December 10th

So I've been thinking about blogging for a couple weeks now...and now I can't remember what I was going to write about. How awesome am I? Well I guess today can be a quick reflection on the past year.

A Year ago yesterday I started my Job at the NWS Wichita!

I am so very excited about this milestone...while it really isn't anything special in the grand scheme of things, but in my world it's very exciting! I started my job arriving just after an ice/snow storm, and this year...mon/tues was a snow storm in Wichita. So I've now got 2 years of storms and so I'm now going to keep a record. We are back to what I call our weekly storm. Another storm system is coming through early next week. Fun times! Welcome Winter! blech!

Well things I've done or learned in this great year.
in no particular order....

answering the phone and being able to answer the public's questions.
how to better forecast the weather with the knowledge I have
how to use and become proficient at GFE
how to use WarnGen
how to issue warning products
writing AFD's
doing the TAF's

Plus much much more. I learn something new just about every day! Yesterday I was at a conference/meeting about Water and Energy. Suprisingly interesting and informative. Things I never thought I'd learn. I'm happy to help out in any and all areas. I'm so thankful that I'm in Wichita with my dream job! I will be sad the day I leave for my next position.

This anniversary date brings many good things, so I'm thankful all around!

Much love!

Where would you live?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

My answer is not simple, as I don't have one place I want to live forever, but I'd love to live in numerous cities for about a year each. Experience it all, and move on to a new experience. Places I'd like to live include:

(in no particular order)
1. London
2. Germany (anywhere)
3. Australia
4. LA
5. NYC
6. Sweden/Finland/Denmark/Norway
7. Home in the Plains of the US. Nebraska/Kansas/Oklahoma

Where would you live?

Much Love!

Dessert

I want a dessert as I sit here watching some Fool's Gold and chatting on the Internet. Dessert...something sweet!

Things that would do!

1. Cake Batter Ice Cream with Cookie Dough from Cold Stone

2. Oreo Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory

3. Chunky Monkey Frozen Custard..which is...Bananas and Brownies from Rusty's Frozen Custard

4. Banana's Foster from my Kitchen

5. Peach Pie from my Kitchen....a la mode

6. Original Cheesecake with cherries from my Kitchen.

7. Brownies...from my Kitchen

None of these wonderful Desserts, do I have!

So I will be sad, and have fewer calories in my belly...and finish my movie and head to bed. Night all.

Love

Veterans Day

Thank you to all of the Veterans and active Military Personal that are protecting this great nation! I don't know many who are in the service personally, but I do thank all for their service! Hopefully someday we'll be able bring our fighting men and women home from the wars they are fighting. God Bless you, and be with you!

For Michael who will be heading away soon, I'm so glad you are married to my dear friend Emily, Take care, Thank you and God Bless.

Michael with his Bride and the Bridesmaid's

Much love!

Tornado and Pumpkin

Well...I'm not sure if you all know, but my new (not so new) kitty's name is Tornado, or Tory for short. Yes, I am very aware that Tory is more of a girl's name, but I didn't feel that any of the other wonderful meteorology names that suited him. So...he's my Tory. He's sweet, I've had him for over 2 months, now and he's growing so much. See...

The first week I had Tory (4-5 weeks old)

What a sweet little thing.

Aren't I cute? And how tiny am I? 4-5 weeks old
Now look at me, I'm so big, but still so cute! (14-15 weeks old)
I was really worried about how Pumpkin would react to a new cat invading his house, but to my shock and surprise, he took to the little kitten very well. They get along well and they play together. Sometimes I think Tory gets on Pumpkin's nerves, but he is very patient with him. I think they like each other ;-) I think these pictures I took the last couple days speak for themselves.

Sleepy time
This sleepy time comes after a bath and bite match. Pumpkin trys to bathe Tory and he bites him back after a while. Then they finally calm down and go to sleep. So Sweet!!!

I think the majority of this story is in the pictures, so I will leave you with that.

Love to all!

Thoughts?

I know I've been in a political mood the last few days...I think I'm just getting it out of my system. I have a couple more thoughts, political ones..if you don't want to read my rant...stop now, this is your warning.

1. Socialist society...USA? Come on. A conservative party wants small government in their personal lives because a government that takes care of people is a socialist government. Well I'm sorry...but people don't want the government, until it will help them with something good.

Take for example, any natural disaster, what is the first thing people want done? The state to declare it an emergency area, so that the President can declare it a federal emergency and get government funding....all that big bad government's not so bad anymore is it?

Yes, people do want others to blame for things they've done themselves, but that is not everyone. When you work 2 jobs to take care of your kids and gas is so expensive that you can't get to work...telling that person to find another job...not necessarily the right thing, telling them to move so that they can live in a city where there's public transportation...well if they can't afford to buy gas, how are they going to afford to move? Yes, there are tons of jobs out there, but a minimum wage job at McDonalds if you are lucky enough to work full time will not get you but about 12,000 a year...that's not enough to live on easily. Helping out those people is not a bad thing, give them some help, BUT also expect them to learn from this and move on to take better care of themselves.

2. Marriage Rights

California, and other states that shut down marriage propositions...what is up. People don't want the government in their financial life, but it's ok for the government to be in your religious and personal life? When is this ok? Everyone is entitled to believe and say what they want (PLEASE DO!), BUT...since when is it ok to discriminate against a group of people (especially in a religious environment)...did we rewind 100 years? Will it too take another 100 years for the people in the US to figure out that the whole reason that the US was formed was to separate Church and State. Where do these religious views belong in the government?

3. Adoption Rights

Arkansas? What is up with not allowing any unmarried couples (homosexual or heterosexual) to adopt a child. Do you know how many children there are that need/want a loving home. An unmarried couple will not love a child any less than a married couple...same with a homosexual couple. Everyone feels love and everyone feels the hate that is spewed around. Why can't we just all embrace God's word and love our neighbor and let HIM be the judge of us?

4. Affirmative Action

Nebraska??? Hello??? Again, did I just warp back a few decades? I totally believe that someone should get something on merit, but sometimes there are people who are just as good, that will be looked over because of a conscious or unconscious view of a certain group of people. If this is the case, then names, ages and genders should be taken off of applications. Affirmative action is not all bad.

