Kate in Oklahoma

Look out for updates

2010-06-13T15:59:00.002-05:00

I'm soon going to be moving to a new blog now I'm ready to graduate and hope to write about weather and climate events that are happening on the new blog, but I haven't got a name for it yet so look out for the post telling you where to find my new page.

Kate xxx

Look Behind you there's a TORNADO!!!!!!!

2009-05-05T17:30:00.004-05:00

TORNADO we were all very happy as you can tell

It was a very active weekend on the 25-26th April. Two days where chasing looked set to be good. One problem, the vast amount of work and revision to be done with looming dealines and exams coming up the next week, not to mention a job interview for the summer. So I decided that I would pick just one day to go chasing and that day would be sunday. With everyone else gone I managed to power through the assignments and got lots done so was very happy to go out chasing the next day.

On sunday, looking at all the models and forecasts it was a HIGH day so there would be a good chance of seeing tornadoes. As it turned out it wasn't really a day worthy of high status but we got on the right storm and a little before 4.30pm on sunday 26th April I saw not 1, not 2 but 3 tornadoes. It's what we came for knowing the odds were against us and we were delivered with a real treat of a day.

(i) The wedge just about to descend and form a tornado, (ii) The first tornado of the day, (iii) We knew we were in the right place because the TIV was there that drives through the storms

I was so excited that I didn't grab my camera so my pictures have kindly been borrowed from Rob Lee. I was driving though, I did about 5/6 hours fo driving that day, and Becky and Rob did the rest. At one point during the day we pulled into the side and Rebekah's car got stuck in the mud so we left it to the boys to push it out, the ground came off worse as the car left a deep gash in it.

Stuck in the mud!

It was really worth me waiting till the sunday to go chasing and it made my week which hadn't been a particularly good one.

In the Words of Bon Jovi...'Ride Cowboy Ride!'

2009-04-19T19:35:00.003-05:00

Today I fullfilled a life ambition and that was to ride a horse.Me and my horse Buzz, she was a lovely horse and I felt really high up.Thunderbird stables and all the horses waiting for riders, in fact the horse in the middel is my horse Buzz

Pete, Becky and I headed up to Thuderbird stables to ride the trails there for a full hour of horsey fun. Becky had ridden before and found it highly amusing that both Pete and I had got to the grand old age of 21 without ever havign ridden a horse, (apparently you can count riding a donkey though I'm sure becasue of my age the relative size of the horse was the same). I rode a brown horse called Buzz who was lovely. Becky and Pete rode Diego and Gus. Diego seemed to have issues with direction and Gus never seemed to want to trot, not that Pete found trotting that comfortable.

(1) I liked this sign, (2) Pete riding Gus and ahead Becky riding Diego

We made our way around the trails through the woods and past part of lake Thunderbird, walking and trotting away. It was a nice amount of time to be out riding and I definately want to go back a couple of times again before I leave. The staff were all really friendly and showed us what to do and told us a bit about the differences between english riding and western riding.

Katie's Bridal Shower

2009-04-19T19:23:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I went to Katie's wedding shower. Basically this involves getting together all of the bride's female friends who each bring a gift of some form of lingerie and you eat, drink and play silly games.

The first game involved writing down a chore you hate and why to 'get the bride looking forward to married life', only there is one small twist the chore gets changed to the word sex so some of the explainations come out very amusingly.

Next we split into two teams for a relay race, this involved one person standing with a loo roll between their legs, the other person then runs to them with a sink plunger between their legs and you have to get the plunger through the loo roll, then swap items and run back for the next person. As you can imagine you can't help but look comedic and it becomes a lot harder when everyone is laughing. I think we might have lsightly disturbed some young boys who were playing football in the field next to the apartments.

The third game was another team game where you had to make loo roll wedding dresses for the bride who then had to pick her favourite design.

Finally, everyone had a piece of paper with a word on such as noun, food, verb etc etc... and you had to fill it in with anything you liked. These then got fed back into a story with the missing words. Our story ended up with the minister saying..."wantonly beloved..." and ..."you may now jump the bride, then Katie said 'STOP, hold on a minute'!".... no one knew how that was going to turn out until it was put together, I promise no one knew what was written in the story already.

After all the games were over and the presents were opened and admired it was time to go home, my head full of ideas of what to plan being the official planner of Denice's wedding shower for next year.

Everyone at the bridal shower

Mum and Dad's American Visit

2009-04-14T13:52:00.005-05:00

Easter brought with it no acknowledged bank holiday something so strange in a country which even though its secular is so strongly driven by Christianity, but it did bring Mum and Dad to Oklahoma. A cancelled flight meant that they couldn't arrive on the thursday afternoon as planned and I was all ready to pick them up at the same time the enxt day, but to my surprise, I recieved a phone call very early on friday morning and they were 10 minutes away in a taxi.

On friday afternoon I took Mum and Dad for a walking tour of campus pointing out all the important buildings and statues and we stopped off at Sooner Rocks on the way back so that Mum and Dad could sample the delights of frozen custard which is like a very creamy ice cream and is much better than ice cream.
In the evening after my lectures we and my host parents Sandy and John took a trip out to Fred and Kian's mansion for their traditonal dance evening. There was lots of persian food to eat and several dances from different countries were performed with traditional music and national dress. The dance evening is held every year during the celebration of the persian New Year which is celebrated for 2 weeks starting on the first day of spring.

On saturday Dad and Mum helped me to write a cover letter for a job that I'm hoping to get over the summer working downin Oxfordshire for 4 months on an official research project with FUGRO, then in the afternoon we and Robert Graham along with his sister who was also visiting went to Oklahoma City the see the State Capitol building, then onto the Memorial from the bombing in the 90s, and finally into Brick Town to have a walk around the canal where there are statues to commemorate the centenial anniverary of Oklahoma state. It was a beautiful day and the sun was beating down making it so hot. It was nice to get home and inside for a couple of hours before everyone and our familiy members who were visiting (13 in total) went out to one of our favourite places Ken's steakhouse in Amber. It didn't dissappoint and yet again we were recognised by the waitresses who were very happy that we were bringing even more new people to visit.

Sunday, I walked Mum and Dad over to the National wearther Centre so thart they could see where it all happens and where I spend most of my time during the week. I think they were fairly impressed by the layout and the access to computers and things that we have.
We walked straight to the Natural History museum which I live next to and can see from my living room window. I've never actually managed to get there until now and it holds an good selection of exhibits amongst which tells you about the tribal indians many tribes of which still exist today in Oklahoma. By the evening we were ready for a rest so I cooked dinner with a little preparation help from Dad (well I wouldn't want him to get withdrawl symptoms now would I?) and we hired out a film from the club house.

Early monday morning we were all up and in the busy traffic on the way to the airport so that Mum and Dad could fly onto their final destination before returning home New York. I'd had a great weekend and them leaving meant that I now had little time to wait until I see them again.
When I got back, another long week slowly began.

Flood Management Project

2009-04-14T13:31:00.003-05:00

As part of one of my classes groups of us have been set different 'real jobs'. This involves being given a project which is current and working with the clients to solve the issue, a bit like what I had to do for the Engineering Education Scheme but on a slightly smaller scale.

My teams project involves the fact that the city of Norman has recently been re-zoned for flooding and areas that were once in the flood plain are now no longer considered at as high risk. The emergency managers however think that

this area is still going to flood and want to obtain funding to protect this land. This project then has involved several important and official meetings already and has really given me a taste of working in emergency management in the real world. An area which whilst interesting I definitely don't think I want to submit myself into full time.

