Alan's Mind

Retaliers with Black Friday Deals - 0, Me - 1

2007-11-26T08:12:00.000-06:00

I managed to get through the post-Thanksgiving weekend without falling for any of the "deals" that were offered by various retailers. Last year I ended up buying a ton of stuff on Thanksgiving morning when the deals came online...I got a monitor, hard drive, and probably some other junk I didn't need because it was a "good deal". I feel a lot better this year having not spent the money!

Positive outlook....

2007-08-30T20:12:00.001-05:00

HOW TO START EACH DAY WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it "George W. Bush"
3. Send it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. Your PC will ask you, "Do you really want to get rid of "George W. Bush?"
6. Firmly Click "Yes."
7. Feel better.

PS: Next week we'll do Dick Cheney

The Great DeKalb Flood of 2007

2007-08-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

At least that is what some people are calling it.

Thursday, August 23rd, DeKalb got socked with a squall line and thunderstorms that dropped 4.85 inches of rain from 7am Thursday to 7am Friday. The Kishwaukee River, normally a glorified stream, was already high and quickly flooded.

From Gilbert, NIU staff meteorologist:
"DeKalb officially has had 4.85" of rain from 7 AM Thursday through 7 AM this Friday morning, including 1.50" last night from 9 PM-1 AM. As a result, the Kishwaukee River is at 15.24', or 5.24' above flood stage. Significant flooding in the city is occurring in the usual suspect areas, including buildings at NIU near the river. Please note, the average monthly rainfall is 4.54" for August. The river is expected now to crest at 15.4 feet this afternoon, taking into account the amount of rain forecast. The all-time record crest is 15.8' back on 7/2/1983."

The Kish eventually crested at 15.27 feet, the second highest crest ever.(Hydrograph courtesy Walker, who had the good sense to take a screen cap of it. Thanks!)

Anyway, the flooding caused all but 2 bridges over the Kish to be closed, but eventually it was down to 1 bridge as the waters crested. In an unprecedented move, NIU shut down at 10 am and sent all non-essential personnel home as flooding was making travel throughout the county difficult to impossible.

Michelle and I arrived on campus at about 10 am Friday, she had class and I was going to work in my office. One of her classmates stopped her and told her classes were cancelled. After confirming this, we walked around campus to take pictures and see the flooding.

So on to the whole point of this post: The pictures!
Castle Drive, covered in water backed up from the lagoon.
This is normally where water exits the lagoon and enters the Kish. There is a trail here that goes around the lagoon, obviously under water.
Here, the Kish attacks the bridge at College Ave. A little water was over topping the bridge but it was still accessible, but the approach on the East was flooded.
Along Gilbert Drive. The Kish crossed the parking lots of the music/art building, flooding the street and also Still Hall/Gym.
Pumping water out of Still Hall/Gym.
A guy wading through the water. It only got thigh high on him.
A tow truck enters the flood water to pull a car out. This is looking East down Lucinda towards the river. Despite the large vehicle, the driver still almost drove off the road and in to a very dangerous situation. Crossing flood waters is dangerous on foot or in a vehicle.
The Kish at the Lucinda bridge. People obviously haven't been following the "Please Don't Litter" judging by the amount of trash collecting here.
Water, debris and unsupervised children on the Lucinda bridge.
Someone didn't get the message to move their vehicle.
Looking N. down Kishwaukee Drive, toward the Engineering Building/Barsema. Kish drive was flooded all the way to the turn-around.
"Yellow Permit Parking"...commuters always get the worst spaces.
Actually, these reserved spots aren't much better. Notice the wide expanse of river and flooding in the background.
Looking East across Lots A and V, which are boat parking only at this point. The 1st Street bridge is off in the distance but probably impossible to see....it was closed due to water on the approaches as well.
An NIU vehicle submerged to the windows...just to give you an idea of water depth.

The pictures don't really do it justice...it really was an epic flood for a river like the Kish. We dodged a serious bullet in the fact that we didn't get any significant rain on Friday or Saturday, and that flooding occurred right at move in....this could have been a major nightmare if classes were already in session (Only the law school was in session as far as I know).