While I'm on Nebraska...but skewing from Affirmative Action...what is up with Nebraska's Safe Haven Law....The last state in the union to even pass the very needed law, and yet they do so badly, by allowing anyone to drop off a child, which in Nebraska law is someone under the age of 18. Crazy! Dropping of a 13 year old child is the utmost in rejection. Something a child of any age should not feel. What is wrong with some of these people. However, this does acknowledge the fact that there are problems with the social system as well.

I think this is the last rant on political issues for now, out of my system at the moment. I welcome any feedback.

Much love all!

Where you go for pictures for a wedding on Staten Island...the Beach!

Funny Thing from Facebook

This is the funniest thing I saw on facebook Tuesday night/Wednesday

1. Multiple people's status message's read late Tuesday night: "I'm moving to Canada"

Response: Ok, now people...this just shows a lot of ignorance, because Canada is a lot more liberal than the US, in fact the US is one of the more conservative countries in the world. That statement just does not work in your favor.

Picture of the day:

The bridal party

Frustrated Rant

I'm currently very frustrated with the rhetoric of some people around the country. Can we please just support and give the president-elect a chance to do a good job, before we assume he will fail. I mean, come-on it's pretty much fact (not just opinion) that the last 8 years have been a downward spiral. AND! The current president is still in power, so lets give a new administration and everyone a chance. I know I'm liberal on some issues, but even if Mr. McCain was elected, I too would hope that everyone would expect me to give him a chance to see what he could do with his power, and if I didn't at first, tell me too, just as I am saying here. Some times we just need to see it in writing, or hear it. While I may not share all the same views as McCain, he is a fine man and would deserve my respect and support as my president, can we as a country not do it vice versa?

No one's saying you have to share the same views as him, no one is saying you can't question him, but assuming a new administration will fail, well that's just not ok. We are all American's, we vote and elect by majority, this year a majority has spoken, again you don't have to like it, but he will be everyone's president. We need opposition, and different views, or there wouldn't be balance in anyone's life let alone a government. So please, I'm not asking you to change your views or even like it, just give everyone a chance. I feel is is a human and kind and Christian thing to do.

My rant for the day! I apologize if I have offended anyone, that's not my intent...just to bring out a topic that I've been thinking about.

Much love.

The Beautiful Emily and me prior to her Wedding!

Election Night and History has been made!

It's 10pm and Barack Obama has just been announced as the President-Elect This makes me very happy! I'm happy that this is all over though, I'm sick of all of it and ready for something new.

I have tears in my eyes... to believe that our country has actually done something so historic and wonderful and AMAZING!!!!

I'm so excited and wish great things for this country!!! We have the chance now, we can get out of this place that Bush has taken us to.

Love to you all, and God Bless this Wonderful USA!

It's been a while....life goes on.

I do exist! See...

I hadn't planned on writing this tonight, and frankly I've gotten really bad about even checking my friends blogs, so no hard feelings if you've stopped checking mine. I'm not all that interesting anywho.

I can't quite believe it's November already. 52 weeks ago today, I was offered my job, and by Wednesday it will be 366 days since I was offered my job. It's hard to believe that it's been a year, an amazing year, but a year nonetheless. I'm anxiously awaiting my 1st anniversary and all the good that comes with it.

At my wonderful job, I have been full swing into training for the last couple months. My whole life is training, but it's hard core since mid September. I've got DLOC (radar training and certification), local office Winter weather training, and on the job training. I'm LOVING it all! DLOC is fun, I've had one teletraining course, and many hours on the WES(weather event simulator) and many many many hours on the Learning Center (web training modules). I have my next Teletraining next Wednesday and I have about 12 hours of training to do before that...and only 4 shifts to get it done. Plenty of time eh? Yea, it will get done. I'm registered in the first residency course (go to Norman for a week of Radar training and final certification) for the last week in January, and then I will officially be able to issue warnings! Lots to do that's for sure, and I'm keeping plenty busy, it will be January before I know it!

On the "on the job training" side of the house, I just finished a 7 day stretch of Midnight shifts. As I expected, I loved them! The 7 days didn't feel at all like 7 days, and I learned so so much. I did the forecast for 4 days, and actually felt like I knew what I was doing. It's crazy...my education is useful! I wrote the AFD 4 times...all me, which is by far the most intimidating part of the process, that and the deadlines. I do feel that, while I'm far from good, but I do feel comfortable doing it myself, and the continued training will just keep that going! I am working the short term desk on Friday this week which will be interesting as we are backing up an office and I will be doing two office's work. Will make it interesting for sure! Christmas day is my big reveal...well not really, but it is the first shift that I am on where I am the person doing the job without any "trainer" on the same shift. It's just Mary-Beth, the DAPM and myself that day till the evening shift comes in. It will be a blast!

I will try to post more in the upcoming days about my life the past few months....a week in NJ/NYC....Tory, my kitten of fury...and life as it goes for the next few months.

Love

New little one

Well a week ago, a new little sweet thing came into my life...he doesn't have a name yet, but he's sweet as can be. A new little kitten. Mary-Beth (who is holding him in the picture above) found him at work last week as she was walking outside. He walked right up to her.. He's just the tiniest thing. He was absolutely starving. Mary-Beth called me, and I had just gotten back from Kearney about 5 min earlier. She asked me what she should do (she's a cat lover herself), and I said I couldn't keep him, but that I'd bring my carrier and some milk so that there was a place to put him. The poor thing was just so so hungry. I decided that I'd take him home until I figured out what to do with him. I just knew Pumpkin wouldn't take kindly to a new little thing in the apt.

He spent the first couple nights in a box in my closet, because I didn't know what to do with him, if he could eat by lapping up milk...or just by the bottle we'd tried earlier, and if he knew the litter box. I made a makeshift little box with some shredded credit card statements...take that credit card companies!!!...and he used it perfectly. So I put him in the bathroom for the night. I had Thursday off and I went and got some food and a bowl and some clay non-clumping litter. He ate his milk out of a dish and knew the litter box. Wonderful!!

Now here we are a week later, I feed him 3 times a day...which is difficult when I'm used to just giving pumpkin food when he wants... He uses the litter box great, and tonight, he's been out of his room all afternoon.