The first meeting involved meeting with the city's emergency manager. Whilst at the meeting there were several phone calls interrupting us because there were high winds that day and on the Main street there is a high rise building called the Vista which is structurally unstable, and if winds of over 50mph were sustained for at least 3 minutes then the building would collapse. It was decided to close the street and evacuate the people from it and surrounding buildings, but was quite exciting to be there when the decision was made.

Next we had to attend a local meeting which was broadcast on local cable channels in which a plan for the city's storm water management plan was discussed, and then later in the week a trip to the State Capitol in Oklahoma City to sit in on the state emergency manager's meeting and to meet the lady who we will meet this week to help us produce an application for the money needed to protect the area, so another trip to th

e city is due soon.

Oklahoma state Capitol Building

Our job is to produce the application for submission to the State for the flood man

agement funding. Some other members of the group have also been on a field site visit to document the area. It really is interesting to be able to work on a real project which on its completion will help the city where I've been living for the past year.

The Mantel

2009-04-04T11:14:00.005-05:00

Last night I went to a gormet restraunt in Oklahoma City called The Mantel, and it was a great night despite the late table booking.

Inside the ceiling was close to black and the walls and furnishings were in a dark red and cream colour, there were wooden beams up to the ceiling also in black and from these there were imitations of gas lamps for lighting giving an ambient and relaxed mood. The waiting staff were very polite and well dressed in their uniforms and complemented everyone on their choices as they took the orders. Everything was done very systematically which made things very efficient. Maybe that's not an interesting point but its the kind of thing you start to notice when you've work in the restraunt industry.

To start off with I had a cup of lobster bisque which was creamy but not over poweringly so, and beautifully smooth, it was topped of with a puff pastry crouton. It was really delicious and I was glad that I decided in the end to have a starter (or appetizer as they say here).

For my main course (or entree) I decided on duck breast with a port and cranberry sauce which came with roast potatoes and aspargus. The asparagus was a little bit too al dente for my personal taste but it was lovely all the same, and the potatoes were lightly roasted with plenty of garlic on them. The duck breast was cooked beautifully and tasted abolutely fabulous, just the right texture and full of flavour. The sauce which I wasn't totally sure of when I ordered, I turned out to really love too, the slight bitterness of the port was offset by the cranberries and were added just right so as that I could individually pick out the flavours of just the port and cranberries, it complemented the duck perfectly. Upon collecting my plate the waiter said that it was a very happy plate as it was empty.

In between the courses herb bread was brought to the table with a dipping sauce. The dipping sauce was made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chillis and had a lovely, but not over powering tang to it and tasted even better with a tiny bit of lemon added to it. Plates of lemon slices had ben brought out to the table for the water.

It was definately an experience and even though I initially wasn't going to spend as mucj on he meal I was glad that I did. I don't know when I'm going to get chance to go to a gormet restraunt again, let alone for such a reasonable price. I wouldn't be surprised that if I went to a similar restraunt in UK that the same meal would cost me the same in pounds as it did in dollars.

Death Fortnight Draws to a Close

2009-04-02T21:40:00.003-05:00

What with all the exams, presentations and homework that I've had to complete for the past 2 weeks its been a bit of a nightmare this fortnight and I am glad that it is over tomorrow.
This week amongst all the business I decided to finally get around to using up my birthday present from everyone and went to get my back massage and facial. I spent a very happy hour in candel lit rooms with soft music and runnign water having oils and potions massaged into my skin and I temporarily felt much better for the break.

Tomorrow we are going out in the evening to Oklahoma City for our friend LArissa's 21st birthday and to do so we shall be goin to a restraunt called The Mantel, www.themantelokc.com apparently this gormet restraunt is supposed to be one of the best in America so I am looking forward to it although I do wish we were eating a bit earlier, (our table is booked for 9.30pm!) I'm told that unless you give sufficient notice then they charge you $100 for every missing person from your party! It will be a nice opportunity to dress up for the evening though.

And so the Countdown Begins

2009-03-29T20:40:00.003-05:00

It's official. Now a full week into the second half of spring semester the coming home countdown has begun. Over the next 7 weeks there will be 5 more exams, 3 presentations, a term project and a few homeworks thrown in too. So there really seems like far too much to do an not too much time to do it.

The next week and a half will be devoted to getting as much work done as possible so that I can enjoy myself when mum and dad come over, now only 11 short days until they arrive in Oklahoma.

Also in the time I have to fit in a 21st birthday, a bridal shower, sell the car and finally get around to horse riding down at Lake Thunderbird, not better time to ride a horse for the first time than in cowboy country itself.

Still, even as the amazing year draws to an end I can't help but fell like it will have been just the right amount of time for me and that I am going to be very glad to get home. It also means that it is coming to the end of this blog. I'm considering starting a new one to document my final and masters year at university, but that's something for later.

I am also trying my hardest to sort out some work experience with a private weather forecasting company down in Oxfordshire, so hoping with all fingers crossed that I get it I might also have to fit in finding a place to live into the equation.

Whoever said that life was simple evidently didn't have many affairs to attend to. Phew!

I was out woth some friends the ther week when we came out of the bar and in the car park was this enormous truck, Pete and I were in awe at its size and how it could possibly necessary, scarily, David and Katie said they didn't even give it a second glance, a point which we brought up in our climate and renewable energy class......

...... Well I'll just let you see what you think to it.

Spring Break - a Californian Adventure

2009-03-21T00:38:00.026-05:00

I have just got back from my spring break and feel the better for it, not that the relaxation will last for long, the hard work starts today and the slog will be on for the next couple of weeks with various presentations and exams coming up. But enough with that, lets tell you all about my week away and the adventures which I had along the way.

I flew out to San Diego on friday the 13th! It was a fine flight though and I was slightly distressed as the person sat next to me thought I was 16 and the man sat next to me was my dad not that we even looked anything alike! I got a taxi up to the hostel where I was staying at Ocean Beach and the taxi was paid for as promised by the hostel which I thought was pretty good. I was staying in a 4 bed room so Becky and I would be sharing with 2 other people. 3 of the nights we were in with some welsh people and the other 4 were with different people each time. I went out for a walk along the beach just at the end of the road to recover from the journey, with the 2 hour time difference it felt like I'd been up since 4am so I was shattered. Sitting on the beach there were pelicans flying over which was really wierd to see. I dipped my toes into the Pacific Ocean and it was freezing cold cold just like the North Sea when I'd been to Filey and Whitby. That night there was a free BBQ at the hostel so havign had that I soon aftr went to bed early having decided to go to Sea World the next day and worked out how to get there on the bus.

Pictures above are of Ocean Beach, the area that I was staying in, the youth hostel was just up the road from here a 2 minute walk.

On the first day I went to Sea World to see alsorts of different sea animals. I was a fairly hot day so I hadn't taken a jumper, but we stayed right until the end by which time i was cold and I made a mental note to myself that no matter how hot it was in the day I must take a jumper with me everywhere for the evenings.

