says it tasted good. But Ron said that it wasn’t as high as it used to be; and half of the height was meringue.
Once we finished, we continued on. Jack had booked us rooms in Indianapolis, Indiana for the night. We are staying at the Quality Inn. We are going to sleep in for a little bit tomorrow, but hopefully we should be back home by late afternoon tomorrow.

Day 15 - May 16, 2009

2009-05-17T02:18:00.005-04:00

I didn’t sleep last night. I went to bed around midnight, but there were so many noises. And there were trains that went by every 10 minutes or so; it was soo loud that I thought it was right beside my room! The guys eventually came back with the new vans (I heard them lol) around 1:30am CDT. After that I tried to actually get to sleep. However, around 2:00am CDT, I heard my bag of chips crinkling. I wasn’t sure what I heard at first but after I heard it a second time, I turned around, grabbed my glasses, and turned the light on. I didn’t see anything at first, but then I saw a little mouse poking around the bag of chips. I almost screamed! I figured the motel would be rat infested, but now I can say that for sure. I scared it away, but it ran under my bed. Well... needless to say, I couldn’t sleep with a mouse running around my room lol. So, I looked at all my pictures for a couple hours. We ended up getting a girly thunderstorm around 5:30am CDT; it didn’t last very long. I think around 7:30am CDT, I was getting very tired, so I think I did fall asleep, but it was a very light sleep and every little noise woke me up.
Around 9:30am CDT, I heard that some people were up, so I decided to get up.
Once we got the vans loaded up, we went to have some breakfast (at the same place we went to last night). Again, the food was really good. Our waitress was very nice as well.
Once we finished eating, we drove around to look for damage. Ron had met up with a local (who was a firefighter) and he showed us where some of the worse damage was. One house had a roof completely blown off, and a shed had rolled into a tree. Roof pieces were everywhere. Another place, the garage (separate from the house) was completely destroyed. I guess the wind had blown in the double doors and then of course blew off the roof, which made a wall collapse. The owner’s were very laid back and friendly. They even wanted to invite us for something to eat! The one guy was saying that he had some Crocs shoes sitting on the porch of his house (which is near the garage), and they weren’t even touched! It amazes me how it can totally destroy a heavy duty structure, but then leave something soo delicate beside it, untouched!

We thanked everyone, and then we were on our way. We are headed home today. First we need to drop off David, Michelle, and Louise in Missouri.
We had a quick pit stop just before we crossed into Oklahoma (around 2:00pm CDT). Had another pit stop around 4:00pm CDT in Hinton, Oklahoma. And yes, another pit stop in Chandler, Oklahoma around 5:30pm CDT. Around 7:00pm CDT we had another pit stop in Verdigris, Oklahoma.
At this point, I shut my laptop off as I went to sit in the front seat. We had a couple more pit stops since then. And we did stop at a McDonald’s at one point to have something to snack on. Just before we got into Missouri, Ron needed to get something from the store. So he did that, but when we went to get back on the highway, Jack (who was in the other van) was nowhere to be found. We waited on the other side of the toll booth, but no sign of him. We tried calling him on the radio, and I think he answered saying he was behind us... hmmm... not sure who he was following, but it sure wasn’t us lol. We then continued on. After a while on the highway, we stopped on the side for a good 10 minutes to see if we could see him, but we didn’t, so we just continued on to the hotel. He knew where we were supposed to be anyways.
We crossed the Missouri state line (I think around 9:30pm CDT or so).
We got to our hotel, and Ron tried to call Jack on the phone. Eventually he got a hold of him. I guess Jack had dropped off David, Michelle, and Louise at a different hotel.
Once we got our stuff all in our rooms, Ron, Jack, Sandra, Ben, Laura, and I all went out to have something to eat. Since I wasn’t very hungry I just got a drink and a salad.
They are going to return one of the vans tomorrow morning. And then, we are headed on the long way home. We are staying at the Econo lodge motel in Springfield, Missouri.
I also forgot to mention that we have officially retired Flex (our mascot). We have replaced him with his brother, Rex. However, at one of the pit stops, Ron had given Rex away. We are now still in need of a new mascot lol.

Day 14 - May 15, 2009

2009-05-17T01:49:00.004-04:00

Today we got to sleep in. I set my wake up call for 10:00am CDT. I got ready and just waiting around and watched TV for a bit. Around 10:30am CDT or so, the maid comes knocking on my door, but when I answered she just said she would be back later. Well, just shortly after 11:00am (which is check out time) she comes knocking again. This time she said ‘Ma’am check out is at 11’. So since I was pretty much ready I just got my stuff and left. We left shortly after. I got to sit in the front seat again for a little bit. We headed north west to possibly Amarillo.
We stopped to eat at a Denny’s for breakfast/lunch. I got the grand slam which was good. And I also got ‘Pancake Puppies’; and it is 6 balls of pancakes deep fried and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. They were soo good. Afterwards we continued on. This time I sat in the back seat.
The storms during the day were building up nicely, and so was the outflow boundary. Everything looked good and was right on schedule.

On the way I guess we had another one of Ron’s shortcut’s because we went on some dirt roads. Sandra said it was like driving through peanut butter. However, she had a blast doing it! LOL
When we got to our target area (just north east of Amarillo) we got our storm. Laura mentioned that we will go out with a bang! We stopped once we got closer to the storm as there was a wall cloud. So we got some pictures of it just before the rain got to us. As soon as everyone was in the van, doors closed, ect. There was some lightning very close by; and we could actually smell the burning of it.

We drove some more up the road and we started to get into some hail. It was small at first and the winds were pretty strong. Ron said that we were in the rear flank downdraft. So we sat on the side of the road for a bit. By this time the hail was bigger and the rain was pretty much going sideways. I think Ron said that the rotation was just a couple miles away from the van. I knew we would be safe as Ron would never put us in the path of a tornado, and he had the Baron running so he knew exactly where we were in relation to the rotation. After a few minutes of sitting there, someone had noticed a possible funnel. Unfortunately being in the back seat and having all the rain, I couldn’t see a lot. Ben was videoing the whole thing, so I hope it shows something. We think it might have been a tornado (after looking at the video there was actually a possible big black tornado along with another funnel cloud beside it). After that, Ron told Sandra to drive up a few feet. However once we did that, the hail got much bigger and the winds got stronger and we heard over the radio on the other van that the front windshield got cracked. Pretty much around that time, the back side window (driver’s side) of our van busted. I was sitting in the back seat, and I was sitting by that window initially to video everything. But once the hail got bigger I moved to the other side – thankfully.
All I remember is that something had made me turn my head towards that back window (not sure if I heard a noise or what) but I remember looking at the window and seeing no window there. Once I saw no window I immediately turned my head towards the front and I remember seeing something black come flying out in front of me (which would have been the window). Of course, we were all wearing our safety goggles. I did end up screaming one time; I think from the shock of it. Once the window blew out I was getting pelted with rain and hail. So I knew the glass from the window would have got my back. I managed to crawl to the middle seat. Sandra had turned the van around to get away from the rain/hail. I was actually shaking from the shock of it. My back of course then started to burn, so I felt my back and there was a little blood there. But then it started stinging more, so I started to cry (from the shock of it and the burning). We had stopped and Sandra looked at it. She used an antibacterial wipe on it since we didn’t really have anything else readily available. She said it looked like a scratch and that it was bleeding (not a lot though). We went to the closest town that was available (which happened to be Pampa, Texas). We kept looking for shelter from the rain, and we eventually pulled into a motel. The people there were extremely helpful and very friendly. Although the motel looked pretty nasty – we were just glad to have a shelter from the rain as most of us were soaked and cold. The other van had apparently busted 3 windows (all on the same side; driver’s side) along with the cracked windshield. I was getting thirsty while we were waiting so I remembered about my drinks that I bought (Monster drink – which is an energy drink and my FUZE drink). Well, I eventually found them sitting out on the ledge. But when I picked up the Monster drink (which is in a can) it was half empty. I got confused because I did not open the can. I eventually found that there was a small puncture on the side of the can from the glass. And my FUZE drink, the plastic was all ripped up. Keep in mind that my drinks were on the opposite side of the van from where the window busted. So the winds were soo strong that the rain and hail were going practically sideways for it to reach the other end of the van.
There was glass everywhere in both vans. Especially the other van (where 3 windows busted).
I went to have a shower just to get off any glass chards that we on me because I kept picking them off.
Jack had called the rental place to see what to do about the vans, and they said that we could bring the vans there to replace them.
Once most of the glass was cleaned up, we drove up the street because we saw some flashing lights and ambulances, etc going there. We wanted to see if there was any damage. Jack was on the internet and said that there was 1 reported tornado near Miami, Texas. Which is just north east of Pampa, Texas. We did see some tornado damage. Thankfully from what we could tell no one in that area was hurt.
Ron then dropped off Laura, Pam, Sandra, and I at a restaurant not too far from our hotel (David, Michelle, and Louise went elsewhere to do their own thing). Ron, Jack, and Ben then went back to the hotel to dismantle the vans and then they drove to Amarillo, Texas to get new vans.
This was probably the most scariest chase I have ever been on. Thankfully no one was seriously injured.
We are staying at the Ranch House motel in Pampa, Texas.
The van I was sitting in.

The other van.

Day 13 - May 14, 2009

2009-05-17T01:41:00.004-04:00

We left the hotel around 10:15am CDT. Today we say goodbye to David. So we took him to the Will Rogers Airport to drop him off.
After that, we went to eat at the Western Sizzlin Steakhouse in Chickasha, Oklahoma around 11:40am CDT. The food was pretty good there. I got the buffet. After an hour we all went back to the vans. Ron checked the models to finalize our target area.

We headed towards Altus, Oklahoma. On the way we had a pit stop in Lawton, Oklahoma around 2:15pm CDT. Just before we reached Altus, Oklahoma there is an air force base. So we stopped to take some pictures. We crossed into Texas.

When we reached Vernon, Texas there were train tracks. Jack noticed that there was a train that was going to come. So we waited around for it to go by.
After that, we made our way to Wichita Falls, Texas. Once we got to our hotel we went out for dinner. We went to the Olive Garden. Most of the women had an alcoholic drink, and near the end Pam started to throw ice cubes. Well, that ended up with fist fulls of ice cubes being thrown around lol. The floor was covered with ice cubes haha.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel. We are staying at the Econo Lodge in Wichita Falls, TX.
Tonight we might possibly go to get some lightning shots.

Day 12 - May 13, 2009

2009-05-15T01:42:00.005-04:00

This morning we got to sleep in again. So I woke up for 9:30am CDT so I could have my shower. Since no one was ready, I waited around and watched TV for a bit. For breakfast we went to a Sonic in town (Childress, Texas). We left there around 1:00pm CDT. We are headed north east possibly up to Wakita, Oklahoma.
We crossed the Oklahoma state line just after 2:00pm CDT.
We had a rest stop at a Dairy Queen in Clinton, Oklahoma around 3:30pm CDT. I ended up getting a moo-latte; it was really good. We had another rest stop in Alva, Oklahoma around 5:30pm CDT.

This is when we really started our chase to get to the storm. However, since I was in the back of the van I couldn’t really hear anything of what was being said.

At one point we did go on some dirt roads. And it was pouring rain, so it was very difficult to drive; props to Sandra and Jack for getting everyone through that safely. The fields were also pretty flooded. I happen to look out the window and noticed that in one of the flooded fields there was actually waves because the wind was soo strong. Once we got into the core it was raining really heavy. Ron said over the radio that there was a couplet 1 mile away from us. Unfortunately, since there was a lot of rain, we couldn’t see anything. There was also a lot of lightning in this storm.

We eventually stopped to eat in Stillwater, Oklahoma at Perkins I think around 9:30pm CDT. The food was pretty good there.
Since today was David’s last day, we drove to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for our hotel so that he can catch his flight tomorrow.
I ended up sitting in the front seat on the way home, and there was a lot of lightning, so I was looking at the clouds, etc. When we were almost into Oklahoma City, I noticed what looked like a piece of scud so I kept an eye on it. Every time the lightning flashed it just seemed to be getting lower and more solid. Ron eventually said to everyone to look ahead at the tornado! When the lightning flashed I did see it all the way from cloud to ground and even with a debris cloud! Unfortunately it did not last very long; probably just a few seconds. But I saw it dissipate. It was so quick that no one really had their cameras ready. However, David managed to get a video of it. So there is some proof of it ;). Ben thinks he got it on his video, but he has to see if the lightning cooperated with it to show it on the video.
After that one I was looking out and saw of course what looked like scud, but the next time I looked it was gone. David got a video of it and showed Ron and he said that was a funnel cloud. So, when I saw it, it was just a bit longer than David’s video. So it was probably dissipating.
So we finally saw a tornado! And without trying even lol.
We are staying at the Comfort Inn in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While we were waiting to get to our rooms David had noticed another funnel cloud behind the hotel.

Day 11 - May 12, 2009

2009-05-14T01:11:00.007-04:00

Today we got to sleep in until 9:00am CDT. Apparently on one of the vans 2 tires needed to be changed.
We left the hotel probably around 11:00am CDT. I was finally able to sit in the front seat today. However, since I was in the front seat, I didn’t get a chance to keep track of where we were.
We went to go have breakfast, but since there was not much in town we went to Plainview, Texas. We ate at the Ihop. Ron looked at the models, and we were pretty much already in the risk area. However, our target area is Childress, Texas.

