...the blog

Facebook: Fracturing Friendships

2012-01-15T12:27:00.007-06:00

I'm gradually becoming disenchanted with social media, as I discover its limitations, which IMO are glaring. I'm not talking about the entrepreneurs who use it to dominate commercially and public relations-wise; obviously to these individuals, social media still hasn't reached its ceiling. I'm taking about the overall power source of social media: people.

What exactly, you might be asking yourself right now, am I talking about? I'm talking about the spotlight social media puts on the typical human being, which casts their faults in lights far more brighter and far more often than any redeeming qualities, in many cases. Of course there are always exceptions, as I know a fair amount of people who are, more or less, "themselves" online. But the list gets much longer and less distinguished when discussing those people who seem to feel that not having to actually face a person or audience somehow gives them free license to bitch, moan, spill, vent, or otherwise air dirty laundry in a way nobody does in the real world to casual acquaintances. Even worse are the people who volunteer personal information about themselves (usually a political, religious, or social stance) which no one ever wanted to know. Sometimes this can be a deal-breaker, even in a serious friendship/relationship.

Now, I've always been a proponent of the "sticks and stones" philosophy, believing that things like "cyber bullying" and "online harassment" are just silly 21st century buzz terms, created by people who are looking for an easy lawsuit or simply need a shield against an obviously shitty parenting job (if some kid is so mentally broken by reading words, there's a deeper psychological issue there, beyond what a chat room session can do, that mommy and daddy should've already been keen to). This is a situation in which the reader his or herself is being personally challenged, engaged. Have a little pride and "fight back" or simply log off your chat or forum, and walk away from the computer. "Cyber Bullying" is not an issue. However, you cannot walk away from a kid twice your size, who's sitting on top of you while pulling your hair, rubbing your face into the ground, or otherwise torturing you in some shape or form. So let's get over the whole "so-and-so was mean to me online today" mamby pamby bullshit.

In the case of Facebook status updates, that's an individual speaking to a large audience with a bullhorn, not really directing their words at any one person. A large audience that isn't necessarily gathering to hear this person speak on a particular topic, but rather, just to mingle about and take in everything they find interesting. The quick and easy "walk away from the computer" fix doesn't really apply here, because in doing so, the person not only rids his or herself of the offending offering, but all others as well. Blocking or deleting an individual (or both) isn't an acceptable cure either IMO, because that's extra work I have to do (although I will eventually, if the individual proves to be more than 50% dirty laundry). And therein lies the limitation of social media: the people who use it.

You have three choices: you can just deal with it, you can spend a lot of personal time calibrating your profile to filter out certain type posts from certain people (which are only good until the next inevitable, unsolicited site overall), or you can simply delete them. The last of these sounds like the best course of action on paper, but with as often as the need arises, eventually you'll find yourself on FB all alone, having nixed everyone...and then what's the point in the first place? No, option one is actually the best of the three IMO. It takes a lot of patience, tolerance, and understanding, but usually provides the happiest endings at the conclusion of a Facebook day.

How Facebook fractures friendships is by providing an (immediate) consequence-free environment for a person to say whatever comes to mind. There's a lot less hesitation before hitting "send" than there is before opening your mouth in a room where other people are actually engaging you in conversation. There's a lot more bravado staring at a computer screen while typing than there is staring into a person's eyes while speaking. Where this bravado fails is the reaction it causes the reader. While it might be easier to type "I hate christians" to a host of anonymous, virtual faces and ears, the impact of that statement isn't any less for the person on the other side. And this is where the mistake is made by so many, or the point where, because it's so easy, people just stop caring about consequences.

I read things on FB everyday about people that I not only don't want to know, but could care less about once I do know. The problem is, it leaves a rift in my psyche about said person, and makes me start to question how much I really know them (because in most cases, this involves people I only know through FB, or casually know and seldom see in the real world). It puts out a red flag, and I tend to keep the person at arm's length. While it happens much more frequently with online-only people, it's also more understandable and tolerable. But when people I know in the real world begin to post content that shines bright light on who they really are, how they really feel, and how they really think, it's much more disheartening.

