Tornados and voodoo engineering. Whee!

[foxmonkey]

So, while waiting for The 4400 (Go Kyle/Isabelle!) I thought I'd update.

YOWZA! I got a little too up close and personal with a tornado yesterday. I had a few hours to make up so I went to work yesterday afternoon. I was about halfway through my planned time when an alarm sounded. YIKES! The tornado alarm!

A tornado has been spotted in Franklin County. Seek shelter, stay away from all windows. Do not leave the building.

Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!! Yeeks! I'm in a window office on the top floor! I grabbed my stuff and high-tailed it down to the ground floor of the building.

Man, nothing freaks me out like the threat of a tornado. At least with fire I'm assuming you could make a mad dash for safety. Where the hell are you going to go with a tornado bearing down on your ass!?

Spent the next 45 minutes or so occasionally yukking it up with two other trapped employees. Watched the sky get dark. Watched, quite freaked out, when wind, rain and debris flying at about 400 miles an hour began to pummel the windows and outside doors.

My building has a ton of glass, yo.

The husband and I exchanged a few quick phone calls to make sure we were each okay. Once the storm passed, I went back upstairs and finished out my day with clear blue skies outside my window. Ohio has mad freaky weather sometimes. ::whimper::

Oh yeah, I found out later that the twister had touched down about a mile from my building. ::cries::

My computer hates me. I have wireless mouse and keyboard, and my keyboard gave up the ghost this afternoon. *Highly* frustrating, especially when I uninstalled the driver, hoping it would automatically reinstall after a reboot (the support pages lied!) and found that neither the mouse NOR the keyboard would respond.

Yay for me! I plugged in a regular keyboard and mouse and hoped for the best. Obviously it worked. ::buffs nails:: My rig is completely voodoo now, with a six year old Compaq keyboard, a mouse I bought at Odd Lots, a KDS USA flat panel screen (no idea) and a custom-built tower that the husband bought for me a couple of Christmases ago. And this is me, smiling because it all works. :-D

Comments

[timberho.livejournal.com]

Dude. That building would SUCK to be in during a Tornado.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Dude. That building would SUCK to be in during a Tornado.

EXACTLY what my ass was thinking when the alarm began to sound!

[timberho.livejournal.com]

I took the dog and started to drive in hopes of seeing a tornado. Apparently I am crazy. LOL

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

I took the dog and started to drive in hopes of seeing a tornado. Apparently I am crazy. LOL

Did you really? Woman, you're beyond crazy! Next time there's a storm, I'll check for your car (and your dog!) whirling around in the sky. ;-)

I have to admit though, even though they terrify me, I've always been curious to see one with my own eyes.

[timberho.livejournal.com]

I've always been curious to see one with my own eyes.

You and me both. Dog was so happy to go on a car ride. She had no clue we could have been Toto and Dorothy.

[bartinigirl03.livejournal.com]

I am glad to hear that you are safe. Circleville had a tornado in 1999 that touched down two blocks from my house. I was never more glad that I live in a house with a basement.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Circleville had a tornado in 1999 that touched down two blocks from my house. I was never more glad that I live in a house with a basement.

Yikes! It was mostly okay because I knew that I was relatively safe - safer than my husband anyway, in out little house! Still, I wouldn't want to test the safety features of the building by having the thing any closer than it got!

Also...am I crazy, or is this tornados-in-the-fall thing fairly recent? I swear I don't remember getting tornados this late in the year when I was younger. I seem to remember feeling relieved when the spring patch was over because that was it for the year. Maybe I'm on crack?

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

It's actually not all that late in the season yet, to be having tornados--though the 'season' seems to keep expanding as years progress. In the 13 years I've been down here in Kentucky, we've had them as late as November, and as early as January. Which is just messed up.

[bartinigirl03.livejournal.com]

I heard Jym on the news last night say that since 2000 there has been an almost equal amount of tornadoes in Spring as there is in Fall.

Our tornado was in the Fall as well.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

since 2000 there has been an almost equal amount of tornadoes in Spring as there is in Fall.

YES, that's what I'm talking about. We may have had stragglers, but I remember that when spring faded into summer, the major tornado scare was over. Thanks Jym! ;-)

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Gah, I'm glad you and the hubby were okay! Tornadoes are scary shit, and people who treat them as otherwise annoy the holy hell out of me.

The first year I worked in Denver (summer of 1990), about the 2nd week I was there, we had a tornado that came through *downtown Denver*. And everyone I worked with was all "ooh! Let's GO SEE IF WE CAN SEE IT" and they rushed to the windows. Mind, now, we were on the 25th floor of that building. o_O Me? Born and raised (partially) in Michigan? *I* went to the interior stairwell, where I remained, sitting on the stairs and reading a book, for a good half an hour.

Idiots. Seriously.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

The first year I worked in Denver (summer of 1990), about the 2nd week I was there, we had a tornado that came through *downtown Denver*.

See, *that's* the scary part. I always thought tornadoes happened in the flatter areas of town, usually the outskirts (which is where we lived!), but hearing stories of twisters invading the city centers...yeeks! They seriously freak me out.