Back to School

"Good times in Muncie again, its Muncie!" If you haven't yet seen the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos, I highly suggest you watch them, unless of course you are from Cleveland. Nevertheless, they are entertaining even through the 10th viewing.

Anywho, it's that time of the year again for most anyone receiving an education. Yes, it is time again to hit the books and attend your classes for the first time. Time, again, for writing multiple pages of an essay on a subject that will most definitely not help or affect you later in life, such as "Global Warming," and if you know me, it is one of my favorite theories to debate about it's own legitimacy. I already wrote a 2 page essay on "What do you think the biggest problem in the world is, what causes the problem, and how will you fix it when you get out of college?" The professor gave us this assignment on syllabus day, with 10 minutes left of class. I thought it would be a take home assignment, however, we had to finish it before we left. When someone asked about the limited remaining time, she replied without hesitation, "I have no problem with staying after." She also said that the reason for the essay, which is completely unrelated to the class, is to allow her to "read" our personalities, and to see if she is wasting her breath on us, and whether she thinks we will be much of a contribution to society. I'm not sure if that is legal or not, but I'll just do my best to succeed academically, and whether she thinks I will succeed or not is her own business.

My other classes are just how I expected them to be for the most part, lectures, notes and homework. This semester in general is going to be relatively boring as far as academics are concerned. I'm taking two Geography classes, a Phys Ed Aerobic Swimming class, which it turns out we don't technically swim, a Religious Studies class, a History course, from the 1850's to present day, and last but not least, my "favorite" subject, Mathematics. None deal directly with meteorology, but the two geography classes do count towards my major. I also picked up my books yesterday, and found them to be almost half the price of last years books, so I was rather pleased.

Brennen, my roommate, and myself are running for the Social Chair position on Elliott Hall's Executive board. Apparently everyone believes we are a social pair, so we'll see how that goes. I do have some interesting ideas, and hopefully with a little bit of funding through the hall, we can pull them off and get everybody involved in having a good time this year. Some of these ideas include some kind of a "camp-out" before it gets too chilly, and we could make smores or something out back, and also some kind of a tailgating extravaganza at the football games, where we get some funds for hot dogs or people chip in and we grill out before the games. Just some ideas, I'll keep the others a secret. Of course I have been playing volleyball almost every day since I have been up here, minus the first opening week, because its hard to play with the limited amount of people on just the Opening Committee. OC went smoothly for the most part, and I had my doubts on how many people would be showing up for the programs that we were going to put on, such as Frisbee discus, Water Balloon shot put, and the first ever Frank-a-thon. But quite a reasonable amount of people showed up, and for the most part I do believe they all enjoyed themselves.

As a whole, Ball State is going good so far. I am meeting new people again every day, which is always interesting and fun, the food is still pretty good, and still pretty horrible, depending on the location and the day, but for the most part it is delicious. I have gotten hired on at the Tally Dining location, right across the road from me. I'm not being too optimistic about it, because the whole hiring process has been kind of fishy to say the least. The hired on a first come first serve basis, rather than experience, which i found to be ineffective for the most part. I thought I originally got hired on at the brand new Taco Bell, and found out yesterday at my orientation that I was stocking shelves and assisting in the dining room instead, which is a crock, because it isn't what I was told I was doing when I got hired. So I might be hunting another job down soon is shelf re-stocking isn't all it is cracked up to be. I will also be auditioning for a position with Cardinal Vision 57, the local BSU operated TV station, as a meteorologist. That will probably eat my remaining free time, and for some reason if that doesn't work out, I plan to audition instead for the Charlie Cardinal position whenever the invites for that come out, just because I think that would be a really exciting and interesting job. Unfortunately, the latter two auditions/jobs are unpaid, but the TV job would be good experience for a future career in broadcast meteorology.

The last thing that I really found interesting enough to go into detail about was my recent 20th birthday. So after 20 years here on Planet Earth, I have come to a few conclusions. Although you might be older, you can still act 5 years under your age to have a good time, and there's nothing wrong with that, 10 years however, is pushing it. I have been a Cincinnati sports fan my whole life, and it has been a tough twenty years. I'm hoping the Reds and the Bengals can pull together though and win a few championships in the coming twenty seasons. With $500 worth of college books, I could have rather purchased about 8 new Xbox games, 30 DVDs, 41 new T-shirts, and roughly 561 White Castle Hamburgers, all of which would have been more useful or edible than the textbooks themselves. I have come to the conclusion that girls are difficult not only to understand, but difficult to get along with, satisfy, and counsel. Lastly, I have come to the conclusion in my first twenty years that life is much like Mother Nature. Life is both exciting and relaxing, but most of all, it is nearly unpredicatable. You really just have to go with the flow, and do your part, no matter how small you feel it is, to make the world a better place.

"At least we're not Detroit!................... We're not Detroit!"

The Good, The Bad, and The Boring

It has been quite a while since I have posted a blog, almost a month and a half or so to be exact. Life has had its moments, to say the least. Some of those moments were great, and unfortunately, some have not been so fantastic. Anywho, this blog is way overdue.

THE GOOD

Since returning from my storm chasing trip early in June, I have been involved in many random things. I was very happy to receive the opportunity to interview for an internship in the meteorology department at Channel 12, or WKRC-Cincinnati. Since my other "summer-help" position at Duke Energy didn't pan out like my father and I expected to, due to the economy or whatever else you would like to blame it on, might as well blame global warming as too, I was going to be unemployed, and less importantly, bored out of my mind. Fortunately, WKRC took me under their wing so to say, and hired me as "Brad the Intern."

