A new Super (Tornado) Outbreak

Over the last 48 hours, the Deep South has experienced an outbreak of tornadoes that have not been seen since the 1974 Super Outbreak.  As of this post, over 150 tornadoes have been reported since Wednesday, on top of another 100 tornadoes that occurred Monday and Tuesday.  The death toll from Wednesday’s tornadoes stand at 280+ with over 1100 injuries and destruction that is unprecedented across 5 states.  Towns and neighborhoods were just erased from the map.  The state of Alabama clearly took the worst of the storm.

Technology was supposed to prevent a replay of the 1974 Super Outbreak.  Back in 1974, there was no Doppler radar, no way of predicting tornadoes, and most weather forecasters had to depend on spotters on the ground to determine if tornadoes.  The 1974 Super Outbreak and its aftermath led to the creation of a Tornado rating system called the Fujita scale, which measured the destructive nature of tornadoes.  It also was the likely motivation for the creation of the Weather Channel.  One of Dr. Fujita’s grad students was Dr. Greg Forbes.  Over the years, warning times for tornadoes have dramatically improved.  Research that storm chasers have performed over the years have helped improve our knowledge of tornadoes.  With each smaller outbreak (North Carolina in 1984, Kansas in 1991, Oklahoma City in 1999, and others), our understanding has gotten better.

And yet, hundreds of people are dead from this outbreak.  Why?  Is it that people didn’t get the warnings?  Unlikely.  If you were paying attention to the Weather Channel, you knew the TOR:CON index indicated almost a guarantee of destructive weather in Alabama.  Were the tornadoes so destructive?  Possibly.  It’s clear the tornado that ripped through much of northern Alabama was an EF5.  What about the fact that the destruction occurred in densely populated areas?  Probably.  The areas where death occurred were heavily populated suburbs.  Would underground storm shelters have helped?  Perhaps, but the terrain was hilly and risk of radon is real.  Plus some areas are prone to flooding.

Whatever the reason, consider this:  imagine if we had 1974 weather technology in today’s world.  How many lives were saved because of modern technology, not just because of Doppler, TOR:CON, or BTI, but also multiple ways to get the weather message out to people (radio, TV, internet, mobile phones)?

We will learn from these tornadoes, just like we learned valuable lessons from past tornado outbreaks.  Perhaps more new houses will build with interior tornado-proof rooms.  Maybe evacuating areas where tornadoes are expected to hit will reduce fatalities.  Maybe another new way to protect people will be established.  Until then, when the skies threaten, we should always be aware and keep watch…

Decision time for The Ohio State University…

Well, today Ohio State coach Jim Tressel got official word.  He has been ordered to appear at the “Principal’s Office”, aka, NCAA HQ in Indianapolis on August 12.  He has been charged with lying to NCAA officials in a Notice of Allegations documents.  Lucky for Buckeye nation, the charges are restricted to just the Tressel situation with the tattoo parlor and 5 players.  The bad news is multiplying.  First, the violation is a 10.1 infraction  of ethical conduct, and of the 13 coaches who have faced such a charge, only one coach retained their job, albeit with the school facing a more severe punishment.  Second, now that Ohio State is considered to be a repeat offender (thank you Heisman winner Troy Smith and former basketball coach Jim O’ Brien), the punishment is more likely to be worse than just for first time offenders.  Also, the Tressel situation allows the NCAA to scrutinize Ohio State more closely for additional problems, which, if additional problems have occurred, could worsen the situation even further.

Based on the punishment USC got for Reggie Bush (2 year bowl ban, loss of wins during Reggie’s tenure minus the 2004 National Title Game, return of the Heisman trophy), Ohio State’s punishment will be at minimum a 2-year bowl ban, a loss of some scholarships for many years and the erasing of the 2010 season minus the Sugar Bowl.  If Ohio State ends up with just that, they will consider themselves lucky, and Tressel will likely stay on as head coach.  If it’s worse, Ohio State will face a tough decision.  Do they want to keep the second most successful coach in school history and face a 3+-year bowl ban, loss of significant scholarships, and forfeiture of more than just one season of records, as well as a loss of integrity as being a school of higher standards?  Or do they want to reduce their time in the NCAA doghouse, maintain the punishment to USC levels, and fire the second coming of Woody Hayes?  The AD and University President have already made their intentions clearly known:  if they don’t have to fire Tressel, they won’t fire him.  The Sweater Vest is 9-1 against Michigan, won multiple Big Ten Titles, a National Championship, with appearances in two other Title games.  You don’t find coaches like that everyday, so they are unwilling to part with such a great coach.  If this were John Cooper, they would sell tickets to see how many boosters would like to beat up Cooper before they dragged Cooper into the Ohio River, gave him cement shoes, and tossed him in as they announced he was fired.  Of course, Urban Meyer is sitting out there right now available to come in and save Buckeye nation if E. Gordon Gee and Gene Smith say the word.

