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So according to the Channel 8 news a few minutes ago, the National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down briefly near Agronomy Hall on the ISU campus this afternoon (the news people are having fun with the whole tornado vs. ISU Cyclones thing). To help clarify my position during this event, I’ve provided the map you see to the right. You can see Agronomy Hall somewhat to the northeast of center. The red dot is where my bus had to stop when the tornado went through. The green dot is my bus stop proper, which we got to a couple of minutes later. The blue dot is where I had to get in the pouring (and I mean pouring) rain.

The sky started to look really nasty a couple of minutes after I boarded the bus at city hall. By the time we got within the campus area, the sky was dark. Very dark. As in, at 12:30pm, the streetlights came on and headlights were an absolute necessity to see further than a foot. I noticed around that time that the sky had turned a very deep green in the north and a blue-black in the south. I snapped this picture on my flickr page out the south window of my bus. The picture doesn’t do it much justice, I realize. I think it made the sky brighter, too, to try and accommodate for the dark conditions. I noticed that the wind had picked up dramatically in the last minute or two, and that the wind was blowing in more than one direction. I started paying more attention to the sky.

The rain started a few seconds later, and I pulled my umbrella out of my backpack, suddenly glad I decided to grab it at the last second. Two minutes later, we were in between Agronomy Hall and the Seed Science Building (yeah, we’re in Iowa, all right) when the bus driver slammed to a halt. I looked out windshield of the bus to see the fastest blowing wind I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t see more than a few inches past the window through the wind and debris. You could actually see the wind, blowing horizontally across the windshield from south to north (or north to south, not sure which. It was moving too fast). I put my umbrella back.

As I mentioned, the wind was blowing from south to north. The only problem with this is, we had very large buildings to the north and south of us. Wind doesn’t blow that way down Osborne Drive. The wind died down dramatically within a few seconds, but everyone sat, stunned, for a bit. Then the bus driver noticed there was a big branch down right in front of the bus. He and a couple of other people jumped out to move it out of the way, and we continued the 100 yards or so to the bus stop. The bus driver announced over the intercom, “for those of you who were on vacation over Labor Day, welcome back to Iowa.”

I got off the bus at around the same moment the rain really started in earnest. I took my glasses off and put them in my pocket, figuring they’d do me no good. Then I ran across the street and almost tripped over a tree I didn’t see through the rain and darkness, laying across the sidewalk next to Bessey. I put my glasses back on and made my way around the tree. Then the wind raised up again and almost blew me over. I took my sandals off, figuring I could use all the traction I could get. I started jogging to Ross.

Then the rain started. I mean, really started. I couldn’t see much of anything beyond the sidewalk at my feet as I jogged towards Ross. The whole trek took me probably a minute or less, but by the time I got to Ross, I was soaked through. About five of my friends were waiting in the entrance when I walked in. They had themselves a good laugh at my appearance, so I took off my glasses and shook some of the rain out of my hair. A few of them stopped laughing.

Then, I get up to the classroom, and a photographer shows up. Turns out they were photographing our class today for some English department grad school marketing materials. Yeah. I stayed out of those pictures.

After class, I snapped a few pictures of the downed trees around campus, which you can see on my flickr page. This is by no means a representation of all the damage around campus. These were just the trees in my way as I walked across central campus from Ross to Pearson. I heard someone say that Pammel Drive, one block north of Osborne, looked like a lumber yard.

By the by, for those of you who caught the Channel 8 newscast at 5pm, you can see my apartment in the background.

It’s sad when you realize you’ve become a lurker on your own blog. I visit my site pretty nearly every day, and strangely enough I do it for the same reason I assume you-all visit (assuming this isn’t your first time, and if it is, welcome!): I’m looking for something new and interesting. I have no idea why I think I’ll find it on my own, neglected blog (and I’m sure you-all are beginning to think the exact same thing, no?). I think I’m probably looking for feedback. Comments, you know. People other than myself to entertain me. Because so far this semester I’m really too busy to entertain myself, and as a result, I don’t get a chance to post much. That and I’ve never hit the hardcore-blogger level, where blogging becomes so habitual that to miss a day of writing online would be like going an entire day without peeing. With this girlish bladder, unlikely :)

Anyway, this post is serving as a sufficient diversion from that which I must actually get done: a short visual analysis of a technical document for my class tomorrow. My goal is to get the assignment done at some point tonight, then sleep for a bit, then wake up early to absorb (or more realistically skim) the reading for class. After class tomorrow, though, my week is essentially over. Which is good, because I’m way behind on laundry (I’m wearing Loony Tunes boxers), I’m out of food (canned peaches are a meal, right?), and I really desperately need to go to Target (see below).

It’s actually kinda interesting how these ‘necessities’ can be put aside when homework becomes life. My last highlighter ran out of—umm, highlight?—last weekend. It is very hard for me to critically read 150 pages of classical rhetoric and critiques of classical rhetoric without an operable highlighter in my hand. I ended up having to borrow Justin’s backup highlighter to do my reading for this week (luckily, Justin’s still enough of a nerd to have such things). We were also, until Justin made a run to the store tonight while I was in class, out of paper towels. A couple of days ago I tried to degrease chicken nuggets with two pieces of printer paper (not as effective as one would hope, by the by). The lightbulbs in my bedroom burned out over the weekend, and I have no replacements. Luckily, I only seem to use the room for sleep, and I tend to do that better without illumination anyway, but still. It’s the principle of the matter.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous day outside, as I can attest to from the full ten to twelve minutes I’ve spent between buildings. It’s in the low eighties, with a slight breeze, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. I suppose we have Katrina to thank for that, seeing as how she’s managed to hold up every other weather front in the nation with her slow trek northeast, leaving Iowa on a nice meteorological plateau between lows. I’m hoping to get outside a bit after work, and it still should be nice at that point. However, since I generally detest public places when I am alone (something about seeing all the groups I am not a part of), the great outdoors will probably be limited to my roof this evening.

I hear that this weekend should be spectacular weather-wise as well, and I also have Katrina to thank for the fact that I probably won’t be going anywhere to enjoy it. My car has just under a quarter tank of gas, which under normal driving conditions should last me a couple of weeks, but certainly won’t get me to Des Moines and back to see my parents. I meant to fill it up when I went out to dinner with oldFriend Natasha Tuesday night when gas was an annoying $2.50 per gallon, but forgot. Today gas is a bit over $3 per gallon in Ames. I think I’ll stick to the bus as much as possible for a while.

I saw my grandparents on the news last night (I forget which channel, but it was probably KCCI), being interviewed at the pump. Actually, I recognized their van first. My conversation with Justin went something thusly:

Caught in the act, they were, preparing for a Labor Day vacation without their dear, favorite grandson. For shame! :) Not that I probably would have been able to go, regardless. It’s only the second week of classes and I’m already falling behind in my reading. Tuesday I read classical Greek rhetoric for a good seven hours. For those who forget such things, though I am admittedly in a rhetoric-based program, classical rhetoric is Not My Bag. Though I must say, I’m really starting to enjoy reading (for example) Plato, when the alternative is some highfalutin critic pontificating away on Plato. I’m really becoming sick of the academic literary formula, “Of course, <insert proper nouns, theories, and archaic language I’ve never before encountered here>.” Oh, well… of course! Any idiot would know that!

I’m finding myself oddly attracted to blondes of late. I’ve never really been attracted to blondes, in general, before. I think this might have something to do with there being a dearth of brunettes in my immediate surroundings. “You can’t feed the dolphins drumsticks… they only eat fish!” Well, of course that’s all they eat, if that’s all you feed them. :)