On our way, we passed through Quitaque, Texas. We stopped there to have a pit stop and so that Ron could look at the models. He decided that we would still head towards Childress, Texas.
When we were at the pit stop, Ben was sitting in the middle and I guess the window was a smudgy inside. So, he took an antibacterial cloth to clean it. But since we didn’t have any paper towels, he took off his shirt and used his shirt! LOL I threatened to get a picture of him, but I didn’t lol.
Half way to Childress, we decided to turn around and head back towards West of Quitaque. The storm pretty much was just starting to build. So, we were trying to get to the storm so that we could see it build right from the beginning and then once it gets into the unstable area (which would be the initial target) that’s when the magic would happen. Once the storm started to build, it really exploded. Once the storm really started, we headed north east towards north of Childress. So, we pretty much followed the storm from the beginning.
At the beginning we saw a landspout tornado. However, it appeared that the storm was falling apart. Such a bummer. So, we had a pit stop. As we pulled up, we saw Vortex 2 pull out lol. That was pretty cool.

After, we headed more east. And the storm had actually regenerated once it hit the instability pocket and it blew up again. We headed right for the core of the storm. And we had actually intercepted the core. We got some hail (finally!) and a really heavy down pour. Ron said over the radio that there were some rotation couplets. And I think the storm had died down and regenerated again because we ended up going through 2 cores.
At one point there was microburst that was right beside us. And beside the microburst was a funnel cloud. So that was awesome.

Near the end of the storm we had a chance to get some lightning photos. And I think I finally got a couple really good shots. For the first photo, I had actually got a little too excited and I had screamed lol. Unfortunately for Ben, he was right beside me lol.

After we all got our lightning shots, we decided to call it a night. We almost had a hard time getting a hotel as Vortex 2 is staying in Childress as well. But, we ended up getting rooms. We are staying at the Comfort Inn in Childress, Texas. We had actually stayed here last year as well. Once we got all the stuff in our rooms, we had went over to a restaurant right beside us called Kettle. It was good, but it is a small diner, and I think since they are one of the few places open late that they were overwhelmed because Votex and NSSL went there too lol.
On the way back to our hotel, there was a little kitten that came up to Laura and I. So I petted him for a bit. He was very affectionate lol. He kept rubbing up against my legs and meowing. He was very cute.

Day 10 - May 11, 2009

2009-05-13T01:52:00.003-04:00

Today our wake up call was for 9:00am CDT. We sat down in the lobby for a bit as we were going to go out for breakfast. We left the hotel around 10:00am CDT. For breakfast, we went to The Big Texan. I’ve never been there for breakfast before. They actually have a buffet. It was pretty good. We left there around 11:15am CDT. Since we were in Amarillo, David wanted to see Cadillac Ranch. So, we made a quick stop there. We stayed there for about a half hour.

We are headed south today, to hopefully catch a storm in south Texas.
We had a quick pit stop in Happy, Texas around 12:45pm CDT. Not sure what’s so happy about it thought LOL. We had another pit stop just south of Lubbock, Texas around 2:30pm CDT. And of course another pit stop in Midland, Texas around 4:45pm CDT.
During our chase to get to the storm, Ron had decided to take a short cut. However, this short cut was on gravel roads. Major dust!! Since we were the follow van, it was very hard to keep track of the lead van. We lost them at one point – thankfully Pam has her phone with her. Just as we got off the gravel road, we saw a huge dust devil! So, we all got out to take pictures of it.

Shortly after, Ron had decided to call off the chase. Apparently the storm decided to turn south to go into Mexico. Since it would put us too far away from our target tomorrow, we decided to head back north. That was frustrating.
We stopped to have something to eat in Midland, Texas at a place called On The Border around 8:30pm CDT. It is a Mexican restaurant. We left the restaurant around 10:00pm CDT.
We are headed for Lubbock, Texas as Ron had booked us some rooms there.
We got to the Super 8 Motel in Lubbock, Texas around 12:30am CDT.

Day 9 - May 10, 2009

2009-05-12T02:14:00.004-04:00

Today is Chris’ birthday, Mother’s Day, and Sandra’s birthday.
We were to wake up for 8:00am CDT today so that we could have the hot breakfast at the hotel, and then we would leave. Well, Laura and I are waiting in the lobby area, and no one was coming down. Pam eventually came down and said that she didn’t get a wake up call. So, we went to the front desk and the lady called the other rooms. Apparently Laura and I are the only one’s who got a wake up call.

We left the hotel around 10:15am CDT. We are headed north, north-west towards New Mexico.
We had a rest stop around 12:20pm CDT. Still headed north. Around 1:30pm CDT, we stopped at a Wendy’s to have something to eat in Big Spring, Texas.
We had a quick pit stop in New Deal, Texas around 3:45pm CDT. Ron got me a HUGE (and I mean huge!!) slushie! It is 44oz!! That will last me all day lol.
We had a quick stop to have something to eat at McDonald’s in Dumas, Texas around 6:30pm CDT. We are still headed north-west. The storm that we are trying to target is further west than we thought, but we are still going to try!

Around 7:45pm CDT, Ron looked at the models again and found out that the cold front was actually pushing the warm front further back. So, instead of being 60 miles away like it was originally, it is now double the distance. It wasn’t worthy trying to catch up with it, so we turned around.

We went back to Dumas, Texas so that’s where we could meet up with Jack and the 3 other people. Wed got to Dumas around 9:00pm CDT. The other people’s name are: Louise, Michelle, and Dave.
Since all the hotels in Dumas are booked up, we drove to Amarillo, Texas.
We are staying at the Super 8 Motel in Amarillo, Texas.
Jack came to our room to let us know that they had got Sandra an ice cream birthday cake. So Laura and I went up to join them.

Day 8 - May 9, 2009

2009-05-11T00:46:00.004-04:00

This morning we got to sleep in again. So, Laura and I got up for 10:00am CDT. We went to Sonic to have some breakfast around 11:00am CDT. We stayed there for about 45 minutes. We headed to Brownwood to see if there was any damage as there was a supposed tornado report in Early, Texas (which is just north of Brownwood). When we got there, there were some trees broken, a lot of branches on the road, etc. But they were all blown in one direction, which usually indicates that it is outflow. With a tornado there would be damage everywhere. There was one part where a local lead us to that was more damaged, but it wasn`t significant enough to be considered tornado damage. There was a roof blown off of a building, but it looked pretty old and run down.

Today was Lorene`s last day with us, so we said goodbye to her. Jack is going to drive her back to Oklahoma, and then pick up more people for the tour in Missouri. So, we all had to cram in 1 van again lol. Oh well.
Around 1:00pm CDT, we went to Sonic to have some ice cream. I ended up getting a slushie though. We stayed there for almost an hour and a half before we left. Ron wanted to find internet to see what the models looked like. So, we stopped at a Comfort Inn. After that, we decided to go for the storm to the south.
We had a pit stop around 4:30pm CDT in Menard, Texas. An hour later, we pretty much reached our target area – which is Junction, Texas. Ron got us our rooms. We are staying at the Best Western in Junction, Texas. We are now just waiting for the cap to break. There is a bit of instability in the air, so if it breaks, it will be right here. If it does, it might be later. So, we might possibly go for lightning pictures.
Since we had some time to kill, I decided to go down by the pool and put my feet in. It’s an outside pool, so it was nice. :) Ron eventually came back and asked us if we wanted to go to a Texas Barbeque for something to eat. So, Ron, Sandra, Ben, Laura, and I all went there to get something. Man! Was it ever good!!!! It was all authentic barbeque. I had the turkey. It was sooooo good!! And they gave us barbeque sauce as well. Which I never thought turkey would go with that, but it actually tasted good! I was very impressed.
Once we got back the hotel, Sandra wanted to go swimming. Laura and I said that we will sit by the pool and put our feet in. So we did that. I mentioned that I really just wanted to jump in and swim. So Sandra said ‘just do it’. So I did LOL. I don’t think I’ve ever went swimming with all my clothes on before. It was very refreshing lol. Eventually there were a bunch of beetles that were crawling on the ground and actually flying into the swimming pool and swimming. It was cool that they could swim, but very creepy lol. Sandra and I just looked at each other and said ‘ya, I think I’m getting out now’ lol. When I got out, all my clothes just clung to me LOL. It weighed me down quite a bit too haha. Laura and I of course did laundry to clean/dry our clothes.
While I was waiting for the laundry, I talked to Mom and Chris over video phone through msn. Since Chris’ birthday is tomorrow and it’s mother’s day tomorrow, I got them to open their gifts a little early so that I could see them open their gifts. :)
I don’t think any storm’s are going to happen tonight. So I think we are headed towards north east Oklahoma tomorrow.
It’s very bizarre to think that right now where I am, we are within 2 hours driving distance to Mexico!

Day 7 - May 8, 2009

2009-05-10T00:47:00.004-04:00

Today we were able to sleep in since the storms weren’t going to happen till later, and we mostly in the target area. So, last night Ron said we could meet for 11am CDT. Well, we received a call in our hotel room about 9:30am CDT, and Ron said to get up that we are leaving in 30 minutes. So we all got ready quickly and got down to the vans. Ron called everyone together for a briefing (like he usually does). He explained that there were storms popping up and that the cape was breaking kind of south east from where we were. And then he said that he needs to say something that was very important. He said well there’s no storms but the cape is breaking so we are headed south. He just wanted to test us to see how fast we could get up and out. And we all passed! LOL
We stopped at a Starbucks to have some coffee, etc. Ron paid for everything, which was very nice of him to do. :) I didn’t think we were going to eat so I had a bagel. However, we then went to Ihop for breakfast lol. We left Ihop about 12noon CDT. We are headed south towards Norman, Oklahoma for now. There is a cold front coming from the north, so we are trying to stay in front of it.
Once we got to Norman, Oklahoma we decided to go to NSSL. We couldn’t find the new building so we went to the old building. We then found the address to the new building, so we went there (got there about 1:00pm CDT). We saw the Vortex 2 vehicles so we went to take pictures.
After we took pictures Laura and Jack had met up with Erik Rasmussen. After pictures and chatting a while, we went inside the building. Unfortunately we were not allowed access to wander around. Apparently we need to register before hand. However, the allowed us to use the bathroom. On the way to the bathroom they had a globe that had different images on it. It was pretty cool. We ended up getting a group shot in the front of the building. We left about 45 minutes later. We are headed south.
We passed by a scenic lookout around 3:00pm CDT. So we stopped to take some pictures. One guy that was there said that he saw Vortex 2 driving by. Although it isn’t supposed to start until Sun May 10.

We crossed into Texas about 3:50pm CDT and we stopped in the nearest town to look at the models. So we stopped at a Starbucks. We left about 5:30pm CDT to get gas. We are headed south.
We stopped in Sanger, Texas around 6:00pm CDT to look at models. We left about a half hour later. We are still headed south. We are hoping to intercept this one storm. It looked very good on radar and was the biggest storm in North America. We had another quick pit stop just south of Fort Worth, Texas to look at the models again around 7:40pm CDT. Ron had made the decision that we were going to try to intercept the storm as it was moving fairly slow, and was a very strong storm. The core was massive that was producing up to 3 inch hail. The storm reached about 75,000 feet; which is insane! The anvil was huge as well. I think the anvil went all the way up into Oklahoma!

We had a quick pit stop about 10:20pm CDT in San Saba, Texas.
We found a spot along a road just south of Voca that we were able to get some lightning shots before the storm caught up with us. I think I got 2 pictures that turned out not too bad. But I have to upload them to the computer to tell for sure. I hope they turn out. No definite strikes, but it did show the cloud structure pretty good.

Ron had called off the chase about 12 midnight, and we tried to look for a hotel in the closest town (which is Brady, Texas). We first tried Best Western, but they had no vacancies. Then we tried Days Inn but they only had 1 room. And then we finally tried Gold Key Inn. And we finally got our rooms.
So, we are staying at the Gold Key Inn in Brady, Texas.
It was a very good chase, even though we didn’t get the tornado in Brownwood. We pretty much had the storm all to ourselves. All the other chasers stayed in Oklahoma. The storm had actually split and the one part that split had re-energized and was re-building. So that was pretty awesome. We didn’t run into any hail as the storm was dissipating as we caught up with it. From what I understand we are in for a long haul tomorrow. I think we are going back north to Amarillo, Texas or Oklahoma.