All pictures courtesy of Michelle who had her camera.

A long time coming!

2007-08-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

Well, its been forever since I updated this. Been very busy the last couple months working two jobs and doing other non-blogging stuff. I didn't even really get the opportunity to storm chase anything...a few marginal to decent setups occurred in the last couple months as I remember but I was working most days. My first job was teaching Intro to the Atmosphere at my local community college. That was fun and not too difficult but since I had nothing prepped it was a never-ending battle to stay ahead. The class met every day M-F since it was a summer class so I never really got a break to get ahead on prep. My other job was working nights at a grocery store. So most days I got up, worked on some last minute prep, taught, came home for lunch, and then worked at the grocery store, then came home and slept. Then repeat!

I did go to St. Louis to see Michelle over a couple weekends in there and that was a lot of fun. We went to a county fair down there and saw fireworks, bands, animals and ate a lot of fair food. There was a vendor of home-made root beer there...once you bought the bottle, refills were only 2 dollars so I drank a ton of root beer both days we were there. We also went to Meramec Caves and took a cave tour. For being basically a hole in the ground, it was very cool. I'd post pictures but they're all on Michelle's camera.

Anyway, I've got just a couple shifts left at the grocery store, and next week Michelle and I will be moving back to DeKalb. I still don't know what I'm teaching next semester so that'll be a surprise, and I don't really know what classes I'm taking either. I also need to get going on my thesis so I should have plenty to do!

So whats up...

2007-05-22T13:26:00.000-05:00

Been busy the last week or so moving. We're moving in to a new apartment for the fall in DeKalb, and we can hopefully avoid buying as much 4 dollar a gallon gas as we would where we live now. So we spent most of the week packing stuff up, figuring out if it goes to the new place now, or to Michelle's house or my house for the summer or what, and cleaning. I helped Michelle move her stuff (and the cat) to her parents and got back yesterday, now I'm unpacking and cleaning. I did get to buy gas for 2.94 a gallon in MO, a bargain compared to the 3.39 I just paid up here to fill the tank.

Anyway, back to unpacking.

Some gas (and money) saving tips

2007-05-12T10:26:00.000-05:00

I think by now everyone has received that email telling people not to buy gas on the 15th to try to reduce prices. I came across this article today, talking about how this won't work because it just shifts demand to another day, and doesn't reduce the demand for gas. He offers some tips to reduce the demand, and thereby the price of gas.

From the post:

"The only way that we will be able to reduce the price of gas is to reduce our demand for gasoline. Thankfully, this isn’t hard to do! By following these simple tips, you’ll likely decrease your gas consumption by at least 10%.

Don’t drive if you don’t have to. If your car’s not running, it’s not using gas!
Start a car pool at work or for driving the kids to practice. The less cars that are on the road, the less gas we use.
Check your tire pressure. Under inflated tires can reduce gas mileage by up to 3%.
Replace your car’s dirty air filter. A clogged air filter can reduce your car’s fuel economy by up to 10%.
Clean out your car. For every extra 100 pounds you carry in your car, you can reduce its gas mileage by up to 2%, so stop carry around those golf clubs everywhere you go!
Take it easy on the accelerator. Gunning it when the light turns green and/or driving well above the speed limit not only increases your chances for a costly ticket, but it will also greatly decrease your gas mileage.
Avoid sitting in idle for long periods of time; your gas mileage drops to 0 once you stop moving. If this means you have to leave for work 15 minutes earlier, do it.

While it doesn’t seem like much, if every car on the road were to get at least 10% better gas mileage, we would save billions of gallons of gasoline each year, which would be more than enough to drive down gasoline prices."

So thats something to think about when you're filling up and driving around.

