I swear, I should really have gone into meteorology and been a storm chaser.

Today, I was caught in the teeth of the first wave of storms, as a Tornado Warning was issued for northern Cook County. I was driving home, through Glenview...it was actually a really beautiful sight driving by the giant prairie that used to be Glenview Naval Air Station, and looking out to my right seeing the giant black storm coming. I actually thought to myself how different and unusual it looked.

Once I got into downtown Glenview, it was pretty much nighttime out, and the rain started coming down hard. I got out of Glenview and was heading into Morton Grove when I decided, well, I better turn off the iPod and turn on WBBM and see what was happening, if anything. Right when I turned the radio on, they talked about the Tornado Warning for northern Cook, and that a tornado had been confirmed over Park Ridge. I thought, wait a minute, I'm only a couple of miles away from there. They then said Morton Grove was next in line, and I thought, well, this is great.

But I pressed on, fully aware of what was going on around me. It was only when I couldn't see the cars behind me anymore and could barely see those in front of me that I decided, OK, it's time to pull over and prepare to get out of this car and somewhere safer. I slapped on the hazards, and traffic had pretty much stopped at this point. I looked to my right and pulled into a restaurant's parking lot. As I did so, hail began to pelt the car. I thought, great...here we go. For those who don't know, hail often CAN be a precursor to a tornado. The winds had also severely kicked it up a notch. I ran into the restaurant, where everyone was eating, peacefully, fully naive and unaware of the situation outside, other than "Wow, it's really coming down out there."

Now feeling much safer (though standing by the glass doors, watching the storm outside), I thought to myself, see, this is why idiots die in tornadoes. Because they sit there and continue to eat dinner when it's clearly really bad outside. And boy, it was bad. I haven't seen wind and rain like this, I venture to say, in my life.

Yet, for as hard as the wind blew, I didn't see a ton of damage on the rest of the ride home. Tons and tons of standing water, but only some garbage cans blown down and a couple branches. But nothing too terrible.

So why should I have been a storm chaser? I got a rush out of it, and it amazed me. And continues to do so. The awesome power, the sheer beauty of the pre-storm and post-storm clouds and sky, the lightning I saw, and the insane amount of water that a giant cloud can drop are all just so intriguing.

At any rate, that was my eventful ride home. They said that the tornado sirens had not blown in the city of Chicago since the infamous 1959 White Sox pennant win, when they blew the sirens off to celebrate the victory, late at night, and scared the shit out of a bunch of non-baseball fans who didn't know what was going on and thought a Soviet nuke was on its way. My mom even said she doesn't remember ever hearing those sirens, even when the tornado ripped through Oak Lawn in 1967 and continued on its path through the south edge of the city, becoming the only tornado to touch down in the city of Chicago's history (I believe).

So...otherwise, have a great weekend. :) Hopefully much more dry than this evening.

So, I thought of an interesting dichotomy in my life right now while waiting in the customer lounge at Mizera Chevy for my car (more on that in a moment) this morning.

1. My job is giving me a crushing load of work nowadays, and I can't help but feel the pressure and have to complain about it, because, well, that's one way to relieve the pressure.
2. My dad's job is giving him hardly any work, and the union actually just switched everyone to a four-day workweek, apparently, and my dad can't help but feel the pressure of needing the work to make enough money (they are paid hourly) to live, and he complains about it to relieve the pressure.
3. There is no way we could cooperate to aleviate these strains.

I don't know. I thought it was interesting.

Oh, the car. Well, my car decided that three months of worry-free driving was enough. This morning, for whatever reason, the car's power steering was not working. So I take the day off work, hop back in the car, and head over to the Chevy dealer nearby, since my car is still under warranty. Of course, at this stage, the power steering is working just fine. So I take it in anyway, to tell them to check for any fault codes in the car's CPU. Nothing. Not a blip.

So I don't know. I guess, since I took the day off, I'll just relax and enjoy the day, since I need it. But, maybe I'll do some work later, to try to stem the tide of falling behind again. We shall see. Dumb cars.

OK, so, see...at least someone in the world of good karma is looking out for me and making me feel better about things...thanks, KM, for passing THIS on...not only is it funny, but it's addictive as hell, and makes me really excited for Tuesday to roll around...

"Keep ya forty, I just have an Earl Grey tea..."

