I survived my first "real" hurricane. When I moved to Fairhope back in November of 2009, Ida was a thing, but we laughed at the storm. We experienced much worse weather in Nebraska. Over the past two summers, there was never any threat of anything hitting us, but this summer has been very active and back in June, Cristobal hit to the west of Gulf Shores and brought us a nice amount of rain without the destruction. As the summer progressed, there werw other storms in the area, but the National Hurrican Center always did a fantastic job of predicting where they would hit. I was amazed at their accuracy. It looked like either Laura or Marco had the potential to affect my area, but both meandered well to the west, and I began to feel very sorry for Louisiana. When Sally entered the Gulf, it too was proejcted to hit somewhere in Louisiana. By this time, I had total faith in the NHC's forecasts and was not at all concerned. But as the days went on, the storm seemed to inching closer and closer to Gulf Shores. I was still not concerned, though, because Sally was such a slow moving storm that it was forecast to weaken to a tropical storm before making landfall due to it stirring up colder Gulf water and encountering wind sheer and land friction. All I can say is that Sally was a very fickle lady and defied the forecasters at every turn. Not only did she meander some 200 miles east of where she was originally forecast to hit, but she also made landfull (right on top of Gulf Shores at 4:45am on Wedensday, September 16th) as a very strong category 2 hurricane.
Three years ago a tornado formed over my neighborhood in Nebraka and we lost so many trees and limbs. I remember standing in my kitchen and looking out the window at the wind, and as I stared, a tree fell over. It was then that Dan yelled to get into the basement. By the time I rounded up the animals, the threat was past. It didn't occur to me that a tornado was coming through until it was too late. Fortunately, it was a minor F0 that strengthened just a bit to an F1 before disapating, but it scared me enough to never want to experience another one. Sally was very much like that brief moment when I watched the tree fall. It sounded like a locomotive outside my house for hours. I went to bed grateful that it was a weak storm. Little did I know...
I woke up about 5:00am to dead silence. We were in the eye of the hurricane. It was surreal. I walked outside about 6:30 and already my neighbors were out assessing the damage. My next door neighbor to my right had a tree on the roof. Neighbors on the other side lost most of the shingles off the front of their roof. A very large palm tree in the front of a house up the street was split in half horizontally. My back fence had blown down and was under a foot or so of water. And 95% of Baldwin County was without power. After a couple of hours, the wind started to pick up and we were warned that the backside of the storm had yet to come through. Thankfully, once Sally made landfall, the backside of the storm began falling apart, and aside from some wind and a few light showers, the worst was over for me.
Dan wanted to venture out and try to find gas for our generator. Unfortunately, since this storm was forecast to hit well to our west with relatively minor impacts to our area, very few people were prepared for a nearly major hurricane. We sat in a line for nearly a half an hour waiting for a gas pump. We needed to buy oil, but the convenience shop had lines out the door and around the building, so we decided to find another store. Every place that was open had the same issue--lines for days. We were able to borrow a quart of oil from a neighbor, so our generator is functional. It is doubtful that we have enough gas to last until the power comes back, but we are hopeful that more businesses will be open today.
Obviously, I will not be working until at least next week. Ben finally got hired at CSU, and he was supposed to start his new job yesterday. Now that has been pushed back to the 30th. If the electricty comes back on this weekend, I will be able to work on Monday. I am not looking forward to the number of papers in the queue. There were close to 50 left when I left work on Tuesday. Our new writing specialist was supposed to start yesterday too, so now she will be two weeks behind in her training. Also, my and Dan's 30th wedding anniversary was Tuesday. That is one we will never forget.
Speaking of wedding, Dan and I honeymooned on the Carnival Fantasy cruise ship back in September of 1990, just months after she was set to sail, and this past January, we took a cruise out of Mobile on the Fantasy--almonst 30 years after our first one. It was quite a walk down memory lane. Last night Dan told me that the Fantasy is being scrapped. I found it a bit coincidental that our first cruise was one of the first on the brand new Fantasy and our last cruise was one of the last. 2020 has been quite a year.
I will try to post pictures of the damage in my next blog post. I am currently running my laptop on battery and need to end this for now. I appreciate prayers as Gulf Shores and surrounding communities begin to clean up and put lives back together. We were very lucky--our damage was minor, but others were not so lucky. My director lost part of her roof and a wall in her condo collapsed. My supervisor has 6 trees down and she lost her shed and her lawnmower. Most larger cities are under curfews until further notice. We have a relatively long road ahead of us. (BTW, I apologize for any typos. I will clean them up when I have a better internet connection.)
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Saturday, August 22, 2020
Surprise!