And the most shocking thing to me, is that while Pumpkin was none to happy with this little kitten a week ago, he's now playing with it (for the most part). He keeps a watchful eye on the kitten and plays nice. I'm very pleased, seeing as he wants to kill cat that is of any size. So this just might work out, and I just might end up keeping him. I'd wanted a second cat, but figured it was never going to be an option with pumpkin the way he was. Now I just might have one. It's a complete lifestyle change though, I'm used to pumpkin and his lazy style. I've had him almost 4 years now.

(check out that size difference) Pumpkin's watching from a safe height.

The kitten doesn't have a name yet, I want to name him something Meteorology related because he was found at the NWS office, but I don't want it to be to terribly corny..so we'll see what I come up with. Some people suggested NOAH (NOAA) but I'm not all over a "human's" name. I like pet names for pets, those that aren't as normal names. If you have any great suggestions, I'm open to them. He's cute and lovable and sweet as can be. A new addition to my life, maybe when I needed it the most!

Action shot...he's got crazy energy!!! Pumpkin's not to let him out of his eye for a moment. Cute eh?

Much Love

A Lunde, Habash Wedding

My dear friend Emily Lunde is ready to head to the Chapel in a few months!! I'm so very happy for her and Michael. Her wedding is in Staten Island, NYC and I have been honored to be asked to be a bridesmaid. I am so very excited to head to NYC in October for this blessed occasion.

I got the invitation yesterday and it was beautiful, the colors are brown and turquoise, the bridesmaids are wearing tea length strapless dresses, 2 in brown, 2 in teal(turquoise). They are beautiful and I can't wait to be able to wear it. The wedding and reception will be beautiful. My only wish is that I was closer to her, to be able to help, or just be around her in this exciting time. We've talked about it forever, and it's happening. So excited for her and Michael!

After the wedding Morgan and I are going to stay in NYC for a few days, to have some fun in the city. I was able to take 3 days off, all of which I needed for the weekend, and that gave me 8 full days off for the two weeks. Very happy at how it worked out. I think it will be great fun to go to NYC again. It's is just about 3 times in just as many years...a pretty good record, but one that will be very hard to keep up with.

An exciting count down till October! Congrats!!

Love all!

Jury Duty

I was summons for Jury Duty this week, only catch is...it's in Buffalo County, Nebraska. That tends to be a problem, when I'm no longer a resident of Kearney. I was called a couple years ago, but I got it deferred since I was in North Carolina as a student. My guess is that this time is just when I came back up in the pile from when I was deferred, who knows. I am kinda disappointed, I think it'd be fun to be on a jury. I sent back my information. No where on the form does it say...I'm no longer a resident of this county, so I included my very own letter stating the fact. Also when you had to list your current address, there wasn't any place for a state, just city and zip code. So I had to add in Kansas. I'm sure it won't be a problem, but I just find it entertaining. I've sent the letter back and I'll stop by the courthouse when I'm home next week to make sure everything is kosher.

Being selected for Jury duty is based on your voters registration, I've been registered to vote in Kansas since February, since the Democratic Caucus. Crazy times. Maybe I'll be selected sometime in Kansas....then I can actually serve my jury duty that I've been called for twice and never been able to actually serve.

Love

The Summer and The Olympics

First things first...

Happy Birthday Kristen!

And next.....

Why hello, it's been a while eh? Well life in the fast lane that was the month of June, consisted of work....more work...and driving to Nebraska. I was finally happy to have some time off at the end of the month where I didn't drive anywhere. I finally got caught up on 18 hours of So you think you can dance...good thing, it was a good season. My first season, but good!

I'm realizing that life is different in my "real" life compared to school life. I'm use to summers being the time when you actually get everything done and fall/winter (school) to be the time when life slows down and you can't get extra things done. Well life is a bit different in the heart of the Great Plains as an NWS meteorologist. With work and overtime, and my many 3 to midnight shifts...I just didn't get anything accomplished. It was 2 months before I was even able to look at my work in progress journal article. By mid July things started to slow down, and I'm finally able to work on things that aren't related to calling people to see if they've got quarter sized hail or severe wind gusts. I've been working on my journal article for the last few weeks...running new model runs. I'm just not sure where I stand. I keep hoping I can get it done sooner than it actually ends up happening. I've got a new goal, so we'll see how that works out.

I loved my first convective season in Kansas, and I can't wait until next year when I'll be radar certified and actually get to do more. I'm loving my job and I cannot believe that it's been 8 months already...life is flying fast!!!

June and July turned out to be an engagement and expecting hot spot...two of my couple friends got engaged, and another one is expecting her first baby and another is expecting her second! On top of the one wedding that I went to. What's next?

Now...08/08/08 was a day that I had been looking forward to for MONTHS!!! I first saw the date of the start of the olympics sometime back in February when they were promoting it. I counted down the days and I had an absolute blast watching the opening ceremony last friday night!!! Since then I've spent every night watching the olympics, and if I've been home during the day...then too. They just might be the death of me though, as I wanted to watch the outcomes, and when it doesn't finish up until midnight...getting to bed after 1230am or close to 1am and having to be up and getting ready for work at 5am, makes for a short night! I loved every minute of it, and I'm now back to nights for the next 2 weeks. So the end of the olympics shouldn't cut into my sleep. I love the Swimming, Gymnastics and Diving. Track and Field takes a second in my favs to watch, but that's next week, so that will do. It's been amazing! Go USA!

I'm off to bed now. Hopefully I can get back to blogging more often!

Love

Vegas and a birthday

It's been a couple weeks, but I've hardly been on the internet at home...or at home at all. Start it off with Memorial Day weekend...

Memorial Day weekend
I started out my weekend off...by friday working 4am to 2pm after being called in early due to flooding concerns. My parents came down friday night as well, but I offered to be available for severe weather that night, so I worked another 5 hours from 9pm to 2am. That's about a 16 hour day, but a nice overtime paycheck. My parents arrived friday night and we spent the weekend busy running around. 2 exciting things for the weekend, 1. I got a new phone plan that will go with my new phone...once it's finally in stock. 2. My mom and I planted up a nice bunch of flowers for my deck...very nice to have the color out there. I then worked on memorial day and tuesday after gaining some more overtime with the hectic weekend of severe weather in Kansas and Nebraska.

