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2004-09-20 - 4:39 p.m.

It was quite the weekend.

Friday I saw a tornado up close. In fact it began forming right over top of the van. It was at the intersection of 15 and 17�4:15pm. Susie, David and I sat there in the van�waiting for the light to change when I noticed that the clouds were doing something kinda funny. About 50 yards in front of us the cloud layer had dropped pretty low�and was distinctly moving towards our left. I then looked up at the clouds right above us and saw that they were moving distinctly to the right. Upon closer inspection I realized that they were in fact moving in a circular pattern.

Tornado was the first thing that went through my head�followed by OMG this is SO cool! I am getting to watch a tornado for from underneath! Yeah I know�I am thinking that I am missing some sort of self preservation gene or something. In fact I really think that if I had been driving I would have stopped to watch even further�

But back to the story. The light goes green and we head off...but not a quarter mile down the road the coolest weather thing I have ever seen occurred. The wind went form 0 to 75 (estimated) mph in a few mere seconds! Looking out the window I see a tree literally ripped in half by the force of the wind. So I spin around in my seat and look out the back window of the van and I see it�the black cloud suddenly dropped down below the tree line! I saw the funnel! I am sure of it!

It was AMAZING! I tell ya�I am a weather junkie. I am fascinated by the awesome power that can be generated but Mother Nature. Tornados, Thunderstorms, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Floods�

As a little kid I would beg my grandparents to let me sit out on the porch during the Summer Thunderstorms that would tear down the James and York rivers. And I would sit there�bundled under a blanket (my grandmother insisted�she didn�t want me to take cold) and stare with complete fascination as the wind tore branches from trees, I would giggle each time the Lightning flashed in the sky, and jump with each crash of thunder! It was Fantastic!

In fact on of my biggest disappointments from my time in San Francisco was that I did not get to experience an earthquake. I was really looking forward to one�but I was in the wrong place at the wrong times to ever get to feel em. Sigh�but I am still young. I am sure that I will get the opportunity to see what they are like.

This weekend I also picked up my loaner bike (it is mine till Gus gets his license) and drove through the cold and rain to the Wine and Cheese Party at Corby and Thorja�s. And yes�I still enjoyed the weather�Just not as much as I would have if I was warm. One of the things I think that I am going to be happiest about is that the bike gets a healthy 45-50 mpg. This means that I should manage to save a pretty penny on gas since the Mustang gets a robust 21 mpg. So lemme see�Math time. It is 25 miles one way to work for me. That means it is a 50 mile round trip�So that is 250 miles a week that is about 12 gal of fuel for the Mustang which would cost me $23. Now with the Motorcycle that would be 5.5 gal of fuel at a cost of $10 a week�Hmm that is a savings of $13 or $50 a month. Enh�Not Earth shattering�but still�$50 a month is $50 a month.

Well it is back to work for me. I hope. The Test server has been down all morning so I have not had access to the application today�and with the 30th looming in the distance, I am certainly feeling the pressure of the deadline. Ugh�I hate Stress.

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