I know there are things about every person I know in my life and consider a friend, that I don't know about, and wouldn't like were I to find out. There are things about me that nobody I know is privy to, and were they ever to be, wouldn't like. I don't consider these to be necessarily "skeletons in the closet" so much as simply the things that all people must have, to help maintain a simple fundamental of human existence: an identity. The things we all keep to ourselves, sometimes even from ourselves, are what make us who we are. Thoughts, emotions, feelings, understandings, philosophies, desires, addictions, appreciations. There are certain aspects of all of these which we never share, because it's for ourselves. It keeps us, us. Things that don't necessarily cause harm to others as unknowns, but perhaps might not sit well with others if ever brought to light. Simply, what we don't know about one another can't really hurt us (with of course, the exception of serial killers and molesters). But you get my point. Maybe our "souls" is what would best describe it.

There have probably been hundreds of conversations in my lifetime, with a person I consider a friend, who at the time harbored deep feelings about some random issue or situation that I disagree vehemently with. But because that particular topic was never broached, it wasn't an issue. It didn't need to be discussed, and wasn't, and this allowed two individual who disagree sharply on some things to peacefully co-exist and move on through life. The problem with Facebook is, there's never the need for a reason to bring up any topic. All a person has to do is just sit down at a computer and spill their guts; no conversation or segue necessary. And the result of this is, many times individuals will pull from their "inner monologue" or "soul" and put something out there that nobody would have ever asked for in a real conversation, or even provoked through a debate. Unwarranted, unsolicited soul-bearing. The kind that can end a friendship.

Social media, Facebook in particular, might be considered a marvel because it connects us all so easily. But the overall result is only a glaring beam of light on how flawed we all really are (and always were). The signal-to-noise ratio will always be annoyingly unbalanced in favor of Darwinism, and that's simply a reflection of where we are as a society...and that is discouraging. Thankfully, the wonderful minority who keep finding ways to slip between the cracks of the moronic social sidewalk are strong enough in their collective to keep fools like me coming back for more. As for the rare instance of a permanently-damaged friendship, that's the world we live in. And a person who's willing to be declarative and boisterous about sensitive topics without regard for my reaction, isn't anyone I'd make time for anyway.

I Thought Monogamy Was A Good Thing?

2012-01-13T09:43:00.006-06:00

I've been seeing a recent resurgence of the opinion that to dedicate one's life to chasing storms is pathetic. To put the pursuit and observation of severe weather at the top of one's priority list is folly. To spend time away from tornado hunting pining for your next one is ridiculous. You're supposed to have other hobbies during the off season. You're supposed to not care about chasing when it's not chase season. You're supposed to live a fulfilling life during those storm-lacking Winter months. And last but not least, during all of that, you're not supposed to show a smidgen of desire for warm Gulf air carried effortlessly by southern breezes, billowing thunderheads that melt in the sky like cotton candy in your mouth, or twisting tubes of restless energy, writhing like a startled snake in the grass. Really?

I've dealt with this opinion since the inception of my chasing career. I was always too overboard, too dedicated, too serious. This was coming from veterans of several years, even decades, while I was still in my very early, formative years. I guess my younger-at-the-time mind simply couldn't grasp the concept that perhaps as I grew older, my priorities would change. Oh I could easily understand that theirs had, just not my own. I found it difficult to understand how their dedication and interest in chasing severe weather could wane, but I never questioned its validity. It simply wasn't the same case with me. Not then, not now.

What puzzles me now is, a lot of this opinion seems to be coming from newer, younger chasers. People who have maybe a third of my experience. Suddenly it seems in vogue to not only dismiss chasing away from chase season, but to scoff at it. SDS, a long-enduring term in the chasing world, has now become a laughing stock, a literal weapon that's used by casual chasers against more dedicated ones, to mock their "pathetic whining about needing a storm chase." These "losers" are being told that they need to "get a life" which has long been one of my most-hated phrases. I hate it because, like so many other words and phrases people use today, it doesn't say what it really means. To say "get a life" really means "my life is better than yours because what you do isn't interesting or exciting to me." Another translation for the term "get a life" is simply "get my life."

My message to these people is simple: live and let live. I don't go around mocking people who chase casually, or simply choose to "disappear" from the chasing world after the season ends. I don't make fun of folks who seem to need some type of hobby or engagement or stimulation constantly, year-round. I don't understand them, but I respect them.