Vegas
I headed out at 6am on Wednesday morning (after leaving work at midnight and then packing) for the airport. My flight leaving Wichita was delayed about 45 minutes or so (I slept through it, so I'm not sure on the time)and because of the delay I watched my connection leave without me. I was supposed to get in at 10am to Vegas, but fortunately for Standby working for me, I was able to get in around 2pm. I met Morgan, Sarah and Celia there and Jessica and Jill followed after.
Morgan and I went to Mamma Mia on Wednesday night, it was a GREAT show, I recommend it to all! Thursday we rented a car for the day, for a bargain 27 dollars including taxes and fees and headed to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. It was nice to have our own car and go around at our own pace. We also went to a outlet mall just north of the California boarder, so we drove into Cali for 5 miles and back around in to Nevada. Good times. Friday and Saturday we walked and walked and walked. Which is great for the body and heart...not so great for the feet. My feet hurt so so bad! It wasn't that I was physically tired...just that my feet hurt really bad. I got very sick of walking around. We rode the NYNY roller coaster and went up the Eiffel Tour and watched the Belliago water show, as well as a comedy show. Had a good time, but needed a vacation from my vacation. It was great seeing Morgan, Jessica, Sarah, Celia and meeting Jill.

Tornadoes
While I was driving around the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead I got a text message from Adam in NC that Kearney had a nice looking supercell heading towards it, so he kept me informed, and I called my parents about 5-6pm. They had just lost power and the sirens had been off 3 times thus far during the afternoon. My mom said she didn't have a good feeling about the day when she heard that the dewpoint was 70. I was shocked by this statement...because it's a pretty meteorological statement. She was right and Kearney was hit by 3 or so tornadoes with the strongest being an EF-2. My parents were alright, but the strongest tornado was only about 8-10 blocks away. They only lost power for 30 hours, which is a blessing for what happened elsewhere. A bit to close for my comfort. I watched videos on YouTube and it was quite an experience watching a tornado go through your home town. Not ok. I want to see it, and will in a week or so.
While Kearney got hit at the end of May, Omaha got hit a couple nights ago. Now this hit a bit close to home as well as it hit about 2 miles from my Brother, which seems like plenty far away, but really...I'm not sure if it was that far away. He said he woke up to the windows shaking and a 30 ft. tree bending so far it was going below an upstairs window. He's ok but all of these tornadoes hitting close to home is to much. There have been more than one tornadic storm going over my other siblings in North Central Kansas as well. This is a year of big tornadoes...just not in my CWA.

Birthday
I got back from Vegas and worked 7 nights in a row...3 of them with busy weather nights. However, they have been wind events in our area. I feel bad for the counties south of Wichita, a lot of 80-100 mph winds in one week can do a lot of damage. I made cookies for my birthday, but decided to take them in to work on Thursday and Friday because Thursday was a busy weather day and we had more people in the office. Friday I got a few text messages, a couple calls, a great bag from Emily and flowers from my parents which were sent to work. I also did a touch of some shopping, probably spending more money than I should have, but it's been about 6 months or more since I've bought any clothes and I needed jeans. Was nice to hear from those that texted, called and facebooked.

Weekend
My brother, sister-in-law and 2 nieces came down this weekend and I had a great time with them, even though I did have to work during part of their visit. I finally have a day off and I'm about to head to bed soon I hope for my week of days. Good times in my life. so that's an update on my life to this point in June.


Happy Birthday Emily!

Love all!

Severe Weather anyone?

If you are in the general region of KS/OK/NE/CO or there abouts you have a good chance for severe weather this weekend. The weekend kicks off tomorrow. I unfortunately am not set to be working during these events, but that does leave me open to storm chase...if the storms are near by and I decide I want to pop $3.80 gas in my car. I'm not sure about the later. It shall be exciting nonetheless. This is the first real event in Kansas this year and it only took to Memorial day weekend (usually there are at least some storms in April and early May or even earlier). I'm off to bed, as I'm crushed after 3 days at 5am and sleep at midnight the night before. Trying to get some more sleep in case there is some reason I'm called in even earlier.

YEA FOR DAVID COOK!!!! AMERICAN IDOL 2008! Rightful winner! Congrats!

Love all!

Thank you

This week, while only two days long has been so much better than the end of last week. As I prayed for a better week, it is happening thus far. Thank you for your thoughts.

Monday started out slow, as I of course didn't get to much sleep switching around to the morning shift, but it was all good. I wasn't to terribly tired. By 10am I had finished all of the products that the interns are responsible for issuing and Janet (the hydrologist) and I headed out to south central Kansas (further south than Wichita) to check out river gages. Yes that might not seem like that much fun, but for me it was. I got to see parts of the country side that I hadn't seen before, and had a blast seeing the rivers. My favorite part, was checking the river stage with a wire weight gauge. Yes, that is crazy, but it was my favorite part. I loved it. I also got to be in the beautiful, not to windy weather we've had the past week. Tomorrow is another trip, but this time to central Kansas. I'm looking forward to it!

Today was good, in addition to a busy morning, I have been able to catch up with over 4 weeks of Ellen on my DVR. It's been insane. I've watched what I can when I can. It's been an Ellen Marathon. It started Sunday and finished tonight. I am now caught up, just in time for the end of the season. I'm now behind on some of my new tv shows and finale's, but they are being savored. One more show to watch tonight before I head to bed...American Idol. Then to bed and up early again tomorrow. Good times!!!

Love to all!

Stand Back up.

I've had a difficult week, so this is my song o' the week right now. I'm praying for a better upcoming week.

------
Stand Back Up by Sugarland

Go ahead and take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
I'm laid out on the floor, but I've been here before,
I may stumble, yeah I might fall,
Only human aren't we all?
I might lose my way, but hear me when i say,

I will stand back up,
You'll know just the moment when I've have enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid, and i don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

I've been beaten up and bruised,
I've been kicked right off my shoes,
Been down on my knees more times than you'd believe,
When the darkness tries to get me,
There's a light that just wont let me,
It might take my pride, and my tears may fill my eyes,
But I'll stand back up,

I've weathered all these storms,
But i just turn them into wind, so i can fly,
What don't kill you makes you stronger,
When I take my last breath,
That's when I'll just give up,

So, go ahead to take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
You might win this round but you cant keep me down,

'Cause I'll stand back up,
And you'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

You'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up.