Day 6 - May 7, 2009

2009-05-09T01:56:00.002-04:00

We were able to sleep in today, so we didn’t have to get up till 11:00am CDT. Laura and I got up around 10:00am CDT. Since we missed breakfast, we just hung around the vans to wait for everyone. Since our room was on the other side of the hotel, we left our stuff in the room because I didn’t want to carry my bags to the van. Too heavy lol. Ron had given us all new t-shirts for the tour. The shirts are very nice - light material. I finally have a storm chasing shirt lol. After a look at the models, we left the hotel around 12 noon CDT. We stopped at a Starbucks to get something to eat and to look at the models. We left the Starbucks parking lot around 12:45pm CDT. We are headed towards Ardmore, Oklahoma. Once we get there we will look at the models to get a more accurate target area.
We had a quick pit stop around 2:00pm CDT and we were back on the road again. We crossed into Oklahoma around 2:20pm CDT.
We stopped in Ardmore, Oklahoma around 3:00pm CDT to look at the models. The consensus is to head north towards Norman, Oklahoma.
Once we got to Norman, Oklahoma we stopped around 4:45pm to have something to eat at a place called Souper! Salad! It is a buffet of soups and salads lol. It was pretty good though.
After Ron looked at the models again we left about 7:00pm CDT. Ron had booked our hotels, and that there may be a possibility of a night chase, but it wouldn’t happen until later. So, since the hotel has a pool we went shopping to find bathing suits because Lorene didn’t have one, and of course I didn’t pack mine. We went to 3 stores (Big Lots, JC Penny, and Walmart) before we finally found some bathing suits that we reasonably priced (at Walmart of course lol). I didn’t find anything that I liked and that would fit me lol. It was about 8:30pm CDT by the time we started to make our way to the hotel.
We arrived at the hotel about 9:15pm CDT. Since David didn’t eat, Ron was going to take him to the steakhouse to get something to eat. And other people were welcome to join to have a drink/food, etc. Pam and I decided not to go though. I need a shower badly! LOL It is sooo hot here, and muggy too which doesn’t help. The temp today was over 30 degrees Celsius.
There might be a chance that storms could fire up over night, but it is highly unlikely. If they do though, we may go chasing.
However, for now we are staying at the Rodeway Inn in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Day 5 - May 6 2009

2009-05-07T23:16:00.003-04:00

Today we got to sleep in. So, we set our wakeup call for 9:00am CDT since we didn’t have to leave till around 11am. And of course I ended up waking up at 8:30am CDT. I had a shower, and went down to have some breakfast. Ron was a little picture happy this morning lol. He just kept taking pictures of everyone lol. After that we all hung around the lobby for a while. While we were waiting, Ron and Jack took the vans for an oil change. Apparently the vans needed that – badly! A couple days ago the maintenance required light came on in the one van. Ron checked the oil and it was pretty much black. Once they came back we left the hotel. It was around 11:45am CDT by the time we left.
Instead of the 2 storms that we initially had thought we are only going for 1 now. So, we are headed towards Waco, Texas.
We stopped around 1:40pm CDT to have something to eat at Sonic. Ron had paid for our lunches, so that was nice of him :). Just before we left we remembered about Happy Hour (which is from 2 – 4). So Sandra and I got a fruit smoothie (which unfortunately is not included in Happy Hour anymore...). We left Sonic around 2:20pm CDT.
While driving, Ron had noticed something out in the field, so we stopped to see what it was around 3:10pm CDT. There was a metal giraffe and elephant in the field lol. So we took some pictures of it. Not every day you see that kind of thing lol.
Further down the road (about 30 minutes later) we noticed alot of smoke out in a field. So, we tried to drive closer to it. Ron decided to take a side dirt road that was very curvy and bumpy lol. Of course we couldn’t see much as there were trees on the side of the road. Although we did manage to find a clear spot where we took some pictures.
After about an hour of driving again on the road Ron decided to play a joke on the “other van” lol. We have walky talkies that we use to communicate between the 2 van’s. So, Ron said on the radio “Laura, do you copy?” So Laura responds. And Ron being Ron kept repeating “Do you copy?” “You there?” lol Sandra and I are just cracking up laughing lol. Eventually we stopped and Ron went over to ‘explain how to use the radio’ and that we needed to be on the same radio wave, etc. Eventually they caught on lol. However we needed to go to the bathroom really bad from laughing so hard lol. So we stopped about 4:30pm CDT.
After that we stopped at a Best Buy so I could buy an Auxiliary cable so I could play my iPod in the van. After that we stopped at a Walmart. I ended up getting more razors, and I just happen to be looking in the music section, and I just happen to see the CD for Tinted Windows! I was soo excited! lol Of course I had to buy it :). We stayed at Walmart for about an hour, and then we decided to eat. Ron had decided that if any storms were going to form it was going to be late and that it wouldn`t be “big enough” lol. So we stopped at an Olive Garden for supper. We left the restaurant around 8:30pm CDT.
We are headed north towards Oklahoma.
After the restaurant I plugged in my iPod into the van. I was trying to adjust the volume because I could control it on my iPod as well as with the van. However, the van “had a mind of it’s own” because it kept changing the volume on it’s own! It kept going up and down, etc. Eventually we figured out that Jack was controlling it all along!! Apparently there is volume controls on the steering wheel.
On our route we were to drive through Dallas, Texas. So, before we reached the city, we stopped to take pictures of the skyline (which was around 10:00pm CDT). I finally got to use my tripod for the first time! So I was able to get some pretty nice pictures. :)

We finally pulled into our hotel around 11:30pm CDT. We are staying at the Quality Inn in Plano, Texas. Tomorrow we are headed north towards Oklahoma. It looks like there is going to be some activity there for the next couple of days.

Day 4 - May 5, 2009

2009-05-07T00:57:00.004-04:00

Today we were able to sleep in as we were close to our target area. Laura woke up around 9:00am CDT. A few minutes later, Pam knocked on our door to see if we were okay. A few minutes after that, everyone was knocking at our door. Ron and Jack kept telling us to hurry up, we need to leave right now! I figured they were joking because everyone was at the door with them and Ben was videoing. But he kept saying were serious. Come on! I was pretty much ready, so I went just shortly after. However Laura was running around trying to get everything ready. And of course, when I got the lobby everyone is sitting there laughing lol. Figures.
We left the hotel around 10:00am CDT. We stopped at The Big Texan again. But we didn’t go there for breakfast. We wanted to go to the store there. So I got a shot glass that is tipped over LOL it’s pretty funny. I also got some fudge. They had a deal where you buy 4 and you get 2 free. So, for a box it is $13.00. And the fudge is SOOOO good. I know, I’m being bad because I’m trying to loose weight. But still! LOL That will most likely last me the whole trip (for the next 2 weeks)!

We had a quick pit stop around 11:20am CDT – Ron needed to get something from the store.
We stopped at an Ihop to have some breakfast / lunch around 12:40pm CDT. While we were waiting Ron and Jack went to gas up the vans and go to get something from the store. They even had time to come back and we still didn’t have our food. After Ron had finished eating, he just got up and said that there are 8 of us and we can all go in the other van and that we would meet up somewhere about 40 miles south. And he actually left! Sandra almost started freaking out. At first she said, who’s driving? lol And then she said well he can’t leave because he has to pay lol. Of course Ron did come back. He is just a little prankster today. So all of us are trying to think of a way to prank Ron lol. We left the Ihop around 2:10pm CDT.
We had a quick rest stop about 3:30pm CDT. We had another rest stop around 5:00pm CDT so that Ron could look at the models again to figure out where we need to be. We stayed there for about 45 minutes. We had another rest stop at a hotel around 7:00pm CDT. Ron had booked us rooms at the hotel for later. We had a bit of time, so we brought all our bags up to our rooms. We left a half hour later.
We settled on a storm and we were off. Now we started our chase to get to the storm. The storm looked really good as it was building. The structure was amazing! We started to be able to see the base and a funnel cloud had started to form. Looked very promising. However, as we neared Thurber, Texas, it dissipated. We drove a bit further to see if we could get anything else. But the storm pretty much just fell apart once it crossed the highway. We gave up about 9:00pm CDT.

We stopped at a Sonic in Cisco, Texas to get something to eat around 9:45pm CDT. We stayed there for about a half hour, and then it was back on the road to get back to the hotel.
We arrived at the hotel around 11:20pm CDT. We are staying at the Comfort Suites hotel in Abilene, Texas.
Tomorrow we are headed east to hopefully get 2 storms. One in Fort Worth, Texas, and then we are headed south to Waco, Texas.

Day 3 - May 4, 2009

2009-05-06T00:44:00.005-04:00

Our wake up call was for 7:45am today. However, mostly everyone was up by 6:30am CDT. The beds felt really hard, but everyone had a really nice sleep and we all felt well rested. After organizing the 2 vans, we finally left the hotel around 9:10am CDT. We made our way to south Oklahoma (around Marlow) to pick up the first tour guest. Her name is Lorene and she is from London, England. We had a quick rest stop around 10:00am CDT so that Ron could call Lorene to let her know we were on our way. We got to the place around 10:45am CDT. After we picked her up, we stopped to have something to eat at Sonic. Yay! I love Sonic. The food is good, it’s fast service, and it’s cheap. Oh! Also can’t forget Happy Hour (which is from 2 – 4pm everyday). It’s where we can get ½ price on drinks/slushies/smoothies, etc. After that, we drove back to Oklahoma City to pick up the second tour guest. His name is David and he is from Paris, France. We arrive at the Will Rogers World Airport around 12:40pm CDT. However, after 20 minutes, we decided to see if he would be at the hotel already. So, we left the airport to go to the Best Western hotel (where he was supposed to be) and we finally met up with him. Since he was really hungry we stopped at a steakhouse and Ron got him something to eat.
We had a quick pit stop around 3:00pm CDT.
We crossed the Texas state line around 4:20pm CDT. We stopped to get some pictures of the sign.
We had a quick rest stop around 5:00pm CDT. It was a very scenic rest stop so we took some pictures too. We passed by the leaning water tower, so we stopped to get some pictures.
For dinner, we stopped at The Big Texan Steakhouse around 6:20pm CDT. I just got a chicken caesar salad, and I could hardly finish that! Sandra, Pam, and I had a couple drinks. Time for happy hour! LOL I guess the Big Texan has a free limo ride to your hotel, so everyone (except Ron and Jack – they drove the cars) got a free limo ride. That was pretty fun lol. However, we ended up going to the wrong Comfort Suites LOL. So, we had to drive to the other one. We got to the hotel (the right one) around 9:00pm CDT. So we are staying at the Comfort Suites hotel in Amarillo, Texas.
We are pretty much right on target for tomorrow’s chase. So we are actually able to sleep in and can take our time. Which (especially on chase days) is rare.
Tomorrow we are going to the Big Texan for breakfast... I’m probably still going to be full from supper! LOL

Day 2 - May 3, 2009

2009-05-04T23:16:00.005-04:00

Today is Ron and Sandra’s 18th anniversary!
It is another travel day today. Our goal is to get to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Ron had set our wake up calls for 7:00am. However, no one got a wake up call! Pam thinks she did but it only rang 2 times. She thought she was dreaming. Thankfully Laura woke up around 7:20am. I think that was the fastest I have ever gotten ready lol. We went to pack our stuff into the van and to wait for everyone else. For breakfast they didn’t have too much. But we ended up grabbing all the fruit they had lol. We had left the hotel by 8:30am.
We had a little pit stop around 9:45am. We crossed the Illinois state line around 10:20am. We now changed time zones. So, we are now in Central time (all times previous to this are in EST; from now on forward, I will be specifying which time zone we are in). We had a quick rest stop around 10:10am CDT. Around 11:25am CDT we stopped to eat at Arby’s. But we just quickly grabbed some food and we were off again. I had popcorn chicken and curly fries. It was very good. Apparently the only fries they have are curly fries.
We crossed the Missouri state line around 12:00pm CDT. We drove past the St Louis arch. I was able to get some pictures from inside the van.
We had another rest stop around 1:00pm CDT. We ended up picking up the 2nd van around 3:30pm CDT. It is much more roomy now in the van LOL. That is until we pick up the other people.
We crossed the Oklahoma state line around 5:00pm CDT. We had a pit stop around 5:30pm CDT.
We stopped to eat some supper at Lone Star Steakhouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma around 6:45pm CDT. We were back on the road by 8:15pm CDT. All the ladies had an alcoholic drink for supper. Needless to say, we did end up having a peanut fight LOL.
We arrived at our hotel around 10:00pm CDT. We are staying at the Super 8 motel in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for the night.
Tomorrow we are going to pick up a couple people for the tour. Our target is to get to Amarillo, Texas.

Day 1 - May 2, 2009

2009-05-03T23:38:00.003-04:00

I have decided to go storm chasing again this year. It was pretty much last minute as I was going to go to Manitoulin with my friends. But, due to other reasons I decided to go storm chasing instead. I still love you though girly!!
The people who are going up from Ontario are: Ron, Sandra, Ben, Pam, Jack, Laura, and me. There are a couple more people that we are picking up once we get to our destination as well. But they are only going for 1 week.
We got to Ron’s for 9:30am as that’s when everyone was supposed to be there for. However, when we got there we found out that Jack still wasn’t there with the rental van. Doh!
We waited, waited, and waited some more lol. All the girls had quite some fun while we were waiting lol. Eventually, Sandra, Pam, Laura, and I decided to go to Timmies to get something to eat. We even had time to get back and eat before Jack showed up around 1:00pm with the rental van.
By the time everything got packed up into the van, it was 1:30pm by the time we left.
Ron ended up getting his GPS for tracking on the ARPS site, so we can now be tracked. 
Since this is a travel day, it’s not very exciting lol.
We decided to go through the border in Sarnia as it is generally easier to get through. We got there are 4:00pm. The guy thought we were crazy for going storm chasing haha.
We drove for a bit before we decided to stop and have something to eat. We stopped at a Wendy’s around 5:00 / 5:30pm.
We crossed the Indiana state line around 7:15pm.
We had a pit stop around 8:00pm.
We pulled into our hotel around 10:30pm to stop for the night. We stayed at the Super 8 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Our wake up call is for 7:00am, and we hope to leave by 8:00am.