Giuliani campaign snubs Iowa farmer for being poor

2007-05-11T22:51:00.001-05:00

So apparently, the campaign called these farmers and asked to hold a fundraiser/pr stunt at their farm. But since they don't have assets over 1 million and Guiliani is campaigning on the inheritance tax which wouldn't apply to them, they cancelled the event...and now they look dumber than you'd expect.

read more | digg story

The Blog Epidemic

2007-05-11T22:35:00.000-05:00

It started all of a sudden a week or so ago...Walker gets a blog to document chases. Then Dustin gets a blog to talk about aircraft and buildings that piss him off. This prompts me to restart my blog, and now Travis and Victor have blogs (links added at right). So its like a little blog party from the NIU met dept.

Gmail Users are Younger, Richer, Good in Bed

2007-05-11T08:15:00.001-05:00

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the latest stats show that Gmail users skew younger and richer than those on Yahoo Mail and Hotmail.The third part is true as well!

read more | digg story

Tornado Cat

2007-05-10T00:54:00.000-05:00

I saw this photo from Greensburg, KS...the kid picked the cat out of the rubble or from somewhere in the debris. The AP caption said that the kid has found a friend, but I think the cat looks pretty pissed. Anyway, this cat is now known to me as tornado cat.

Plea for Advice and Answer!

2006-11-18T14:16:00.000-06:00

Alan, Recently I was propositioned by a dude I know. I put him off and didn't answer for three days. THREE DAYS! Not a week or a month, three measley days. Then last night (end of third day) he texted me and asked if I, "was all talk, or what?" I replied that he could just forget the whole thing. My question is this: should I buy the 1988 Toyota Camry with sunroof or the 1990 Honda Civic? They're both blue, and about the same price, however the Camry has a small population of animate "Homies" figures that live under the passenger seat. Whaddya think? Camry or Civic?

-Mary, Queen of Shots

Mary-
Well, since the cars are about the same, I say the Camry because of the sunroof and the action figures...if I were interested in buying a different car, including action figures (intentionally or unintentionally) in the deal would be a major selling point for me.

The Best Ad the Democrats Have Had In Years*

2006-10-25T17:42:00.000-05:00

*Well, its pretty darn good. The people of the US, Iraq, and our soldiers deserve a better answer than "stay the course", don't you think?

read more | digg story

Is Obama Getting Serious About '08?

2006-10-05T07:16:00.000-05:00

The Illinois Democrat may be more serious about '08 than you think.....

So yeah, Scott...whats the scoop?? ;-)

read more | digg story

What Costs Taxpayers $317 Bil & increases every second? Bush's Iraq War!

2006-09-25T11:18:00.000-05:00

You may have seen this running counter before, but the number is so staggering that it needs to be reviewed periodically. It's a running total of the U.S. taxpayer cost of the Iraq War. The number is based on Congressional appropriations. I personally enjoy comparing the amount of money we spent to things such as college scholarships....apparently we could have used that money to send over 15 million students to 4 year state universities. I'm glad the US has its priorities straight...

read more | digg story

This one goes out to Scott...

2006-08-29T11:48:00.000-05:00

Democrat Tim Ryan unleashes an absolutely scathing response to a proposed bill in U.S. Congress, aimed directly at the entire Bush administration. This video is a must-see, straight from the House floor in the United States of America.

read more | digg story

Some new things...and 10 things you shouldn't buy new!

2006-08-21T08:39:00.000-05:00

I finally got moved and moved in....classes start in a week and this week I have orientation for being a Teaching Assistant and mostly free time to work on my research. I'm making progress slowly but surely, so that is good. Michelle started law school last week, which she generally likes except the homework. I got in to a car accident last week, some dude rear ended me. The good news is that everyone is ok, but my truck is in pretty bad shape so I'm waiting to see if its totalled or if its going to get repaired....even if they total it we might take the money and see if we can't get it fixed. Anyway, just a quick update....and now a story from digg!

"Why waste money on shiny packaging and a fancy store when you can find it online and 'pre-owned' for a fraction of the cost? Here are your best buys."

read more | digg story

Misc AND Republican Says We Need A Democratic Congress

2006-07-29T15:17:00.000-05:00

I figured I should make a real post since everything I have put up here in the last couple days has been from digg...but like I said, digg is awesome.