I worked with meteorologist John Gumm, but I simply called him John, or if I felt the need, Mr. Gumm. Sometimes I found this awkward, because it reminded me of Bubba Gump, the whole shrimp company in the movie Forrest Gump. So I generally tended to refer to him just as John. He is a great guy, and grew up as a Cincinnati local. He graduated from Glen Este H.S. in Ohio, and then went on to get his degree from Valparaiso in Indiana. His broadcasting jobs have been in Rock Island, IL, New Bern, NC and WWL-TV in New Orleans, LA, before he came back to Cincinnati to work at WKRC. John can be described as his commercials say, "a Pro," which we had numerous times making good fun of in the wee hours of the morning, but most of all a family man. My last week, he was stuck at home on furlough, or unpaid leave to save money, and he was doing home projects such as replacing a ceiling fan and painting. What people fail to realize sometimes is that people on television are no different than themselves, just that they have a different occupation. Although I had limited experience with my meteorological skills, he took me in and taught me the tools of the trade that I will be taking back to Ball State, to hopefully complete a successful audition for Cardinal Vision 57 to do the weather. Anyway, the only bad thing about the whole gig is that John Gumm works the morning news shift.

If you thought your mornings were bad, you probably are more lucky than you think. My schedule, compared to theirs, was an easy one. My Monday mornings were the worst, because I would have to go to bed somewhere around 6pm on Sunday, to get enough sleep to wake up at 2am the following morning to get properly clothed to look good when I started just north of downtown Cincinnati bright and early at 4am, when all of the anchors and other staff arrive. I will be the first to tell you that it wasn't easy, but I eventually adapted to it. Every other day between Tuesday and Friday was slightly easier, with a 4am wake up and a 6am start time.

Each day I would make graphics for John, or whomever was filling in for him, such as the precisioncast, and every once and a while an "explainer" graphic, such as the "Why is it such a cool July," or the "Reds Game Day Forecast." On top of that, I would forecast very similar to the way the meteorologists at Channel 12 would, with an hour-by-hour, a weekly planning forecast, etc. This was something I had really not yet had to experience through Ball State, and this was not the only thing I have learned through the experience.

On top of all of these things, I eventually began to create my own "show," which is every slide with a graphic or information that a broadcast meteorologist would use to tell the weather story on a "green screen" or chroma key to the public during a broadcast. After a while, I even began to tape myself doing the weather on the chroma key. I will be honest, I was no good to begin with. The tapes themselves may never surface, at least not of the first day ha. But, like riding a bicycle, things got progressively better as I got more comfortable with myself, and knowing that the upstairs Engineering Dept., news room, and whoever else was in the station that wanted to, was watching me. At random times, I found myself walking through the news room to grab a cup of coffee, or use the facilities after drinking the said coffee, and I was stopped by a random employee or even the well known names and faces, and complimented on my work, and eventually on my progress. This helped me to progress even quicker in the final weeks, and I must say, the last tape will probably be on my Facebook when I get it, even though it too, was not all that great, but it was an improvement nevertheless.

When I had a small bit of free time, which was sometimes hard to come by, I would venture into the news room, or the studio, and try to talk to and meet new people. It was a great time, but the one person's office that I enjoyed visiting the most was the office that belonged to morning news anchor, John Lomax.

John has been with WKRC "...since the early days of dirt,..." he told me the first time I came knocking on his door. His office is littered with small picture frames, numerous miscellaneous bobble heads, and other belongings. Not only does he do a great job of providing you with up to date news stories, and delivers them to you with a sense of style and comfort a lot of people around here have grown up with, but if you didn't know, I'll be the first to tell you that Mr. Lomax is a very intelligent and trustworthy man. He had no idea who I was on day 1 of my job, but he still offered up conversation and treated me like he had known me for years. When sitting in his "guest chair," in the undersized office he calls his own, we conversed about things such as current events of the country and the world, the television business, and life in general. In return for his endless wisdom, I could only return the favor with the "Squirrel Launcher" and "Hastily made Cleveland Tourism Videos," all of which are on YouTube, and quite hilarious if I do say so myself. He also complained the night I posted pictures of my internship and told me he was mad because I had taken 19 pictures of myself and John Gumm, and left him out to dry so to say. So I took it upon myself to bring the camera back the next morning, which was my last "morning" at WKRC, and we had someone take a picture of us behind the weather desk to John's satisfaction. He was even nice enough to leave me this comment on our picture that I posted on my Facebook, "Brad, stay focused. In spite of the hard times in the business today, by the time you graduate, the broadcast world should be your oyster. Be prepared. There's no substitute for competence." I have not yet come to fully understand this, but I feel as though by the time I graduate with a meteorology degree from Ball State, that I will be able to comprehend and be fully aware and even be able to relate to the message and to the meaning. There aren't good enough words to thank him for his entertainment and advice.

I also got a few small opportunities to work with the Chief Meteorologist at WKRC, Tim Hedrick, who bribed me with food to say that he was my favorite meteorologist on live TV, sorry John. Anywho, the whole cast on the evening news, even the majority of the camera crew, is 6 ft. and taller, Tim stands at about 6'3" or so. He told me a lot about the business in our short time spent together, and I suppose he liked me enough to invite me back whenever I could to visit the weather office, and to intern again in the future. He also took a sampling of my weather tapes and said he had a hard time nit-picking away at my work. He said his biggest pet peeve was a persons voice, but that he really liked mine. Things to work on were of course all things that would just take time, such as my hand work, and weather-story telling skills, and just transitioning better. But for the most part, he liked what he saw, and he didn't even see my last day of recording.

Anyway, I recently finished my 150 hours of interning at WKRC, this past Friday the 24th to be exact. It was a great experience, and the knowledge and skills I learned will go a long way to helping me down the road, not only in school but when I eventually try to get into a broadcast meteorology career. Thank you again, John Gumm and WKRC for making that possible this summer.

Moving on, I have made just a bit of money this summer doing other random jobs. I worked the 4th of July weekend with Rozzi's Famous Fireworks of Loveland, Ohio. We shot a show in Troy, Ohio, one of their largest. It was a great time, but honestly, for all the work that goes into a 15 to 20 minute show, it almost doesn't seem worth it. Nevertheless, it was still fun to blow some stuff up, and to get out of the house, something I should really do more often.

I also helped out one night at the Lawrenceburg Speedway, working the "Turn 2 Grill" with my Uncle Greg. That was a good time, although at times, hot, loud and dirty. It was a quick and easy buck or two, and it gave me food and gas money for a few weeks.