-------

Love all!

The cost of groceries..well the Economy really

Why must it cost so much for groceries? I mean it's insane. I went grocery shopping, on Monday. It was the first time I'd gone in over a month, for a big shopping expenditure, but still it was about 50 dollars more expensive than I think it should have been. I'm more conscience with money that I've been for a long time, so I'm not just throwing things in the cart , willy nilly. I'm actually looking at the prices, but things are just so expensive. It's insane!

Then on to gas prices, I mean in what world that we or our parents have lived in, has gas increased almost a dollar in less than 2 months? It's absolutely insane. The oil companies are just getting richer, and the average or most Americans are just getting poorer. I'm fortunate that I don't own an SUV, because my car costs plenty to fill up as it is. I'm to the point, that I can only put in 10-15 dollars, and that will only get me around for a week or so. It's just really sad. Why is it ok for the oil companies to charge what they do, I mean I don't really think it costs them that much.

What about prescription meds? I don't have any, but my parents do and so do much of the country. We are one of the only countries that doesn't have a mandate on how high prescription drugs can cost, so they just sky rocket. If you can prevent a disease or help manage it, you will ultimately save money, since you won't have to go to the hospital, so it'd be worth it to cut drug costs for the US. Why do we allow the big business to get rich at the expense of those who can't afford it?

I'm just thankful that I do make over minimum wage, how do those who don't do it? How can we expect them to, when gas prices are so high and groceries are high? I mean it's really unfortunate. Makes me sad. I guess I'm not in the optimist pool that the economic stimulus will help us get out of this current bind, but I do hope that it doesn't last to long.

Good luck Economy...



Love

New Pic, but for last nights post...

My old Nebraska Plates, sitting sadly on the floor of my car...:-(

My new Kansas Plate, sitting happily on the back of my car. The front of the car is void an empty...very sad.

A Kansan

Well I'm officially an Kansan. I didn't plan on becoming one so quick...or as quick as I did, but it's how it worked out. 4 requirements (As I see it) to being a resident of a state..

1. Car Insurance
I renewed my car insurance late last month because it was expiring and needed to be renewed. I paid a much higher amount than I had paid previously, about 175 dollars more expensive for the exact same coverage. It was insane. I figured I'd have to think about about it and figure out what to do when I pay it again in 6 month, because that much was just ridiculous for car insurance. Then while I was gone last week, I got a letter in the mail with my permanent insurance cards that said I owed another 85 dollars, now that was just insane and intolerable. That almost doubled my car insurance for moving to another state. INSANE!! So I went and talked to them about it, realized that I really have way over the amount of coverage that I needed. I was previously on a plan with my father to be grandfathered and keep a low deductible, but as a single person with only my name, I didn't need that much coverage. I also after asking about it..the lady realized that the 85 dollars more was because the guy who had done it the first time put me in as a male after I paid and left the office. So once we figured that out, and I chose a lesser amount of coverage, but still plenty...my insurance was only 110 dollars more expensive than it was in Nebraska. Welcome to Kansas Jerilyn!

2. Drivers License
I went and got my Kansas Drivers License on Tuesday of this week. After talking about it with people at work, I knew what I needed to be sure to take with me. Items needed for Kansas Drivers License if you have a valid state license. 1. Current out-of-state license, 2. another form of ID (i.e. birth certificate, or passport), 3. bill to prove current address. No where on any website is 3 listed, as it just became a law in February. Now this is annoying when you drive all the way there and cannot get a license because no one told you, that item was needed. Luckily I had heard people who that had happened to talk about it, and I knew to take mine in. So I passed the eye exam, the lady cut my picture (which I liked) off of my NE license and told me to keep the rest of it in case anything happened to mine now. (I was sad to see the license be cut apart) and I headed over to get my picture taken. Now I don't have the same belief as my father, that you don't really need to smile for a DL picture because you aren't smiling if you get pulled over, I get ready and do my hair and make up, I want to like my picture. I took my picture, liked it and (as I already knew) I got a temporary license. Yes, in Kansas, they don't have the machines to print out the license (like I had in NE) while you are waiting, so I got a piece of paper that serves as my temp license until my real one is mailed to me in 7-10 days. Hopefully it will arrive before I head off for Vegas. Why is this necessary? Welcome to Kansas!

3. Kansas License Plates (or Tags as they call them)
After realizing that I probably shouldn't wait until next month (like I had originally planned) to get my new Kansas plates, I headed in today to get them. The process is this when having an out-of-state lien on the title. 1. Get the bank to fax a copy of the title to the tag office, 2. Get the vehicle inspected for 10 dollars to make sure the VIN is the same, 3. stand in line to get tags. Now this process when very smoothly and I think the people at the tag office were wonderful. Courtney faxed my title to the office, I picked it up, picked up a number (for number 3) and headed around to have my car inspected, no this isn't an emissions inspection, just VIN and engine inspection. I don't really think it's 10 dollars worth, but whatever. Then I headed back in to the other part of the building and because I had pulled a number before I got inspected, my number was just 7 off, and with 4 of them not there any more, I only waited about 5 minutes. The lady that registered my car was very nice. So now I currently only have one, back plate. It's a pretty blue plate, but it's alpha numeric..which I've never been a fan of (which isn't like NE's plates unless you live in Lincoln or Omaha). I have an empty, stupid looking hole where my front plate was, which will need to be filled with a Husker's plate when I have the time to get one. Plus this plate is only temporary until my new Kansas personalized plate. Welcome to Kansas

4. Voter's Registration
Now this was the first thing I got completed, since the Democratic Caucus was in early February. I've even got my very own voter's card! Welcome to Kansas!

So now I am officially a Kansan!!!

Much love!

Why sick in May?

Well I've only been sick once before this winter, and it was just a little head cold, but I've got it again. Seems to be the same thing...head cold, but why in the middle of May? I mean seriously, it's MAY 15th! Insane. I do not appreciate being sick now, but I am grateful that I haven't been worse thus far and this looks to be a minor issue as well.