Surprise! Yes, I am back finally--at least with one post. I hope everyone is doing well. I have settled into my new routine of working from home and have been doing it now since March 19, so five months. We were given new telephones that work with the internet and a couple of months ago we were issued laptops, so I am now able to use my writing tablet, which makes reviewing papers so much easier. Things seemed to settle down a bit at the beginning of summer, and we had quite a few summer vacationers down here, but now things are pretty quiet again with kids back in school. Schools opened back up a couple of weeks ago, but my understanding is that only about a half of kids returned. A lot of parents elected to keep their kids home and let them do online school. I personally think the whole thing was overblown, but I guess time will tell the truth. I never was particularly worried about it. I know that there were many sicknesses and deaths, but that is not uncommon with any virus. The media rarely reports on flu deaths because we all know that older people are more susceptible to catching pneumonia when they get the flu. But since this was a novel virus, the media decided to make a huge deal. In the end, the number of deaths was well below the projections, but the powers-that-be have managed to fundamentally change America. Many people I have an opportunity to talk to tell me that they prefer not to go out. They have grown accustomed to being at home, and it is now their comfort zone. I imagine that as things get back to 'normal,' people will readjust, but it has been a bizarre time to be alive.
In November of last year, Ben started streaming a Pokemon game, and I thought it looked fun, so April bought it for me for Christmas. She gave it to me on Thanksgiving, and I delved into the world of pocket monsters. I really didn't think I would enjoy it, but surprisingly, I did. It got me through the months of December, January, and February, and helped me get my mind off of how much I missed my job. By the time I returned to work on February 19th, I had accomplished most of what I wanted to, and one unintended consequence of starting Pokemon was the fact that I no longer had time for Facebook. After a few weeks of logging on very rarely, I stopped visiting the site at all, and this past week, I decided to deactivate my account. I heard from my family how toxic the environment was with everyone disagreeing on COVID and politics, and I was blissfully unaware of all the hatred and vitriol. However, Dan still visited frequently and talked about things a lot. I wished he'd leave too, but he had nothing constructive to do to get him away. On March 20th, the new Animal Crossing game was released. Back in 2007 or 2008, April bought me the Animal Crossing game for the Wii, and I played that game for about eight years, so I was eager to play the new game. I bought a Switch a year and a half before the game even came out in anticipation. Dan always enjoyed watching me play and he mentioned that he wouldn't mind picking it up. However, Switches were nearly impossible to find with the pandemic, but one day I checked Amazon and they were in stock, so I bought one and copy of AC for Dan for Father's Day. I figured that he would start the game, get tired of it after a few weeks, and leave me to maintain things. I am happy to report that two months later, he still plays everyday and stil enjoys it very much. AND, it has gotten him away from FB for the most part.
Everyone here is doing well. April seems to enjoy her job, and she started streaming a few weeks ago. She made it to affiliate within seven streams, so she is now making money from people who subscribe to her channel. Ben has been streaming for over a year, and the money he makes is giving him enough to live on until he finds a job. Of course he is living with us (he decided not to move to Nebraska), so he does not have a lot of expenses. He applied for a job where Dan, April, and I work, and he has an interview on Tuesday morning. I pray that he gets this job, becaue he applied there a few times and was passed over. He is an excellent worker, so I know he will do a fantastic job if they will give him a chance. Matt is doing the same job he has done for several years and he still hates it as much as ever, but he is unwilling to make a change, so he lives with it. Dan and I have tried several times over the past couple of years to get back to eating healthy, but were always unsuccessful until about a month ago. We are now back to eating WFPB and walking almost every night. I did not let myself get overweight, but I did gain a few pounds, so I am in the process of dropping them so I can get back into my skinny jeans before I am required to return to the office. We are supposed to be updated by October 1st. We were supposed to return on August 31st, but they postponed it to see how things would go with kids going back to school. My guess is that as long as things stay relatively controlled, we will be going back in early October. I wouldn't mind working from home, and I am equipped to do so, but it is doubtful that I will be permitted to. I am still working away on my dissertation and will be defending it by the end of this term. After that I will run my research, write up my results, and then hopefully be finished. I am still shooting for the end of the year, but we shall see.
Well, I think this is a decent stopping point. I will make some blog visits a bit later. Hugs!