During the day along with seeing the aquariums and a terrifying 60ft drop on a log flume and getting soaked on a rapids rides which Becky and I thought looked very tame before we got on it we also saw performing killer whales including Shamu, perfoming dolphins and sea lions. It was all really good fun. The dolphin show, Seamore and Clyde the sealions show with CJ the otter, and Shamu the Killer Whale in Shamu Rocks evening show

On the second day, Sunday, I took a bus up to the northern part of San Diego to Pacific Beach to have a relaxing day where I didn't particularly do much. I went to the shop in the morning and bought rolls for a picnic and a punnet of some of the best strawberries I've had in a very long time. In the day I read my book whilst sun bathing on the beach and swam in the Pacific Ocean and jumped lots of waves, it was cold at first but I soon got aclimatised to the water adn stayed in for about an hour happily by myself. Before I headed back I went to the end of the pier and even spotted some dolphins far off on the horizon.

Views of Pacific Beach from the beach and from the pier.

On Monday I got up early and got the Amtrack train up to Anaheim for this was the day that I went to DisneyLand. I had to queue in a really long queue but thankfully it went rather quickly and I was at the desk to get in in no time at all. The lady on the desk was really nice and gave me a big badge to wear as it was my first time visiting. I got more and more xcited as I entered the actual park an was bouncing around like a 5 year old on a sugar rush all day. I wanted to see everything and go on every ride possible. I managed to go on all of the bigger and better rides minus 1 because I ran out of time. I was not very happy at the price of food here but was at least prepared for it and luckily I'd told Becky to drink all the water in her bottle before entering and they never took the bottle off her so we kept filling up with water at drinking fountains all day, they were charing a fortune for bottled water. My favourite ride was definately Thunder Mountain, a wooden rollercoaster but I had lots of fun on all of the rides. I also had my ppicture taken with Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger, and Pluto and got hugs off them all. By far I think that DisneyLand was my favourite day, it lasted all day, involved seeing a commercial train system for the first time, and satisfied many of my childhood dreams.Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, The Princess Castle, Me and Pluto, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and finally Tigger.

On tuesday I decided to go into downtown San Diego and have look around the actual city. There were some really pretty bulidings dispersed between the modern high risers. I stopped at the park next to the university for lunch then after lunch took a bus over the sea bridge onto Coronado Island to go and see the famous Coronado Hotel, the island was absolutely beautiful and the beach was perfect image of an idyllic white sandy beach. On the way back over to the main land there were some great views of the down town San Diego skyline.

The park by the university of California, The sea bridge between main land San Diego and Coronado island, A view of downtown San Diego from the sea bridge, and the Coronado Hotel from the beach.

Wednesday was another long journey on the train north to Los Angeles, sadly I didn't have as much time as I'd like there but I managed to get up to HollyWood Boulavard and see the Hollywood sign, the star filled street with all famous names on, the Kodak theatre and the Chinese theatre along with all the hand and foot prints and signitures of vaious screen actors outside on the pavement.

The Hollywood sign on the hills, Hoolywood Boulavard, I'm famous....well we can just pretend can't we?, a grand piano hanging in the stairwell of a shopping mall.

Thursday was my last day in San Diego and I couldn't come and not go to the world famous zoo so that's exactly what I did. It was absolutely huge and I saw lots and lots of animals, but my favourites will always be the meercats. I saw some animals that I'd never seen before and went on the skyride which passed over the whole zoo and saw just how big it was and could even see the skyline of down town as it was so high up. I won't bore you all with mass amounts of animal pictures even though I thought I was incredibly controlled and took relatively few, probably a good thing that my camera was filling up from all the weeks actvities.

A view of San Diego from the zoo skyride, On the skyride, A church which kept ringing its bells, One of many meercats and finally Gao Gao the Giant Panda.

On friday it was time to go home, as good a time as I had had, I was glad to leave for Norman as I was quite tired from constatly being on the go to new places adn I was missing my nice bathroom and bed, but what more can you expect when you stay in a youth hostel eh? You can tell the holiday is over because whilst the weather is not unpleasant it is rather cloudy, it is nice for it to be a bit cooler again though after the hot week I've just had, I felt like I was nearly melting some days.

KOCO5 Visit

2009-03-21T00:38:00.006-05:00

On wednesday 11th March the 6 of us and Dean headed out to Oklahoma City to visit the KOCO5 television studios. We had been lucky enough to meet the head meteorologist on the channel at the National Weather Festival last semester and had finally got around to organising a visit.

We were shown around the studio and the new rooms and control room and Rick Mitchell was answered all of our questions and was interested to hear all about our experiences and how things differed weather wise in our countries and how much it's televised.

We then watched a live news cast and weather forecast being filmed in the studios and then watched the next one an hour later but from the control room which was really interesting. Whilst looking around the studios we got to play with the green screen for a bit and see what it was actually like to do the weather forcast when there is nothing but green behind you. The people in the control room were playing around and cutting around our heads so that all you could see was our heads floating on screen with the forecast in the back ground which was really funny. Dean wsa so tall and large that he took up most of the screen!

It was an excellent afternoon and I really enjoyed seeing how everything works. Icertainly won't be watching the forecast on tv in the same way any more.

Neglected

2009-03-07T12:13:00.003-06:00

I realise that I haven't update my blog in a couple of weeks, but fear not I have only neglected it because there has been nothing much going on just the usual work load. I have a feeling that the reasonably relaxed half semester that I've just had is going to turn upside down and be a mad rush to the finish line in the second half, something which I think has been planned a bit backwards with the most part of storm season adn chasing opportunites occurring in the latter half.

Still I have only one more week to wait until spring break now and can't wait to head out to California, if only to be away from Norman. Due to all the street crime that's being going on in Mexico recently though I think that the trip to Tijuana might be off so I'll have to go to Mexico at another point in my life sadly, but there are still lots of adventures to be had.

One interesting point is that the temperature has really varied this week. On monday I was in jumpers and coats and it was 5C outside and by thursday it was 30C and was wearing skirts and flip flops. It it very dry and there have even been some forest fires in Oklahoma. In fact it hasn't rain since we last went on a storm chase on the 10th February so that will be a month on tuesday if we don't get it before.

That's all for now I'm afraid but give it another couple of weeks and I've something exciting and fun to tell you all about.

Homeward Bound

2009-02-17T18:57:00.003-06:00

As this week is quiet a busy one for me with numerous deadlines and a couple of mid-term exams I probably won't have anything exciting to write to you all about.

So to make up for it I will announced that it is now confirmed that I will be returning to England on friday 15th May so will arrive at some time on the saturday morning.

In fact it is now less than 3 months until my returning which makes me think that there is in fact an aweful lot to do before I leave that right now seems like quite a long way away.

NWC 1st Annual Benefits Ball

2009-02-15T00:42:00.006-06:00

Friday 13th February was the NWC 1st Annual Benefits Ball, and it was announced that night that the money raised that night would be given to the people of Lone Grove who's town was obliterated by the F4 tornado earlier on in the week.

The destruction left behind at Lone Grove

It was nice to have the opportunity to dress up and have a dance, the evening started off with a lesson for waltz but it was much quieter then and was quite a strange thing to do so I decided to watch instead and take some pictures. Later on it was more like a disco and there was a small buffet.

Becky, Charlotte (Reading grauate now doing post grad in Oklahoma) and I

The theme was dancing in the moonlight and so the globe had images of the surface of the moon projected on it and there were fairy lights strewn between the balconies of the second floor to make the starlight, and a red carpet to walk down when you arrived.

Watching people learing how to waltz

Later on in the evening lots and lots of balloons were released from the top floor and rained down onto the dance floor.