Today started off all wrong, First I couldn't get to sleep last night, with things running through my head and the nap I took last night...totally kept me awake until after 2am. I finally fell asleep, but it wasn't a terribly restful sleep, I wasn't in the deep sleep, I can remember playing along with dreams and checking the time. I did wake up and turn my alarm to snooze and turned off my cell phone at 5am...and proceeded to fall back into my crazy, weird sleep. Now this is all fine and dandy when you don't have to be at work at 6am. I woke up just about 5:40ish, called work and told them I'd just gotten up and would be in as quickly as possible. I knew I wouldn't be there when I normally got there as 5:40 is when I leave for work. So I threw on the clothes I already had laid out, put in my contacts and threw on a touch of make up. I was out the door and in my car by 5:50am and hit work at 6am on the dot, so I wasn't late technically, but we are kinda supposed to be there 10 minutes early. That started my day, and by 9am, my nose was like a faucet and I didn't feel well. I kept sneezing, and the sneezing hurt..that big. Not fun. I contemplated going home from work with the sick leave I've accumulated, but it's always been hard for me to accept going home for being sick. I never want to miss out on things (like school work and class) or not accomplish what I need to, so I figured I'd be ok. I started feeling better by 11am, and thought ha! If I'd have gone home, I'd be a hypocrite and wimp for leaving when I should be at work. But by 1pm I felt awful again, and by that time I just needed to stick out the last couple hours. I got off at 3, headed to target to buy some sudafed and headed back home and straight into bed. I slept 4 hours and felt much better afterward. So that's my day.

I'm glad I am on a 2 mornings, 2 evenings this week, as I'm done with my mornings and I don't have to be at work until 3pm tomorrow night. Tomorrow I'm planning on getting my Kansas license plates, talk about exciting! Not really, I'll be sad to see my NE plates go, I've always been proud of having them. I'm hoping that it won't be to big of an issue tomorrow and I can get it done relatively quickly. 1 hour to 1.5 hours...at max. We'll see. I need to sleep in and get rested so I can get better and do that, I'm sure it can get done.

Next week is an all 6am morning week, so hopefully I can get into a groove and stay awake during the afternoons after work so I can sleep at night and be rested for work. Who knows. It's my first 5 day straight mornings in a long long time, and I can't say I've missed it to much. Well for now, it's back to the TV...(no not bed...remember I took a nap, so bed later) I've got to watch Lost! I hope I feel better sooner rather than later!

Love all!

Storms of the Night

Boy am I getting worse and worse at this whole blogging thing. I blame it on my lack of wanting to be on my computer when I get home from work. I don't even check (listen carefully) facebook once a day! AH(gasp) I know! Your saying, she who had it up constantly doesn't check it.. No, no I don't. Thus myspace and blogging doesn't get checked either. I'm getting worse. However, I'm on top of my e-mailing, so send me one of those, I'll get right back to ya.

Anywho, I had a long day, but it didn't seem so long, which was very nice. I started out my day in a constant moderate rain in Kearney, Nebraska, heading out at 9am for a 4.5 hour drive to Wichita, Kansas. I finally got out of the rain near the state line, and had a good drive to Wichita. I got home, unloaded my car. Which really consisted of bring everything in and putting it in the room that it would later be unpacked in. I made some lunch, well put together whatever I could find, since I have very very little to eat in my apt and headed to work for a 9 hour shift.

Within 15 minutes of being at work, storms erupted southeast of Wichita and moved at a pretty good clip east across southeastern Kansas. We consistently had reports of golf ball and tennis ball sized hail, which can damage your car or other belongings quite well. Just as the storms were about to leave our county warning area, we finally started getting a couple of funnel clouds to go with all of the rotation that we'd had throughout the event. Both storms that had funnel clouds did produce tornadoes, but nothing really in our area. One touched down on the state line and moved into Oklahoma where it became deadly and killed 5 people (known at this time) and damaged a 20 block area through town. I'm not sure how big the town is, but 20 blocks seems big in a small town . Tornadoes continued with that storm and moved into Missouri and killed more people. Last I saw, 10 people lost their lives to the weather today. It brings it all in to perspective. We were lucky, all of the storms initiated in our area and moved out, we could be doing damage surveys tomorrow, but instead Tulsa and Springfield among others are, we are lucky.

It's difficult to know that a tornado has a lead time for a warning of 15 minutes and still many people die. We do what we do to save lives, and it no doubt does, but it makes you sad when not everyone listens or is able to survive a weather tragedy. I'm not there yet, but someday I'll be issuing warnings and praying that everyone is listening and taking cover, it changes you to be apart of something so big like a weather event i.e. tornado, flood, hurricane. Just some of the more stressful times of the job. I do what I do because I want to help people. I do enjoy studying the weather, but never wish for people to be hurt, or there to be damage. I'm still learning what it's like to be present and working on an event. We were lucky today, but when will the next time be?

I'm loving my job and I still have a hard time believing that I'm actually here and this is what I get to do for the rest of my life. Today, which is still Saturday the 10th to me, marks my 5 month date for being in the Weather Service. Many more stormy nights and days ahead!

Love all!

What if....

A tag from my buddy Kristen a few days ago..I'm behind on blogging and blog reading, but here we are.

What Ifs:

What if I could meet someone in the art world to chat with?
Hmm the art world... Since my knowledge of the art world is small and I don't care to meet anyone historic... I'd just like to chat with my Artist...Kristen in the same room for more than 2 hours..it's been a long time since that's happened. I miss my friend.


What if I could have one wish granted for the benefit of all mankind?
That everyone has the chance to be educated and even more basic than that...has enough food to live, water to drink and each person is respected regardless of their race, religion, color, sex, etc...so that these stupid wars can be over.


What if I could travel anywhere in the world?
Well I'd go just about anywhere. Next I hope to go to the Mediterranean, but I'm always looking for my next trip. More of Eastern Europe, Lots of Asia, South Africa, other parts of Africa. If I had all the money in the world...I'd go everywhere I could. Until then, I'll go everywhere I can afford when I can afford it.