In November of last year, Ben started streaming a Pokemon game, and I thought it looked fun, so April bought it for me for Christmas. She gave it to me on Thanksgiving, and I delved into the world of pocket monsters. I really didn't think I would enjoy it, but surprisingly, I did. It got me through the months of December, January, and February, and helped me get my mind off of how much I missed my job. By the time I returned to work on February 19th, I had accomplished most of what I wanted to, and one unintended consequence of starting Pokemon was the fact that I no longer had time for Facebook. After a few weeks of logging on very rarely, I stopped visiting the site at all, and this past week, I decided to deactivate my account. I heard from my family how toxic the environment was with everyone disagreeing on COVID and politics, and I was blissfully unaware of all the hatred and vitriol. However, Dan still visited frequently and talked about things a lot. I wished he'd leave too, but he had nothing constructive to do to get him away. On March 20th, the new Animal Crossing game was released. Back in 2007 or 2008, April bought me the Animal Crossing game for the Wii, and I played that game for about eight years, so I was eager to play the new game. I bought a Switch a year and a half before the game even came out in anticipation. Dan always enjoyed watching me play and he mentioned that he wouldn't mind picking it up. However, Switches were nearly impossible to find with the pandemic, but one day I checked Amazon and they were in stock, so I bought one and copy of AC for Dan for Father's Day. I figured that he would start the game, get tired of it after a few weeks, and leave me to maintain things. I am happy to report that two months later, he still plays everyday and stil enjoys it very much. AND, it has gotten him away from FB for the most part.
Everyone here is doing well. April seems to enjoy her job, and she started streaming a few weeks ago. She made it to affiliate within seven streams, so she is now making money from people who subscribe to her channel. Ben has been streaming for over a year, and the money he makes is giving him enough to live on until he finds a job. Of course he is living with us (he decided not to move to Nebraska), so he does not have a lot of expenses. He applied for a job where Dan, April, and I work, and he has an interview on Tuesday morning. I pray that he gets this job, becaue he applied there a few times and was passed over. He is an excellent worker, so I know he will do a fantastic job if they will give him a chance. Matt is doing the same job he has done for several years and he still hates it as much as ever, but he is unwilling to make a change, so he lives with it. Dan and I have tried several times over the past couple of years to get back to eating healthy, but were always unsuccessful until about a month ago. We are now back to eating WFPB and walking almost every night. I did not let myself get overweight, but I did gain a few pounds, so I am in the process of dropping them so I can get back into my skinny jeans before I am required to return to the office. We are supposed to be updated by October 1st. We were supposed to return on August 31st, but they postponed it to see how things would go with kids going back to school. My guess is that as long as things stay relatively controlled, we will be going back in early October. I wouldn't mind working from home, and I am equipped to do so, but it is doubtful that I will be permitted to. I am still working away on my dissertation and will be defending it by the end of this term. After that I will run my research, write up my results, and then hopefully be finished. I am still shooting for the end of the year, but we shall see.
Well, I think this is a decent stopping point. I will make some blog visits a bit later. Hugs!
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Crazy Times
Hi, friends! I hope you are all doing well and surviving the COVID 19 scare. Things are going well here. On Thursday I will have been back to work for a month. Most days I feel like I never left. It took me literally one day to get back into the routine. I realize now that I was not at all happy when I was at home. I feel like I have a purpose when I go to work and help students. Yesterday a student called the phone rotation and I got his call, and after talking him through some things he was so thrilled that he asked if I could be the one to review the paper he was going to send in. It always feels good to know that I am doing something that makes a difference. I will most likely work at my job for a long time--maybe even until I retire.
April found out last Tuesday that she got the instructional design job. Of course she is thrilled. Today was her last day as a CSU employee; tomorrow she transitions over to Waldorf. She was supposed to be at CSU for the next three days for training, but the trainer has decided to do remote training in light of the virus stuff, so I am not sure what is going on. I don't think she is either. She said she was coming in tomorrow at 9:00am, but I am not sure how long she will be there. I will miss her, but I am so proud of her success.
There is a possibility that my department will be going remote for awhile. CSU leadership is trying to get as many people working at home as possible. It's a little tricky for us because we have to talk to students on the phone, but they could set us up with a chat function for the short term. Today my supervisor came around and asked everyone if they have a reliable personal computer and internet connection. Normally, remote employees are given laptops, but there are obviously not 400 laptops laying around, so they are trying to work with what they have. I know they are working as fast as they can, especially since kids are now out of school until at least April 13th. Some people have no child care options, so life is going to be tricky for awhile. Working from home would definitely alleviate some of the stress for them. We are also not hiring new employees for the foreseeable future. Billie's last day is Friday, so it looks like we are going to be super busy with requests again for awhile. We've done it before, so we will be ok, but that means that projects will go by the wayside again. That is unfortunate, because the new APA Manual was released late last year and we are scheduled to implement it on July 1st. That means all of our new resources need to be ready to go by early- to mid-May. Fortunately, we have a good start on them, so hopefully we'll be able to push everything out on time.