I am moving back to school in less than a week and I have a million things that I should probably be doing other than posting on here. However, this is more fun than packing! Not much else going on here...I need to start on the research that I was supposed to be doing all summer but I don't think that will happen this week.

Anyway, here is the story from digg. This story actually made it to digg twice...but he is right, we do need a Democrat controlled congress in 2006!

From the story:
"In a letter from former Republican Congressman and Presidential candidate Pete McCloskey, he proclaims the need for a Democrat-controlled congress."

read more | digg story

WinRAR to be free this Sunday, July 30

2006-07-28T20:01:00.000-05:00

"In order to thank everyone who voted for us and made it possible for us to win this prestigious award, we are offering the WinRAR 3.51 single user license non upgradeable version this Sunday the 30th of July 2006 from 00:00 until 24:00 CET for absolutely FREE."

WinRAR is an awesome program for compressing and uncompressing not only RAR's but other files such as ZIP's. I will definitely be downloading a free copy!

read more | digg story

bootable copy of windows on a USB flash drive

2006-07-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

ever have a problem with the windows registry, or a pesky virus? have no fear, fix it with a bootable copy of windows no further away than your pocket or key chain

read more | digg story

Hello again!

2006-07-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite websites is digg.com. It's a great site full of news about basically everything, sorted in to categories. To quote their website "Every article on digg is submitted and voted on by the digg community."

I am going to try to use the tools available on digg to import my favorite stories of the day into this blog...hopefully I can point out fun and useful things to my readers, and the stories I save here will be available to me long after they are gone from digg.

An update!

2006-07-24T19:32:00.000-05:00

Michelle came to visit me on Wednesday and we basically had a long weekend...she left today to head back home but I will see her again in early August when she graduates...and then we will be moving in together which is awesome!

On Thursday we moved a bunch of stuff up to the apartment...we still need a lot of things but its looking a lot more complete now that we have some furniture up there. I found a couple of desks that we had been looking at on sale so I picked those up today.

Not much else to say really...Michelle and I had a great weekend together and now I have to work on research stuff and moving the rest of the week.

Frenzy!

2006-07-19T10:00:00.004-05:00

I'm pretty pumped/stressed out about moving in a couple weeks...I have basically a million things to do, so many things that its hard to even start because the task is overwhelming.

I'm also pretty pumped that Michelle is coming up today! I haven't seen her in weeks....probably 3 weeks or a month! Its going to be very nice when we are finally moved in and we're not hours away from each other.

In other news, there is a moderate risk of severe weather so close to me today....

This is of course, awesome and exciting! I'm always looking for a chance to chase, but I don't think its do-able today...my chase target in NE Iowa is too far of a drive to try to make today with everything else going on...all we will probably see here is wind and hail, if we even get that. We do need some rain, so hopefully we'll get some from the storms today.
Well, I'm off to take care of stuff before Michelle gets here!

The Alanist Manifesto :)

2006-07-18T21:39:00.000-05:00

So as many of you know, I had a journal for a long time on www.alansmind.com. But, I sort of got lazy and wrote a lot less, and then spam robots started coming to my blog, and then my code mysteriously stopped working, and it was going to take far more time/effort than it would be worth to fix it.

So then today, I'm reading Scott's Blog and I decided....I sort of miss writing about stuff, and I think I know a lot of things that people might be interested in, so why not? Plus, this gives me a great place to answer advice questions from my website, which is something I loved doing but was too lazy to do.

So there are some things that you will probably see here, and some things that you will probably not see here...

Things you probably will see:

Posts about bizzare or cool things that I might find online
Rants about people/places/things/politics/whatever
Posts about bizzare or cool things lurking in my brain
Posts about research/weather/classes/friends/family/girlfriend/
Advice questions asked at my website

You will probably not see:

I don't know...pretty much anything could be seen here.
More stupid lists like this (hopefully)
Live Alpacas*

*unless I become an Alpaca farmer....wish me luck :)

So anyway, its nice to see you here!