Storm chase trip 2009

2009-05-02T23:05:00.005-04:00

As requested, I will not be posting my blog's on the day of. But I will be posting it the next night. Basically my blog will be a day behind.

Also, the APRS tracking is working. Here is the link:
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=VA3TVS-9

However, tonight I will post the picture of our group shot. :)
(from left to right) Jack, Rita, Laura, Pam, Sandra, Ben (front), and Ron (back).

Going storm chasing again

2009-04-30T23:58:00.003-04:00

Wow... Guess I havnt' updated this all year LOL

Just wanted to update that I am going storm chasing again this year! Woo hoo!! :)

I don't have much time to type anything, but once I do get the time I will explain everything. :)

Anyways, here are the links that you can track where we are, etc.

http://www.severestudios.com/livechase
Look for Ron Gravelle in the live feeds section.

http://twitter.com/ruggie85

And of course this blog as well.

Sims 3

2009-02-04T19:24:00.001-05:00

Day 13 - June 6, 2008

2008-06-08T22:09:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day of the trip. Which means it is a travel day to get back home.
Our wakeup call was for 6:30am CDT, and we left the hotel by 7:30am CDT. We had a quick rest stop around 8:30am CDT. We stopped for something quick to eat at Burger King around 9:30am CDT. Who knew that they don’t serve fries that early... LOL. We had another rest stop at the World’s Biggest Truck Stop in Iowa around 12:00 noon CDT. We walked around for a little bit. It was huge! lol They had a full size semi truck in the building and the side of the truck had a mural on it. That was pretty cool although it took about 5 pictures to get the whole thing LOL. We crossed the Illinois state line around 12:50pm CDT. We stopped into Wendy’s around 3:00pm CDT to get something to eat and we were back on the road. We ate in the van lol. We crossed the Indiana state line around 3:40pm CDT, and we crossed the Michigan state line around 5:00pm EST (I think LOL). And since we crossed the time zone line in Michigan, we are now back in EST time. We had another rest stop in Battle Creek, Michigan around 7:10pm EST. We crossed the US / Canada border around 9:30pm EST or so. When the guy asked us why we were in the US we told him we were storm chasing. He looked at us like we were crazy LOL. And then he saw the hail dents on the van and he had another look on his face haha. Once we crossed the border we were in search of a Tim Horton’s. Since we passed the one in Sarnia, we went to Plympton-Wyoming around 10:10pm EST. Mmmmm... Timmies LOL. We dropped Pam off in St. Thomas around 11:20pm EST, and then we dropped Ben off in London around 12:00 midnight EST. We had another quick fill up on gas around 1:00am EST, and we arrived home around 1:20am EST. It was great to be back home. We had actually chased a storm all the way back home, and we finally caught up with it in Michigan. We had a storm everyday which was amazing! No down days. I had a really great time on this trip and I am planning on going again next year. Next year there is probably going to be a lot of people LOL. I would like to thank Ron and Jack for getting us into the right spot at the right time and (to Pam as well) for all the driving that was involved. Visit Ron and Jack’s website at http://www.stormchasing.ca/

Day 12 - June 5, 2008

2008-06-08T21:59:00.002-04:00

Our wakeup call was for 9:00am CDT. We didn’t leave right away, so I watched a bit of TV. We left the hotel just after 11:00am CDT. We went to go search for a Radio Shack as Ron needed a new power supply for his laptop. No luck. So, we went to go for an oil change, but they were too busy. So, we went to Sonic to get something to eat (around 12:00pm CDT). We stopped at a Quick Lube to get the oil change around 1:15pm CDT. We stopped at a Best Buy (at Conestoga Mall LOL) in Grand Island, Nebraska to look for the power supply for Ron’s laptop (around 2:15pm CDT). We left around 3:00pm CDT. Ron was able to get one. It doesn’t work as good, but it still works. We started to chase one storm but it didn’t amount to very much. We just had to sit around and wait for it to come our way. We stopped in a little town in Nebraska to wait for a bit. Ron’s power supply didn’t work, so he switched to use Jack’s. By the time we finally got everything up and running the storm that we were waiting for wasn’t very good anymore; they were all to the north and south of us. So, we decided to head east to possibly intercept the storm coming up from the south. We left the parking lot by 6:15pm CDT. When we were about to go east, someone noticed possibly a wall cloud to our west (which was our original storm). So, we decided to pursue that one. Unfortunately, and as we guessed, it didn’t amount to much. So, we just continued on to the east. We drove through a town called Stromsburg, Nebraska and we passed a park that was flooded (around 7:30pm CDT). So, we stopped to walk through the park to take pictures. There was also a road that was a bit flooded. So, with us being bored, and the driver being willingly encouraged (LOL), drove through it. It wasn’t that deep, so we drove through it a couple times LOL. After that, we continued to head east. We stopped for a quick rest stop around 8:30pm CDT (I think it was York), and we were back on our way. We crossed the Iowa state line around 10:30pm CDT or so. We got to our hotel around 11:00pm CDT. We stayed at the Motel 6 in Omaha, Iowa.

Day 11 - June 4, 2008

2008-06-05T01:07:00.001-04:00

Our wakeup call was for 9:00am CDT. We hung around the hotel for a bit. We left the hotel by 11:30am CDT. We went to a truck stop (Mittens) to have some breakfast / lunch, and were back on the road by 1:15pm CDT. We stopped at Prairie Dog State Park in Kansas around 2:30pm CDT and we stayed for almost an hour. We crossed the Nebraska state line around 3:50pm CDT. There were several storms in our target area, so Ron choose the one he thought would best produce a tornado. So, we started chasing one, but it didn’t pan out, so went for another one, again, it didn’t pan out. We eventually went back to chasing our initial storm. As Laura always says “always stick with your initial storm”. I was getting pretty dizzy from having to keep turn around and around lol. It was pretty funny though. It seemed right after we left the one to go for the other the initial one had a rotating couplet on it. One of the roads that we went on (several times) at a building, there was a gas fire. We think lightning must have stuck it. It was taking them a long time to put it out; probably several hours.
The second storm that we started chasing had very nice structure to it. We stopped in Kearney, Nebraska to get a picture of the shelf cloud around 7:30pm CDT). After that, we went back onto the highway and someone noticed an opening starting in the clouds, so we stopped. After a few minutes a sheriff in their car pulled up behind us and said over the loud speaker “driver, you cannot park your car there”. So we moved lol.
On the third storm that we chased, it was very electrical. There was sooo much lightning I couldn’t believe it! So, we stopped onto a side road to get some lightning shots, and I got my first “real” lightning shots!! I was so happy LOL. We decided to call it a night since the storm wasn’t doing to much, and the major part was a ways away. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Lexington, Nebraska.

Day 10 - June 3, 2008

2008-06-03T23:44:00.003-04:00

Our wakeup call was for 9:30am MDT, we didn’t get up right away. Ron said we could sleep in a bit; needed to catch up on sleep. We had left the hotel by 11:00am MDT. We stopped in Burlington, Colorado to get something to eat around 12:00pm MDT, so we stopped at Burger King. We left about an hour later. After we left, we stopped on a dirt road, just outside of Burlington, Colorado (around 1:00pm MDT). Felix wanted to video us. So, he got together the guys, and the girls waited on the side. He took probably closer to 30 minutes, or more, to video the guys. I kept finding quartz rocks on the road, and gave them to Pam. It was very hot out, and Pam decided that she wanted to lie on the ground, so she did LOL. Of course when she did that, it was our turn. He interviewed each of us, asked us our name, nationality, why we chose this vacation, and what we thought of the tour so far. That took about 10 minutes :P LOL. Ron was then looking at the models, so far it doesn’t look good; we won’t be able to make it in time. We finally left about an hour later (just after 2:00pm MDT) and started to head South.
We were going to go to Lamar to have some ice cream, but tornado warnings popped up to the south, so we headed there. We switched drivers around 3:30pm MDT. Just after that, I got an error on my laptop :/ It said something about a failure. I just shut it down, waited a bit, and then I turned it back on. Seems to work fine now though... Never fails though, always have problems when you need it to work LOL. We crossed the Kansas state line around 3:50pm MDT. On HWY 400, we got stuck in some traffic from construction. It took us about 10 minutes to get through. We ended up crossing into Kansas and then back in to Colorado, and then back into Kansas again. The storm we were chasing that had a wall cloud ended up dying on us, so we went for the other one to the east and unfortunately it died on us as well. We stopped in a little town to fill up on gas and we said goodbye to Felix. We went to get something to eat at McDonald’s. Ron had noticed a storm fire up to our north, and we decided to go after that (since we need to be up north for tomorrow). The storm looked pretty good, and there was a high chance of having a tornado. Unfortunately, we did not see any. Laura tried to get lightning shots, but was unsuccessful. We headed towards Oakley, Kansas where we stayed for the night at First Travel Inn. We are now back in central time zone. When I got to the hotel, I had noticed that I actually got a sunburn around my neck and shoulders... :/ lol Oh well... I hope it just goes to a tan; it doesn’t hurt though.

Day 9 - June 2, 2008

2008-06-03T17:56:00.001-04:00

Our wakeup call was for 9:30am MDT, and we had left the hotel by 11:00am MDT. We stopped in Sidney, Nebraska to have some lunch (we went to Pizza Hut and had their buffet) around 1:00pm MDT. We were going to get the oil changed have the tires looked at, but they couldn’t do it fast enough, so we just continued on. The balance was off in the tires. We think it is mud in wheels.
We stopped at a Super 8 Motel to access Wi-Fi around 2:30pm MDT and stayed there for about 20 minutes. We started heading towards north east Colorado. We stopped in Akron, Colorado around 4:20pm MDT for a quick rest break. On US Hwy 36, we had passed a bridge and Ben had noticed there were cars in the sides of the banks! So, we stopped to get some pictures. They really had old cars in the sides of the banks. I guess maybe to stop erosion? lol it was pretty funny. We had crossed the Kansas state line around 6:30pm MDT, and we stopped to take some pictures. We pulled into a truck weighing station, and the one girl that worked there was asking us some questions lol. We stopped in Colby, Kansas around 9:30pm EST (and since we are back in Central time zone, it is 8:30pm CDT) to eat at Sonic. We left about an hour later as Ron noticed on the models that there was a storm in Colorado (should have just stayed there lol). So, we headed back West, and back into Mountain time. We reached the Colorado state line around 9:15pm MDT. As we were getting closer, Ron noticed that there was a microburst that happened out of nowhere. Unfortunately for us, it killed off the storm. That was very frustrating. We were able to get some lightning shots (that was around 10:40pm MDT), unfortunately it didn’t last very long. While everyone was getting lightning shots, Pam and I were having a lot of fun in the back seat, just laughing our heads off. We have what’s known as the “happy hour” at night LOL. We left about 10 minutes later. So, it was sort of a bust for us today. Try again tomorrow. We stayed in Limon, Colorado at the Econo Lodge. We rolled in about 12:00am MDT. We were going to go to the Super 8, but they didn’t have any rooms available. I pretty much just went straight to bed lol.