Other random things I would like to note before we move into the feared "Bad" category, would include Relay For Life of Dearborn and Ohio counties, and St. Martin's Festival. First off Relay for Life was a scorcher this year. Well, it wasn't unbearable, but it was enough to leave me searching for any available water at some times, and you would often find me with sweat on my brow. But it was a lot of fun, I got to emcee a bit, and enjoy myself for the 24 hours. SIDE NOTE: Sorry, I ran out of pictures for the rest of this blog that fit the story....

St. Martin's festival was filled with good people, good food, and fun. I did work both Saturday and Sunday, but I also snuck away a few times to grab a bite to eat, or to talk to some of the parishioners, some of whom I haven't seen since the previous year's festival. All in all, it wasn't as busy as some would have liked it to be, but the weather was great, and the people that did come out seemed to enjoy themselves. If you haven't ever been out, on Saturday evening, they have an out-of-this-world prime rib dinner, served with a salad bar, baked potato, other sides, fruit, a roll and dessert. It is well worth the money, as a lot of people leave with a to go box, somewhat of a rarity at a church festival. Luckily, since I am broke, I got a free meal for working and helping out. I look forward to it all year round, as it never fails to disappoint and draw a respectable crowd of hungry, and soon after, happy people. Sunday is home to Yorkville's best fried chicken, turtle soup, and fun. I personally like all of the above. I helped out my father at the Big Six wheel. He has been doing it forever it seems now, and it is always a good time. I always tell the kids that show up to "Come on over here so I can take all your Quarters..," and most of the time, to their dismay, I do. I have been working and enjoying myself at this festival for as long as I can remember, from the times where the family, including my Grandma and Grandpa Ritzi, both of whom have passed now, used to sit behind the big oak tree behind the church, and they would give me a few dollars to go and get them some Bars and Bells peelers, and if they were generous, they even let me peel a few and keep the winnings. I have had quite a few good memories from St. Martins and it's festival, memories that won't soon go away.

THE BAD

Unfortunately, not everything this summer has been great. Of course, I didn't come into it at all thinking it would be either. I didn't know I wasn't going to have any source of income, I didn't know the shifter knob on the Red Ranger was going to pop off, and I also had no prior knowledge that this year at Ball State was going to be overshadowed by a dark cloud, the secret of which I'll tell you about in a bit... WARNING: Some language might go beyond the limits of the Pg-13 that I try to keep this blog at, so yea, just a heads up. Oh and if this sounds like complaining, it probably is, so you don't really have to read it, but feel free. I just felt like venting, and punching 4 holes in my wall didn't seem like a good idea. These are my opinions, and if you can respect them as they are, I would appreciate that.

First off, I thought that I would have a job with a decent amount of money making potential at Duke Energy in Cincinnati this summer. Unfortunately, due to the economy, or whatever asshole decided to cut back on summer help and move it to a lottery and not a seniority based system, which God only knows how unlucky I am to begin with, I found myself unemployed in this summer of 2009. Yes, I know a lot of people have found themselves in the same situation, so I made the best of it with my internship, which will help me in the future a hell of a lot more than Duke ever will, but I'm still broke as hell. It's sad really, because I'm not the kind of person that doesn't mind borrowing money consistently, without ever knowing when I will be able to pay them back. In fact, it bothers me. But for what it's worth, I almost wish I had gotten the job at Duke this summer, so I could afford books this coming fall, or even money to go out with my friends, which on numerous times I have had to decline because of my money crunch. Yes, I could have gotten a job for a few months at a fast-food chain perhaps, but would that have helped me in the long run? No, probably not, so I will continue to complain about my lack of money.

I also found myself driving down Indiana 48 on my way to WKRC one morning, when to my surprise and disgust, the shifting knob on my red Ford Ranger, aka THE RED RANGER, decided to pop off and fall to the floorboard as I rounded a curve. So I realized that super-gluing it for a second time would yield no satisfactory results, I used some of my limited summer income to purchase a new shifting knob from Auto Zone in Aurora. It just one of those things that you need to spend the money on to fix, but you would have rather not had to fix in the first place.

Ok, for the moment you have all been trying to avoid... Yesterday morning, I woke up to my mother in my room, I suppose doing my laundry. It started off with a "Good Morning," and then went sharply down hill, off a cliff, and into an bottomless abyss with "Me and Dad have been talking,..." Now I have had a few girlfriends in my time, and I figured if it was anything like their line, "We need to talk..." it wasn't going to be good. Well certainly enough, it wasn't good, it was a slap in the goddamn face to say the least. For as much hard work I have put into my dream of becoming a meteorologist and being a successful child, and growing up to be a well rounded citizen, it really did hurt to hear what she had to say next. "Well we have been thinking about some things, and well we really want to get in on this cash for clunkers program, and its such a great deal, we were thinking about getting a new car or truck, but we cannot afford both the new car or truck and your education, so well, we decided that we are going to get the new car/truck and have you pay your own way this year." I thought perhaps for a minute that I was still sleeping, and upon going to the bathroom, brushing my teeth, and slapping myself 3 times, I realized that I was indeed wide awake. I'm sorry, but have they really made a good decision here? They drive two vehicles daily, and they work just fine. My education, going well, passed the first and toughest year, and I'm already broke as hell. And you pick the new car/truck over my future? What the hell is that! As Will Ferrell would say in a deleted scene from the movie Step Brothers, "God fuckin' damnit, do I deserve that?" Well if that doesn't sum it up well enough I don't know what does. She then added casually, just to throw salt in the wound, "Oh, and I have the loan information out there on the table." Ok, so I'm broke, you all know that. I have $5 left in my wallet right now, yea why not go $14K+ in the hole to start off my life as a post-teen. Yes, I know there are a lot of kids out there that pay there own way for college, I'm not denying that, but when your parents promised that if succeeded in school, they would continue to pay the way, and then wake you up one morning with that greedy decision, they might as well have kicked me out while they were at it to turn my room into storage or a new flower room or maybe even add on to it to park their new vehicle in there, why not.