All in all it was a fun evening. (Becky, Rob Lee, Rob Graham and Laura)

First Chase of the 2009 Season

2009-02-12T09:56:00.005-06:00

Tuesday 10th February was the first storm chasing day of the 2009 season and was a very good day with 6 tornadoes dropping in Oklahoma during the day.We set out south to go chasing past Ardmore. We spent ages looking for a good storm to follow but storms kept dissipating and around 6 we were just about given up for the day and were about to set out home when about 5 minutes later the storm we were hoping to follow flared up again and we set off chasing it. We stopped to watch the formation and were so excited about it that we missed that actual tornado forming by about 10 minutes, then it crossed the Red River and the road we were on wasn't any where near a bridge- it's a very wide river- so we missed actually seeing the tornado but we did see the tornado funnel lifting from the ground and die. And so we stopped to watch the storm. There was a huge anvil cloud and in it there were constant flashes of lightening as lots of hail was being produced inside. Satisfied we set off back home trying to follow the squaw line so that we could have a light show of lightening as we drove home. we stopped in Gainsville in Texas for some food and found out that 2 of the stroms behind us has dropped tornadoes in places we'd been earlier in the day.

Late on in the evening as were were on the final stretch home we heard reports on the radio about a town we'd passed earlier in the day and it had been hit by a tornado and 3 people had been killed and more people unaccounted for, it now stands at 7 people dead so it was a sobering report to bring us back to relaity and remember that tornadoes are violent and that our excitement has masked this. I believe that the tornado was measured at a category 4.

Here are a few pictures of the scenes that we saw ourselves.

Norman Chocolate Festival

2009-02-07T18:01:00.007-06:00

Saturday 7th February was the Norman chocolate festival held at Norman High School.
Sandy and John took me and Becky to the chocolate festival today. Becky and I set off walking down to meet John and Sandy at Cafe Plaid for an early lunch and immediately were thankful that we had our sun glasses and decidedly roasting in our light weight jackets! It was 24C today which was totally amazing though it looks like its going to get cold again soon.

We ate in Cafe Plaid where I had the hugest sandwich ever, it was delicious, but I couldn't finish it and the half I couldn't eat had to be put in a box to take home for tomorrow's lunch!

Then we went on to the festival. When we got there we were given tickets which allowed us to take 10 samples of things on offer so there was a bit of browsing to be done first. Looking round there were lots of cake companies and they had really beautifully decorated cakes on display. Eventually we found 10 samples we wanted to take away with us which are still not finished and happily sat in the fridge right now. There were acouple of other stands too where we were given complimentary samples such as chocolate snow cones, lollies, chocolate covered strawberries and sweet and sour meatballs (they didn't quite fit into the theme but were welcome after the sugaryness).The butterfly was so colourful and made of sugar and really made the cake pop I loved this dog about the size of my head and the stand it sat on made entirely of chocolate This was on of my favourite cakes it was so beautiful and there was so much attention to detail as you can see in the close up below

This had to be my other favourite, it must have taken ages to put all of the flowers on to it but its well worth it for the finished look After we got back I took advantage of it being such a nice day and went out into the hot tub for a while and have noticed that just from this afternoon I'm already starting to develop a bit of a tan, so strange for only the first week of february. Maybe the ground hog was right after all?!

In the evening all of us and Larissa went to play bowling which was really fun even though I didn't manage to win any of the games and we took a trip to IHOP for people wanting pancakes and ice cream, whilst waiting we managed to fit the eight of us on the waiting bench.

From left: Pete, Me, Becky, Rob Graham, Rob Lee, Larissa, Laura and Rob Warren.

Me stood with the display at the stand for chocolate cinnamon swirls which had a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme

Ground Hog's Day

2009-02-07T17:23:00.007-06:00

Groundhog's Day. Now that I know what it is I still don't understand why they make such a big deal about it. On the 2nd of February the ground hog is supposed to come out of his hibernation and if he looks at the ground and sees his shadow then the winter will continue for 6 more weeks, but if he sees no shadow then the winter is over. Aparently winter is going to end for us but who knows. It's unreliable, but at least it provides us with a reason to go out and have fun. The meteorology department put on a night at O'Connell's Irish bar and I paid just $5 to enter and ws provided with a huge pizza and unlimited beer which was not overly nice but it was free so hey! and then kareoke. We all joined in on Bohemian Rapshody as that song was for the seniors so there were about 12 of us arond the 3 mics!

It provided lots of entertainment, and then on returning home and feeling in the mood for a walk a couple of us set out for a walk which turned out to be for an hour and a half and covering almost 4 1/2 miles!

Here are some pictures of the night.... Looks like Rob Warren and Dean shouldn't have downed that free beer!

Rob Graham, Laura and Rob Warren awaiting the giant pizzas

Rob Lee and I

Freezing Weather and Ice Storms

2009-01-27T20:27:00.010-06:00

This week has been very cold in Norman, sub-zero temperatures due to a cold front passing over the country. Yesterday I awoke to a very familiar scene, a completely overcast sky and wetness from the drizzle, pretty average really you'd think, but if you thought this you'd be wrong. On going outside I was not met with a damp path but an icy one, so taking a decision to walk on the grass seemed the natural thing to do except this was just as slippy. Every where looked like it had been covered with a frosting of glazed sugar. This was due to the rain being so cold it freezes as it falls so in effect it's raining ice crystals, i.e. freezing rain.
Ice that accumulated around some barbed wire on a fence thanks to the freezing rain

Over night it started to sleet and in the morning I woke up to what looked like a very snowy Norman. Below is a view from my apartment window.
With drifts over a couple of inchs thick it was out of the question to even think about trying to defrost the car and go anywhere as you can see from the pictures below.
It carried in heavily sleeting on an off all day and it stings as the ice falls on your face when you are outside. The sleet has compacted and it feels very wierd walking on top of it as its fairly hard so you don't sink like in snow, but its not solid like a dry ground.

A very quiet Imhoff Road and some of the ice which thickly accumulated on the branches.

All of campus has been shut the last few days and so that means no lectures, but also no facilities, not even the gym (so no yoga class), indoor swimming pool or in fact the club house office meaning we can't even play a game of pool! Once all the reading has been done for lectures it really is a case of amuse yourself which trust me after 2 days already is starting to wear thin. Campus is closed again tomorrow but hopefully it should be open again on thursday.

We did manage to pass a bit of time however by sledging down the small 'hills' (I use the term very losely) by the baseball courts. Great fun but cold and gives you a wet bum.

(1) Me climbing back up the slope (2) The slopes next to the apartment complex (3) Becky, Rob G and I well wrapped up

Spring Semester Begins

2009-01-25T10:18:00.004-06:00

So having spent a well earned month back home in England in which I managed to catch up with many friends and family I found it was time for me to head back to Norman for yet another long semester, made better than the last by the following facts:

I know where things are and how things work over here now
It's the winter now, so it can only get warmer and sunnier
Spring break is right in the middle of the semester and unlike Thanksgiving I actually get a whole week off
Chasing season starts in a couple of months
When I'm done I can come home and see my friends graduate, and also be back in time for a few met socials :)
Mum and Dad are coming to see me

On the not so good side however is the fact thaat the modules are a lot more restricting on choice, but somehow I don't think that my tutors in Reading would be too pleased if I branched out that little bt too far and there is yet a again a lot of work to do and many mid-term exams to look forward to.