Day 8 - June 1, 2008

2008-06-02T01:12:00.005-04:00

I didn’t get too much sleep last night. By the time we got settled into the hotel it was around 5:00am CDT. We went to sleep right away. However, I kept hearing a noise like someone was turning on the sink tap. It made me a bit nervous because I was in bed and so was Laura lol. I eventually determined that it was the toilet. But, by that time it had to be 6:30am CDT. Today we met up with a guy from Paris. His name is Felix. I guess he is a TV producer. We stopped to eat at Sonic around 12:15pm CDT, and we were back on the road by 1:00pm CDT. We stopped for a rest stop in Oakley, Kansas around 2:20pm CDT and we were back on the road by 3:00pm CDT. We were going to stop for another rest break around 4:00pm CDT (5:00pm EST) in Kanorado, Kansas, however they did not have bathrooms. It looked really run down and rat infested. So, we continued on instead lol. We crossed the Colorado state line around 5:15pm EST and since we changed time zones into Mountain time, it is now 3:15pm MDT. We stopped at a rest stop right after the state line (near Burlington, Colorado), and we were back on our way (Ron rode with Felix). We headed towards Julesburg, Colorado. We had a quick rest stop in Julesburg, Colorado around 5:15pm MDT and Ron came back into our van.
Our chase went from Colorado to Nebraska to Colorado to Nebraska again lol. We got right into the spot where a tornado would have formed if it got together. There were a lot of possibilities where the inflow and outflow came together (which is where the tornado would have formed). Once that died out on us, we decided to get some lightning shots (which was around 8:30pm MDT). Around 9:00pm MDT we decided to get to a hotel and have something to eat. We got to our hotel around 10:00pm MDT, got checked in, and then we went to McDonald’s to get something to eat. We got back to the hotel around 11:00pm MDT. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Day 7 - May 31, 2008

2008-06-01T12:38:00.001-04:00

Our wakeup call was for 8:00am CDT. We left the hotel around 11:00am CDT, and we went to go eat at Denny’s. They have a really good breakfast there. I had the grand slam breakfast which you can pick 4 items out of 10 for your breakfast. I had the hash browns, bacon, pancakes, and English muffins. We headed towards Wakita, Oklahoma. Wakita is where the movie ‘Twister’ was made. We crossed the Kansas state line (not sure what time though... Wasn’t paying attention lol). We had a rest brake around 1:10pm CDT and another one at 3:30pm CDT in Arkansas City, Kansas. It was a straight drive right through. We crossed the Oklahoma state line around 4:15pm CDT. We got into Wakita, Oklahoma around 5:00pm CDT. What a small town! They have a Twister museum, so we went there. This was awesome! They had some props from the movie, like the Dorothy. They also had a Twister pinball machine. Apparently only 3 of those were made by Warner Brothers. One was given to Bill Paxton, who then donated it to the Twister museum. The lady there let me play on it for a while. That was fun! :D lol I bought a shirt and got a Wakita keychain. We got a group shot right in front of the museum. We also got a group shot right in front of the Wakita water tower around 5:45pm CDT. After that, we decided to head West to meet up with the storm. We stopped into a Sonic in Alva, Oklahoma around 6:30pm CDT to eat, and then it was off again. We had another rest stop at McDonald’s in Enid, Oklahoma around 8:45pm CDT. As we were in the parking lot, we noticed a storm building up to the West. We decided to try to intercept it, and left around 9:00pm CDT. We stopped around 11:00pm CDT to get lightning shots. When it started to rain, we moved positions and got some more shots. There was a lot of lightning. Around 11:50pm CDT we decided to give up on the storm and start to head to our hotel after a quick rest stop in Cordell, Oklahoma. We stopped at a Sonic (around 12:30am CDT) to get some coffee, unfortunately they were closed. However, there were still employees there and they gave us free coffees and let us use the washroom. That was very nice of them to do :D We did a marathon drive to get to our hotel in Liberal, Kansas. We had a quick rest stop in Woodward, Oklahoma at around 2:00am CDT.
Around 3:00am CDT I was using my laptop tracking our trip and I got thirsty. So, I went to get my Diet Dr. Pepper that I bought at the rest stop. However, when I opened it, it exploded! A bit went onto my laptop. I immediately shut it down and Jack held it by the air conditioner in the van to help dry it out. I also left it open in the hotel. Most of the pop spilt on my shirt and my purse on the floor. Pam gave me her sock to help soak it up LOL. I ended up changing shirts because I was starting to get cold. We rolled into our hotel around 4:30am CDT. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Liberal, Kansas. We are headed towards Northeast Colorado tomorrow. We were so tired yesterday that Pam, Laura, and I were very giggly. Everything we said we just kept laughing at lol.

Day 6 - May 30, 2008

2008-05-31T00:42:00.001-04:00

Our wakeup call was set for 8:00am CDT, and we were out on the road by 10:30am CDT. We are possibly headed towards Kansas City, Kansas today. On the way (in Nebraska), we passed a lot of tornado damage that we determined was from on the one dark tornado that we saw yesterday. There was irrigation systems flipped over, poles snapped in half, houses damaged, etc.
We decided to have some lunch, so we went to Subway around 1:00pm CDT. Since we had a couple hours to waste, we went to a nearby park called Wilderness Park which is in Lincoln, Nebraska (around 2:00pm CDT) to stretch our legs and to get out of the sun for a bit. Ron looked at the models and determined a new target area. We are now headed for Missouri. We left the park around 3:00pm CDT. We crossed the Iowa state line probably around 4:00pm CDT. We weren’t in Iowa long, and then we crossed the Missouri state line. I have no idea when though lol I wasn’t really paying attention, but maybe an hour, if even, after we crossed into Iowa. We had a quick pit stop around 4:30pm CDT. I had installed the Streets and Trips program from Microsoft, and Jack let me use his GPS antenna. This is an awesome program! And it’s really cool to see where we are, because I am always asking lol.
On our way to Harrisonville, Missouri, we were looking at the clouds forming, and we were making shapes out of them. One of them looked like Homer Simpson LOL. It’s funny because Springfield is in Missouri, which is where we are! Around 6:50pm CDT, we stopped for a bite to eat at Sonic in Harrisonville, Missouri.
Around 8:00pm CDT we were off to intercept the storm. The storms are forming along the boundary line. A few anvils had formed. We headed south on hwy 71.
We caught up with the storm and got a bit of rain, but that was about it. We decided to try to get some lightning shots, so we pulled off on a dirt road (NE 80th Rd which is off of hwy 71) around 9:30pm CDT. I attempted to get some lightning shots, but it was mostly in cloud. I also need a tri-pod lol. It was getting more intense with some CG’s coming closer to us. And then just all of a sudden we heard a loud electrical surge like sound (lol it’s hard to explain). We all just jumped back in the car. Still not sure what it was. We continued on hwy 71 and turned onto hwy 160 where we turned down another dirt road (NW 10th Ln) to get some more lightning shots. It was very peaceful there. I took video this time lol. Around 10:30pm CDT we decided to call it a night. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Lamar, Missouri.
Tomorrow we are headed for Woodward, Oklahoma.

Day 5 - May 29, 2008

2008-05-30T00:00:00.004-04:00

Our wakeup call was for 7:00am CDT, and we were on the road by 8:00am CDT. Didn’t get a very good sleep last night, the beds were rock hard :/... not good for the back lol. So far, our target for today is Greeley, Nebraska. We crossed the Oklahoma state line around 8:50am CDT. We crossed the Kansas state line around 9:40am CDT. We passed through Greensburg, Kansas around 11:30am CDT. This town got wiped off the map when it got hit with an F5 tornado in 2005. It was amazing to see that after 3 years there was still a lot of damage, especially the trees. Buildings are still being built. There were also buildings that were still damaged that they haven’t fixed yet. It was very spooky to be going through the town. Unfortunately we did not have time to stop for pictures, so we got them on the fly. It is just amazing to see the community get together like that to rebuild their city.
We had a pit stop around 1:00pm CDT, we had a quick bite at Sonic (their food is really good). We crossed the Nebraska state line at 4:45pm CDT. We got there just in time for the storm. It was a high risk storm, but we decided to go for it anyways. It looked promising, but it eventually fell apart. Everyone says they saw a very brief tornado (could only see the funnel and a bit of debris cloud at the bottom). Unfortunately I did not see it because I was on the wrong side of the van, all I saw was heads and cameras lol. There was also another dark spot (beside the one brief tornado) but we weren’t sure if it was a tornado or not. We watched Ben’s video afterwards, and we came to the conclusion that it was a tornado (just based on the damage around). So, that is 2 tornadoes today, 4 total! We eventually gave up on the storm and decided to get something to eat. When we reached the town of Kearney, Nebraska, we saw a lot of wind damage. Trees uprooted, billboards ripped apart, roofs peeled back, power outages, etc. It was amazing to see all the damage there even though it was mostly tree damage. Since it was all facing one direction we figure it might have been a microburst, although everything is being reported as tornado damage.
After that we finally found a place to eat. It was called USA Steak Buffet. It was pretty good food there, although I was very hungry lol. We were deciding where to head to next, which it looks like tomorrow will be an off day, but the day after looks good. So, we are possibly making our way back down to Kansas and Oklahoma. We took some pictures out in the parking lot (there was some mamatus and lightning around) and decided to get a hotel. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Kearney, Nebraska. I was able to figure out my manual settings on my camera, so I might be able to take lightning pictures! :D lol

Day 4 - May 28, 2008

2008-05-29T01:27:00.003-04:00

Since we didn’t have very far to travel today (our target is New Mexico), we were able to sleep in for a bit. We set the wakeup call for 8:00am CDT. I went down to eat some breakfast, came back up and watched some TV. We ended up heading out around 11:00am CDT. We headed towards Amarillo, Texas to get some lunch at the Big Texan. We arrived in Amarillo around 1:00pm CDT. We got to the Big Texan around 2:00pm EST. It is awesome in there! Very interesting. And, they stand true to their saying “everything is bigger in Texas”. I got a quesadilla that had buffalo meat, beef, and cheese. It was pretty good, although it was a bit spicy. I wasn’t even able to finish that. And that was considered an appetizer?! LOL
After we finished, we continued on our way to New Mexico. We passed by Cadillac Ranch (around 4:30pm). This was awesome lol. We arrived in New Mexico around 5:30pm EST. We are now in a new time zone (Mountain time), so it is really 3:30pm.
There were a couple of storms that we were debating between. We went for the one near the south. Unfortunately, it fell apart, so we went for the other one. It looked really promising. There were several opportunities for tornadoes to form. We spotted a few funnel clouds, but they just fell apart. We ended up getting into 2 inch hail. Man is that ever loud! LOL We got a couple dents in the van. There were some mountains around. The terrain was very beautiful. You could see the clouds rising up over the mountains. Around 9:30pm EST or so, we decided to give up on the storm. It was falling apart, nothing was forming from it. Possibly the mountains were interrupting the wind patterns. Since we are trying to head to Nebraska tomorrow we decided to start the long haul. We ended up hitting the storm again on the highway. There was lots of rain, and very frequent lightning. It is very exciting, yet spooky at the same time. Night storms scare me a little bit, just because you can’t see anything. We crossed back into Texas around 11:30pm EST (10:30pm CDT). Since we were back in Texas, we are now in the Central time zone again.
We drove for quite a few hours and decided around 12 midnight EST to call it a night. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Dalhart, Texas. Tomorrow we are headed towards Nebraska. Should be a long drive, but if everything goes right it will be worth it!

Day 3 - May 27, 2008

2008-05-28T00:17:00.003-04:00

Today we were able to sleep in for a little bit. I had a great sleep, so we are all well rested. Laura and I set our wake up call for 8:00am CDT. The wakeup call was pretty funny, it said “the bad news is you have to get up; the good news is there is coffee in the lobby” LOL We had our showers and went on the internet for a bit (we didn’t have to meet up until 10:00am CDT). We were going to go to Denny’s to get something to eat, but we needed to head out quickly as our target was further South than we planned. As we were leaving we met up with Cloud 9 Tours. We chatted with George and Charles for a bit. After a quick fill up on gas, we were off (around 10:30am CDT). We are headed towards Texas today.
We arrived in Oklahoma around 11:30am CDT (12:30pm EST). We stopped for a pit stop to use the washroom and to stretch our legs, and we were on our way again. Around 1:00pm CDT we stopped for a bit to eat at Sonic. I’ve never been there before. They still have the old fashioned drive through where you park your car, order, and they bring out your food to your. The food was really good too. They also have a happy hour between 2 – 4 pm everyday on drinks and slushies.
As we were making our way towards Texas, we stopped at a hotel to figure out what to do next, and then we were on our way. As we were waiting, we noticed that there were some prairie dogs in the field. They are soo cute! We met up with a few storms that were capable of producing tornadoes. The first storm (around 4:30pm CDT) we were on, looked promising, but unfortunately it fell apart, so we went for the next one (around 5:30pm CDT). But again that fell apart. We stopped in a little town by some train tracks. Just as we were about to leave the train ended up coming, so we got some pictures and video of it going by. Man! Is that ever loud! lol All the storms that popped up today were weak and didn’t last long. So, it was a bust today. We ended up settling in Childress, Texas around 7:30pm CDT. We stayed at Comfort Inn. We got settled in our rooms and then went to get some sunset pictures. The location we settled on was very nice for getting pictures. Except for the power lines, but oh well. I also attempted at getting lightning shots. I managed to get a couple. Not actual bolts, but you can still see it. After that we decided to go eat at Pizza Hut and call it a night. We get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow, so that will be nice. :) Not sure where we are heading tomorrow though. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow lol.