That is why I'm now no further enjoying my stay here in Guilford. I cannot believe that I tried my best and I'm now paying for my education anyway. Now my plans to rent or buy a house with my current roommate and or best friend Brennen, are now up in the air. I am getting a job as soon as possible, if I can find one, to help save for that and or so I can afford books in the spring semester. On top of it, my mom decides to basically tell me I'm a big waste of space at dinner tonight, because I have tried to make the best of my summer and have a bit of fun as well. So we aren't on speaking terms so to say, and I'm still not really happy with my dad either, and I felt the real urge for the first time when I walked out of O'Charleys to pack up and move in with a friend before school started, because honestly I don't really want to look at my parents right now. They really are good people, but when they go around and brag to everybody about how proud they are of me and make a big deal of how successful I am so far, and then tell me they chose a car/truck over me, it just seems like a big fucking joke/slap in the face. Again I apologize for the language.

THE BORING

So, anyway... phew. Now that I have that out of my system just a little bit, I feel slightly better, but I'm still not satisfied. I cannot wait to get back to school, which is something you would have not heard me say back in high school to save my life. I hope the next two weeks go by in a flash, and I find myself in Elliott Hall, having fun in Muncie, and living the dream once more. But for now I leave you with 18 days left of this, which has become a prison so it seems, here in somewhat unexciting, uneventful, un-entertaining, and most of all just boring Guilford. It just goes to show that life, although sometimes is good, really can be a bitch when it wants to be.

Sightseeing on a Stormchasing Trip

Tis the end of yet another day here out on the Great Plains. As you might be able to see from the ever creative title, the weather at the time being is uncooperative to say the least. Basically, the weather is great for anyone other than a storm chaser. Some may get frustrated with what is going on, but as someone once said, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and that is what we have been trying to do.

Today, we woke up somewhat early for a non-chase day in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was quite chilly outside, so most of us chose to wear jeans and sweatshirts. After our daily briefing, which today centered around sightseeing, rather than storms, we headed for Rapid City’s Museum of Geology, not to be mistaken for geography. It was located on the campus of the South Dakota College of Mining in the south end of the city. When we entered we all got to take a good look at basically ancient skeletons of random dinosaurs, many other fossils, and other minerals. On top of all that they had molds of the largest golden nuggets ever found and a similar display for diamonds. Overall, since the admission was free, it was a worthwhile stop.

After leaving that, the sky began to clear, and temperatures began to rise. Our next stop was the one I had been looking forward to the whole trip, Mt. Rushmore. I was somewhat surprised when we arrived at the size of the monument. I was expecting it to be much bigger, but it was still a sight to behold. The most strange thing that occurred while visiting Mt. Rushmore was when we asked for some assistance from two strangers to take group pictures. The couple asked if we were all from Indiana, and we replied yes. They said that they were initially from Lawrenceburg, which meant that they lived 15 minutes away from me at the most. I told them that my home was in Guilford, and their eyes immediately lit up and they said that they also lived in Guilford. I found myself immediately intrigued. After further investigation, I found out that the two strangers I met over a thousand miles away from my hometown, turned out to live a ridge over from my own. It’s a small world after all.

After leaving the popular tourist destination featuring four of our founding fathers, we headed up the side of a mountain basically, and ended up on a lookout about 10 miles away from our previous stop. This led to one of the best photo shoots we have had yet, as a beautiful landscape had been laid out in front of our own eyes. Sometimes good weather isn’t so bad after all.

After descending off of the mountain, we made our way to Custer State Park, in Custer County, SD. This would bring about my first wild buffalo viewing. What were they thinking when they almost made these creatures go extinct. They are amazing to watch graze on a sunny afternoon, someone from Wisconsin even had an impromptu picnic outside of their van next to the field where the buffalo were roaming. After snapping a few pictures of them we met a roadblock, and not your usual signs and cones, rather a herd of donkeys. After stopping and meeting them, literally face to face, we drove on and made our way to the Crazy Horse Monument, in progress. Right now it is not a lot to see, but if they sculpt it like they have it depicted, it should be amazing to say the least.

Finally, we were on our way to Wyoming, Cheyenne to be specific, to stay the night. We crossed the border and after a few miles lost all cell phone reception. You haven’t been to the middle of nowhere until you see some places out here on the plains. We even passed a small ghost town of sorts named “Lost Springs,” whose sign read “Lost Springs - Pop. 1 - Elev. 4996.” According to online references, it is one of only four towns in the United States with only one inhabitant. But eventually we stopped to watch the sunset over the Laramie Range, north of Cheyenne, WY. After getting a few spectacular shots and video that I plan to time lapse, we drove into Cheyenne. Our first hotel was going to save us a bit on our budget down the road, but due to some negative circumstances including safety, and cleanliness, we made an emergency move to our second choice where I am typing this blog tonight. As I have said earlier, the weather is proving to be quite a disappointment recently. There are talks that there might be an outbreak on the plains in early June. Hopefully this will pan out and the last stretch of our trip will prove to be a thrill to say the least. As for tomorrow, I believe the plan is to jump down to Denver tomorrow and catch the afternoon Rockies game. After that or before it, who knows. I’ll try keeping you, the reader, updated on the chances of severe weather out here as well as other random trip happenings of course. I am open to comments, suggestions and whatnot. As always, thanks for reading.

Bust

Bust, by definition, means simply "a woman's breasts. " In meteorological terms however, a bust is something that we, as chasers, never wish to experience. A bust for us, by definition, is basically the equivalent of a build up of excitement shortly followed by mass amounts of stress and disappointment. More on that later, as for now, lets start the story from this morning.

I woke up at 7:30 CDT, or one hour behind Indiana (EDT), so in essence, we all got an extra hour of sleep. After showering and doing my regular morning business, I headed to the lobby for my complimentary breakfast. Unfortunately that consisted of only cereal and bagels, but something is better than nothing in my eyes. The daily morning briefing followed breakfast, and we made the decision to move further west yet towards our initial goal of Rapid City, SD. If I will learn anything from this trip, it will be that plans never go as they were initially planned.

