Storm Spotting

What is a Storm Spotter?
Storm spotters are volunteers who help their community and NOAA’s National Weather Service by keeping an “eye on the sky” during severe weather.  Spotters contact the NWS via phone, amateur radio, or the internet, keeping our forecast staff updated with the latest weather information from their location.

So most of you know I am fascinated with weather. I can’t sit in the house and just listen to it….I have to go to a window or go outside to see it.  I can watch it forever.  So naturally, when I hear about storm spotters, I became instantly interested and could not wait to get the proper so I could call myself a storm spotter.

There really isn’t much involved in becoming a storm spotter.  A lot of storm spotters are professional first responders such as police, fireman, emergency response teams, etc.  On the other side are amateur  storm spotters, like me.  We are the ones that can’t get enough of weather and want to be in the middle of it.

There are two types of spotters.  There are those that actually chase storms so they can report on it from the scene. Then there are those that simply spot storms from there house or wherever they might be when the storm hits.

A lot of you may not realize that a lot of the information that the National Weather Service receives comes from spotters.  They can tell a lot about a storm from radar but they rely on spotters to actually know what the storms are doing on the ground.  You will hear weather reports a lot of times here that they mention observations from trained weather spotters.

So next week I go to the actual training.  I went to a severe weather seminar a few weeks ago that is actually supposed to be taken after your actual training but the timing just worked this way for me.

So you local people may see some weather reports for me this storm season (or from my alias @foxvalleywx).  One of my goals is to see an actual tornado.  Not some wimpy one but an F-2 or F-3.  I will be doing storm spotting from my home but I also may venture out west to report on approaching storms (if my schedule allows)

For those of you that missed it, here is a video I did of our last big storm click here

I would love to hear your comments and find out how many of you think I am crazy.

Help Wanted

Well it is that time again.  Time to look for a job……or jobs.

My time at The Orchard has come to an end (more on that later). If I thought the job market was bad 2 years ago, or even 1 year ago, it was nothing compared to now.  The thing is, there are a lot of available jobs out there (supposedly) but none for a career changer such as myself.

I have been in mortgage/escrow/title insurance business since 2001 and have been laid off twice.  Right now, no one his hiring for what I have been doing (escrow closings).  Those that are hiring are only hiring people with specific experience.  For instance, I could do the job of a loan processor.  I know everything there is to know about mortgages and the process but I don’t have experience.  It seems no one wants to train anybody know since there are so many people out of work.  They can just seek out exactly who they want and get plenty of applicants with that experience.

So that has been my dilemma for awhile.  I have been having trouble getting into other areas of finance (my degree is in Business Finance) because I don’t have any experience specifically in that area.  Never mind that most college graduates don’t have experience.   It seems experience in other areas means nothing right now.  This is not just me.  I have talked to many others who are in, or have been in the same situation.

At this point I have networked, filled out online apps and submitted as many resumes as I can right now.  It is on to Plan B.

Plan B is to get a job…..any job. Now I don’t mean any job but my strategy is to look for good companies and get whatever job I can there.  For instance, I interviewed at Lowes earlier this week.  It would be entry level to start but if nothing else pans at, it could mean moving up to a management position.

I am just really open to do whatever I need to do to get money coming back in.  More updates as things happen.

Productive Week

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you can look back and really say that you accomplished a ton of stuff you probably would not have?  This was last week.

We had the pleasure of having my parent’s here for the week (Monday to Monday).  First of all, it was great to have them here and to be able to share the new home with them.  It was also great because since we just recently moved in, there were a lot of projects that needed to be done.

Pamela and my mom focused on the interior.  They put up a ton of pictures and other decor that really makes it feel very homey.  This also involved them taking several trips to Hobby Lobby.  Now this was good because spending a large amount of time inside a Hobby Lobby is one of the only situations that will cause me to say the queen mother of all dirty words.  And thanks Pamela for sharing that fact with my mom.

They did an awesome job.  They are both very good at decorating and repurposing items.