Susan, to answer your questions on my last post, the birds are doing ok. Dan is a good bird dad, so they are always entertained. The kids are doing fine. April, of course, starts her new adventure tomorrow, and Ben is going to give his notice at the hotel he's been working at for almost a year and a half. He is planning to move back to Omaha sometime next month or early May. It's hard to say how the virus scare is going to affect hotels down here. It's spring break time, but I imagine most of the kids will stay home now. I did find a really nice church not too far from where I live. Dan has been going with me and he likes it too. Last Sunday we had an online service, and I imagine we will continue to do it that way for at least a month. I am still working on my doctorate. I have at least two more sessions to go, but it might take me three more to finish. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the year.
It's bedtime, so I am going to close for now. I will try to do some blog visits tomorrow after work. Maybe I'll have an update by then. Stay safe and healthy!
April found out last Tuesday that she got the instructional design job. Of course she is thrilled. Today was her last day as a CSU employee; tomorrow she transitions over to Waldorf. She was supposed to be at CSU for the next three days for training, but the trainer has decided to do remote training in light of the virus stuff, so I am not sure what is going on. I don't think she is either. She said she was coming in tomorrow at 9:00am, but I am not sure how long she will be there. I will miss her, but I am so proud of her success.
There is a possibility that my department will be going remote for awhile. CSU leadership is trying to get as many people working at home as possible. It's a little tricky for us because we have to talk to students on the phone, but they could set us up with a chat function for the short term. Today my supervisor came around and asked everyone if they have a reliable personal computer and internet connection. Normally, remote employees are given laptops, but there are obviously not 400 laptops laying around, so they are trying to work with what they have. I know they are working as fast as they can, especially since kids are now out of school until at least April 13th. Some people have no child care options, so life is going to be tricky for awhile. Working from home would definitely alleviate some of the stress for them. We are also not hiring new employees for the foreseeable future. Billie's last day is Friday, so it looks like we are going to be super busy with requests again for awhile. We've done it before, so we will be ok, but that means that projects will go by the wayside again. That is unfortunate, because the new APA Manual was released late last year and we are scheduled to implement it on July 1st. That means all of our new resources need to be ready to go by early- to mid-May. Fortunately, we have a good start on them, so hopefully we'll be able to push everything out on time.
Susan, to answer your questions on my last post, the birds are doing ok. Dan is a good bird dad, so they are always entertained. The kids are doing fine. April, of course, starts her new adventure tomorrow, and Ben is going to give his notice at the hotel he's been working at for almost a year and a half. He is planning to move back to Omaha sometime next month or early May. It's hard to say how the virus scare is going to affect hotels down here. It's spring break time, but I imagine most of the kids will stay home now. I did find a really nice church not too far from where I live. Dan has been going with me and he likes it too. Last Sunday we had an online service, and I imagine we will continue to do it that way for at least a month. I am still working on my doctorate. I have at least two more sessions to go, but it might take me three more to finish. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the year.
It's bedtime, so I am going to close for now. I will try to do some blog visits tomorrow after work. Maybe I'll have an update by then. Stay safe and healthy!
Monday, March 9, 2020
Back in the Routine
I just read through my last post and realized that I have things to update. First, Nicole decided to make February 14th her last day at work, so when I got the job offer call on Tuesday the 11th, I was told my start date would be February 19th, so I had about a week to get everything done. I had to do another background check and drug test, and the drug test was so stressful! I had an appointment at 11:20, and in spite of the fact that I drank a ton of water before I went, I just did not have to go. So I sat there for an hour waiting to feel like I had to go, and when I finally did, I was accused by the medical assistant at the clinic of cheating. She said my urine looked like water and was not warm enough to have come from my body. I was so upset. Of course I knew it was a legitimate test, but she said she had to send it to an outside lab. Obviously everything turned out fine, but I am contemplating telling someone in HR what happened, because she was very rude and unprofessional, and this happened at a clinic that was opened for CSU employees. I do not think CSU would be happy to know that people are being treated that way.
Anyway, I started on the 19th and I only had to spend the morning in orientation. After lunch, I went up and spent the rest of the afternoon getting reacquainted with my computer, phone, and the processes. On Thursday I processed five papers, and on Friday I was back on the phone and back up to speed completely. Now it feels like I never left; they even put me back in the cubicle I was in when I first started. I am very happy to be back. I went through orientation with the new math specialist. That position had been vacant since before I left in August. I guess it is tough to find math people. His name is Larry and he is from South Africa. He is here on a student visa and needed a job because he had graduated and was at risk of being sent back home. He's very quiet. I hardly even know he's there.