From Waverly, Iowa, our home for the prior evening, we headed south to hit I-20 in Waterloo that would eventually take us to Sioux City, IA on our way to Rapid City. I feel now is a good time to throw in some weather information, which has been lacking I know. Basically, there is a complex answer as to why chasing right now is basically "garbage." In complex theory, there is a "Hudson-Low" centered over, you guessed it, Hudson Bay in Canada. You might ask yourself what this has to do with the Great Plains eh? Well, I will do my best to explain. This interrupts the flow of the jet stream, reducing winds and jet streaks on the plains. In addition this helps to create what is known as a "Death-Ridge" that lies right over the central plains, bringing great birthday party weather, but that isn't what we are here for obviously. In other words, less wind, less lift, less moisture and less divergence equals less chance of favorable storm chasing opportunities. If I have put you to sleep I apologize.

Other rumors that have been circulating include the "VORTEX Curse." This first VORTEX program took place in the mid 90's, and when they first went out to study the storms that usually flourished on the plains, the storms suddenly vanished in their first year of the study. They recall 1994 as being a complete "bust" year. This is ironic because this year, the second VORTEX program, cleverly named "VORTEX 2," started their new round of studies on May 10th, and will be in the field until somewhere around the 13th of June. Much like the 90's, this year is proving to be a slow year to say the least. Basically, they say that when a VORTEX study takes place, the severe weather diminishes, and chasing becomes sightseeing. This is much the case right now, well for the most part.

Back to the less scientific, and possibly more entertaining storyline. On our way to Sioux City, be passed through a wide array of scenery, from flat plains like one would expect, farms, and even a few gentle rolling hills. But most of the excitement in the vans came when we drove through the small towns. We made our first bathroom and snack stop in the small town of Rockwell City, Iowa, "The Golden Belt Buckle of the Corn Belt." We enjoy making humor out of anything possible, and today the gas station was our first source of jokes. Whomever named the station must not have thought it over for very long. The "Kum & Go" was not only great for a bathroom stop, but a great photo op. and souvenir shop. I will admit I personally splurged on a Kum & Go t-shirt, as did 3 other students that I know of off hand. After taking pictures, mingling with the locals, and getting in a few bits of laughter, we continued our trek west.

The few towns west of Rockwell City is yet another sexual innuendo, none other than Sac City, Iowa. It turned out to be another good round of walkie-talkie jokes and photo opportunities. But laughter soon turned to awe over a new sight to many of us. A few miles more to the west on I-20 was something we were not accustomed to seeing in Indiana, wind turbines. I had heard of their hige size before, but you really don't understand until you see them first on the far horizon, and then drive less than 100 yards from them. They really are a modern marvel and they are almost an artistic feature on the otherwise featureless plains. But we soon passed by and left them spinning in our rear view mirrors.

Finally after another hour or so of quality time in our vans, we made it to Siuox City, Iowa. We decided that 2p.m. was a good time for lunch and we couldn't have picked a better location to eat. Today we chose Famous Dave's BBQ, which is quite possibly some of the best BBQ one can consume at such an affordable price. The service was great, especially since we had 12 guests and it happened to be the server's first day. I'm no food critic so I will move on and leave you with a last remark, it was awesome. We held a special mid-day briefing in the back room of Famous Dave's because we had noticed while driving that a few storms were surprisingly gaining enough energy to intensify over south west Nebraska. So, we talked over possible options that changed in the morning from just strictly heading north to Rapid City, which now would include heading south to as close to Texas as we could get by nightfall, or staying in Kansas to be located in a more centralized location.

We were pretty set on just heading for the northernmost option when a pop-up window appeared on Dr. Call's laptop, which delivered a warning issued by one of the programs we use to track and predict storms while out here on the Great Plains. We were all shocked by the tornado-warning that was issued by a law enforcement officer outside of Lincoln, Nebraska. Our plans now took a drastic turn, as we went from sightseeing, and mostly relaxed mode to full blown chase-mode in a matter of minutes. It reminded me of the scene in Twister where they are just relaxing in the field near someones farm and then a warning is issued over the weather radio and they all rush out of the field in their convoy led by Rusty's mini bus sound system that is blaring the solo-section of Deep Purple's, Child in Time. I kid you not, it felt and seemed very similar to that.

So, as we drove out of SiouxCity, we decided a possible intercept point would be northeastern Nebraska, somewhere near Pierce or Norfolk. Remember how I said plans never go according to plans? Well here is another great example of this as we watched the storms flourish over southern Nebraska, with one possible tornado report and also radar indicated hail of anywhere between half an inch to golfball sized stones. Things were looking great until the storms continued north. They proved to be especially difficult to track, because directions continued to change and the three or so cells we tracked were moving in different directions and at one point, two of the cells merged with one another. We ended up forgetting to take into context the air in northern cornhusker country that had recently been cooled dramatically by a cold front from earlier in the day which met with the storms we were en-route to and basically killed them off. I'll leave off other factors and scientific reasoning that led to their demise to save you from any more feelings of drowsiness, but in lamemans terms, it turned out to be a bust. Are you seeing a trend to all of this? So we soon after made the descision to keep on trucking north, towards Rapid City.

This is where I type this entry tonight, well not quite Rapid City, rather Murdo, South Dakota, home to our Best Weatern Hotel, the Rusty Spur Bar and Grill, and the Pioneer Auto Museum. Tomorrow, I would make an assumption on where we are headed, but if there is a second life lesson I will take from this trip, it will be to not make assumptions, just because. Possibly the Mt. Rushmore National Monument, or the Badlands National Park, both of which are an hour or so from our stay tonight, but there are other odd choices in South Dakota which include a Minuteman-II missle silo, recently declassified and turned into a tour stop, and or Mitchell's Corn Palace, aka a giant castle shindig made out of corn which reopens tomorrow. Like I said, something could come up and for all I know we might end up in Denver, or Vegas... well not Vegas, but that would be crazy. I'm going to try to get some quality sleep here in Murdo, and have some more great experiences out here on the Plains tomorrow as we continue to chase the dream. Yea, that was cheesy, but it works. Thank you again, as always for reading.

From Muncie to Waterloo

Today started off like many before it, with a cell phone alert buzzing heavy rock music into my ears. This was followed off with a shower and last minute packing. We then, as a team, met up at Cooper Science on campus and met with our vans that we will be riding in the next couple of weeks.

From Muncie we made our way down I-69 to the north side of Indianapolis to pick up the remaining Indiana University students that had not already joined up with us in Muncie. We then grabbed a bit to eat in western Indiana, somewhere, before finally crossing the border and entering Illinois.