So, these past 10 days haven't been so eventful really, last weekend Pete, Becky and I, being the only ones back at this point, went to shop in Oklahoma city and then for dinner and an explore around the older part of the town known as Bricktown, there are no pictures but there are intentions of going back so I'm sure there will be some appearing some day. From there we went to the air port to pick up Laura and Rob and still being tired from travelling myslef went to bed early, (again). The next day was quiet and then on monday we had to make 2 trips to the airport in the day to pick up the remaining Robs, monday was Martin Luther King day so there wwere no lectures scheduled.

Tuesday was the inaugeration of President Obama, we saw the swearing in on television but had to leave quickly as the first lectures of the day started. The following days involved going to various lectures many at annoyingly spread out times (too long to stay in the building, too short to go home) so I ended up staying and being excesively bored. All in all I was very glad when it got to 6 o'clock on friday when I could finally leave for the weekend which i have been taking very easily.

Thursday held the most interesting event as it was unusually warm, it actually managed to get up to 26C! In true British style we immediately took advantage by putting on the swim suits and heading to the hot tub for a long chat out in the warmth. In complete contrast to thursday its forecast to be an icestorm tomorrow and if this happens its likely that there will not be any lectures, this could cause mt problems as I really do need to go and get some more food so I'll have to try do that today I think.

It's only 7 weeks until spring break in which I'm hoping to go to San Diego, and also visit Long Beach and Los Angeles whilst I'm in the area. If I had more time and money I would venture a bit further north though California to San Francisco, but I'm not sure I'm going to manage that sadly.

After that then there are only a couple of weeks to mum and dad's visit and then only 6 weeks including exams to the finish line.

Christmas Sparkles

2008-12-06T15:08:00.004-06:00

Now it is December it is getting all Christmassy and we bought a tree, a real one and along with the decorations and lights which we inherited in vast quantities from the year before we have now successfully decorated the tree and the lounge in the boys apartment, I have also put some up in my apartment and in my room. We also had a lot of excitement with the snow in a can which is now sparyed on the windows after much fun making star and snow flake templates to spray over. A little premature I hear you say but no, we only have 2 weeks to enjoy the tree so why not.Also this week it was the Christmas concert with all the 6 choirs at the university singing and evern at one point all together. there is a christmas party on monday for the choir which should be fun. Getting so near the end now. Only one week of lectures and then half a week of exams to the end of a very long semester. August feels like years ago. I can't deny it, I am very jealous of anyone at Oxford, Cambridge or Warwick right now, finished for the holiday 2 weeks before me when they didn't wven start until 6 weeks after me :O

It's Christmas in the Weather Centre too!

Las Vegas, The Hoover Dam, and the Grand Canyon

2008-12-01T17:39:00.016-06:00

So I finally got time to go through all my photos and things since I got back on saturday night.

The trip was very intense and started badly with mine and Rob Graham's plane being delayed by an hour, but we got there fine and were eventually picked up by one of the others who'd arrived in Las Vegas around the same time as us.

From the hotel we headed out to a buffet to fill us up for the long trek around the hotels along the Strip. We didn't quite manage all the hotels on the first night so the next day whilst everyone slept in past mid-day I got up and went for a wander to some of the places we'd been the night before and also to a couple of other places. In Ceasar's PalacePossibly the biggest Chocolate fountain in the world!The waterfall in the Palazzo

My favourite hotel was definately the Venetian. It was all set out like Venice inside and even had a changing sky, Saint Marc's Square and Gondola trips down canals!

My other Las vegas highlights were definately the rain show inside (not that we needed it really as it was raining both days we were there, typical only I can go to the desert and get rain!), the Bellagio water show, and M&Ms world. I must have walked miles up and down that strip.Being Dwarfed by the big blue M&M :)The ful 32 flavours of M&Ms amazing!

Breaking free from the M&Ms museum end picture in M&M world shop

One night we went to the top of the stratosphere tower and you get an amazing view from up there though it was a bit cloudy so I'm sure it could have been better. then we went to the Freemont in Downtown Las Vegas to watch the light show and lose a few dollars (not that many I didn't find it too exciting really).The Stratosphere tower (above) and the view from it (below)

On our final day we looked at a few last minute things and went for dinner in the rainforest cafe which was excellent, and really fun to be surrounded by all the animals and trees that had been put out to make it feel like a real rainforest.

The journey back was a long one. We drove from Las Vegas to the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon between Nevada and Arizona crossing the first of the 2 time lines, before finally stopping at Flagstaff in Arizona on the friday night.

The mountains I saw as I left Flagstaff in ArizonaSitting in the BIG chair at the Big Texan a steak restraunt where if you manage to eat a 72oz steak in under an hour you get it for free

I thought the Hoover dam was really cool a truely fascinating piece of engineering and you could stand in 2 time zones at once on the border with Nevada and Arizona.
The Lake which acts as a reservoir a the top of the Hoover Dam, you can see how low the water level was this year from the white tide line on the rocks.Looking down the massive wall, it's amazing to think how it was ever built

The grand Canyon has to be the uncontested highlight of the trip. It was so vast and so beautiful . There were so many photo opportunities, the only draw back was that it was extremely cold but I suppose that's what happens at 6737 feet up in the mountains at the end of November. The beautiful canyon in all its evening gloryThe Meteorology gang, Rob W, Rob G, Becky, Rob L, Me and PeteSat in an old tree at the Canyon on the woodland trail

Me right on the edge of what felt like the world, how tiny do I look?!

Me and my met boys on the edgeLooking pensive as I take in the scale of the Gran Canyon

I was glad to get home though and have my own bed, and I'm now getting all excited at the propect of Christmas, it's only 17 days until I come home now, it's so soon.

Fall Fling

2008-11-20T15:52:00.003-06:00

On tuesday I went to the Fall Fling with Becky. We were taken out to the stables at Lake Thunderbird and where there was a hay ride waiting for us, Just like being back at the Reaseheath open day riding in to straw on a flat back trailer pulled by an old vintage tactor.

It took us through the woods into a clearing where there was a bon fire with logs to sit on around it. We had hot dogs to cook in the fire and afterwards made the s'mores again, but its still not so good with out Cadbury's chocolate!Cooking dinner, the hot dogs
We then sat and talked to people around the campfire until the hayride came back to take us home. It was a clear sky that night and as we were no where near any where built up when you looked up you could see so many stars it was really beautiful and I even saw a shooting star, maybe two.

A very good night but it was very cold and we smelt all smokey when we got home.

Last Week, A Long and Slow one

2008-11-20T15:43:00.002-06:00

Last week was a very tiring week and it dragged on , probably because I had so much work to get done, the final 2 week push before thanks Giving, (next week now YES!) However the week did perk up a bit at the weekend.

On Saturday i went to a bar called the Vista which is at the top of a 6 storey building and shard a few birthdat drinks with our friends David- the American who came to Reading last year- and his friends. Needless to say there there was numerous consumption of Hurrican cocktails for him.

On sunday, Becky and I sang in one of the 3 concerts that we will be giving with OU Women's choir, it all went well and it was really nice to hear some of the other emsembles sing too.
In the evening we drove out to Moore to the Warren theatre to watch the new Jame's Bond film Quantum of Solace and it was a very good film, there a little to many changes of camera angles at times but otherwise I enjoyed it which I was worried about as the person who'd written about it for the news paper was not very complementary about it at all. My theory is just that they didn't like it because because its a British film.
The cinema is a new one and there is entrance music and itwas so huge.