Looking at this from the mirror image point-of-view, I have some questions. What is the seemingly necessary correlation between people who chase storms and having to be a professional photographer? Why do people who chase storms also have to bird watch? Why do individuals who stare at the sky each Spring also stare through telescopes at night? Why are all the die-hard chasers of the 00s becoming nature photographers? I already know the answers to these questions: because they're evolving. They're discovering. They're seeing and experiencing new things and getting new ideas, and with each one, they discover a desire to keep going. And that's cool.

In my case, I discovered storm chasing fifteen years ago. That's where my journey ended, because chasing was everything I'd ever wanted. Everything I'd been looking for. And that hasn't changed in all these years. I started my chasing journey with a lot of other people, many of whom were friends at one point or another. Some still are. But most of them have continued their journey, onward to new and perhaps bigger discoveries. I found mine at chasing, and simply lived my dream as they rode off into the sunsets of their own lives, looking, searching for something more. And it was a friendly parting. Sometimes I still see them when they come back through my neck of the woods, during the point in a year when their journey takes them back into the world of chasing. But during those times of the year when their journeys take them away from me once again, I still remain in my woods, yearning for that next chase, that next storm, that next tornado on video. Even that next DVD. And I love it.

So fellow chasers who journey away from chasing during the year, don't pity me. I'm probably happier than all of you just waiting, dreaming about my next hunt. And for those of you who seem to look down your nose at people like me, who found their destination early and have clung to it with a passion that's higher than the gods, don't ridicule me. There's an old phrase that says "if you love two, you don't really love either." I'm not questioning your dedication to your multiple hobbies or interests with those words. I'm saying that, as much as you love all the things you do...imagine how much I must love chasing, to have granted it exclusive province to my heart, mind, body, and soul.

SA Collection: A Closer Look

2011-12-29T13:49:00.011-06:00

I love the week in between Christmas and New Year's Day. It's a time for people like me, who are fortunate enough to get the 'extended' Holiday break off work, to just sit back and relax. In my case, this means having the extra time to sit in front of the computer for hours, uninterrupted. During one of these marathon sessions today, I decided to go through all my old video sales emails, to see what the exact numbers were. Below is the result of that search, with DVD, year, and copies sold:

LOVE (2004) 159
A Perfect Spinning Circus (2000-2002) 57
Lemonade (2005-2006) 44
The Fine Art of Tenacity (1996-1999) 39
Out of the Blue (2009-2010) 30
Weather You Like It Or Not (2007-2008) 26

As the numbers indicate, LOVE is the top seller by a large margin. This is due to a couple of factors. First and most obvious, it's the oldest, so it's been available longer than the others. Secondly, back in the mid-00s people were much more open to the idea of paying for chaser highlight videos. Lastly, I was able to catch lightning in a bottle by using ebay. I listed LOVE weekly for over a year, with great success. Even with competitors listing at lower prices, I was able to consistently move units all through 2005, highlighted by a particularly-successful April during which 23 of my 27 listed DVDs sold. It also didn't hurt that by the time LOVE came out, I'd built a reputation and had made several friends in the chasing world. No doubt their support was a critical ingredient to my debut's success. The actual sales number is unknown, because early on most of the orders were snail mail, and I've since either deleted or simply lost any correspondence regarding those transactions. I used to keep a journal documenting each sale and customer, but that's been lost to the ages. The last time I looked, LOVE was well into the 160s.

A Perfect Spinning Circus is number two, mostly for the same reasons LOVE is number one. However, Circus is a collection of retro material that was produced well after the fact, and its release came smack dab in the middle of LOVE's initial run, so I never pushed it the same way. I knew it would suffer because it fell on the heels of a highly-successful debut, but I'd wanted that material released for years, and when the opportunity presented itself, I took it. It's one of my favorites, and is probably the best "all around" video of my collection, featuring hail, structure, and high winds along with the tornadoes. It also features an extended-length Easter egg that impatient viewers have likely still not discovered.