There was not much in the way of scenery and exciting destinations, which of course I expected. But we did see a pretty decent gustnado, or small spinning bit of air that picks up dust and light debris, making it visible, but isn't in anyway a tornado, for reasons you can look up if you are curious. Other than the gustnado and several series of signs that promoted "anti-gun control," Illinois was much like the northern part of Indiana.

After a brief stop at a rest stop outside of Peoria, near the western border of Illinois, we headed across the Mississippi River and bypassed Davenport, Iowa. I have never been to Iowa so everything from here was new territory. We then headed due west on Interstate-80 where we soon encountered the highlight of the day, "Iowa-80." No, not the road, rather the "World's Largest Truck-Stop." This, in a way, can be called the "Mall of America," of truck stops, so to say. There are numerous restaurants, and shopping opportunities within the walls of this trucker paradise. Some items for sale included a new horn for your ride, customizable clothing, and other trucker merchandise. There was also a full sized semi and trailer in one of the main wings of the building, which had an artistic rendition of Iowa painted on the side. It was one of the main attractions of the site.

We soon departed after fueling up and kept heading due west towards Iowa City. There is not much in I.C., but we did see a billboard on the way advertising "Bob's Your Uncle - Pizza Parlor." It was nearing 6 p.m. local time in Iowa, or 7 back home, and we decided that it was time to grab a bite to eat, and that pizza would be a good choice. It turned out, however, to be a great choice. Voted best pizza in Iowa City for the past 7 years or so, "Bob's Your Uncle" delivered a delicious punch to our appetites. Their pizzas come in 3 varieties, NY style, traditional and Chicago deep dish, all of which, ironically, have nothing geographically in common with Iowa. Nevertheless, the pies were amazingly tasty. We got two NY style pizzas, and one Chicago deep dish, all three of which were different specialties. These were named after famous Iowa basketball players, of which whom many of us did not recognize. But that did not matter, because the fresh ingredients that were put into the pizzas made them a one of a kind taste that I will miss eating. The "Bob's Your Uncle" name was actually derived from a British and western European way to say, you will prosper or succeed, rather than to imply that you have a pizza making Uncle Bob.

Across the parking lot from our dinner location, there was a ceramic/plastic green dinosaur at a gas station which myself and another Ball State student took a bit of time to pose, ride and take pictures with. It's great to let lose of your inhibitions and let your inner child shine sometimes. After a few good laughs, we boarded the university vans and headed north through Cedar Rapids and Waterloo in central Iowa. A few miles north of Iowa is where I lie in bed, typing up this blog in the tiny town of Waverly. The hotel beds will probably be an improvement to the couch I have been sleeping on earlier this week in Muncie.

Well that has been an in depth look at all the happenings of today, the first day of our travels out here on the plains. As for our near future, tomorrow will be another full day of driving, or that's what I know at this time. We are headed north, in the way of the Badlands National Park and Mt. Rushmore. We won't see these things until Sunday, but we will be having a good time on our way there for sure. If you want to see some pictures that I took today, limited because most of the day was driving, you can find them on my facebook page. I'm always open to comments and suggestions and again, I thank you for reading.

Storm Chasing: Pre-departure

Its early on a thirsty-Thursday night, and I'm finishing my last minute packing and preparation that will go into tomorrows departure to the Great Plains of the United States of America, the home of farmland as far as the eye can see and most importantly Tornado Alley.

Right now, according to many models and analysis maps, our chances of finding anything highly organized or favorable to chase are minimal for a while. We have two ways to exit Indiana tomorrow, both of which are basically geographical opposites of one another. Behind door number one, we can take the northern route, and head towards the Dakotas and eastern Montana, but stopping for rest and sleep somewhere near Des Moines, Iowa. Behind door number two, we could be trekking in the direction of the Texas panhandle and east New Mexico, stopping for rest and shut eye in southern Missouri. There is one more option for lodging, which would be in Kansas City, MO, with the goal of basically splitting the distance between the two chase able regions, and in turn making more of an educated guess as to where to travel to over the weekend.

Either way, these are all new destinations for me and I cannot wait to visit and explore. Possibilities that await us, the chasers from both Ball State and Indiana University, if there is dry weather would include the Badlands Nat. Park and Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, and the Alamo or even the Odessa Meteor Crater in Texas. We will have to take a vote or decide on what to do if this should happen. Usually, people ask for good weather on their travels, however, as storm chasers we would rather have our weather be a bit more on the wet side.

In other random side notes, the classroom portion for the most part is over. We had class on Thursday and Friday of last week and also the first two days of this week, closing out this Tuesday with an exam over what we had learned the past few days. I have been here in Muncie, IN since Monday morning, and it has had its ups and downs. The past couple of days have been rough, between finding ways of entertaining myself and living with some nice guys I have only known since late last week. But the pros have outweighed the cons, and departure is quickly arriving.

I will be taking a camera and video camcorder, which by the way, thanks to the telecommunications department here at Ball State for allowing me to do so. So in other words, you can expect to get daily photographs from sightseeing and hopefully some severe weather. The video might take a while to get online, as I don't know right now as it stands how to get it uploaded to my laptop from the camera. But there will be something on my facebook eventually.

It is looking better everyday for media coverage of our chase. Our professor leading the chase, Dr. Dave Call, notified us tonight that seven media sources had contacted him to get information on us and our adventures in the coming weeks. There might also be a possiblity that some local newspapers/television stations to myself will be doing a story on the trip. We will just have to wait and see. Sorry that this was such a long entry, and rather boring at that, but hopefully I will have some more exciting stories to tell, and pictures to share.

You can read up on the trip on this blog every night (hopefully), and view pictures and possibly videos on my facebook page. Thanks for reading.

Brainstorming: Final Paper

For our final paper in English 104, we are required to use all of what we have written so far, and then we are to combine those smaller papers into one gargantuan monstrosity of a final ethnography report.

My report of course, as you already know, is going to be focused on the West Side Basketball Association and my team in particular, Off Constantly. Even though the season ended a while back, the blog, and most importantly the ethnography report must go on.