My dad and I also had many projects to do around the house and also at a friends house.  This of course meant daily trips to Home Depot, Lowes and Menards.  Here is a list of what we did.

• Switched out 9 light fixtures
• Installed a garage door opener
• Switched the location of the washer and dryer and 2nd fridge in laundry room.
• Created a shelf/enclosure for washer and dryer
• Installed shop light in work area of garage
• Hung floating shelves in dining room
• Installed dimmer switch for lights over fireplace
• Repaired and setup Emily’s bed
• Removed pedestal sink in powder room.  Installed old sink and cabinet from powder room in old house. Re-installed pedestal sink.
• Laid carpet at my friends house (family room, living room, hallway and 2 staircases)

As you can see, much was accomplished in a very short amount of time.  More than would have been done just by us.  They gave us just the kick in the butt that we needed.

They are back home now and the house is very quiet.  Until next time.

Blizzardpalooza

For those of you not in the Chicago area, a blizzard is approaching.  News is this could be the worst storm on record.  Or it could just pass us by.  We seem to live in this weird sort of vortex.  Bad storms go above us and below us but usually not directly on top of us.  For most people this is good news but for someone who loves weather as much as I do, this is not good.

I don’t know why, but I love weather and want to be in it.

Anyhow, as of right now, the storm is moving north and will be hitting us this afternoon.  The insanity already started last night.  We were at WalMart getting a few things and made the smart decision to get some groceries since the new house had little food.  The grocery section was packed.  They were already almost out of milk and bread and a lot of the shelves with the basic food staples were emptying quickly.  This goes to show how a lot of people only keep a few days of food in the house at one time.  A practice we are not going to do anymore as it waste lots of time and money.

As we left the store we noticed all the gas stations were packed with cars and had lines waiting.  That made me wonder.  Either these people will be stuck at home or they will be out and able to go to the gas station.

That is all for now.  If it is bad as they say it will be, we will be stuck at home tomorrow.

It is here…..

Well, even though we decided we were going to take our time to move in, we did the big move on Saturday.  We figured we had the trailer and we had 3 willing guys so what else did we need?

So I am writing this from my very own first floor office.  Very nice to have a space with a door.

We still have a TON of work to do.  There are still lots of things at the old house we need to get.  I need to remove all of the fixtures and whatever else we decide to take.

We slept in the house for the first time last night.  A little weird.  Kind of felt like a hotel but it does feel like home at the same time. We still drive up to the and can’t believe we live here.

Thanks again to my 3 great friends, Brian, Larry S & Robert.  We could not have done it without them (or as I told them, we could not have done it without guys similar to them).  Like I said, you discover true friends when you decide to move.

 

 

It is getting closer……..

Well, the move if getting much closer now.   It is starting to feel much more real….and a little stressful.  Still a lot to do.  We have already done a lot but it does not look like it.  It feels really good to get rid of stuff and know that we are not bringing it to clutter up our new house.

As I think about the move, here are some random thoughts:

• I hate moving
• Where did all this stuff come from?
• I hate moving
• Can’t believe we already made $140 selling old books online
• You can never have too many boxes
• I just hung two TVs on the walls in the house.  Now I have to take them down.
• You find out who your true friends are when you move
• I hate moving
• The first night in a new place is the best.
• A HUGE piece of ice just fell off the roof as I was typing this
• I hate moving

This reminded me of a great video clip by Brian Regan

The Journey Continues………

Well, 2010 has been full of surprises.  Job losses, financial woes & uncertainties have been themes throughout these last 12 months.  That is why it came as no surprise when I got an email from our landlord on December 23rd.  We have been renting the home for the last 4 years and have planned all along to purchase it once we were in a position to do so.  Back to the email.  It was short and sweet and said they have filed bankruptcy.  I immediately knew what this meant.  We would have to move.

What is funny about this is Pamela and I have been disgusted with the amount of stuff we have accumulated.  Just 2 weeks prior to this email she said “We should just pretend like we are moving and get rid of whatever we are not going to take”.  Apparently my wife is a prophet.  Why couldn’t she say “We should pretend like we just won the lottery”.  Oh well….