What if I could live in a period other than the present, for 24 hours?
Oh that changes based on the day. Do I get to do it multiple times for 24 hours each? I would love to go to the early 40's when my parents were younger. Or to the early 1920's to when my grandparents were younger. Or even to the 70's so that I could meet my grandma and grandpa that died before I was born. However, I am always wondering what it'd be like to live someplace for a while in the past, like in one of the palaces in St. Petersburg at the height of Peter the Great's reign. I love history and would love to go back in time.


What if I could become an animal for 24 hours?
I'd say I like the bird answer, I'm not terribly fond of birds...but I like the freedom that they have and the ability to travel long distances and see everything.

What if I could bring someone back to life for 24 hours?
Just one person, well I'm going to cheat and say two...my grandparents on my mom's side. As mentioned earlier, both passed away before I was born and I'd love to have met the people that made my hero (my mom) the wonderful, strong, woman she is today.

Susan, Laura, and Elin tag your it..

Love

Easter time and the last 2 weeks

Today's the first day in 2 weeks that I've been home for a day. I worked 2 and a half weeks straight and then two days off in Nebraska...then an easter weekend of working. Now!!! Time off!!!!! YEA! I hope you all enjoyed your Easter!

Note to those of us that aren't as young as we were...be careful jumping on a trampoline. I visited my wonderful nieces and her parents...and my 2 and a half year old niece Jocelyn wanted to jump on the trampoline with me. I thought, yeah, this will be great. I always wanted a trampoline when growing up (what child didn't). I figured this would be great fun. However, I'm tremendously out of shape and after "jumping high" as my niece told me, I got a little tired. It was all fun and games for 45 minutes. Afterward I was heading back to Wichita and my body was sore. I didn't realize though that my knee would be messed up. It still hurts sometimes, but it's getting better. I could hardly walk on Friday! Oh well....that will teach me to act like I'm 10 again. However, I did have a blast and enjoyed being able to play with my nieces, something I don't get to do often.

Now with my time off, it's Journal article time, catch up on tv time, clean up the apt time, and sleep in time!

Pumpkin's enjoying the window's being open. He's so cute!

Picture of the day.

This is why I love the Plains, this is the sun setting on Christmas day!

Love all!

My new toys

I got some new Toys!

So a couple weeks ago I got my new toys delivered! My very own washer and dryer! It's so great having a washer and dryer again. I had a washer and dryer in Raleigh, but they weren't mine. They worked, and saved me money from having to buy some. My apt in Wichita had hookups, but I needed to purchase my own. Which was fine because I was ready to own. I researched them a great deal and decided I wanted a Whirlpool front loader. I LOVE THEM! I love them so much I just want to find things around the apartment to wash. I can wash once a week or when needed instead of saving it up for 2 weeks and taking it to a laundry mat. They are great!

Washer

Dryer

Love

They've found me

The credit card companies have found me...it didn't take long. I usually make it a year or so, but today I got 2 credit card offers. I don't want them, so I have to send them to the shredder. Annoying! So I like this whole real world thing, but I'm getting annoyed with all the real world bills. Why all at once? Why can't they wait until I actually have the money? It always seems to come when I think I'll be ok. Newest annoyance is my Pet fee and deposit. $350 I mean seriously....only 100 of it is a deposit. To much I tell you! But I love Pumpkin and he's worth it. And that's my annoyance for today.

This is my sewing kitty. He's in my curtains as my mom was sewing the hems in. He loves to sit with me when I do some handwork and when mom's here!

Love

Stock rant

So each day at work we have a 30 min or 1 hour update on the stock market. Where it is, whether it's up or down. Oh my goodness, I'm not a big stock market person, it's just in the last few months that I even began to understand it, but I'm not a believer in day trading. I've watched and read and heard from people how you loose more if you day trade, so I'm a long termer. I'll leave my stuff in and alone, so I don't understand obsessing over how it's doing. I mean why beat yourself over the head each day about how it's doing if you can't do a thing about it. Just let it go! It's not doing so well now, who knows when it will get better...just ride it out! So that's my rant...why obsess when you can't change it! Just leave it alone or at the very least just check it once a day...each 30 min doesn't matter! AH!

Picture of the day

I forgot my camera on Thursday night at the Carrie and Keith Concert, so thanks to Amy for coming through! This is the concert crew! We had a blast!

Love all!

Crazy life

Well it's march and seeing as I only posted once in Feb, and it's already March 8th...I'm off to a fine start! I don't know why I'm having trouble posting, but I've been terrible at just about everything that has to do with the internet. Well that's not totally true, if it's in my e-mail (both home and work) or on CNN.com or various other sites I browse at work then I'm on top of it. Facebook and blog sites don't come in to play there and thus....I'm being such a slacker! I don't even check facebook everyday (and if you knew me 9 months ago, you'd think I was lying, I had it open constantly while at school) I guess somethings change when you get a job in the real world. Another difference is that I actually know what's going on in the world. I read CNN daily (when at work) especially on my morning shifts, I've read all the "news" by 7am and when people talk about it like it's new (it is to them) at 10am or later, I'm like I've already read that! It's crazy. A year ago or two I didn't know anything, ever. I told Adam that he needed to be my CNN so that I knew what was going on. Now I'm on top of it. I know all about the daily reports about the nation's economy...the heated political race (again a new thing for me is to watch and care about that)...top stories of the day. It's crazy really. Anywho that's life for me and the internet!

Last week I started working evening shifts, I wasn't sure how I'd like them because I like getting off at 3 and having the rest of the day for me, but I do like them. Things are a bit slower (because it's not "working" hours), and time goes by faster. I don't get tired during the shift which is great! I'm excited that evening shifts are in the works now. It's convective season scheduling so when storms break out, I'll be there, very exciting. I was extremely excited last weekend about the storms coming though OK and KS. People think I'm crazy, but I missed what I call "real" storms. Storms are just a different breed out in the east. I missed what I grew up with! I'm so thankful to be back in the plains! It was all I hoped for, a huge lighting show, great squall and some supercells with tornadoes. With the active pattern we've had thus far this winter I have a feeling this spring will be wild! I hope so, I'm looking forward to working it. Maybe some chasing as well!