For this final paper, I would like to include most, if not all of what I have already written because I feel that all of that information and writing is essential information that will not only entertain, but inform the readers. If it is not placed into the final paper, it will seem to me to be a waste of time and effort on my part, that something I have take time to write was just thrown away.

I might have to add or better organize the photographs that were included in the essays to better go along with the final paper. They will end up catching the eye of the reader, and helping them to better visualize what I have written about in the report.

Finally, with all of these improvements to previous papers being done, pictures evenly distributed, and clever blending techniques, the final paper will be as entertaining as it was to read, as it was for me to compose for you the reader.

It's Quiet. . . Too Quiet.

Not much has been happening with the WBA lately, well make that absolutely nothing.

The regular season, post-season, and all-star weekends have all come and passed. This year will have no more 3 point competitions, walks in the snow to Ball Gym or division rivals battling it out on Sunday afternoons. No, this has all been fun, but now it seems I, and everyone else involved in the West Side Basketball Association will be spending most of their Sundays on homework, contrary to playing basketball.

I look back on this season however as being educational, fun and nothing short of successful. We went out and accomplished our goal from the beginning of the season which was to do work and make the playoffs. We did just that this past season, and if I may say so myself, we also had a fun time doing it.

There will be a lot of memories that I can keep with me from this past season, but I will definitely be looking forward to the future with my head up, because next year brings yet another season in the WBA.

Meet the Team: Inagural Intrerview

A new weekly blog I am going to start will be a special story on a specific player on Team OC. Each week, or even twice a week, I will pick a player and do a short interview on their backgrounds, hobbies, etc. This week I'll do something absolutely absurd, and interview myself.



Meet the Team: Brad T.J. Maushart (#33)
Age: 19
Height: 5'10"
High School: East Central H.S. - St. Leon, IN
Prior Basketball Experience: CYO Basketball for St.Martin-St.Paul in Yorkville, IN

Question number 1, "Give the readers a short description of your life from birth until now?"

Answer: "I was born in Indianapolis on August 24, 1989. I was adopted less than a month after birth and spent the last 19 years of my life in Guilford, IN. I graduated last year from East Central H.S. in St. Leon Indiana, home of the Trojans and 1500 students from 2 counties in south east Indiana. I began to love meteorology and everything with weather in the 2nd grade, and I continue to follow that dream currently here at Ball State, with my Major being Geog-Opt. 4 (Meteorology).

Question number 2, "What do you do for fun?"

Answer: "I love to meet new people. That's what is great about Ball State, there are some familiar faces you see, but there are always new people lurking right around the corner. I also enjoy going to sporting events and cheering on the fighting cardinals in whatever sport it may be. Parties, video games, and backyard volleyball are also on my list of fun activities."

Question number 3, "Why do you play basketball in the WBA for Off Constantly?"

Answer: "I love playing basketball and being part of a team, even though I'm not all that great. It gives me a healthy alternative to doing homework on a Sunday afternoon. Playing in the WBA has also allowed me to meet many new people here at Ball State and helped me keep my sexy figure."

That wraps up this basic interview, which was quite lame because it was myself, but nobody else was conveniently available. Thanks for reading.

In Class Interview with Julia St. John

First, A bit of Q's and A's:

What kind of things do you do outside of schoolwork?
She hangs with friends, goes to Muncie 12 movie theatres, not Muncie 7, attends parties off campus, she does not go home much, sleeps

Do you play any intramural sports?
No she does not.

What is your major?
TCOMM/NEWS, wants to be a news anchorwoman some day.

What entertains you?
face book for the majority, “purple place” game on her dell computer, competes with her sister for the high score.

Do you have a job?
Not currently, but looking for summer employment.

Favorite music?
She loves musicals, The Color Purple, Avenue Q, The Little Mermaid (different songs when compared to the Disney movie.)

Favorite movies?
Hook, Fight Club, Love Actually, Iron Man (which she believes is definitely better than Batman), loves Disney movies.

Favorite color?
Shiny Silver… not gray silver… as in the crayon. “It must be shiny!” “Crayola is rather misleading..”

Interviewer Review:

The interviewer, Julia, had many interesting questions that made me think and have to describe in depth. The most prominent question was describing my typical weekend. It felt like I went on forever, but I’m sure she was pleased by the answer. She keeps good eye contact during the interview, only looking away to take notes. Her spelling, as she said, was not great, but that problem can be easily fixed with spell-check.

In-Class Interview

Informant: Rebekah W.
Artifact: Rolling Stone Magazine


After closely inspecting the artifact, I can tell it is a Rolling Stone magazine with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. It is in very good shape. It is full of interesting stories and advertisements for multiple brands of food, cologne, etc. There is one coupon missing that was good for 25 free songs on Rolling Stone’s music website. It just your basic magazine. It costs $4.50 and was printed on February 5, 2009. It is issue number 1071 in the series. The title line of the magazine is “An Intimate Visit; Bruce’s Dream.” As for use in the subculture, if is most likely a piece used to strike up conversation, or to inform the reader about current events in the “Rock n’ Roll World.” It can be used to read while drinking coffee and to help make conversation between two strangers.


INTERVIEW:

How do you use this object? It is used as reading material. It is the only thing the informant uses as reading material for the most part. Also, she uses it to cut out pictures and hang them on her wall.

Did you buy it or receive it as a gift? She bought it.

Does this object have any history to it, or any interesting stories tied to it? Not personally.

Can your object be used by children 12 and under? Probably, if the kid was interested enough.

Is your artifact fun for the whole family? For some of the family.

Can your object be used in more than one activity? Probably.

How can your object help you survive on a desert island? It would help to spend time, it could also help start a fire, although she would spare Springsteen’s cover page.

Where can you buy or get an artifact exactly like yours? Subscribing online, or go to a bookstore or your local Wal-Mart super center. The current issues are also online to read if you’re a tight wad.

Can you wear your object? Negative.

Is it edible? Probably, but not recommended.


METAPHOR: This magazine has so many ads, this makes the magazine as crazy as a barrel full of monkeys.

