Wild Weather

It isn't every night that the National Weather Service issues a Severe Thunderstorm Alert in this valley. But, yep, it happened. A long squall line of thunderstorms extending from Yuba City down to Lodi developed about an hour ago. It just passed over us a few minutes ago. Nice light show. The picture to the right is a radar image as it passed over us. The purple is a pretty intense area. FYI: I live just east of that purple area.

Here we go again

Some of you may remember my posts in late December and early January. We got some pretty heavy rainfall then, and there was flooding in many places here in Northern CA. Well, looks like it is that time AGAIN. The National Weather Service has issued:

- Flood watches
- Flood warnings
- High wind warnings

It seems that we may get up to 5 INCHES of rain in the next 24-48 hours. That's a lotta rain. This is a warm storm, with snow falling above 6000 feet. That means a lot of melt below that, snow that fell not too long ago. Melt = runoff. Runoff = flooding. Not good.

And, to top that off, come Friday, we are expecting a cold storm that may BRING SNOW TO THE VALLEY! Yeah, I know I said that before. It did snow as low as Auburn that time. This time, the forecast is even lower.

So, keep your fingers crossed that this isn't that bad.

GS Cookies!!!

Well, one of my walls is covered in Girl Scout cookies! Since I have moved into smaller accomodations, I had to figure out where to store 110 CASES of cookies! Yep, that's a lot of cookies that the girls I lead have agreed to sell this season. Need cookies? Email me! :-)

Yes, that's my shoe rack in front. Normally, it is against the wall, along with my bike.

(If you are counting, no, there are not 110 cases there. I got my girls to pick up their orders the first night the cookies were delivered. Took the stack down by about 25 cases. Otherwise, the stack would be worse!)

Snow in Antelope?

Well, believe it or not, yes! There is a chance of snow today here in Antelope (I've been telling people for the past few days about it around here, and they didn't believe me). It snowed here in 2002, so why not again? It's not like it stuck on the ground more than an hour, but hey, snow!

BTW, Antelope is around 150 feet in elevation.

If it snows, I try and get a pic!

Finally...

I finally finished the move and cleaning from the old house. I still miss it, but I don't. The apartment is not where I would choose to live if given the choice between a house and an apartment, but it works. I know that David is still getting used to sharing walls and ceilings with other people he doesn't know. For me, it is something I have learned to largely ignore. But, two nights ago, some kid was pulling fire alarms all over the complex. Thanks, kid. I just need my smoke detector yelling at me for over an hour while I am studying. If I find you... you'll have a chat with a cop, ok?

Took lots of pictures at the old place, to cover my butt in case I get ripped off by Horizon Properties. I hope not, but I have this feeling that my deposit is fodder for the owner to make repairs that needed to be made before I rented the place. I did meet up briefly with the person doing the walkthrough (We couldn't agree on a time that worked for both of us, primarily due to my school schedule), but she did the initial inspection with me (not the pre-move out... argh), and seems to be level headed. I'll keep you updated on this.

Now, I just need to get caught up on homework, pre-labs, lab write-ups, and ready for a mid-term on Friday. Oh yeah, and unpack the piles of boxes everywhere!

Diana is having...

Yep! Diana just sent me a text message from her ultrasound appointment! She and Jon just found out she is having a boy! Oh yeah, her due date has been changed to MAY 22nd!!! (David's birthday is May 21).

I love both of you, Diana and Jon!

A Car That Crashes Twice A Day

I took these shots at CES back in January. Be afraid... be very afraid.

An introduction to Wiki's

Wikis are modifiable databases on the internet on a variety of topics, issues, people, other sites... you name it. Wikis are different from many other sites, in that they are a collaborative effort. So, one person starts the topic, and others add to it. There are a *LOT* of these Wikis on the Internet. Here are a few:

www.wiki.org
www.wikipedia.org
http://wiki.ehow.com

The first Wiki ever created started in 1995. These aren't new to the web.

So, why do I mention this? Recently, news reports of congressional aides changing history on Wiki pages for their congressmen have shown an inherent weakness in Wikis. People can REMOVE information from a Wiki and replace it with their own. People have been known to create hoax sites on Wikis, which eventually get debunked, or people add false information. Specifically, these aides are removing derogatory or highly charged issues from the pages that mention their congressmen. This is highly unethical, guys (I know... these are people with no ethics to speak of). Wikis are there to be an information source on all information on a topic. The Wikis that this happened to do not show tracking and changes. Other pages include EVERYTHING, including updates and changes, in a log, so people can see what transpired.

While the idea of a Wiki is a great one, there does need to be accountability in these pages.

FYI: Wiki stands for "What I Know Is".

Oh, there are some Wiki pages that I like a lot. Here is one that I wished had been around when Rory died:

How to Survive after the Death of a Spouse

Stupid People

[rant time]

In this article at http://www.kcra.com, people ARE DRIVING PAST MOVING TRAINS, GOING AROUND BARRIERS, AND EVEN BLOCKING THE TRACKS.

"Too many drivers are ignoring the red warning lights, and police said it could be that they simply don't like the idea of being held up by trains."

How friggin' stupid can people be? The train (even light rail) can oblitarate them! These are not ignorant people. These are educated folk who live in and around Folsom, CA, a middle to upper class community here in the Sacramento area. These are STUPID people, risking themselves and their occupants because of impatience.

Instead of handing out tickets, I think they should take the carcass of a car hit by a train, and place it right near that train crossing so everyone can see first-hand what their car will look like after a hit by a train. Oh yeah, put the pictures of the dead there also. Having scraped people out of a train wreck before, I can tell you it isn't a pretty death.

WAKE UP FOLSOM RESIDENTS! TRAINS KILL!

[rant over]