Lemonade comes in third, as what I feel is my strongest effort to date. This video was the true follow-up to LOVE, as Circus and Tenacity (both of which were released in 2005) were retro collections. My creative inspiration and the raw chase footage itself were simultaneously more powerful than perhaps any other video cycle I've gone through. Things were starting to fall into place for what seemed like a smash hit in the making. Most chasers had released a current video in 2005, I hadn't. The 2006 season was one of the worst in history for chasers, yet I had been fortunate enough to observe a few events nobody else witnessed, along with one high profile event. This, when coupled with my 2005 video, was everything I needed to put together a blockbuster DVD. So by the end of Summer 2006, I was poised to release a very strong DVD with little to no competition. To further enhance my seemingly, already huge advantage, I decided to take a chance, and broke the Cardinal Rule of waiting until year's end to release the DVD (risking a Fall event that wouldn't be included if I released early), pouring Lemonade into the world August 31. It was the first Summer release of a chaser DVD that contained footage from that same Spring, perhaps the only one. There were few newsworthy chase events that year to date, which had enthusiasts chomping at the bit for new material. There were no other DVDs released for months after Lemonade. Yet it flopped. The first week of a chaser DVD release is the most critical, because interest wanes dramatically thereafter. That first week, Lemonade sold three copies, and only garnered rare, random sales over its first year as an individual item. Over half the sales of Lemonade are attributed to SA Collection sales, well after it was released. It remains one of the strongest DVDs on the market, and virtually unknown.

The Fine Art of Tenacity probably could've been called "Whew!!!", because I was just as relieved to get my oldest analog footage onto digital mediums as I was excited about the DVD itself. After carrying my old VHS and VHSc masters around in crates, boxes, and briefcases for years, I was finally able to put them away for good, without having to worry about losing them to the ages. Tenacity was a project very similar to Circus, just a collection of retro material I'd never been able to release prior. In fact, the very first chase video project I conceived in 2001, was going to be a 2-VHS set of everything I'd seen to that point, entitled "Passion For the Twist" (and no, this wasn't a play on the Gibson film, just an unfortunate coincidence). However, so much time had passed while the project was delayed, by the time I was able to move forward with it I had too much material for the original concept. So, I divided it into two projects: 1996-1999, and 2000-2002. And since I was already working on two projects that were years past due and following a DVD from 2004, I did them in reverse chronological order, with the 2000-2002 project (Circus) coming out in March and the 1996-1999 project (Tenacity) arriving in September. 2005 was basically the year I got 'caught up' on my video library. Tenacity itself never did much as a stand-alone DVD, selling only 12 copies as an individual item in six years. Even so, it's near and dear to me personally, a relic of my early chasing years.

Coming in fifth is Out of the Blue, my most recent offering. Despite its position on the list, it's done fairly well by my standards. It started off fast, and had a pretty decent first month. Sales have since declined, as they always do after the "new" wears off, but it will likely pass a few of the DVDs ahead of it. This release benefited greatly through the utilization of social media, namely Facebook. In fact, I didn't even bother promoting it on Stormtrack, knowing it wouldn't make a difference (I went back to Stormtrack this Holiday season for a one-month promotional push, netting zero sales, so my theory proved correct). This was also the first DVD I was able to pimp through the use of a promo clip on youtube. The difference wasn't dramatic, but noticeable enough that with further understanding of how to market through social media, I should be able to have even more success the next time. Strangely, despite the fact I've been chasing for 15 years and have released several DVDs prior, many newer followers of my chasing exploits associate Bridget and myself most closely with Out of the Blue, probably because of the Rice, TX tornado, and the fact we haven't done much since.

And at the bottom we find "Weather You Like It Or Not", which is the DVD I was talking about when I once said "I can't make two of these." What I meant by that statement was, though overall I feel the video stands up just fine, it's got enough roughness that I don't want to repeat it. It works as a single unit, a cog in the overall machine of my chasing story, a continuation of the entire adventure, but it's nothing I strive to do again. From a production standpoint, it was quite the process. It was done in two parts, the first one in October just getting the raw video into the storyboard and doing the menu. Phase two came in November, when I worked by myself for the first time (without Mickey there to answer my thousand questions). I found I actually learned pretty well when I had to troubleshoot my own issues, especially when trying to beat a deadline. Mick had already done all the detailed stuff, so once I completed the storyboard, it was finished. I started the rendering process, and we left to go see a friend. When we returned, Weather You Like It Or Not was sitting in the tray, ready to be unleashed on the world.

So there you have it, the detailed history on how the video collection most people don't want to buy came about. Allow me this moment to thank each and every valued (and appreciated) customer since day one. I am honored to have done business with each of you, and you all help to continue the adventure.

Faith vs Truth: No Contest

2011-12-07T10:47:00.011-06:00

The reaction from yesterday's entry was surprisingly positive, although I assume that's due to the fact not many narrow-minded people chose to comment. However, in the discussion that developed on facebook, I saw a few examples of why some people make me wanna slam my head into a brick wall over and over.