My theories for the most part were correct. Her subculture is the MT Cup in the university village. Her artifact is the Rolling Stone Magazine #1071. It could be used for multiple reasons including, but not limited to, reading, conversing, starting fires, etc. It has more ads than stories or so it seems.
The stories themselves are educational and entertaining, making it a good read. Although it may not be fun for the whole family, it can be read by more than one person, with more than one kind of personality. This object, sadly, is not very edible or wearable. I found this to be disappointing.
With the availability of this object nationwide, and even online for free, it makes this magazine very fantastic.



RESPONSE FROM REBEKAH:
I like this…good job at making it informing yet funny at the same time. I really don’t have much to say.

REFLECTION: Basically, I had thought that maybe she was going to be using this artifact for a journalism type subculture. I was wrong on that assumption. This did not however affect the interviewing process. My strengths lied in my humor put towards in the interview. My weaknesses were mostly in my preconceptions.

You just can't beat Off Constantly!

A lot of things happened today at Ball Gymnasium, mostly for the better. Off Constantly entered the game ranked 4th in the blue division of the West Side Basketball Association with a record of 3-3. This record kept us teetering on the edge of making or being excluded from the playoffs.

Today Off Constantly played the Wilson 8, or 5 of the 8 anyway, today at 3pm in Ball Gym. With a hard fought effort and a record breaking amount of fans packing the stands, Off Constantly outplayed and out hustled the higher ranked team to improve their chances of competing in the playoffs in the coming weeks.

The crowd, I believe, helped us play to our maximum potential. With 3 of our players families in attendance, including my own, we blew away our old record of 5 people. Our total number of fans today was 15. Yes, that may seem like a very small amount, but our average, or any team’s attendance average for that matter, is somewhere between 0 and 5. All in all, more support I believe equals better game play.

With a final score of 53-38 in the favor or Team OC, our record moved to 4-3 with only one more game left before all-star weekend and the playoffs, things are looking great. Keep reading for updates in the coming months.

T-Minus: 24 Hours

In less than 24 hours now we will be playing in our second to last regular season game in the West Side Basketball Association intramural league. Currently we are still in the running for playoff contention so winning this game for us would be huge.

Our record from the past 6 games is split even at 3-3. We should have won some of the games we lost, but due to the lack of team attendance, we did not fare so well. Usually, when we have our full roster show up to play, we have played very well. I hope tomorrow’s roster shows up in full so we can continue this trend.

Tomorrow is another day, another game, and another chance to prove we have what it takes to compete in this league. Our current attendance record for fans stands at a measly 5 people. If we break that current record and win the game, we will have many reasons to celebrate.

The Team Cookie

Whether Off Constantly wins, or loses, we always make the walk to the Noyer Food Center to pick out and decorate our “team cookie.”

No, this is not your standard cookie. However this is a whopping 12” chocolate chip cookie, with personally decorated icing on top. It’s nothing short of delicious and artistic to say the least.

It all started after our first game of the season last semester at Irving Gymnasium. We were all feeling a bit hungry and decided to stop by Noyer Cafeteria. After picking out my usual chicken poppers and fries, the dessert counter caught my eye. I couldn’t decide which of the delectable desserts I would indulge myself with. Then out of the corner of my eye, after eying the cheesecake, I saw a colossal cookie. Even though I couldn’t eat it all on my own, what better to celebrate our first win, and at that time perfect season, than a gigantic, icing doused, warm out of the oven, chocolate chip cookie. At this point the tradition of the Off Constantly team cookie was born.

The more than patient and interested lady at the counter asked what we would like to have the cookie say. We wanted to keep it simple with “Off Constantly” written around the top, and our current record, at that time 1-0, on the bottom. Then we asked her to just add random icing in all the open spots. She seemed confused at first because she was usually asked for happy birthday, happy anniversary, or other common occasions. She then did the unexpected by handing me a box of gloves and the icing decorators. I was more than willing to step it up for the team and make a delicious, edible art of sorts. Sure my first cookie was a big challenge, but after that they just got easier and more enjoyable to create and more importantly devour.

Besides the “Team Shower,” this is single handedly one of our biggest rituals we have as a subculture. It will live on until our season is over, and if there is a team next year, I hope we will let it live on, as long as somebody has a lot of dining plus, or some hard to come by college student cash.

Post Superbowl Shenanigans

Well, the Arizona Cardinals, like our basketball team lost on Sunday. The Cardinals lost this evening, and Off Constantly lost the weekend prior.
This post is basically just an update to the season and new findings in the team itself. We are still in playoff contention with our 4th place standing in our division. If we maintain that for the next two games, or even move up in the division standings we will secure a playoff spot this year.

With only two games remaining in our schedule, winning becomes essential. If the players on the roster show up to play in our last two games, we should have no problem with putting a “W” in the win column.

Updates will continue to come through the semester on the team, and more pictures will soon come available from the games themselves.
I’m up for any suggestions for what you would like to hear more about, and what you guys would like to see picture wise, other than the cheesy pictures of your’s truly.

No Longer a Blogging Virgin

Day Two of English 104 at Ball State University led me to create this Blog. It is a semester long assignment to help us broadcast our thoughts and ideas to not only the class, but whoever else wishes to take a gander. I have never blogged before, so bear with me... not bare with me, as I have found that means something completely irrelevant.

I narrowed down my list of possible subcultures that I would enjoy learning ore and writing about to 3 choices. Unfortunately in the process, I had to make some cuts, much the same as if I were the coach of a tee-ball team, yea there were tears but like the young children, it also made my list stronger... or that was the intention anyway. I made cuts including, but not limited to, Bikers, Nazis, Nudists, Swingers, Grumpy Elderly Nursing Home Residents, and Alcoholics. I figured most of these were not much fun for the whole family.

In the end, I decided to keep the following; My intramural basketball team "Off Constantly," Band Geeks, and Animal Activists. I quickly cut animal activists... and then there were two. It was down to "Off Constantly" and the Band Geeks. It would have ended in a stalemate if I had not come up with the ingenious idea of flipping a laundry quarter. This is because I had been in band all through high school and I love to play and spectate basketball events. I finally just tossed one of my quarters, twice, and two out of 3 times it landed on heads. This meant that "Off Constantly" would be my subculture choice for current and future writing projects.