Day 2 - May 26, 2008

2008-05-27T01:29:00.004-04:00

We set the wakeup call for 5:00am CDT, went to have breakfast at the hotel, and we left around 8:00am CDT (9:00am EST). I didn’t get too much sleep. Laura and I eventually got to sleep around 2:00am CDT. There was a storm during the night. It kept keeping us awake lol. It was nice to listen to, but the odd time (just as I was falling asleep) there would be a loud thunder which would make me wide awake.
We had a quick pit stop to fill up on gas (around 10:00am EST; 9:00am CDT).
We are headed towards Kansas today. We crossed the Kansas state line just before 12 noon CDT.
We also had another omen. We were behind a “Target” truck; ‘we are chasing our target!’ lol
We went for a pit stop around 2:00pm CDT (3:00pm EST). There was also a tornado watch issued for south central Kansas into Texas at 2:03pm CDT.
We stopped for supper in Wichita, Kansas around 3:30pm CDT (4:30pm EST). We ate at Subway. We waited around for a bit to see what the storms are going to do. There was a storm that popped up while we were at Subway. However, Ron says that we are not going for that storm. From that storm, it will create a boundary. There are 2 boundaries (one from the storm this morning in Kansas and from that storm that just popped up). Those boundaries are coming together. This is where we have to be. We left subway just before 4:30pm CDT (5:30pm EST).
We settled around a spot on Hwy 281 - 2 miles south of Pratt. We hit a lot of heavy rain and even some pea sized hail. Once we neared a clearing we got out to take some pictures. It was very windy! We continued on Hwy 281 and got to a clearing. We were watching for funnel clouds. Ron had spotted a funnel cloud that ended up touching down. It was right beside us in the field! It was awesome! It was in a field of grass so we didn’t see too much, but it was there. We were so close we could actually hear it! Ron said it was about an F0. This was around 7:50pm EST. Once that passed, we kept continuing on. Jack had spotted a funnel right above us! He wanted to move away from the hydro poles, but it was too late. The tornado went right over us! Ron said it was about an F1. This was about 15-20 minutes after the first one (about 8:10pm EST).
That’s 2 tornadoes in one day!! OMG! I still can’t believe it. We are all ok, thankfully.
We decided to head back to Wichita, Kansas to get a hotel there. On the way there, we ran into the same storm that passed over us in Pratt. We eventually got ahead of it, but when we got to the hotel it had caught up with us again lol. We stayed at Motel 6. Since it was raining too hard to unpack our stuff, we decided to go eat first. We went to Ihop... Well, I’m not eating there again. The service was sooooo slow!! It took at least an hour before we got anything. I didn’t eat too much because of all the excitement. What made my day complete though, was when we were at Ihop, they played Hanson! :D lol While we were at Ihop waiting for our food, Pam, Laura, and I got really giggly. Laura had rolled up some paper from the straw and went to fling it at me. Well, it missed... me, that is... it ended up hitting the waiter as he walked by. We all just burst out laughing. In the middle of our laughing fit, I guess Laura had somehow managed to get her straw stuck in her hair! She didn’t notice right away, which made it even funnier. When she finally noticed, the look on her face was priceless! lol When we went back to the hotel, Laura and I could not find our room anywhere! LOL we eventually found it though. J
Tomorrow we are heading towards Oklahoma.

Day 1 - May 25, 2008

2008-05-26T00:45:00.004-04:00

The day finally arrived! Time for storm chasing! I think it just hit me this morning that I was actually going. I was sure excited this morning.
We got to Ron’s around 7:30am EST. Packed the van up, chatted a bit with everyone. We brought Zoe along for the ride. I’m going to miss her. Although she is probably thinking ‘yay! I get the whole bed to myself now’! lol We left Ron’s around 8:30am EST.
We got to the Detroit border around 12 noon EST. Since I had to register a few things we had to go to Canada customs. Well, we missed the first entrance. And we ended up finding a parking lot near an opening in the fence. Laura, Ron, and I were going to walk there, but we got stopped by security and they kept asking us how we got in there, etc. They eventually told us to loop around. Afterwards Ron was saying when they asked how we got there he should of said we walked all the way from Montreal! And now you’re making me go back to get my ‘goods’?! lol We ended up looping around and got into customs. Me and Laura eventually got our stuff registered. And then it was off to cross the border. Took us a while to get through. There were a lot of cars there too. Security was also searching different cars – not sure why though.
We went for a pit stop to fill up on gas, and then we were off.
We crossed the Ohio state line around 2:00pm EST. We crossed the Indiana state line around 4:30pm EST. We also possibly had our first omen on the trip. We saw several dust devils (I think it was in Indiana).
We ate at Bamboo Garden Buffett around 5:30pm EST. It was Chinese food. It was pretty good. About $10 per person. My fortune cookie was another one of those omens, but unfortunately I can’t remember what it said. We crossed the Illinois state line around 8:10pm EST (7:10pm CDT).
We got to St. Louis, Missouri around 10:30pm EST (9:30pm CDT) and since I wanted pictures of the arch, we stopped and got a few pictures. I was able to get a couple lightning shots (my first ones!), and that was even using a handheld. Around 11:00pm EST or so the storm had made its way towards us. We had some heavy rain and lots of wind. It was pretty exciting. We continued on to go to our hotel. We stayed at the Quality Inn (in St. Lous). We arrived around 12 midnight EST.

"I'm not gonna write you a love song, 'cause you asked for it, 'cause you need one..."

2008-05-24T21:41:00.006-04:00

Wow... Has it seriously been a whole year without me updating this thing?! lol
I have alot to catch up on.
On June 29, 2007, my mom and Chris were at home (summer vacation) and they kept hearing this loud meow like sound. When my mom went to check it out, she found a very tiny kitten in our back stairwell. She took it in and then called me at work. First thing that came to my mind was to call the humane society. She called them and apparently they don't pick up cats in Waterloo, only Kitchener. Figures... lol so we decided that we would take the kitten to the humane society after work. However, throughout the day they kept trying to re-unite it with its mother - which was unsuccessful. When we got home we decided to take it to the vet. Turns out he ended up having worms... yuck! Since Laura, Uncle Dave, and I were going camping that weekend, we decided to keep it for now to figure out what we were going to do with it. I am not all that fond of cats, and either is my mom. We are both allergic as well. While we were camping we were trying to come up with names for it. We had settled on Shadow. Anyways, to make a long story short, we ended up keeping him. The big thing was if Zoe (my dog) would like him. She kept wanting to see him, etc. We ended up getting his front claws removed though. I was scared that he would scratch Zoe in the eye or something. And he clawed me pretty close to my eye. We also neutered him. He is now almost a year old and I think he is a fairly small cat for a male. He is very cuddley. He is about medium length hair, and he actually just started shedding recently (when the warm weather started). We also bathe him about once a month (he actually does better than my dog in the bath LOL).

Hmmm... what else is new...
Oh, at the end of April, they announced the clousure of The Sims Online (aka EA Land). The servers are going to be shut down August 1. I am very upset about this because I had soo many friends on there. I've been on there for 6 years (technically 5 because I wasn't on for a year when it went public). When EA changed the name to EA Land, they made all these promised (anmesty, better gamming, etc). I just feel like they got our hopes up for nothing. I met up with a few of my friends through facebook and IMVU (3D messenger chat).

So, every year at the end of May, Laura usually goes storm chasing with her pals. This year I have decided to go. We leave May 26 (which is tomorrow!) and come back around June 6. It is for 2 weeks. I don't think it has hit me yet that I am going. I hope I remembered to pack everything that I need LOL.

The title of the blog is from my new favourite song "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles.
Anyways, I will be updating this blog every day (or try to) on how my trip is going. Till then, ttfn!

Does it move you? Does it soothe you? Does it fill your heart and soul? With the roots of rock 'n' roll?

2007-06-01T10:26:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated in quite a long time, so I figured it was time for an update.

Not much has really happened since the last update lol.
I went in for a progress exam for my chiropractor. She said that things have GREATLY improved since I started. At least half the problems I started with are no longer issues.
I think the orthotics really helped alot. And, I have been really enjoying them. He ended up putting a different cover on the foot bed because the other one was coloring my feet orange lol.

I also started having problems with my wrist (carpel tunnel), so one weekend, my mom went to the market and she saw this one lady that was selling the magnetic anklets, braclets, rings, earrings, etc. So, later that day, we went back and I ended up getting a magnetic braclet. I wear it all the time, and I have not had ANY problems at all so far (thankfully!). The lady also has a building near by, so we went and took a look at the store just last Friday. OMG! She has alot of different things there. I ended up getting a couple rings. She also re-strung my anklets (the wire broke). She also has a puppy (I'm not sure what breed, but it looks like a huskey) in the store. He is sooo cute! LOL

The warm weather is starting to come now. Unfortunatly, the humidity came with it. So, all the air conditioners have been on. And, at work, there is a vent above my desk. It was the same last year, but this year, we have a sign hanging from the ceiling just by the vent. So, all of the air is blowing on me. So, we took it down, and it seems to have helped greatly. :) Now, we just have to figure out where to put it now.

Well, I think that's all for now.

"I'm blind with eyes wide open. My body's tired and broken. I want a taste of something, that doesn't leave me dry..."

2007-03-31T22:15:00.001-04:00

Well, I figured I should update this thing sooner or later. I updated the layout last weekend, so this weekend I figured I should actually update it haha

Lots to talk about!

First, I should start with my Hawaii trip. It was AWESOME!! We had sooo much fun there. 2 weeks wasn't long enough. Me and my sister are planning on going back in a couple years. We stayed at Resortquest Waikiki Beach Hotel. It was VERY nice there. We ended up with a ocean view hotel room (the picture on the left is a view from our lanai). Each day I wrote what we did for that day, etc. I am planning on making a scrap book or something to put it all in to. This was also my first time being on a plane. It was pretty cool haha. We had also took day trip to The Big Island (Hawaii) and to the main island (Maui). Once I get all my daily entries typed up, I might post them on here, so keep an eye out.

The month of February wasn't too exciting. Just went by VERY quickly. I had ALOT of work to come back to. I managed to catch up in 3 days though, so it was pretty good. My Mom had her birthday. Again, not a heck of a lot happened in Feb. Near the end of the month I finally went to see the chiropractor. I had some x-rays done, etc. Apparently from side to side view, near the top of my spine, it is twisted and tilted a little bit. And from front to back, near the bottom of my spine has an exagerated curve.

For the month of March, it was pretty busy. Alot of chiropractor appointments. She had also suggested that I get orthotics. So, I went and got those with completely new shoes (dress, sandal, and running shoes). He makes adjustments on the orthotics for free. For $450 starter orthotics and additional ones are $350, the adjustments better be free haha. I have to start wearing them gradually. Increase wearing them about an hour each day.

We had a family get together thing from my dad's side of the family. We celebrated 4 birthdays (including my Dad's), and the coming home of my cousin from the war. It was a pretty wild night. We had dinner at Manderin's then went back to my Aunt's lounge in her appartment for supposibly a "little bit". We ended up staying there till past midnight lol.

I think that's about all that really happened since I last updated lol. I managed to get that cold that has been making it's way around. I got the chest cold part. Sucks because with my asthma it makes it alot worse. I ended up taking 2 days off work. I feel a bit better now, but I am still not full recovered lol.

Oh, I also managed to get my hands on Hanson's new album, The Walk. It doesn't get released here in Canada until May 22, but it got released in Japen back in Feb. All I can say about the album is, it is AWESOME! This is by FAR the best album they have ever made! The lyrics in the subject of this post is from the song "Blue Sky" from their album. I keep getting this song stuck in my head lol But it's an awesome song, so that's ok hehe.

I'll try to update this thing more often..................... riiiiighhhtt........ LOL

19 days left and counting!

2007-01-09T19:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I figured it is probably time for another update. It has been a few months since I last did lol.
I'll try to sum everything up in months haha.

September: As I said in my last post, we had gone camping. I had actually gotten NEW glasses because I couldn't see out of my other ones hehe I can see! I can see! It is taking a while to adjust to them though.

October: My birthday on the 19th! I turned 21! Which I am happy about because I can now legally drink in the US for when I go on the trip to Hawaii. For Halloween I had taken my brother out. It was actually relatively warm out. But it is getting harder and harder to push him in his wheelchair... My team leader also had a party at her place for Halloween. It was in her barn though. It was VERY cold then haha. Unfortunatly I had not known this because I didn't go last year. Lesson learned! lol

November: Kind of a quiet month. Only thing sort of exciting was the company had a training day on November 13. Was quite funny though hehe (inside joke). My coworker also had her baby! :) He is soo cute!

December: My dog's birthday (Dec 3). She turned 5! I can't beleive it... My baby is growing up :'( *sniff* haha. On Dec 15, my work had our own Christmas party. We had just went to a tavern and drank basically lol. During the days in between Christmas and New Years (3 days) our company has a thing where we can take those days off (but the centre still has to stay open, so some people have to work, but its short staffed because it is VERY quiet). I had decided to work those days and to get paid double. :) Next year I am taking those days off though! hehe I had also talked to my Doctor about getting put on Advair instead of Flovent (controller for my asthma). Which, he had switched me over. And I love it! Even though I still have a chest cold and havn't been able to really tell, but so far it has been working better. :)
I had gotten a few things for Christmas. I got: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - The complete first season, a couple calendars (Hanson, and Shih Tzu's), food (popcorn, chocolate), stuff for my camera, CD's, gift card.

January: Well, since I am a CSI fan, I had to go and buy the other 5 seasons (6 in total). So I had bought season 2, 3, 4, and 6. They didn't have season 5 at the place I bought them at. I had just finished the first season, so I guess I have some time to look for it :) hehe. It was also Laura's birthday on Jan 3. We had gotten together with a couple of our friends (Michelle and Jay) to celebrate Jay's birthday (in Dec), Christmas, and Laura's birthday. We went to a restaurant called Wakiki. There food is really goood.

My trip to Hawaii is also coming up! 19 days (as of Jan 9)!! All my coworkers are jelous haha. Can't say I blame them though :P LOL. So far I have to bring back 2 Hula girls, and 1 Hawaiian man haha (inside joke at work) lol. Anyways, I am getting excited now, although nervous because I have never been on a plane before. I need to start packing I guess haha. I have a list of some of the things I need to bring, so I guess that's a start.