Thursday night I got to see Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban in concert! It was great and I got to go with Sarah, Amy and Matt. Carrie was wonderful, but we were so far away it was really hard to see her. I sang (probably to everyone around me's annoyance) each song, because I love her songs! However, even though I don't like Keith as much, and didn't know all of his songs he is a better performer! He was crazy and got out in to the audience and people were attacking him and he just kept singing and smiling. I've never seen such a thing at a concert. His camera work was great too..the camera's that show him on the screen behind him, you can tell he's got some money. However I was disappointed that the two didn't sing a duet...you'd think they could have. It was great though! Next is Sugarland in May! If you have the chance see them!

I forgot my camera for this concert, but here is Carrie when I saw her in 2006, it was outside at night thus it's so dark!

Sending all my love!

Mid February already?

Hey all!
I know, I know. I've not been good at posting lately. It's sad at how bad I am right now especially since I'm not terribly busy. It really is true, when you spend all day on the computer, you don't want to come home to it. It was easier when I just had a few minutes a day to get on, e-mail and posting. Now I've checked my e-mail at work all day, so I don't want to get online when I get home. It's just so easy to be lazy. This week has flown by, like the last few weeks, it's hard to believe it's past Valentine's day. Now decorating for St. Patricks day and Easter since they are so gosh darn close.

Things are going well, I went home last week to see my family and to celebrate my mom's birthday! Yea mom! This week I worked off and on and now I have a couple days off, thus I'm not in bed right now. I've got my apartment pretty well organized, and so after work and days off are days just awaiting my journal article. I'm trying to get it done.

Things at work are good, it's crazy though, these storm systems. I'm sick of these weekly winter storm systems, as are most people in the area. Everyone gives Meteorologists a bad time saying "the only profession to be wrong half the time and still get paid", hey it's fricken hard sometimes. The last couple big storm systems are just crazy hard to forecast, consantly changing. It all takes our schooling many years of knowledge, but forecasting is done best with help from models, and when they don't handle a storm system to well, then it doesn't matter what we know...it's ever changing. And to be honest, it's still amazing to me at how good the models actually are. They may be off on some timeing, but they get every big system, 7 days out, it's amazing really. Think back just a few 10's of years when all you could probably get was a few day forecast, and now 7 days out is pretty descent, at least for the trend...warmer/colder/chance for precip. So think about it before you jump on critizing your local weather person...it's not an easy job. I myself have not exempt from making the slide comment, but I am now in it every day. I still wonder at times if this is a dream or not.

I am to my normal being at a new place lull though, the time when it's not so new anymore, but you don't have any friends yet. I'm so gracious for my friends that have come up to Wichita, but sometimes it'd be nice to go out somewhere in Wichita. I know, it's my own fault....it just takes me a little while to get involved in things at each move. It will happen...time will show it. I've got a positive outlook with my current lull.

Missing you all, and sending my love on this Valentine's week and always!

My apartment

Well I've been working for 8 weeks and been moved into my apartment for almost 6 weeks and my apartment is basically 80 percent organized and put together. So I thought I'd talk about it and show some pics.

First is my living room, my curtains are the same that I had in Raleigh, but they have been taken apart and put in their two separate parts since I have two windows instead of a sliding patio door.

Standing in my bedroom doorway looking into the living room. To the left, not in the picture is the front door and to the right is the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, it is one of my favorite places in my apartment. I love to cook, so have space is great!

I LOVE all the counter space, in the foreground is the edge of the sink and another little bit of counter. Great storage and space to cook! YEA!

My second bedroom is the mess area at the moment, it will in the near future have a bed. If/when you go through Wichita or stop to see me, there will be a great place to stay! Forgive it's mess for now, it will be picked up soon. Lots of what's in the middle of the room is for the bed that will be put in there. The curtains I love and were the curtains in my bedroom before I got my new bedset.

The final and newest part of my home is the bedset my mom has made for me for my bedroom. Imagine the walls are tuorquise and the pink lamp isn't there, but this is my new duvet and curtains! I love them both! So excited to have them! Now I just need more on the walls as far as decorations go!

So in a nutshell that is my apartment! I love it and soon it will be all set. It's a work in progress. Now I can start working on my journal article. I've been extremely bad about that! I've got to get it done! Hope you've enjoyed the picture book.

Love!

A great day deserves a long needed post!

It's been a long time, this I admit...to long. I've delayed in my posting, first, because I was hella busy..couldn't even find time to sleep let alone blog, but then not so busy for the last 3 weeks or so...It just never got written, even if I'd sit down to write something, ever happen to you? Well I am here, I do exist and I'm have a good time in Wichita!

Today motivated me to post this long needed blog, as my two amazing friends surprised me this morning by arriving on my doorstep. I was SHOCKED!!!! I was still in bed (as usual on my day's off) and someone knocked on my door. I couldn't see who it was out my peep hole, only knowing it was a female, so when I opened the door...I was in shock to see Sarah and Margret. I could only say...what are you doing here. They gave me the best surprise I've gotten since Kristen arrived in Norman for my 22nd birthday. We went and had a wonderful 3 course meal at TGI Fridays, and then to the NWS. After a little driving around we went to 27 Dresses. I LOVED the movie and was so happy to be able to see it with my best buddies. It's a great funny movie. It's definitely one I want to own. They've left for their drive back to Norman, but their visit is something I appreciate more than they know! So if you read this, THANKYOU!

Other than that, the past month has been filled with some working, apartment organizing, TV watching, and sleeping. After my crazy Christmas (which was insanely crazy), I started to actually organize my apartment. A few good days off and I got a majority of it arranged and organized. I still have a few boxes in the extra bedroom to go through, but more of it's being an organizing freak and getting it organized the way I want it. My parents came down last weekend and brought my curtains and my new bedroom set. We put up the curtains and some pictures to make it look more homey. I love my bedroom with the new curtains and Duvet, I will post some pictures in the future.

I'm hoping to get back into being online again, with my computer in the other room and being on the computer 40 hours a week, I tend to not want to get online when I get home.

I'm loving Wichita and my job, I still feel so lucky and am so happy for this time in my life. With time it will only get better. So as I said, I will do my best to be on here more often. Miss you all and Love!