When we got back we slumped back into sadness that there was another week of intensive work to do before the break.

The National Weather Festival

2008-11-09T18:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went to the National Weather Festival which took place in the National Weather Centre. THere were hundreds of families who had turned up to watch the weather balloon launches, meet and get autograpghs of the weather presenters on Channel 5, see the chasing cars and get advice on alsorts of weather issues. There were also rooms with fun activities to do for children.

I went with Becky, Rob Lee and Dean (the really tall guy from Australia who's in the hail video). We got lots of free pens and pencils and some flying thing that you drop from high places outside so we are going to take them to the weather centre on monday and drop them down from the 5th floor. We all met thr channel 5 weather people and one of the men gave Dean his e-mail address so that we cna e-mail him together and he says he'll organise a trip for us to the tv studios which should be really fun if we get to go but I suppose it will depend on a lot of different things.

We talked to lots of people as we all knew differnt lecturers and people who work in the building so it was nice to talk to people outside of lectures.
We came back and I was ready for my lunch. Walking outside makes you hungry especially now it is much colder.

Nature's own fireworks

2008-11-07T22:29:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was bonfire night and as it is obviously not celebrated in America it was set to be rather a dull evening. However, there were storm alerts out the night before and on checking again in the morning we decided to go chasing in the afternoon in the hope yet again that we were going to see a tornado, which unforetunately we did not.

We did however see some of the chase trucks from various new channels so we can't have been far off from the action. We ended up setting off back home but getting caught in ahail storm which we stopped for to take cover. The hail stones were quite large, bigger than garden peas by a long way which was very cool and you could see how how it had built up layers and layers of ice around it when it started as a small stone. Also we got caught in A LOT of rain and when driving the car we went though quite a large amount of water which splashed up in a wall and just hit the wind screen. It was long after that we pulled in.

All the chasers on the move as different storms strengthen

Some of the really big hail that fell on us

The video shows the size of the hail, the noise it made, and some very excited met students.

We got back to the weather centre a little ahead of a storm that was heading to Norman from Edmond and went up to the observatory and were treated to hours of endless thunder and lightening which eventually passed over us dropping floods of water and more large hail storms. There were flashes of all colours as we saw the lightening hit several transformers in the city but it was fantastic to see and made up for not being able to have a bonfire and fireworks.

The thunderstorm view from the Observation Deck in the National weather centre, Norman

Halloween

2008-11-01T14:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Halloween and I dressed up as a witch to go out. First I went upstairs to a house party where there were lots of people in different costumes. Three was a costume competition and Pete won a pair of witch slippers which are really fun but the flash when you walk so I can see them getting on your nerves after a while.

Little Red Riding Hood gets attacked by Pete the ware wolf.Laura, Becky and I, the housemates.
Jean-Baptiste, Rob and Laura are pirates!

Later I went out to Club 101 where there were some people in very interesting costumes, my favourite had to be the people dressed as I-Pods, complete with head phones and everything. I came home early but there was a knock on my door as Pete had come back but his girl friend was still out and had his keys so we chatted and looked at photos of the night until everyone came back so I didn't get to bed until quite late, but it was ok as I slept until mid-day! As it was so late I decided to make pancakes for a brunch, it is nice to have a slow day.

During the week the meteorology department was really getting into Halloween. There were bats hanging from the stairs and creepy things put up on the walls. Lots of people from the offices were all dressed up in costumes. One of my lecturers bought us biscuits in the shape of pumpkins with bright orange icing on, and another lecturer bought in lots of sweets for us to help ourselves to and on monday our choir leader did the same.

Now we are 10 weeks into lectures everyone is very tired and it feels like we should be having a holiday now but there are another few weeks to go unforetunately.

Freezing in England =GOOD / Freezing in America =BAD

2008-10-28T20:41:00.000-05:00

I am very jealous today, and not just because I'm still sat trying to do work for tomorrow at quarter to 9 at night when I've been at it all afternoon no. I am very jealous becasue here it is very cold, a dry cold, and the wind makes it worse, but word come to me from across the pond that that's where all the weather is at. Snow in fact. SNOW IN OCTOBER! I wish there was some here and it would make the cold all the worth while.

It's all about my family

2008-10-25T23:16:00.000-05:00

This week was Rob's 21st birthday. To celebrate we went out to a restraunt called Himalayan and had a curry buffet. I can't say it was the best curry I've ever had but it wasn't bad. He opened all his cards and presents, an Elmo live that does just about everything, but Rob loves Sesame street and was really pleased and a DVD of Sixth Sense. Then the waiters brought out the cake we'd bought and decorated and they gave him a lay made of blue feathers and a sikh hat to wear when we sang happy birthday to him.

On friday I went ot my host familie's house, Sandy and John, for a Jack O'lantern carving party, it was really messy but good fun and everybody brought a different dish for dinner. There was salads, rice dishes, very spicy buffalo wings, cabbage wraps which were very tasty and korean bean and pumkin soup for main courses and chocolate browies, a pancake dish, cookies and my scones for dessert, all that I tried was really good and some one even asked for the recipie.

Today was the friends of internation students family cookout, there was a BBQ with out the grill and you cooked your hot dogs on a long, thick wire over the flames and I managed to burn a prefectly staight line across one of my finger tips. There were alsorts of relishes things to go on top but I was a little sceptical. Then we all had to make a S'more which is 2 graham crackers sandwiching together chocolate and toasted marshmallows, they are supposed to be called S'mores because you want more but I really didn't, they were so sweet I'm not sure I could have physically managed another one, that and Hershey's chocolate has nothing on a bit of Cadbury's Dairy milk. We also had an interesting conversation trying to describe exactly what a crumpet is.
I keep being introduced to new people by my host family as Katy, who speaks proper english, from England, most people can really tell I'm English and so I'm not entirely sure what other language they really expect me to come out with to warrant this comment, but it is fairly amusing.

There will be some pictures of saturday coming soon too but I need to get them off Sandy first.
Until then I'll leave you with the knowledge that I will definately be coming home for Christmas!

Home Coming parade

2008-10-18T17:30:00.001-05:00

Today was the Homecoming Parade, I'm still not entirely sure what homecoming is about but they invite all the alumni back and all the Fraternity and Sororities get to gether and make floats for a parade. It was suddenly very warm again today and was excellent weather for the parade but very hot. This is the Sooner Schooner being pulled by the ponies Boomer and Sooner.
OU's Pride the marching band
The flowers in South ovel are all out for homecoming, can you see the overlapping letters of OU in them?
South Oval
Me with all the flowers in South Oval.

It was a really good day with lots of university chants and clapping.

BOOMER.....!
........
....SOONER!

Thunderbirds are GO!

2008-10-13T23:31:00.001-05:00

Last week there were are few storms so we went storn chasing only it wasn't that good. We did see some interesting cloud formations and lots of lightening and got stuck in lots of very heavy rain, but I could have seen the lightening at my apartment was was slightly dissappointed.

From one thunder to the next, yesterday afternoon we took a short 20 minute drive out to Lake Thunderbird for a lazy sunday afternoon. It is a really huge lake and we found a jetty to relax on. The weather was warm again and its supposedly as warm as its supposed to be at the beginnign of September.