Anyways, I don't know what else to update on, so I'm gonna stop typing haha. :)

September camping... Brrr!

2006-09-12T09:52:00.000-04:00

Uncle Dave, Laura, and me booked a weekend to go camping at Pinery on Sept 8 - 10. We have heard from the past that it is usually nice weather, and the water is usually warm. Well, that didn't happen this weekend. Uncle Dave went early to set everything up, and he said it was hot and humid. However, when we got there around 9, it wasn't very hot. It was wierd getting to the campsite when it was dark. The night was ok. It was cold, but not too too cold. There were some holigans making alot of noise though. But, they kept quiet once Uncle Dave told them to be quiet or we would get the ministry there. Not a peep from them the rest of the time. Since our campsite was near a garbage container, we did have problems with raccoons. All me and my sister heard was a crash. My Uncle said that a raccoon was beside his tent. Sky (his dog) was watching it. It went under the dining shelter and made a noise, then Sky barked, that's when we heard the crash. And that was all for that night. Laura said she heard Uncle Dave chucking. He said it was probably because he was glad his tent had a floor (on his old one the floor was ripping). The day was still cold, but we managed. Went to the beach a few times, went to Grand Bend, went to the visitors centre (I got chocolate peanut butter fudge and a butterfly watch for my mom). That night it got REALLY cold (went down to 4.5 C). My uncle said he also heard a couple raccoons growling, but I didn't hear anything.
My Aunt Eva came over on Sunday with her new puppy. She is a pommeranian/poodle mix - it's called a PomPoo. Her name is Missy. She is such a cutie! hehe And she only weighs 2.5 lbs! Zoe (my dog) is becoming more comfortable around her. But whenever Zoe barks it scares Missy LoL.
I ended up taking Monday off work because I was really tierd. I've been on the verge of getting a cold for the past couple weeks, so I didn't want to get run down and it get a hold of me.
Anyways, I have about a half hour left on my lunch, then back to work. Man is it ever busy!! :S

Puppy update

2006-08-24T12:23:00.000-04:00

Well, the last time I posted I updated that my dog, Zoe, was still vomitting bile and that we were trying something. Well, we tried it and so far it seems to have worked. She hasn't vomitted in a while now :D
This is her feeding schedule during the week:
6:00am - Half of a Cinnabone (its a treat)
7:30am - Bowl of canned food (a couple spoon fulls) mixed in with the sea meal
5:00pm - Dry food mixed with a small spoon of canned food and sea meal
10:30/11:00pm (bed time) - a full peanut butter buscuit (treat again)
The only thing that's different on the weekend is in the morning she doesn't get her treat till 7:30am or so, and then her canned food whenever we wake up (around 9:30/10:00am).
So far this works for her. Unfortunatly she is gaining weight. Apparently Shih Tzu's gain weight very easy though. We are trying to cut back on some things. Like the cinnabone, before we were giving her a full one, now it's just half. We aren't giving her as much canned food in the morning, etc.
For a dog her size, she is really only supposed to eat 1 cup of food a day. So for supper we try to stick to that. Even though we just fill up her bowl to the top haha
She threw up some food yesterday, no bile. So she either ate too fast or too much. Oh well. Trial and error I guess.

Much needed update? ... Maybe :P LoL

2006-08-20T23:41:00.000-04:00

Wow it's been a while since I last updated this thing. Thanks for pointing that out Meghan haha :P
Not alot of news to post about.
We got a couple trees to put on the side of our driveway, and a couple more plants to put in the garden in the back. Finally finished those.

I got a new mattress! I am very happy about that LoL It's a 6 inch foam mattress. Good quality. And let me tell you, I havn't gotten a good sleep like that for a while haha
In other news, we may also be changing stuff around. As it stands right now, my mom and dad have one room, my brother, Chris, has another room, and me and my sister, Laura, share a room. Well, I have been saying for a while now that I want my own room because it is too crowded in this one room. Now, my mom still has that gut feeling about winning the lottery this fall - so we will see what happens with that lol. BUT, we were all talking the other day about how my mom and dad could move their room to be downstaires in the rec room. I would then get their room, and Laura would still have this room. Sounds all fine and dandy, but the rec room NEEDS to be fixed up, badly. So, we probably won't even start doing that till Spring. Hopefully we will have won the lottery by then haha.

Pets for the Sims 2 will be coming out soon! But, Glamour Life comes out first lol. I preordered a copy :) But I can't wait till Pets comes out though! They are just soo darn cute!! haha

Anyways, it's late and I have to work tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. I can't be complaining I'm tired tomorrow haha Everyone knows I got a new mattress :/ Oh well LOL

Taking my own sweet time...

2006-07-29T21:37:00.000-04:00

Well, I figured it's time for another update. There's a few things I need to share. :)

On July 21 to 23, Uncle Dave, Laura, and me went camping to Inverhuron. It was nice to go camping even though it was just for the weekend. We went there last year (they first opened again) and this year they were supposed to make changed - fix up the boat launch, add new campgrounds. But, they didn't do too much since last year. Could be because of the cut backs lol The weather was ok, it was a bit cloudy on Saturday, but that's alright. We spent the morning/afternoon in Kincardine. Then went back to our site and went to the boat launch to sit for a bit. We ended up buying some liquir at LCBO in Kincardine, so we had a drink back at our site lol On Sunday we were kind of lazing around while packing up, but then I noticed a couple drops, so we quickly packed everything LOL It never did end up raining alot. It actually turned out to be a nice day. So, we decided to go swimming. We went to the main beach park and walked on the piers, then went swimming. I ended up getting cooked. I can't beleive how fast it takes for you to get a bad sunburn... Lesson learned. Laura, smack me next time I pass up on sunscreen.

I also had the week off, which was nice. I wanted to go to the movies with Chris and take the bus there. But, he doesn't have his bus pass or access to entertainment card yet. I guess Galaxy has a permenant rate now. Anyways, I didn't want to really go to the movies anyways because I would have to put Zoe in her cage, and she is still vomiting bile. We have no idea what's causing it, but the vet isn't really concerned because she is feeling fine otherwise, and nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. We are trying something now to see if that works - hopefully it does...

In other news, we have been having problems this year with wasps. So far there have been 3 times where a wasp has tried to build a nest under our front porch roof. Thankfully we caught them when they were small, so my dad was able to get rid of them. But, it was becoming a problem out back. I suspected there was a nest somewhere because there was alot of them. They always hung around the one wooden bench, so we thought maybe there was an underground nest. Anyways, while shopping today I saw a wasp trap for $5, so we got it. Put sugar water in it, and hung it out back on the tree near the bench. Well, my mom was taking down the laundry from the clothes lines, I noticed a wasp fly into the clothes line pole (it's hollow). Well, low and behold there is a wasps nest in the pole! We aren't sure how far in the pole it goes, but its the size of the pole. So that's where they have been coming from. We aren't sure how to get rid of it, but we are thinking of taking a screen and taping it to both ends of the pole and spray it then lol I know I won't be doing that. We are going to see how much wasps our trap catches first though :)

There are 2 new expansion packs coming out for The Sims 2! There is Glamour Life, and Pets!! Ahhh!! I can't wait for the pets one! From the screenshots and videos I saw, they are soooo cute!!! :D

Well, that's all the news for now. Bye!

Cell phone photos

2006-07-11T20:16:00.000-04:00

I am now finally able to upload my photos from my cell phone to an online album.
I have added the link to my photo album in my links section.
Enjoy! :)

Work party

2006-07-09T14:05:00.000-04:00

We had a work party at my team leader's place yesterday. OMG she has such a beautiful place!! Her husband is a carpenter, so I guess that helps ;) hehe. She also has 2 golden retrievers. They are 8 months old; and they are HUGE!! But I guess I'm just used to a tiny shih tzu LOL. They also are strong haha. When they want to go somewhere you go with them whether you want to or not. My team leader kept getting pulled by them haha.
Anyways, I had a really good time there. Mostly everyone came with their spouses and kids. So it was nice to meet them 'cause I always hear about them. So I can know put names to faces.
Monique ended up giving me a Smirnof which was nice 'cause I didn't have time to go out and get my own hehe. Oh, soon after me and Jennifer got there, she ended up spilling Smirnof all down my leg haha Squishy crocs :P The chairs we were sitting in were almost like beach chairs. So, it was hard to get up in them. Well, Jennifer was getting up and the chair tipped a little bit and the Smirnof fell - ended up all down my leg.
The bugs were bad as well. I get it didn't help that I had alcohol all down my leg haha But we got out the bug spray. So, by the end I smelt of alcohol, bug spray, and smoke from the fire pit.
They have a huge fit pit! Some of the kids roasted marshmallows. I'm covered in mosquito bites now :P lol not fun.

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I got a new cell phone. Which has a camera in it. I did take a couple pictures, so I'll post those whenever I can get them uploaded (they are having technical problems, so it may not be up for a week yet). I also got luggage for my trip to Hawaii. It was like 60% off, then on top of that, 20% off. So, all 6 pieces came to like$260. So that was awesome.
I am finally able to upload pictures now, so here are a couple:

Pretty damn good for a cell phone, don't ya think?

New cell phone

2006-07-08T14:26:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally got a new cell phone!
This is what my old one looked like:
And this is my new one:

I'm excited hehe All my time went onto my new one, I just have to redownload my ringtones, etc. But that's alright 'cause I had close to $100 of time on it. :)

Anyways, I have to get ready because we are having a "work" party at the team leader's house today. Now, what I mean by "work" is that it's people from work, but we ain't gonna be working :P haha

Weekend in Peterborough!

2006-07-03T16:00:00.000-04:00

Laura, Michelle, Jay, and me went up to Peterborough for the weekend to visit Meghan. I had a blast! :)
We left on Saturday morning. We got up at 7:30am, and Laura and me ended up waiting for a couple hours for Michelle and Jay to show up. Well, they finally showed up, and we went to Timmies. By the time we actually got on the highway it was around 10am. The traffic in TO was horrible! But we ended up getting to Meghan's around 1:30pm. Which I thought we did pretty good time considering we were stuck in TO for a bit. Anyways, when we got there we hung out in the backyard, put on some tunes, and got caught up. We went to the Bamboo Restaurant for dinner. It was pretty good, except I didn't eat much 'cause I was a bit full. After that we went back to Meghan's, put on our PJ's and played tile rummy. Oh, and Meghan made this great cheese dip - even though I don't like onions. After a while Jay started sleeping, so we went in Meghan's bedroom and we talked for a bit. We ended up watching an episode of Fraggle Rock (I think that's what it's called). I kind of remember that show, but not very well. Well, we ended up getting to bed at around 4:30am LOL. We were planning on going to the beach on Sunday, but that just didn't happen haha. We ended up going to Smitty's for brunch. It was good, but again I was a bit full 'cause I also had a strawberry milkshake. After that we went to the zoo. Pretty much spent the rest of the day there. It was cool. :) Other than the Waterloo Park zoo, I havn't really been to any other zoo. There was a nice spot on the river where we ended up having a picnic dinner - vegetables, cheese, meat, bread. It was nice. :) As it got later in the day the mosquitos came out so we went back to Meghan's. Shortly after that we ended up going back home.
I had a fun time this weekend. I would of liked to stay that extra night, but Meghan had to work the next night, and we pretty much all wanted to rest up before going back into work on Tuesday.
Meghan also ended up giving me this one knapsack kind of thing. It's a small thing that goes around the shoulder kind of. She didn't like it, and since she owed me for brunch, she just gave it to me. :) Thanks Meghan!! hehe I'm sure I'll make good use of it. :D

I am NOT having a good week...

2006-06-23T21:29:00.000-04:00

Well, today when I went into work I found out that my co-worker's (sort of - she's technically a different company, but we share the same building) son had died last night. I'm not sure how old he was, but from what I hear he was no older than 30. Apparently he had died in his sleep... :( So everyone at CDS was shooken up about it... And it's hard to answer phone's when client's ask for her. Because I don't want to tell them she's off because her son died, and I don't know when she will be back.

I also found out today how Ashley Meyer died. My mom went to one of her client's houses to clean, and she got talking about how it was sad about that one girl. Of course my mom questioned it. She said she was walking somewhere and she noticed a phone booth that had flowers and stuff there, and a couple people were standing there. She went up and said that's so sad, and the people standing there told her what happened. Apparently Ashley had gotten into a fight with her boyfriend, she got really upset and went into the phone booth and used the cord to strangle herself. So, she committed suicide.
I could never understand how someone could kill themselves over something so little, something that can be fixed/changed. A fight with you boyfriend/girlfriend is not worth taking your life. But what's done is done, and you can't change the past. It's just really unfortunate.

RIP Ashley Louise Meyer

2006-06-22T21:07:00.000-04:00

I never really knew her, but we went to the same grade school, Sir Edgar Bauer Elementary School. She was in most of the same classes as I was. She had even signed my yearbook. It just really hits close to home, because she was so young. She is the same age as me, and when I look at my life, it hasn't really started. There is so much more to life. Life is too short.