It was suggested by an individual that feelings such as anger and depression are "un-christian." What does this mean? That a perfectly good Christian, who's spent maybe 5-10 years not only professing their faith, but actually living by it (unlike so many others) can suddenly have a bad day and then be ousted from the holy kingdom? As if waking up and having feelings that are anything less than ecstatic suddenly change a person's character to the point they're deemed no longer worthy of eternal salvation? What ever happened to "body of work" when deciding a person's worth? When did judging a person's overall character become microcosmic?

I'm sure the types I'm talking about are now saying to themselves "you're taking this out of context", or "you're putting words in our mouths", or, my favorite, "you're misinterpreting the bible." Misinterpreting? Let's look at that a bit closer. What bible thumping christians call "misinterpretation" is actually a "gray area" which is perfectly designed to counter any argument of reason against their "faith" or belief system. It's obvious the bible isn't meant to be read, page by page, and taken literally. If it is, then everyone who ever existed is going to hell, so why bother? Go out and bang hookers, do coke off their asses, and mainline paint thinner. Your fate is sealed. No, the fact is, much of what's in the "good book" can be interpreted any number of ways, which immediately, to anyone who has a shred of objectivity and reason, ends any argument about "what is and what isn't" inside those holy pages.

No person has any type of authority, be it earthly or holy, to say, with absolution, what a particular bible passage really means. Hence the term "interpretation." There are only opinions, to which every human being has a right. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that there are no rights or wrongs when it comes to discussing what's inside the bible. However some christians will vehemently deny any and all other ideas or philosophies, taken from the same source (bible), that defy their own. They cannot accept that anyone would choose to believe any differently than what they themselves do, because letting in the idea that there could be another after-life possibility casts doubt in their minds about their own beliefs. After all, why would they spend their entire lives devoted to a book if everyone else didn't also think it was the right thing to do? Absolution.

This brings me to the thing that bothers me most about the type christian I'm writing about today: their misuse and misunderstanding of the word "faith." Referring to the previous paragraph, the belief that what you believe is, beyond all doubt, absolute truth, is just that: a belief. An understanding and acceptance of what one perceives to be fact, actual, reality. It just is. Like walking outside on a clear day, looking up at the sky, and saying "I believe the sky is blue." This would be accurate, because the sky is blue, and because you understand and accept that fact, you believe it. Nobody needs to have faith in the fact the sky is blue. Because it is.

However, some christians will beat you over the head with their beliefs, about how they are "truth", and then in the same breath proclaim their undying faith for god. Do they not know how ridiculous this is, or do they just not care? It is not possible to have faith in something you already believe is fact. It is quite possible to have faith in something you believe. Faith operates in flux, not absolution. It is based on not knowing factually, but believing spiritually or from within. A risk of sorts, but something you feel strongly enough about to invest in. Truth operates solely in absolution. It is based on evidence that is acknowledged, understood, and accepted. It requires no spiritual or inner support, because regardless of how you might feel about it, it simply is.

From my point-of-view, there are two types of christian: those who believe, and those who have faith. The ones who believe will say that what they think is the truth. They will say that if others don't live their lives the same way, they will be damned for all eternity and suffer forever in the fires of Hell. Then they will listen to the other person speak. When the conversation is over, they will walk away thinking "that person is going to burn in Hell." The ones who have faith will listen to the other person speak, respectfully disagree in their mind, and then offer their own thoughts to the discussion. When the conversation is over, they will walk away thinking "I believe what I just told that person is true, but I have no way of knowing it. That's why it's called faith."

Stop Taking The "Christ" out of Christian

2011-12-06T10:22:00.004-06:00

The term "Xmas" has been in use for as long as I've been alive, and who knows how much longer. Its use is fairly obvious: a simpler, faster way to write "Christmas". However, a few years ago, I started seeing angry people screaming about "Xmas" users "taking Christ out of Christmas," which, in my opinion, is ridiculous. Now, if there were legions of folks running around saying "Fuck Christmas, XMAS!!!" I could understand these reactions. That would indicate that the point of it was to criticize the traditional Christian celebration, a kind of blasphemy. But that's not why people use it. Not at all.