The director of the Success Center, Wendy, has been out since before I started because she has had some health issues, and she came in early last week to tell us that one of her doctors had potentially found something else, but after consulting with another doctor, her fears were put at ease somewhat. Wendy has had some really tough times lately, so I pray that she can start mending now. She also told us that she is fighting hard to get us a 12th writing specialist. Student requests continue to increase and we are very busy on the first two or three days of the week. She told me when I applied that she was trying to get a part-time position, which would actually suffice for right now, but I am not sure if the new person would be part- or full-time. I think that if she can justify hiring a full-timer, she definitely will. When my job was posted on the CSU website, I figured HR would take it down when I started, but it still up because Wendy is trying to get a pool of applicants to choose from. I know that Crystal, the Writing Center supervisor, is very concerned about finding someone who will mesh well with the rest of the team. When I very first started, there were a couple of very contentious people working there, and now they are both gone, so things have been much more pleasant. Of course there are still issues. I know of at least two people who really want to find new jobs, but there aren't a lot of opportunities in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach unless one wants to get into hospitality. One of the gals wants to find a job in Washington state where her daughter is, but so far I do not think she has had much luck finding anything. The other is looking for a remote copy editor position, but she only has a bachelor's degree and online jobs are very competitive.
Case in point, Billie has been applying for remote jobs since before I left because she want to be home with her little girl and have another baby, but until recently she had been kind of particular about the jobs she was applying for. She found out about a month ago that both her in-laws need surgery, and they are the ones who watch her daughter during the day, so she told leadership that she has to find another job and leave. Last Thursday she found out that she got a remote position with WGU and Friday the 20th will be her last day. It is only part-time, but it does offer some benefits. She is hoping to supplement that job with another remote teaching position. I am very happy for her, but I am sad for me because she is my best friend at work and I will miss her a lot. So we may have two new people coming into the department again.
I need to go get ready for work now. I hope you all have a fantastic week. BTW, I am not enjoying waking up when it's still dark. :(
Anyway, I started on the 19th and I only had to spend the morning in orientation. After lunch, I went up and spent the rest of the afternoon getting reacquainted with my computer, phone, and the processes. On Thursday I processed five papers, and on Friday I was back on the phone and back up to speed completely. Now it feels like I never left; they even put me back in the cubicle I was in when I first started. I am very happy to be back. I went through orientation with the new math specialist. That position had been vacant since before I left in August. I guess it is tough to find math people. His name is Larry and he is from South Africa. He is here on a student visa and needed a job because he had graduated and was at risk of being sent back home. He's very quiet. I hardly even know he's there.
The director of the Success Center, Wendy, has been out since before I started because she has had some health issues, and she came in early last week to tell us that one of her doctors had potentially found something else, but after consulting with another doctor, her fears were put at ease somewhat. Wendy has had some really tough times lately, so I pray that she can start mending now. She also told us that she is fighting hard to get us a 12th writing specialist. Student requests continue to increase and we are very busy on the first two or three days of the week. She told me when I applied that she was trying to get a part-time position, which would actually suffice for right now, but I am not sure if the new person would be part- or full-time. I think that if she can justify hiring a full-timer, she definitely will. When my job was posted on the CSU website, I figured HR would take it down when I started, but it still up because Wendy is trying to get a pool of applicants to choose from. I know that Crystal, the Writing Center supervisor, is very concerned about finding someone who will mesh well with the rest of the team. When I very first started, there were a couple of very contentious people working there, and now they are both gone, so things have been much more pleasant. Of course there are still issues. I know of at least two people who really want to find new jobs, but there aren't a lot of opportunities in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach unless one wants to get into hospitality. One of the gals wants to find a job in Washington state where her daughter is, but so far I do not think she has had much luck finding anything. The other is looking for a remote copy editor position, but she only has a bachelor's degree and online jobs are very competitive.
Case in point, Billie has been applying for remote jobs since before I left because she want to be home with her little girl and have another baby, but until recently she had been kind of particular about the jobs she was applying for. She found out about a month ago that both her in-laws need surgery, and they are the ones who watch her daughter during the day, so she told leadership that she has to find another job and leave. Last Thursday she found out that she got a remote position with WGU and Friday the 20th will be her last day. It is only part-time, but it does offer some benefits. She is hoping to supplement that job with another remote teaching position. I am very happy for her, but I am sad for me because she is my best friend at work and I will miss her a lot. So we may have two new people coming into the department again.
I need to go get ready for work now. I hope you all have a fantastic week. BTW, I am not enjoying waking up when it's still dark. :(
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