Note of the Living Deb

The day before my sister's wedding, the tents were put up. That night the flash flood watch was extended from 7:00 a.m. to noon.

Friday night, I heard the storm pass at 3:25 a.m. The thunder was getting awfully loud. Then it sounded like the thunder was striking my next door neighbor's house. Then it sounded like it striking at the apartments behind my back yard. Then it got quieter again. (I noticed no additional damage the next day.)

My sister's wedding went well. The tents were fine. A few water droplets presented themselves near the beginning of the ceremony for dramatic tension, but that was it.

The ceremony was interesting. It involved the couple eating food. Symbolic apples. Symbolic bread. Symbolic meade. I've read that brides often never get around to eating anything the whole day of their weddings because they get busy visiting or stressing or whatever. But if you have a ceremony like this, then you are guaranteed to get in a few bites. I liked it.

Someone else took over the reservations I was unable to make. They just showed up early at the restaurant and did whatever magical things some people can do to get things done.

That evening, there was another intense thunder storm. Robin went out for Kim Phung Vietnamese noodles. By the time he was coming back, there was flooding in the streets again, but again he is glad the last owner of Frankentruck decided to jack it up.

There is a 25% chance of even more thunderstorms tomorrow and Tuesday. I'm starting to feel like I live in some sort of sci fi movie, where the weather is always threatening.

**

I saw a sign at Burger King: "New Texas Double Whopper." I thought, "Because Texans aren't yet big enough." Then I thought no one should ever hire me to write their taglines. And then I thought I would be showing a rather large Texan eating the new Texas double whopper. And then he would say, "Yee haw! Just two of these makes a whole meal!"

**

There's a job opening I've got to think about. On the one hand, it's a research job, and last time I got one of those it was a bad match and I escaped as quickly as possible. Also, I already have a plan, and this job isn't the plan.

On the other hand, sometimes things come up that you didn't anticipate, and that doesn't mean you should be an idiot. This job is at the place where I clicked with three total strangers in a single day. And some of them might still remember my name. And they said they prefer sociology majors over others, though it's more common to get psychology majors. I don't know exactly what they are researching, though, so I don't know if I would like the job. I do think they're doing actual research rather than just collecting reports and doing summary statistics on them like at the job that was a bad match. I can't tell if it would be fun or not. Which means you're supposed to apply and ask questions at the interview.

Well, now's as good an excuse as any to look at the job description again.

Oh. It would be a big pay cut, between 15 and 25%. I think that's going to decide it. But then, I just learned that people sometimes accidentally lie on these job descriptions, and maybe if they want someone badly enough, they will change the job title and the salary or make some other concessions. Or maybe people get promotions from Social Science/Humanities Research Associate II to SS/HRA III pretty quickly. I wonder what salary that has.

Odd. The pay plan lists only I and V. I starts at $1846/mo, II (according to the job announcement) starts at 2188, and V starts at 3450. I wonder why they don't list them all. It looks like I would need to get to level IV to catch up to my current salary. Not so good.

Maybe I should find the name of one of those guys I connected with and just (horrors!) call him on the phone! And ask questions about the job! I'm pretty sure I got both a name and a whole business card. And that it's somewhere around here.

I greatly enjoyed one of the stories from "Be Ready for Hurricanes" in the Spring 2006 issue of GEICO Direct Magazine:

In anticipation of the arrival of last year's Hurricane Wilma, GEICO policyholder Martin Maness, who lives inn Key West, Fla., bought a $50 piece of tarp, spread it out in his driveway, drove his car onto it, wrapped the tarp around the car, and then secured everything with bungee cords.

At the height of the flood, in three feet of water, the car floated a few feet from where Maness had originally parked it, but not one drop of water seeped inside. When Maness finally unwrapped the vehicle, it was completely dry. This quirky preventive measure saved the car.

There's a picture of the car in its new position. It just looks like it's in a big blue bag. I can't see any of the tarp's edges. Nor do I see any bungee cords, but it's a back view; they probably go around the middle of the car.

I'd rather they described the size of the tarp (and the size--or at least make and model--of the car) rather than that it was a "$50 piece of tarp." Oh well. Very cool idea for anything that floats. I hope that guy got a big discount on his auto policy.

This morning we're having the kind of weather that, when I'm out in it, I think of as pioneer weather. That's because being out in this weather is the closest I ever get to being a pioneer.

It's pouring down rain, with thunder and lighting. So there's no telling when a road will be blocked by a downed limb or when you'll come across a new stream you will have to ford. When this weather is happening on the way to work, I feel like I have to try to keep dry, so I get to explore ways around the new creeks.

Then today I was also wondering about the wisdom of standing under a metal roof at the bus stop. Which was next to a pay phone that had a wire coming down from the nearest telephone pole. I don't know enough about electricity to know if that's inviting lightning to strike me. Or would it be better to be away from that structure, being a shorter target, but still holding my umbrella, with its metal rod, but also making sure my hand doesn't slip off the little plastic handle. In the end, I decided to wait under the eaves of a large brick building nearby. The lightning was getting closer and closer, but the bus arrived before the lightning did.