It's an abbreviation of Christmas. That's it. It's not the Devil rearing his ugly, horned head. It's not an evil cult plotting to rip everyone's faith away from them. It's not some Holiday Jack-the-Ripper looking to slice Santa's fat, bearded, mythical throat. It is a simple word which serves no other utility than to shorten the time it takes to write. But if you bible-thumpers need a reason to embrace the reality that this is nothing disrespectful or evil, try this: roll that 'X' over 45 degrees and walla = a cross. Now if that ain't godly I don't know what is.

Lastly, why are Christians so easily-offended in the first place? It's like these types are just looking for reasons to be upset. I've already explained my usage of "Xmas" to people before, and they kept coming back with the whole "it's unholy" angle. Like my words are just bouncing off them, like they're water and my words are oil. Now that I think about it, that's a reaction I would expect when trying to mix some christians and reality. A volatile cocktail indeed.

So be angry if you choose. Be narrow-minded. Refuse to understand a different viewpoint than your own. Refuse to turn the other cheek. Continue to judge those unlike yourself. And when you're done doing all of that, take a good long look in the mirror. Because what you're seeing is nothing resembling a christian.

And We're Back

2011-09-15T14:01:00.006-05:00

Well kids, that was the Debris saga, as much as I'm willing to share publicly. Hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did providing the journey. But that brings us to now, which is just two nerdy storm lovers sharing their passion (and opinions) on everything chasing. Which might need further explanation itself.

Bridget and I are like many of you, avid storm chasers and lovers of exciting weather in general. However, as life stands presently, we simply can't chase everything and certainly don't chase the majority of the year. So we look to other areas to help us with our fix. That's mainly how the Debris Show started in the first place....it's simply an outlet to express my love for chasing, even if most times it seems as if I'm just bullying.

The truth is, the things I rant about are the things I care about. All our topics revolve around chasing to some degree, and chasing is what I love more than anything. I've been a constant presence on weather forums, grouplists, and chatrooms for several years. Those were the main mediums back in the day, although the two former have been gradually replaced by things like Facebook and Twitter. Chasing is life for me, so despite the fact I cannot chase all the time, I can still keep my finger on the pulse of the chasing world. I know many of you (most of you?) think it's an odd fascination, or even pathetic. But that's just who I am.

I have other interests, which I purge frequently. But my level of interest in those endeavors pales in comparison with chasing. I like waking up and seeing who's saying what or who's doing what. I like to know what's happening on a daily basis with chasers, as chasers. Unlike a lot of people, I've never been too keen on trying to build relationships with chasers outside of chasing. Almost every chaser I know, I met because of chasing. That's the common bond. I see so few chasers on a regular basis, that I've not really had the chance to get to know them away from the open road and turbulent sky. I do have chaser friends who I see fairly regularly and we always do "normal" stuff together, but for the most part, it takes a chance meeting in the middle of nowhere to catch up with most of the chasers I consider friends. I digress...

It's interesting to me to know what chasers are doing, because there's always something going on. Good, bad, and everything in between. I'm not that old lady who sits at the window with binoculars, looking for some good neighborhood dirt. I'm just the almost-40 geek who spends (probably) too much time on the computer, just checking in to see what's transpired in the little corner of the planet known as the chasing world. I've been doing this crazy obsession for over 15 years now, and I'm almost 40. This isn't a phase...I am what I am.

So to bring this whole Debris thing to a final close, Bridge and I will keep the passion flowing. Through chasing, the parties, the conferences, and the show. Chasing is what we love. Most of our friends are a part of it. Most of our best times have been because of it. And the thing that drives us most is the thought of it. It's not a bad thing to live a simple life, when that simple life itself gives life to dreams. I've been trying to build a following and sell DVDs to further fund our chasing adventures for years now, and the most glaring result of it is discovering I'm a horrible marketer. But I'm going to keep trying, because passion is the reason I do it. And you just can't kill passion.

Ric Says Farewell & The Show Goes On....For A While

2011-09-14T10:46:00.005-05:00

After an inconsistent start to the new year through the first few months, I began to sense that Ric was going to quit the show. It was nothing about how he behaved towards us, or even his enthusiasm for the show, but rather the mounting real-world bullshit that the show had been causing.....mostly because of me. Ric was always level-headed about everything, even when he was on the warpath on a particular show topic. He was always no-nonsense, and I think it was getting to the point where the show's repercussions were becoming more of a nuisance for him than it was worth. I didn't say anything to Bridge because it was just a hunch.

