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

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!'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)