sunrays and saturdays

The July 4th war zone ambiance has started already. It's nice to be able to watch a fireworks display from the comfort of my front porch I guess. This is the first state I've lived in where any average Joe can walk into a fireworks stand, buy the BIG shells, and shoot them off anywhere he damn well pleases. I don't even think you need a permit or anything. In Kansas, you had to have a license/training to shoot the large shells off, and usually city displays were the only places you'd see them. Even for woosy stuff like fountains, black cats, and sparklers, the town I lived in required people to take them to designated places to shoot them off. They weren't allowed in city limits. Plus, I think they were only allowed ON July 4th or the few days around it. In Iowa, NOBODY could purchase fireworks or shoot them off except for cities. I was too young to remember what Texas and Colorado were like.

But Oklahoma? Last year there were two big fireworks displays within a quarter mile of our house, and I think they were better than the Norman one we drove 20 miles to see.

Things sound pretty bad in northeast Iowa (and Minnesota) from the tornadoes today. I'm not a trained damage surveyor, but just from the pictures I've seen I would put it easily into the EF4 range and maybe higher than that depending on what the damage to the school and businesses look like in Parkersburg. The video I just saw on KCRG's website looks just like Greensburg. :(

A friend of mine from ISU is one of the on-air meteorologists at KCRG, so it was sort of cool to hear him explaining the situation on the live stream they had on their website while it was going on. He had an image from GRlevel2 Analyst and was trying to explain velocity couplets. Greg Forbes was using the software on-air too on the Weather Channel. Today was the first day I've every seen anyone try to use GR on the air, and I saw it on two different channels. Gotta love technology.

EDIT: I just saw a flyover video on WHO's website of Parkersburg, and it looks like it might not be as bad as I thought. There's about a two to three block-wide path through town that was hit pretty hard, but it looks like at least about 60% of the town escaped major damage. I also read somewhere that they were having high school graduation today. :(

SPRING BREAK!

The Radiation midterm was alright I guess. I only did one small thing blatantly wrong that I'm sure of, and the rest of the points I'll miss will be because I had to rush through the exam. Dr. Fiedler writes tests that are much more involved than the 50 minute class period has time for, so I was in such a hurry to finish that I didn't notice that a few of the questions were asking for additional things, like "Explain how this relates to Figure 3" and "Define all the symbols used." Blech, I'm expecting (read: hoping for) a score in the mid 70s, but since the rest of the class was still working when the 50 minutes were up I have to hope that others did the same things I did. College grades are all about how you do relative to everyone else, regardless of how little you actually get right, and being around the average in grad school is fine with me. I have smart classmates, so I'd be in good company.

Tomorrow I'm making the 9+ hour drive to Ames. Thankfully I finally have a car with working cruise control. It's never good when your gas pedal leg starts randomly cramping up while you're driving down the road, believe me. I have a lot planned for next week between hanging with Mom (she's taking time off to spend time with me), hanging with the ISU meteorology contingent, celebrating my birthday on Wednesday (Hickory Park!!!), and then attending the Severe Storms and Doppler Radar Conference in Des Moines later in the week. It's sounding like I won't get to relax quite as much as I'd like to, but at least whatever I do will be a hell of a lot more fun than studying for midterms!

Oh, and it seems that there might be severe weather in Oklahoma while I'm gone. That figures.

Finally, I have my legitimate reason for preferring Oklahoma over Iowa. As of 3pm, it was 57 degrees here in Norman and 2 in Ames. I've been waiting to brag about this since the start of winter, but up until now we've been just as cold here as up there. Tomorrow it could be in the 60s!!

I don't have much else interesting to report. I just had to gloat. :p

This Iowa caucus shit is crazy. Howard Dean, John Kerry, and Dennis Kucinich are all here in Ames right now giving their last campaign speeches before the caucuses begin at 6:30. I have three presidential candidates less than a mile from me. If I was even 80% sure who I wanted to vote for, I'd go to these little campaign pow wows, but I don't know who I want to support.

The focus on this campus has been insane. Every single candidate has been here at least once in the last 6 months, and a couple of them have made several appearances. CNN filmed a few of their segments here about a week ago, too. I've been getting phone calls and flyers asking me to support candidates.

It's really amazing how the Iowa caucuses are becoming more and more important with each election. I can't wait to see what kind of rat race will be here in 2008. Hopefully it'll be republican candidates trying to beat a democratic president next time around. ;)

Highs and lows of today:

Highs:

- My world prehistory class. It's a course largely for Anthropology majors, but the whole archaeology thing fascinates me. The professor just makes it that much better, too.
- Watching CNN broadcast live from Ames, Iowa. Ok, so I watched it from home like a sane person instead of being out in the freezing cold in the meager attempt to be on national television for 2 seconds. I wanted to kill the dumbass who was banging on the campanile bell every 2 minutes while they were trying to film Crossfire, though.

Lows:
- I slept through my alarm on the second fucking day of classes. Go me.
- While I was trying to get a drink from a water fountain in Carver Hall, I managed to spray water all down the front of my jacket that I was wearing.
- Two words: math professor. This guy takes the cake for being the worst instructor I have ever had, and I've had doozies. I can't understand a word he says, and I can't read much of what he writes on the board. He thinks that when we don't answer his questions in class it's because we don't understand basic fundamentals and proceeds to irritably scribble them down on the board, when in fact we don't answer his questions because we don't understand what he says. He goes off on tangents in class that have absolutely nothing to do with the material, but it's compounded by the fact that we don't realize this until about 30 seconds into his shpeals because we don't understand him. He bases many of his quiz and test questions on things we do in class instead of things from the book, which is just fucking terrific seeing as how I spend a good 75% of the class period lost with an overwhelming urge to fall asleep. I say grad students, professors, and TAs should pass some kind of English (spoken AND written) proficiency test before being allowed to teach a class.

I don't understand why so many people here shuffle and scrape their feet along ice instead of actually picking them up and walking like the rest of us. Is it supposed to keep them from slipping or falling? Is it a throwback to their collective childhood?

Also, the sacred Columbia jacket is beyond my understanding. If you walk by 50 people at any given time on this campus, 48 of them are wearing Columbia coats. While I admit that yes, they look nice and come in pretty colors, I wonder why someone would spend so much money to be a lemming. I don't have one and don't plan on ever getting one. Call it my meager attempt to rebel against the mainstream or something.

I drove by the bars in Campustown at 5 pm, and there was already a huge line outside the door. People are ALREADY GETTING DRUNK. This is going to be a long ass weekend, especially if ISU loses. Rather than risking my life and limb by going somewhere...like a football game, I'm going to stay in the safety of my own apartment and watch it all on tv. I don't have tickets anyway. For tonight, I'm going to snuggle up on the couch with my kettle cooked tomato and basil chips and watch "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" that I discovered was only $5 at Target from Woolf's journal.

I just heard someone slam on their breaks and squeal their tires out on Lincoln Way, probably trying to avoid hitting someone. See what I mean? It's madness out there. I'm staying here, thanks.

I'm back in Iowa!!! I'm not completely finished moving and unpacking, but I have enough done to live somewhat comfortably. Hauling all that shit up 2.5 flights of stairs was awful. Hopefully I don't have to do that again for a very very verrry long time.

My internet's not going to be hooked up until a week from this Monday, so I probably won't be online very much. I'll catch y'all later!

For lunch today: cucumbers, green peppers, and baby carrots in pure apple cider vinegar. I can feel the acid eating away at my esophagus (wtf, I can't spell) as I type this. I need to find a basic beverage to drink.

14 days and counting until I can say "bye bye Kansas" and "hello Iowa." This summer has not gone by fast enough.