Kadoo Ka Shorva = yum

2008-10-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I finally got round to cooking the soup which I tried at my host familiy's house. Kadoo Ka Shorva is a cream of pumpkin soup and comes from India. The recipie makes for 6-8 people. It's really tasty but I would try adding more curry powder to it until you've made it once.
Ingredients:

2lb pumpkin/ butternut squash

2 tbsp butter

2 yellow onions (chopped)

2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp sugar

750ml chicken stock

375ml milk

1 1/2tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

125ml double cream (optional)

2 tbsp sliced pistachios

Method:

> Peel the pumkin/ squash, scrape out the seeds and cut the flesh into 1" pieces.

> In a deep saucepan over a medium-high heat , warm the butter. When hot, add the onions, curry powder, ginger, and cinnamon and cook, stirring occassionally until the onions begin to brown for about 8 minutes.

> Sprinkle with sugar and cook for 1 minutelonger. Add the pumpkin/ squash and chicken stock and bring to the boil.

> Reduce the heat tp low, cover and ximmer until the pumpkin/ squash is tender, about 20 minutes.

> Remove from the heat and working in batches puree in a food processor or blender until smooth. Return the soup to thepan and stir in the mil and salt.

> Heat until piping hot then stir in the lemon juice.

> Garnish with pistachios and a lemon wedge, and cream if desired.

My 21st Birthday

2008-10-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

I had a really lovely day on monday to celebrate. The start of the day I was greeted by everyone and Rob Warren who plays bass guitar in a band at home played Happy Birthday to me, and upon my return from lectures another Rob appeared along with some balloons and a banner. After my lectures had finished I had some lunch and opened all of my cards and got a couple which I wasn't expecting which was really nice and I had a lots of messages to read from all of my friends.

I spent the afternoon going to Walgreen's, a shop which I've wanted to visit for a while, a quick trip to the liquor store, the first time I was allowed into the shop, let alone buy anything which was quite exciting. A bit like turning 18 all over again, and then we stopped off at a shop called Braum's which does drive through ice cream although we went in the shop to have a look around.

Upon my return we all went out to the pool and did a bit of swimming and sun bathing and the temperature got upto 87F so it was good to have a bit of a bask before the temperature starts to drop, which it already has done at quite a scary rate for 3 days.

In the evening the 8 of us, Becky, Emma, Laura, Pete, Rob, Rob, Rob and I all went out to campus corner to a thai restraunt called Padthai and the food was excellent but there was so much that we stuggled to finish it all off, I also got chance to open my presents and got some lovely things from everyone. Thank you very much! A sedate walk home then with our stomachs temporarily full, but when we got back there was birthday cake and everybody sang.

I really did have a fantastic day and want to thank everyone for all the wishes and for making my birthday a very happy one.

Field Trip around Oklahoma State

2008-09-28T17:31:00.000-05:00

Just got back from a field trip which took us to 3 locations around the state to see different types of rocks for my Earth's Past Climate class. It was a bit of an early start and there was lots of sitting in the mini bus but there were some interesting features to see. First we went to Edmond, the to just outside Yale and finally to Hitchcock. Here are a few things that I saw. It was a very hot day and the sky was completely cloudless providing no shelter when we were out on the rocks.

First Stop Edmond, there was an oil well here as Oklahoma is one of the major oil producing states in the US. This rock is a permian sandstone.

Next stop Yale to look at the alternating types of rock from the Pennsylvannian time. The road here was very dusty and scary with nothing but dry fields around it a bit like being in asome kind of scary movie.

Final stop and we are near Hitchcock, with out the trees it looks a little bit like Mars. this rock is from the mid permian and has pieces of dolomite and gypsite in which are very pretty and I collected a few small pieces for my self.

After a long day though I was happy to get home and have a rest.

Sunsets

2008-09-27T01:10:00.002-05:00

There have been some beautiful sunsets here and my 2nd floor apartment is the perfect place to view them as I look out over the sky line and some bare land. Here are a few pictures of some of them.

The weekend of Oklahoma State fair

2008-09-27T00:46:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was the Oklahoma State fair and I went on the sunday afternoon. I drove the car down the interstate to Oklahoma City which was fairly stressful but I'm glad that I did it as I'm a bit more prepared for my driving experiences on road trips this year.

When we got there there was a petting zoo which was fun to look around and there were loads of really cute baby goats that were tiny.

Then we walked on through the fair past all the food stands and other stalls to the rides where we went on the large ferris wheel. Our seats stopped at the top and there was a great view of the fair and the skyline of Oklahoma City. It was an incrediablt hot day and I tried a snow cone which is very finely crushed ice with flavour poured on top which I wouldn't reccomend but had to be tried once.

The day before I had a much more pleasant food experience however when I made a lasagne for 8 people which was a success. I also made some home made garlic bread with crusty french bread and garlic butter which I'd made with fresh garlic earlier in the week. One of the Robs made a salad and it was all very yummy.

Finally the last excitement of the weekend came when on the way back we briefly stopped off at Oklahoma City. There wasn't much time but we saw the edge of Bricktown and I'll be interested to go and have a proper look around soon. We saw this intersting buffalo decorated like the american flag inthe business district.

New things!

2008-09-27T00:34:00.000-05:00

I have three new things to write about which all happened on three consecutive days.
Firstly, just under 2 weeks ago I finally mey my host family for the first time. They are very lovely and know lots of people so the house is very full all of the time. They have two dogs a red golden labrador called Myra, a little mongeral called Kelly both of whom I'm quite fond of, and two cats, one very soft grey one called Willow who dissapeared as soon as lots of people turned up, and a fat siamese called Aslan who loves lots of attention. They also have some fish and a baby ball python who I was very happy not to have to handel.
We had a lovely meal of lots of different asian food which was full of flavour and I even picked up the recipie for one of the soups there was which I really loved that was made of butternut squash- something I didn't think that I liked-I'm about to make my own attempt at it and if it's any good I'll have to send it on.

Secondly, a couple of mondays ago I decided to join the womens choir. It was really good to be singing again and whislt there are not many pieces and none of them are that long I still had a lot of fun and have met a few more new people. There are plans to go carroling at Christmas with santa hats and hot chocolate so that should be fun too.

On the tuesday, I went to the Huston Huffman centre where the gym is and tried my hand at the rock climbing wall and completed the training program for work. Unforetunately I've been a bit busy this week but I'm hoping that next week I'll be able to go and complete the belay test so that I can get a card then go climbing whenever I want.

All in all last week was fairly evenful.

A 2 week update

2008-09-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

Due to me having a broken computer I have been unable to update for a while. So, now I'm finally back to normal, here is an update of thigs that have been going on in the last couple of weeks.

I took my laptop the the IT help desk last week and they told me a week later that my computer was broken so it has been decided that it was time for a new lap top. I went to the store yesterday and am now the very happy owner of a Toshiba M305D, a bit smaller then my last computer but it has a mic and web cam built in and runs incredibly fast. Thanks to opening one of my birthday presents early I have manged to save all the files and photos from my old computer, thanks for the external hard drive , it literally has been a life saver. I didn't much fancy having to rewrite that report for Robin Hogan that I was working on this summer holiday.

All's well here right now, I got 55/60 0n my statistics homework and did fairly well on my mid-term exam considering how I thought I'd done. All my other work is going well as far as I can tell too, but as always I've been given another load for this weekend which I will be completeing tomorrow hopefully so that i can enjoy my birthday on monday.

On sunday I am going on a field trip with Earth's Past Climate which should be fun as we are going to go and look at the rocks in lots of different areas on the State. I'm not so happy about having to be up and ready to leave from the other side of campus (a half an hour walk) by 7.30am!

