This collection of entries is from August 2007.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Severe weather alertNever, in my... ummm... 29 years in my career, have I EVER had to evacuate my office due to severe weather... until today.
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Carol called me... from the stairwell of her building. They heard the tornado sirens going off outside, so they evacuated to the interior stairwells in the building core (sounds right, knowing how these buildings are built... keep away from glass, and the concrete core for the elevators, stairs, and God knows what gives GREAT protection if something happens). So what do we do? Get up and look at the window!
She called me a few minutes later saying they heard about funnel clouds being sighted in Elgin coming straight this way, through Hoffman Estates. Great. Don't like hearing about funnel clouds passing through the town where we live.
I told everybody in the cubes around me what was going on... where she was (not far away at all) and what they were doing.
And then the announcement over the building PA:
May I have your attention. May I have your attention please. This is a severe weather alert. All personnel should immediately move to the center core of the building, restrooms, stairwells, and inner core offices, away from all glass or mirrors until the all clear is announced.
...and then the alarm went off along with strobes.
Off we all went, first to the conference room suites in the center of our office space, with all the full length glass... Well, we were shagged out of there and told to wait in the stairwells...
... and you know.. when the staircase next to the elevators is just a step or two from the railing that overlooks the lobby with it's glass windows... it's just too hard to resist staying in the stairwell... you know, you could EASILY get into the stairwell if something would happen...
...so that's where I stood... with at least a dozen other people.. including others from meetings in the conference rooms, with their laptops and wireless connections, constantly checking radar and NWS reports...
The sky was turning black... you could see the underside of the clouds getting lower... but no rain, which made a bunch of people walk outside to see what they could see. Reports of funnel cloud sightings in Schaumburg, where I work, started to trickle in. It looked NASTY outside. The radar showed a really bad cell skipping through directly west-to-east with us in the way. Then it got dark, quiet...
...pretty soon the skies got lighter.. and lighter.. and then they just opened-up... a deluge. needless to say, nobody stayed outside.
After a few minutes of continued deluge, the internal alarm systems sounded the all clear and we went back to our cubes.
Hard to get motivated after that, though. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 03:46 PM | Link | Mundane | Care to comment? | § |
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
DrizzleI opened the garage door and glanced outside, It was gloomy, but I could see a fine drizzle coming down. I took off my glasses and left them on the roof of my car. I walked out onto the driveway. The neighborhood was perfectly quiet, rare for a weekday morning. I looked across the street to my left and saw a bunny sitting in the parkway, getting wet. There wasn't a breeze at all. Quiet and calm. I looked to my right and I saw a squirrel standing up watching me, just taking in the drizzle.
I really enjoyed that rain.
posted at 08:31 AM | Link | Mundane | Care to comment? | § |
Sunday, August 05, 2007
A bit of relief?On Thursday morning, I lamented about I how I was feeling due to Baseball in Chicago.
I feel only SLIGHTLY better today.
The Sox won 4 straight, sweeping the Detroit Tigers knocking them out of first place, and are 7-3 in their last 10.
The Cubs lost tonight, are 5-5 in their last 10, and dropped a game out of first place.
Now, look... this has been just a crazy year... and I'm not saying that these teams are finally doing what I had expected them to do... far from it.
It's Chicago. It's August.
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. You just never know.
posted at 09:35 PM | Link | Baseball | Care to comment? | § |
Saturday, August 04, 2007
mmmmmm.... creamy.....I wanted to go get some audio to use in my podcast, so I drove up to the Wisconsin State Fair.
I really do enjoy going up there. The drive was pretty crappy this year with all of the highway construction in Illinois, but it was tolerable.
It's been a few years since I've been there, but it just seems that things change and yet they stay the same. Obviously the permanent buildings don't really change, but all of the other food vendors (as well as the other "non-food" vendors) may have different setups.. or are new to the event. What a wonderful place to just graze on food.
Which lead me to the destination of my pilgrimage: The Cream Puff Parlor.
83 Years at the fair - they are WONDERFUL. I wanted to bring some home for my family to eat tomorrow, but... whipped cream? Summer? long drive home? How am I going to pull this off?
I bought a 6-pack and this year a special add-on: a special soft-sided cooler the same size as the 6-pack box, that has 2 re-freezable ice packs that slip into the lid and the base of the cooler! Sweet... and they cooler is made with insulted reflecting mylar so you could use it as a warming bag, too, when not transporting cream puffs.
posted at 05:56 PM | Link | Mundane | Care to comment? | § |
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Ahhhhh... a chance to ... relax?Carol took off this morning to drive up to Diane's in Michigan for the annual "Summer Club" weekend with the girls.
The house is mine... all alone... until Sunday night...
....ahhhhhhhhh....
posted at 08:46 AM | Link | Mundane | Care to comment? | § |
A city full of tiesMy world is crumbling in front of me...
My team, the Chicago White Sox are tied for last place in the AL Central Division (13 games out with the Kansas City Royals).
And... there's that "other" team... the Chicago Cubs are tied for first in the NL Central Division with the Milwaukee Brewers (6 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals).
I feel ill.
And, with the Cubs up for sale, I have to admit that there's a noble campaign going on: a group of Chicagoans working to facilitate a fan-owned buyout of the Chicago Cubs and restore the voice of the fans within baseball - 4FansSake.com
posted at 08:19 AM | Link | Baseball | Care to comment? | § |
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
*nose wiggle* *nose wiggle*First of the month, first words today - "Rabbit, Rabbit!" said out loud for luck... (with two nose wiggles from our two bunnies Indy and Chip)...
...and I forgot to do it, as my first words were some expletive as I squeezed out too much shampoo into my palm in the shower...
so... since I am doomed for not saying the luck phrase that pays, go checkout the Wikipedia entry on this: "Rabbit rabbit".
posted at 08:09 AM | Link | Memes | Care to comment? | § |
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