Fuuuuuuck
What a day! I had work at 7 this morning, and I was not ready for what was going to happen. Got to work at 7:15 with Derek, and we started getting things ready. I had finished making five pots of coffee by 7:40 along with a few other things... and was bringing the pots out to the dining area when the door blew all the way open on its own. I went to close it... looked up at the sky as Derek came up to the dining room. I turned to him and said 'Derek - the sky is green'. 'Green?' he asks me. 'Yes, like tornado green'. We locked the doors... and a few minutes later we got hit with even stronger winds. Debris was flying everywhere in the parking lot, and then a transformer outside blew. And did it ever blow, let me tell you. I've seen a few go before, but never like this. It did the typical shower of sparks thing at first, then it stopped for a moment... then it lit on fire. The fire went out for a short time... a few minutes later, the thing blew again and the fire was much bigger, setting the pole, a nearby tree, and the power lines themselves on fire. After that, these huge arcs of white blue electricity started shooting out, trailing down the powerlines in each direction. That lasted for about ten seconds, and then it finally blew one last time.
Needless to say, we were without power until 12:30. And yes, the owners had us stay open that entire time. Kinda ridiculous if you ask me... but not nearly as ridiculous as someone wanting to drink coffee just after a tornado came through. So many people were on the roads rubbernecking... We had a few people come in for coffee and bagels... but really we just sat on our asses and talked for a while. At 12:30, the power came back... the owners said to set up and open the store fully... even though we had been hearing that we were under tornado watch and were going to be getting severe t-storms. So we opened the store... and 30 minutes later, the owners called back and told us all to get the hell out of the store. Closed up as fast as possible... and got my ass home.
The trip home was interesting, with almost all the lights in Lawrence out... and so many people out to rubberneck. People were driving like assholes, but what else did I expect? Saw some amazing damage... including a 4 story brick wall that had collapsed onto one car... many big signs for businesses and restaurants blown over like a house of cards... lots of broken windows. Check some of the pictures on www.ljworld.com
Got home and freaked out over my two exams that were to be tomorrow.... but then I found out that class is canceled for all of tomorrow. Good for the time being... however the rescheduled exam for western civ may conflict with my work schedule. That may not be good. We shall see.
Nicki gets back from Florida later tonight, and I am excited to see her... I dunno when that might be, but hopefully soon.
There isn't much else to report here... I'm off to go chill out and do some reading at a luxurious pace.
Needless to say, we were without power until 12:30. And yes, the owners had us stay open that entire time. Kinda ridiculous if you ask me... but not nearly as ridiculous as someone wanting to drink coffee just after a tornado came through. So many people were on the roads rubbernecking... We had a few people come in for coffee and bagels... but really we just sat on our asses and talked for a while. At 12:30, the power came back... the owners said to set up and open the store fully... even though we had been hearing that we were under tornado watch and were going to be getting severe t-storms. So we opened the store... and 30 minutes later, the owners called back and told us all to get the hell out of the store. Closed up as fast as possible... and got my ass home.
The trip home was interesting, with almost all the lights in Lawrence out... and so many people out to rubberneck. People were driving like assholes, but what else did I expect? Saw some amazing damage... including a 4 story brick wall that had collapsed onto one car... many big signs for businesses and restaurants blown over like a house of cards... lots of broken windows. Check some of the pictures on www.ljworld.com
Got home and freaked out over my two exams that were to be tomorrow.... but then I found out that class is canceled for all of tomorrow. Good for the time being... however the rescheduled exam for western civ may conflict with my work schedule. That may not be good. We shall see.
Nicki gets back from Florida later tonight, and I am excited to see her... I dunno when that might be, but hopefully soon.
There isn't much else to report here... I'm off to go chill out and do some reading at a luxurious pace.