So we immediately started looking at the rental situation and was pleasantly surprised.  There was some good stuff out there for less than we were paying.  Rather than wait until someone kicked us out, we decided that we would work on getting a place as soon as possible.

We found two places that were awesome but for very different reasons.  One was in a more remote area (in Yorkville), on 2 wooded acres with a long driveway.  It was all by itself was defiantly unique.  It was an older home and needed a little TLC in some areas although it looks like they spent $20,000 upgrading the kitchen.  It would also require a little bit of a lifestyle change as it was more remote and also the kids would have to change schools.

The other house we looked at was closer to where we are now (Oswego….about 2 miles from our current house) and was in pristine condition.  New carpet, paint, and lots of room. Logan would stay in the same high school and Emily was to be going to Junior High anyways so no big deal.

We put an application in on both, prayed a lot and waited.  We trusted that God had a plan and that he was preparing a place for us to move to.

Pamela had a really good feeling after we met with the realtor on the Oswego house.  He was one of those genuine people that you know you can trust right away.  We then had the opportunity to meet with the owner who is another one of those genuine people.  He told us that of all the people that he met about this house, we were the only ones he liked.

So, we ended up signing a lease for the Oswego house (pictured above).  We are once again blown away at how God has been blessing us during these troubled times.  We are not deserving of this.  But no one deserves grace….that is the point.

We are now packing and will be getting rid of a lot of stuff which be very refreshing.  We cannot wait to see what is in store for us in 2011.

Happy New Year

As I write this I am lying in bed on New Years Day at 1:07am. As the busy day is finally over, it is time to reflect on 2010 and the good and the bad that has happened. We tend not to want to think about the bad, but without the bad, there would be no good.

2010 was truly a roller coaster in our lives. There were so many ups and downs we cannot even begin to count them. But, as I look back, I can see God at work and I also see how we have received so many blessings. It is amazing that even after receiving countless blessings and have been brought through so many challenges, we still have doubts as we face each new challenge. We seem to forget everytime that God will carry us through whatever challenges we may face.

Now, as I look ahead at 2011, we are already facing new challenges. We also know that we will have many ups and downs throughout this next year. What I need to remember is that God is not a spectator. He is not watching us from a far as we ride the roller coaster of life……he is sitting right next to us, with his arms in the air, sharing in our sorrows and our joys.

Distractions

This weekend at The Orchard, Scott Hodge talked about distractions.  We are distracted all year long but when it comes to the Advent Season, it seems like our distractions double or even triple.  This is the time of year were we really should be focused on Jesus and his coming.  It is a shame though that a lot of us don’t really think about Jesus and Christmas until we are sitting in church on Christmas Eve.

We make ourselves so busy during the month that we don’t even have time to stop and think about it.  Even when we go to church our minds are thinking about all the stuff that still needs to be done before Christmas.

Our staff was given this book, Preparing for Christmas by Richard Rohr. It has a daily Advent reading and really helps prepare your heart for Christmas.  It also forces to you think about Christmas and what Jesus’s Birth means to us.  I highly recommend it.

There are less than 2 weeks until Christmas.  I am making it a daily challenge to spend some quiet time thinking about and preparing for the real Christmas and rejoicing that Jesus came to save us.

Holiday Traditions

I think I started a new tradition.  Sirius Satellite Radio changes channel 4 to an all Christmas music channel after Thanksgiving.  It is awesome and I have not changed the channel since.  It is called Holiday Traditions  They play only older traditional Christmas music.  Everything from Dean Martin to Jim Nabors to Bing Crosby to Nat King Cole.  It always puts a smile on my face and brings back many memories of past Christmas’s.  Coming back from sledding I was singing along with Joy to the World and Logan said “you sound like Grandpa”.  Well, my parents will be very surprised to read that.

I have also created my own station on Pandora that I am actually listening to as I type this.

My two favorite traditional Christmas songs are “Carol of the Bells” and “O Holy Night”.  What are yours?