Whatever the outcome, this is another headache for Jim Delaney and the Big Ten.  Yes, the SEC has a shaky reputation, but the SEC is in the business of winning National Titles more than winning academic honors.  Auburn is still not clear from their 2010 issues with Cam Newton.  Still the fact that the Big Ten’s top program is in serious trouble cannot bode well for a conference trying to compete athletically with the likes of the SEC, Big 12, and Pac 12.

Singing piano…

Last Sunday, our church held its annual Palm Sunday Cantata.  Our church is so blessed to have a array of musical talent led by the Griepentrog family.  Maureen (“Mo”) has been the music director at St. Paul’s for several years and has created dozens of worship songs and two completely separate Palm Sunday Cantata from her Treble C Music Company, and husband Tedd has led the choir in concerts, despite both them and two of their three children battling health problems that would normally render ordinary people helpless.  Aiding the Griepentrog family has been Susan Liebrecht and the Michaels family.  Gretchen Michaels and Susan Liebrecht have collaborated with Mo on several songs, while Bob Michaels may be one of the most gifted singers around.  That shows when Bob plays Jesus during the Palm Sunday Cantatas. 

A variety of musicians have helped during these Palm Sunday Cantatas.  Dick Romenthal has played the role of Pontius Pilate so well for many years, and our Associate Minister, Pastor John Warther, is gifted in singing ability.  Our Senior Pastor, Pastor George Black, loves to dress up as either Caiaphas or King Herod.  And a variety of singers, actors, and musicians have helped to contribute to the success of the Cantata.

I have participated in the Cantata largely as one of the disciples of Jesus.  But this year I was asked to step up and take a singing role opposite Mr. Michaels in one of the tunes.  Although I enjoy these opportunities to sing on my own, I’m relatively quiet about doing these events.  I don’t really make a big deal that I’m singing.  It’s for a number of reasons.  One, I prefer to sing instead of talk about singing.  Two, I like to surprise people.  Three, I never want to get too big headed about musical talents.  Once I thought I was very good musically, and when I got knocked off that high horse, it took a long time for me to recover.  And four, let’s be honest, my singing talents come from God, not from my own ability.

Apparently, my singing was good on Sunday.  People came up to me to thank me and my wife was upset that she was sick and did not attend.  But, I’m just glad the Good Lord is allowing me to be still doing something musically after all these years after giving up playing the piano, the recorder, and the clarinet.

From Foxfarm Lane to Pink Lily Court

The housing situation that has occupied the attention of my wife and I for the last 6 months has been frustrating at times.  Twice we lowered the price of the townhouse from $259,900 to $257,500 and finally to $250,000.  Though everyone we heard feedback from said the house was great, we always seemed to be the #2 choice of several potential buyers.  Just three weeks ago, we were scheduled for a second showing on 1-hour notice, only to have that showing cancelled because the interested buyers decided to go with another house 5 minutes before the showing.  That may have been the low point of the selling situation.

When April began, we were getting a little nervous.  I kept telling Liz that God would provide a house to live in when we were ready and that our house would sell when the time was right.  Apparently, even I didn’t realize how quickly that time would come.  After a successful second showing on April 2nd, an offer was made on our house the next night—while we were at the circus.  The offer was amazing:  they wanted to close in 5 days, and they could considering they were offering cash.  They also were allowing us to stay in the house until May 31st, giving us some time to search.  The only downside was that they were offering $20,000 under our final asking price.  Knowing that we were ready to sell and getting some advice from our agent, I agreed to the offer under the condition that the house would be sold “as is”.  The offer was accepted.

With the selling of the house all but completed, our attention focused on getting a new house.  For this, my wife would take point, as she had focused on several choices.  She visited her top choices and came away disappointed.  She also visited some expensive choices and loved those, but the financial reality made it impossible to accept.

On Friday the 8th, we had our closing.  The new owners made the process so simple that we completed closing in 15 minutes.  But that day was not free of problems.  Our agent could not attend the closing due to chest pains.  Luckily, his partner did attend the closing.  We were also planning to visit 3-4 homes that day.  Unfortunately, we discovered that one of Liz’s favorites went off the market.  Still, we decided to visit the house, even if couldn’t walk in.  That house, located on Pink Lily Court looked terrific on the outside.  It also appeared vacant on the inside, meaning once we closed we could move in immediately.  We hoped to have a chance to look inside.

Less than 24 hours later, we got our shot.  It turns out that the owners were changing agents and had dropped the price.  We immediately toured the placed and both Liz and I agreed it was the choice.  We made an offer on the house less than 36 hours after completing the sale of the house.  The owners countered and explained that they couldn’t drop much below their latest price.  Still, we were able to get an agreement at a price Liz and I could live with.

Today was the home inspection.  Our inspector looked high and low and produced a complete report.  He found very few issues to speak of, and even he was impressed with the upkeep.  We do have a couple of things that need to be fixed, but they are not expensive.

May 11 is the tentatively closing date, giving us three weeks to move.  And the timing can’t help but convince me that God was in control the whole time and planned this scenario out for us to upgrade to a Single Family House.  Like I say in my profile, things happen for a reason.