Here are the links:
http://www.edwardrgood.com/obituaries2.php?search_button=1&s_surname=Meyer&s_first_name=Ashley

http://www.therecord.com/news/obituaries/obituaries902_1270110.html

http://www.therecord.com/news/obituaries/obituaries902_1283710.html

Here are the obituaries that were posted in The Record:

Jun. 19, 2006
ASHLEY LOUISE MEYER 1985 - 2006 Beloved daughter of Greg and Arlene Meyer and loving sister of Chad and Nick Meyer, passed away, suddenly, on June 17, 2006, at the age of 21 years. Visitation will be held at the Edward R. Good Funeral Home, 171 King Street South, Waterloo on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. The funeral service will be held at Community Fellowship Baptist Church, 660 Conservation Drive, Waterloo on Wednesday, June 21, at 2:00 p.m. with the Rev. Ken Taylor officiating. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made in Ashley's memory to the Childrens Wish Foundation or a charity of one's choice and can be arranged by calling the Edward R. Good Funeral Home. Please refer to Tuesday's edition of the Record for the complete obituary. Condolences/Donations/Flowers www.edwardrgood.com 519-745-8445

Tuesday June 20/Wednesday June 21
ASHLEY LOUISE MEYER 1985 - 2006 Beloved daughter of Greg and Arlene Meyer, loving sister of Chad (Kim) and Nick, and loving friend of Kyle, passed away suddenly on June 17, 2006 at the age of 21 years. She will be lovingly remembered by her grandparents, Doris and Bill Hartman, Peg and Denny Meyer. Dearly missed by her aunts, uncles, cousins, Mary Lou and Peter Huebner (Alexandra, Natalie), David and Vicki Hartman (Amy, Jonathan, Christian), Karen and Jim Doyle (Pat, Matthew, Brad), Heather and Leon Demaiter (Michael, Gerard, William, Stephen, Ann), Luke and Wendy Hartman, Stephen and Cindy Hartman (Liam, Mitchell), Jan and Terry Friedmann (Michael, Carey), David and Brenda Meyer (Megan). This young, beautiful, vibrant lady has been taken from us far too soon, without giving this second year Rec. and Business student an opportunity to make her mark on this world. Ashley was a free spirited, fun-loving person, who was always looking for a new adventure and lived each and every day to its fullest. She enjoyed many summers vacationing with family and friends at the cottage in Tobermory. Ashley's involvement in the U of W Figure Skating, as a longtime member and assistant coach with K-W Skating Club, Lifeguard/Instructor and numerous winter sports has touched many. Her passion and enthusiasm with youth was evident in everyone she was involved with. Memorial visitation was held at the Edward R. Good Funeral Home, 171 King Street South, Waterloo, on Tuesday, June 20, 2006, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. The memorial service will be held at Community Fellowship Baptist Church, 660 Conservation Drive,Waterloo on Wednesday, June 21, at 2 p.m. with the Rev. Ken Taylor officiating. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made in Ashley's memory to the Children's Wish Foundation or a charity of one's choice and can be arranged through the funeral home. Condolences/Donations/Flowers www.edwardrgood.com 519-745-8445

My poor puppy... :(

2006-06-22T12:03:00.000-04:00

Last night at around 4am, me and Laura woke up to a thud. Apparently Zoe had fallen off the top bunk of the bed. We aren't sure exactly what happened. But we think that her bum was facing the edge of the bed. And since her ears have been bugging her lately, she might of gotten up to either shake or scratch her ear. Her back legs probably slipped off the edge of the bed. If she would of been facing the other way, that her front legs slipped off, she would of been able to use her back legs to bring herself back up. But since her back legs went off, she couldn't use her front legs to "grab" on to anything.
It was wierd because I kind of woke up before we heard the thub. And then when she fell I was straight out of bed, she was by the door by then. She seems fine. Nothing's broken - that we know of. I checked her over again this morning. She more or less just seems really, really dazed, kind of shocked.
I wanted to take her to work with me this morning because she is going to be in her cage all day today... :( And after what happened, I'm worried... Even though everyone keeps telling me she will be ok. Parental instincts. She's my baby!
So I have a feeling today is going to be a looong day - it's only lunch time. But I have quite a bit to do before my week off next week, so hopefully that will make it go by quicker.

Decisions, decisions...

2006-06-17T17:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been feeling pretty crappy about myself lately. Mainly 'cause of my weight. I need to loose weight. And I know it, but I can't bring myself to do anything about it. I know all the benefits about loosing weight and everything, even going to the gym. I just have no motivation to do it. Probably if I start, I'll be fine... But it's to start...
I know a couple of my friends that have joined Truestar for Women and they like it there. But it's not really close to me. Curves is the closest one to me. I have checked out both websites, and I'm not sure. What do you guys recommend?
I'm also not sure because I know it's quite a bit of money.
Anyways, it's supper now. Bye for now!

Thanks Meghan! - Update

2006-06-01T12:18:00.000-04:00

Thanks Meghan for the wonderful layout!! *hugs* Without you wanting to do it, it would have still been ugly haha So any comments about the layout are appreciated :)
Anyways, not much to update.
My brother's school is doing Celtic Idol (kind of like Canadian Idol, except it's for their school), and he auditioned. We kept telling him, don't expect to get through. Well, when I came back home from work yesterday, he tells me that he got through. Which is good for him. But I think it's more of just a fun thing to do so they let him through (the whole school knows him).
Chris also has an awards thing tonight. He is nominated for an award for how much he has grown since going into the community living. Should be fun. I'm pretty sure Dinner is included - which is good because they are picking me up straight from work and I will be pretty hungry. :P
We had a big storm yesterday. Apparently around 3pm we had a tornado warning. A funnel cloud was spotted on Westmount North (which is where Westmount turns into Northfield - it's by Laurel Creek). Then it got downgrade to a tornado warning around 4pm - which is when everyone at work noticed it. After work when my mom picked me up (around 5pm), as we were going home, we were stopped at a light and you could litteraly see the rain coming towards us. And from then on it was terenchial downpour all the way home with zero visability. There was flash flooding from all the rain. It was wierd yet cool at the same time. My mom took our dog Zoe to pick me up, and Zoe wasn't to sure about the rain because it was such a loud noise. On Weber St at the intersection of Glenforrest, the water was up to the curb. And on Glenforrest, there was a huge puddle because it was in a gully. It scared us when we went through it because we couldn't see it coming. In the paper this morning I guess there was flooding on Highpoint (where the #9 Lakeshore bus goes) that was up to people's knees. It's the biggest storm we had in a while. And it figures, Laura goes to tornado alley, and the storms come here :P haha
Anyways, it's my lunch time now, so bye!!

Update

2006-05-24T20:07:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

I updated my layout to my blog. Leave a comment to tell me if you like it or not :)

Hmmm... Other than that I don't have to much else to say :P lol
We are going to watch American Idol later for the last show. Should be interesting.
Anyways, I'm gonna surf around the net for a while.

waiting

2006-05-23T13:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I have about 5 more minutes on my lunch, so I figured I would post a message for no reason. :P haha
It's really nice out today, which is a good thing considering it hasn't been all weekend. I havn't been outside, but it seems really nice anyways.
I just emailed my boss at the Lab to see how things are going there. My contract for there ended in April. Since I started my job here at Northern Lights I have only been going in on some Saturdays to the lab. So I don't know if it would be worth to renew my contract there. I probably won't be accepted anyways since I have a full time job, but oh well. :P haha
Anyways, lunch time is over, back to work!

Day in Peterborough!

2006-05-21T16:53:00.000-04:00

Well, we made it there, around 2 or so lol. We didn't leave till closer to 10, then we went to Timmies. I had the chunky chicken salad wrap. It was good hehe :D
When we got there Meghan showed us the dvd that she made for us. It was very nice :D *hugs* thanks Meghan! :D Michelle and Jay then showed Meghan the dvd from their wedding - the pictures anyways.
We then decided to go to the mall. Not much there, but it was still fun haha Meghan got these new shoes, and I was thinking of getting some. I wanted the baby blue ones, but they didn't haved my size... Oh well :P I also can now say I went grocery shopping in Peterborough! hahaha :P
After the mall, we went to eat at East Side's. And I didn't have my usual chicken ceaser salad! I had veal with pasta :P LOL And I have proof!

See picture -->

I also had a drink ;)
After that, we went bowling. And I can now officially say - I SUCK! LMAO!!
Anyways, after that we went to DQ. I had a dairy free fruit smoothie. It was good, but Meghan didn't like it :P LoL
We were going to go to the park to walk around (they were going to have the fireworks there), but we didn't. We ended up going back to Meghan's place, and watched a movie (Cheaper by the Dozen 2). And Jay and Michelle didn't talk too much throughout the movie ;) LMAO!
We ended up leaving Peterborough around 11:30 or so... Got home around 2:30.
Oh, and we didn't get lost!! haha Anyways, I had a good time :D I can't wait to go again in the summer :)
Nice pants Meghan! ;) LMAO!!

Long weekend!

2006-05-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

I'm at work right now... 15 min left! Gah! So close yet so far.
Then I have to go home and get ready to go to Jay and Michelle's for the night, then off to Peterborough in the morning to visit Meghan! Yay! :D I can't wait hehe I got directions from Mapquest and it say it was about 2 an a half hours from my place. Probably more close to 3 from Michelle and Jay's.
I took an allergy pill this morning because I'm allergic to cats... Michelle and Jay have 2 and Meghan has 1... Ahhh!!! hahahaha Hopefully my pills hold out :P
Anyways, other than that I have really no other plans.
Zoe is getting her hair cut on Saturday at 12. We have never taken her there, but we had to start looking at other places because she was starting to charge around $40 :S Apparently this new groomer specializes in dogs that have problems, like skin problems, etc. So I'm anxious to see how it turns out.
Well, I should get going.

Art's Night

2006-05-17T22:40:00.000-04:00

Tonight was Arts Night at my brothers school (for all who know, St Davids). He did a little something with his drama class. It was pretty funny :) There was alot of guitar playing. But, there was also band and choir.
Man, I can remember when I was in Arts Night a couple times for choir haha
It was really weird to walk the halls of Davids again. I saw a couple teachers that I had while I was there, ended up talking to them as well :P LoL.
Anyways, this update will be short because I have a killer headache right now and the only way to get rid of it is to go to bed. So, g'nite for now! :)

Happy 16th Birthday Chris! (and other things :P)

2006-05-13T23:17:00.000-04:00

My brother, Chris, just recently had his 16th birthday. I can't believe he is 16 already! Makes me feel ooollllddd hahaha :P Time flys by soo quickly... The picture is of his cake. It was a reses peices (not sure how to spell it) blizard ice cream cake. It was verrry good hehe.
He is into Green Day, so I got him a Green Day t-shirt. And I got myself a pink Green Day hat as well ;) haha My mom and dad got him a Simple Plan t-shirt, and Laura got him a Green Day CD that he didn't have. I think it's called Nimrod. My Aunt and Uncle each gave him $20. The picture below it is of me and my dog, Zoe, while Chris was opening his presents.

Anyways, I'm still swammped at work :( The team leader (my boss) wants to have the yearly report done in a couple weeks. I'm like, ha! Ya right :P It shouldn't be to hard to do, but since neither me, or the other admin people from the other centers have done the yearly reports, this should be interesting LoL.
I recently also made an Electronic DRF (Daily Report Form) for the employment specialists to use, instead of paper. So that was cool. Right now we are just working on ironing out any faults.
Oh, and apparently I'm the computer wiz person at work :/ LMAO! In Excel, does anyone know there are 2 "X"s?? The top one is to close the whole program, and the other one is to close just that file?? Apparently noone at my work knew that lmao.

I put in my time off request for over the summer to watch my brother, and it got approved :D So I am taking off June 26 to 30, and July 24 to 28. Mind you, I have to stay here and watch Chris, and obviously Zoe :P lol but if anyone wants to come over let me know :D If it's nice I may go to the school park or go to the corner store or something. Most of the time will most likely be spent outside playing basketball however haha

For Meghan... :P hehe

2006-05-10T20:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm posting 'cause Meghan kept bugging me to post something :P haha So there :P

I'm really swamped at work right now. Tons of reports to do - monthly and yearly. I just finished the report for April. But now I have to do the yearly report. But since none of the admin people have done it, I have to create a template for it :/ Should be fun :P haha And my boss wants it in by next week, I was like, I don't think so! Especially since April has to be completed first lol. I'm done mine, but I have to wait for the other center's to give me their reports so I can combine them.
Oh well. I get 2 weeks off in the summer months (July and August), although I'm taking off last week of June and July lol. It's not much of a holiday, I have to watch my brother. It better be nice weather so that I can do things haha. I'm gonna be swamped with data entry when I get back though :S Thankfully my coworker said she would help out and entry in the survey's, that's good :D
Anyways, time to go watch Amazing Race... Bye for now!

My trip to Hawaii!

2006-04-22T14:54:00.000-04:00

Well, we booked the hotel for our trip to Hawaii!! :D
We are going January 28 to February 10. Should be fun haha

Here is a little ticker thing that I made to count down :)

Welcome!

2006-04-21T23:10:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my blog!

First entry :P
Hmm... Dont really know what to say, except that I'm tierd.

I passed my probation! Yay! Pay increase and benefits start! :)

Anyways, thats all for now, i'm tierd.
Rita