New Job & Tornadoes

Its Christmas time and much of last week I dedicated my time to finding a seasonal job around the Dallas area to save up a few $ before I head back to Oswego.  Last March – May I worked  at the Dick’s down in Clay to save up/pay for all my trips this year so I figured I would try my luck at the new Dick’s that just opened a month ago in Allen (5 minutes away!).  When they first called me I was honest about only being in town for 4 weeks and they weren’t to sure temporary is what they wanted.  However, they did a little background check with the Clay store and I guess I was given a great recommendation because I was offered a job the next day.

I definitely lucked out.  A lot of the other places I looked, both small and large businesses, where not hiring seasonal this year or, at the moment, at all.  If anything, most businesses said they were rehiring the college students that had worked there in the summer.  Maybe it also had to do with the economy?  Either way the job market right now appears to be the pits so I wish the best of luck to anyone looking for a seasonal, or even more permanent, job at the moment.

If all else fails you can always go door to door with a rake and leaf blower…well at least down south.  That was my back-up plan.

On a more interesting note.  Last night I woke up to the sound of the Allen tornado sirens.  When I looked out the window I saw large hail and a nicely rotating funnel coming out of a wall cloud…I am not sure whether a tornado completely formed (touched the ground), but the first thought that came to mind was…isn’t it December??

I’ve grown up around extreme weather.  In 1988, an F4 tornado sprouted across from my house in Raleigh, NC.  It was around Thanksgiving time and it did a tremendous amount of damage to the area.  I remember looking out the window and watching the large, dark funnel in the distance which at one point seemed to be headed our way.  Thankfully it changed directions and disappeared over the lake 1/2 a mile down the road.

Hurricane Fran hit Raleigh in September 1996 and my brothers and I missed school for 3 weeks straight.  The main mall at the time, Crabtree Valley, was flooded up to the second level due to the tremendous amount of rainfall.  A friend of my mother’s house had 41 pine trees fall on it that night.  All doors where blocked in by the falling logs and in order to get out of the house they had to climb out a window.

The most memborable part of that night for me was the eye.  I remember listening to the 120+ mph gusts of wind and seeing trees bent over so far that their tips touched the ground.  But nothing was more intriguing than the silence and stillness that characterized the eye; a calm in the midst of chaos.

Today it is 40 degrees out and really windy a severe contrast to the 70 degree stillness we had yesterday…

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