I will write a short blog about a few of the things that have happened recently to break all t his up otherwise it will be one monster post.

A long week

2008-09-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

So it's been a fairly long week already and its only thursday and there has not been much going on this week. The weather has gone down hill over the last 3 days and we haven't seen the sun just lots of cloudy skies and heavy rain. I seem to have a lot to do and deadlines are starting to creep up which is not that enjoyable.

We went to see a film at the cinema at the weekend, College. I don't recommend seeing it if it comes out, we just thought it would be funny to watch a film about going to an all American University whilst we are at one.

We are meeting our host-families on sunday which should be fun, it'll be nice to have someone to show us around some of Oklahoma throughout the year.

Dallas, land of the cow boys

2008-09-04T08:14:00.000-05:00

Monday was Labour Day! So it was time for our first road trip, so we decded to stay fairly near by and went off to Dallas. First we stopped off at Turner Falls in the Arbuckles for a quick visit.

We then headed into Dallas on the crazy interstate 35. People just don't know how to drive here, and we all agreed that we were probably some of the best drivers on the road.

When we got to Dallas we were going to go up Union Tower but unfortuately it was closed for renovation, instead we headed straight into the centre which was very empty. I've since found out that as city centres were so dangerous in the 1970s, people went out to the out of town shopping centres where there was better security and lots os city centres are like this.

I saw the place where JFK was shot, literally, there is a cross on the road, a bit like x marks the spot.

There were some intersting new buildings being made though and it was nice to walk around although it was swelteringly hot out in the sun. We found a proper cow boy shop and I really want to get some proper boots now, I'm not sure about a stetson though.

Next we I drove us over to Arlington where the big baseball stadium is and we watched a game between the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariner's. It was one of the most bizarre things I've every seen as there is alsorts going on in between innings to keep the crowd entertained, but it was all good fun, We even saw some cirrus clouds that were from the outer bands of hurricane Gustav.

The game finished late and it was a long drive back to Norman which took us a bit longer than we wanted so it was straight to bed.

Last nights thunderstorm

2008-08-31T09:40:00.000-05:00

Last night we finally had a thunder storm and I'm really surprised that we haven't yet had one. It was fantastically hot again yesterday though the temperature is set to start dropping off soon. In the morning there was a clear sky, but by lunch time clouds had started to form and they justgathered more and more in the sky.
It was the first American football match of the season yesterday too and we walked onto campus to soak up some of the atmosphere, on the way we saw this cloud, it looked so pretty with the sun shining behind it giving it a real definition.

By the time we got back to the apartment, the whole sky was covered over with a thick layer of cloud. It didn't take long from then for the storm to start.

The storm started quite suddenly with the thunder and lightlening, must have been around 3Km away and then it started to rain and get much darker. The rain drops that initially fell were huge and it wasn't long until the gorund was covered, as the storm moved across the rain got much more heavy and was practically flooding out the ground. Eventually as the storm passed right above us the winds picked up to quite a pace and the wind was almost horizontal and even from the balcony between the apartment floors I got soaked on the whole front of my body.
This photo shows the extent of the rain, so heavy you couldn't see the lights properly. They had to turn an emergency beacon on somewhere west of us and there were search lights in the sky. It didn't really help that the storm was occuring at night fall.

These are just a couple of the lightening strikes, the first was much further away at the start of the storm, but contrasting the sky colour to the next picture taken much later on when it was night you can see just how much the sky was lit up. The lightening was just fantastic and went on continuously through out the storm and for a couple of hours after it had passed us it was so bright. when the thunder cracked when the storm was over us it was deafening and really quite scary and I'm not easily scared by thunder storms.

You wouldn't know that there was a storm though now as everywhere is bone dry again and things are just running normally.

Heat!

2008-08-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

It is sooo hot and is supposed to stay like this for a couple more days. We are in the mid-thirites and it's just not good for working in.

I noticed today on the satellite image that it looks like you've ad some fairly dry weather most days recently, shamae about the bank holiday weekend though.

Lectures

2008-08-26T23:20:00.000-05:00

So classes started on monday and I have decided to take satellite meteorology, statistical meteorology, Earth's past climate and Applications of weather and climate to comoditiy and economy. I am particularly excited about the last module as it is brand new and there is nothing like this that you can take in the UK, also I am thinking that I might go and work in the private sector after my degree. Soo far all of my lecturers seem really nice as do most people in them. In statistics we have clickers which send a signal to our lecturers computer so we can do quizzes in class which seems quite a novelty at the moment, but I'm sure as the questions get harder that will quickly ware off. I've included a few pictures of the department for you to see, at the top is the National Weather Centre (NWC) where the school of meteorology is situated on the 5th floor. In here is all the American met-office equivalent, the storm prediction centre and NOAA who track storms and things amoungst other organisations.

This is the view down from the 3rd floor, as the ceilings are so high, being on the 5th floor is like being in the 9th of a normal building so we are quite high up and from the observation deck on 7th you can see for miles.

This is the ground floor where our globe is hanging and projected onto it is often the satellite images or radar, sometimes there are forecasts or it is like another planet with facts wizzing around it, the other day it was on Venus. Today though was exciting looking at the satellite images as there is hurricane Gustav heading for the Gulf of Mexico.

The flying cow where we can eat pretty much anything, but I prefer to make my own luch as most places that serve you give you a substantial amount of food.

I've got a few assignments to start and some books to find cheaply somewhere too now so I'd better go as I also need to sleep as I'm up for lectures tomorrow.

Bye xxx

Campus

2008-08-22T19:00:00.000-05:00

And some of campus too.

Accomodation

2008-08-22T18:57:00.001-05:00

Thought you might like to see some pictures f where I'm living.

Orientation week

2008-08-22T12:42:00.000-05:00

Right so I got here after a bit of a delay in Newark NJ after successfully meeting everyone after my flight from Manchester. We went straight to Sooner Legends our hotel which was so great and we took full advantage of the out door pool on sunday to recooperate from all the travelling. We also decided to take a walk for a bit of adventuring and found Walmart, which actually does sell everything and there have been several trips there this last week to get everything we need to set up our apartments. We decided to have a picnic that afternoon, and as there was no where else to go we sat outside on the grass at Walmart. Later in the evening we went out for a meal about a 10 minute walk from the hotel and managed to get beeped at and shouted at 3 times just for walking the crazy people.

Monday we all packed up and went to campus to get all manner of administration done and ended up queing for ages but finnaly we were assigned our apartments and were taken to settle in, and were also taken to Walmart as there was no bedding and bins curiously and for a few other things but I lve my apartment and am so glad that I'm sharing with Becky. We also share with french Laura and Japanese Yu-Ko.

On tuesday we went for a look around the National Weather centre NWC where the met office is and where we all have lectures, and sorted out enrollment for classes which start next monday now. It is truely a fantastic place to study and has so many facilities. It was also an exciting day as we recieved our car and packed in it were all manners of pots pans, irons and other things saving us so much set up money. The car is a really smooth ride but the petrol stations are just stupid, a pay first system, it slowed us down for 15 minutes anyway.

Other than all the official things there have been numerous free food events and trying out the pool and hot tub at Traditions. I have scouted out the large swimming pool and gym and am able to use them for free which is great.

It's very hot today and am just about to go out to the pool now. It's possible to get up to 104F which is 40C to everyone else.

Bye for now xxx

Since