Hilarity!

Well, fuck it. Sox down 4-0 in the 6th vs. Detroit.

Go Bears! (I've tried everything but reverse psychology so far.)

I'm going to pop in the 2005 World Series DVD and just watch it from now until April. That and the tapes of every playoff and W.S. game from last year.

Hawk, for once, was right...what a bunch of freakin' ridiculous underachievers. This is worse than any year prior to last year's success.

But, to all you Cubs fans who are laughing...at least we won last year, dummies. So ha ha to you. Ha. Ha.

I have been correctly reminded that there are folks that read this, and I've let them down. I am sorry...no, really, I am. Seriously. Even if I wasn't, I should be a good "journalist" and record my history, as this is supposed to be doing, per my own admission.

So, where have I been? Well, between continuing to pick up the slack of being seriously shorthanded at work (we've interviewed three folks, two walked out after learning about our magazine), I've been to Kansas City twice (I believe) since my last posting. The first time was part of a two-day trip down the Missouri River, from the Sioux City area down to K.C. to present a few of awards. Hey, free food and getting out of the office was great, but it is what it is, you know? I do grow fond of K.C. though...seems a decent place, and I've nary heard a complaint. :) Well, except that the Royals are there.

Also, yesterday, I went to Kalamazoo, Mich., in my annual NSRA trip with my dad. Always a blast...plus, I found yet another car I'd like to refurbish (someday when I'm rich, and when I actually learn more than what I know about cars, of course). It was a 1958 Chevy Biscayne. Here's a picture of a refurbished, nice one.












Love it. The one we saw was not terrifyingly rusted on the surface, and they wanted $5,000 for it. It was funny, because my dad was actually relishing in the fact that I was actually drawn to it. I think that, if I had $5,000 on the spot and wanted to buy it, he'd have "let me." By that I mean, he would not have told me I'm crazy or that I shouldn't do it, in a parent kind of way. So, by my count, when I get rich someday, I'll have one of these (actually, I like the paint job on this one, honestly), and one of these, a 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with a t-top, just like this one (except this one doesn't have a t-top):














Again, I love the car. Though I'd even settle for a 1980 Firebird, but I like the headlight design on the '78 better. Of course, I will also get a 1932 Ford, whether I get my dad's or not. :) Again, I'll be rich, remember? :)

Today, I relaxed and watched the Bears beat the crap out of the Lions while doing some work. Also just kind of bummed around and watched other football. The White Sox? Right now, they're dead to me. They piss me off so much right now, I can't even bear to watch. My blood pressure rises (I can tell) when I do watch, so it's probably best that I don't right now. But hey, at least we won a World Series...maybe they'll surprise me and get into the playoffs after all. They aren't dead in the water yet, but if they play the way they have, they can just freakin' forget about it.

Hmmm...what else? I've had some busy weeknights too, with meetings and assorted other crap. More like I've just come home dead-tired from rough days at work. I keep reminding myself that this job is putting me, financially, in a much better place, and that I can survive with it for longer than I think. This job is helping me absolve myself of my debts (except that crap that I owe NU and will pay off until I die, of course), which in turn is making me better off for when Gina and I start looking for a house or start having kids. I know money doesn't buy happiness and all that crap, and I agree. I'm not "happy" or anything like that, but I know that I'll be able to do things I want in better fashion once I get rid of the debt (without that jackass on TV...). So that helps. Listen, there are aspects of the job I love...and, even though he makes me work hard, I have the kind of boss who drives you, but you love to work for him. I still keep thinking things will get better, and I do truly believe that. It's not as though the work is bad, just the amount and the expectations are tough. The amount is REALLY tough. So, you're talking about solvable problems here, and I guess that's what keeps me going. That and the financial aspect.

Otherwise, this is travel season for work...I head down to the Ft. Lauderdale area the first week of October, and there might be a couple of other trips in the offing as well, I'm sure. But for now, I really need to stay in the office anyway, working my butt off to get our magazine out and done well.

Between all that, I've been out in The Brook, helping Gerard paint his garage and house, per the village's threats. So that's helped to tire me out and keep me busy as well...which reminds me that I have to pick a day this week to head out there too.

So, I will try to do better about updating this...I apologize to those who want to know what's what, and to those who might read this as a case history or something. I will do the best I can.