Thursday, May 21, 2009

Making good out of bad

I haven't written for a while because it gets depressing with the weather being so bad. Vortex 2 is a very important research project that is basically getting nothing for the 12 million dollar price tag. I feel worse for them. And I feel worse for my students, since it is they who pay for the experience.

And so I commit to do what I know to be best for the students and their educational experience. As we work hard, I can only hope that they truly appreciate what I am trying to do. The ones who have been around for a while are big in teaching this lesson. I hope that the newer students learn to appreciate the intricacies of weather.

And on this trip, I think they have. I like the way this trip is going. We have had some fun storm experiences. Not great, but not bad either. And today was awesome. We spent a couple of hours at NCAR learning the bigger nature of Meteorology. THanks Eric Nelson for helping us set that up. It was a great day.

Boulder also gave us a time of bonding and fun with micro-brewed beer, good food, swimming and a lot of laughs!

So even though Nature is giving us a lemon, we are using it to sweeten our beer!

12 comments:

Dan Murray said...

I've been lucky enough to have very good set-ups and chases all three years that I've chased. Even then we've had down times. I've learned just as much those days as on days where we were chasing beautiful supercells. And I've talked with enough people to know that I'm not the only one that learns on those "slower" days and appreciates what you, your assistants, and your drivers do for us.

Weather Matt said...

I quit

Anonymous said...
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Weather Is My Life said...

I was planning on going on this trip, but am really glad I didn't now. Not only would we not have seen anything, but I now find out that you are using your free time to drown yourselves in poisonous alcohol??? Wow. Question - if I would have gone, would I have been shunned for refusing to drink a poisonous substance or be around people who do?

P said...

Goodness gracious! Many people drink and many others do not. Have some courage and state your name. And beer has been an important part of many people's social life. If you are serious and are afraid of people who drink beer, you would be better going elsewhere.

Unknown said...

At no point in time did we "shun" anyone on this trip nor did we ask them to do anything that they did not want to do.

Those who were of legal drinking age made their own decisions on whether or not they wanted to have a beverage at dinner and that is all. Also, I do not recall anyone complaining about us allowing them to drink one bit.

But I would like to thank Mr./Ms./Mrs. Weather is my life for NOT going on this trip as we were much better off without negative buzz-kills such as yourself.

Kind Regards.........
Chad

Weather Is My Life said...

Well Chad, that's only because people don't realize the negative impacts of alcohol. Why do you think there was a time period when it was prohibited by law? It kills people, it destroys relationships, and there is nothing good about it. When comments are made stating that it is a good thing, without pointing out all the overwhelming negative impacts, then something is wrong. It's a shame that people like me can't do anything that we want to do - like going chasing thunderstorms - without being forced to be around things like this. I can always go chasing by myself.

Nick

Unknown said...

Nick,

If you have an issue with people consuming alcohol then you should be discussing it through a forum that is dedicated solely to that topic and not this blog.

I do agree with you that alcohol can be bad for those who abuse it and I have seen it first hand with my own eyes. But everyone on the trip who were of legal drinking age were more than capable of making their own decisions on whether or not they wanted to have a beer or two.
Had Paul or I observed any type of behavior that may have indicated that someone was abusing the privelage we would have discussed it with them in private but we did not see this take place.
You cannot automatically assume that each and every person will succumb to the negatives of alcohol that you pointed out in your last statement.

In regards to your comment "It's a shame that people like me can't do anything that we want to do - like going chasing thunderstorms", there were days when there was literally nothing to chase.

On the days that had potential for severe weather, which were not many at all, we chased and we saw some pretty cool storms. We tried to make the best of it and Paul did his absolute best to make sure that the students were still getting an education out of the trip despite the lack of severe.

On our down days we visited the weather center at Scott Air Force Base, took a very cool tour at NCAR in Boulder and spent time in the hotel conference room discussing mountain meteorology by showing the students a module on how upslope/downslope situations develop and the impacts that they can have.

You can ask anyone who was on the trip and they'll tell you that we did what we could given the less than favorable setup that mother nature provided us with.

Please do not take any of my comments above as being negative towards you as I don't even know you.
If the screen name that you have chosen, "Weather is my life" is how you really feel about meteorology then feel free to discuss anything weather related here.
But if for some reason you have something against Paul or his program I think it would be best that you take it up directly with him.

Regards,
Chad

Weather Matt said...

It is interesting to note that one of our staff members is a recovering alcoholic, self admitted, and take care of oh so many years ago. Yet, he has no problem being around us and chooses to be a part of our program. Appearantly, your anger towards alcohol has forced you to lump everyone who has a drink under one big umbrella, and that is sad. My father is also a recovering alcoholic, and I have no problem consuming a beer or two ..and I would never let it dominate my life..no more than I would let a caffine addiction, food addiction, or any other addiction rule my world. And as Chad says, this is not the forum for this .. this is a weather forum, and Paul's personal blog.

By the way, Paul (and us) are not the only storm chasers that have a few beers. You are going to be quite shocked to learn how many meterologists in Boulder and Norman love a good microbrew. Not b/c they are evil, but simply b/c it tastes really good. And they live very productive lives, oddly enough.

Weather Matt said...

excuse me..that should be apparently.

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Dominique said...

Hi everyone. I have signed up for the June 11 - June 20, 2010 chase and I'm soo looking forward to it! Major storms or not I'm sure I'm in for a treat. Coming from Canada where there are not many major storms, especially not where I live, just about anything is likely to be impressive to me. If no activity at all, well, I will appreciate the learning involved with professionals anyhow. Plus, how great will it be just to meet people sharing a passion for severe weather?