After a tumultuous day at TESSA 2011, which resembled nothing of the fun, party atmosphere of the 2010 version, we did a show that night. Things that had spilled over from the show into the real world was the topic, and Ric attacked them with rare form. He was as lively and inspired as I'd ever seen him on a show, so much in fact, he put doubt in my mind that he would quit. However, a few weeks later we received an email from him, telling us that he was leaving the show. I never asked him, but I think he knew that night of the post-TESSA show he was leaving, and decided to go out with a bang. In either case, it was one of our most memorable broadcasts.

This left Bridget and I with a couple of questions. First off, would we continue doing the show? Ric had been with us for a year, longer than anyone, and had firmly established himself as a major cog in the overall personality and vibe of the show. Neither of us really wanted to quit, so we decided to make a plan and move forward. The second question was, what were we going to do to fill the void left by Ric? We were never going to replace him, as there was no one who could've. He was a unique personality and talent, and trying to supplant him would've been a huge failure for the show. Nope, we felt the only thing left to do at that point, was to just bring the show back around full-circle, and just do it by ourselves like we'd done to start with.

We were optimistic, because despite the fact we'd gone back to just the two of us, Bridget was now entrenched as a show personality, not just the producer. So in reality, we still had two distinct voices on the show. Our natural dynamic as a couple, we felt, would translate nicely to our live broadcasts. We soldiered on, but issues within our own lives began to take their toll mentally on us. We were under a ton of stress, and it became so much that we were having trouble disguising it during shows. Our friend Adam Reagan came out in late May to chase with us, and we had him on as a special guest. That night, unfortunately, the stress finally broke us, as Bridget and I had a mild on-air argument that had resulted from a conversation we had during the break. I didn't say or do anything to address the viewers, I just reached over and stopped the broadcast. And that was it. The end of the show. There was simply too much going on in the real world to even begin to concentrate on doing a webshow worthy of people's time. So the Debris Show was dead in the water.

The Debris Show: Return To Form

2011-07-11T12:31:00.006-05:00

After several shows as "The Core", I kept getting the urge to unlock during broadcasts, and just go with the moment. When we'd created 'core' the object was to make the show more mature, more intelligent, and subsequently, attract more viewers. So far it hadn't worked, but even if it had, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was just going through the motions on the air, to keep the show (and myself) within the bounds we'd set when we came back with the new show/title. I was enjoying the camaraderie with Bridge and Ric as always, but the shows themselves, for my part, became little more than an exercise in restraint. We'd adopted a "low swear" policy in our attempt to push out the low-brow element of the old Debris shows, and that in itself was about to kill me.

One night, while doing a show from our place, we were getting ready to go into the break between the first and second hour. Bridget had excused herself a few minutes early to go out on the patio and have a smoke. Ric and I were just kinda throwing stuff out there to wind down the last few minutes, when suddenly I accidentally said "Debris" instead of "The Core" as we were signing off for the break. I stopped, and then Ric and I looked at each other. He then said (to me as well as the audience), smiling, and in a way that seemed to indicate he'd seen this coming for a while now, "this is the Debris Show ladies and gentlemen." We went to break, and the three of us decided to let the viewers choose. We came back on after the break, announced there would be a vote for the rest of the show to see what the show would be called, and within minutes everyone was unanimously in favor of "The Debris Show". We were finally back.

The reason the "Core" idea didn't work, was we tried to overhaul the entire show. But Ric had always been the level-headed one who was a little more sophisticated and little less inclined to fly off the handle. He'd always established that personality on the show, which nicely balanced with my tendency to go apeshit at the drop of a hat. Bridget had always been, IMO, a nice mix of both. When I had wrecked the show the previous Summer because I'd been too drunk, I felt really guilty and was trying too hard to make up for that mistake by re-inventing my show persona into a "kinder, gentler" Shane. But what happened was, I became a less-talented and less-intelligent version of Ric's show persona. I was dull and aloof, and really didn't know what to add in that particular role. After a few months of that, I simply had to burst out of the shell I'd created for "Core".

Once we were "The Debris Show" again, things started coming naturally. I was no longer tethered to scripts or topics or trying to be somebody I'm not. Let's face it: professionalism is just not in my DNA. I'm too raw, too real, too emotional. And probably too stubborn as well. The show continued on, and not long after we'd gone back to being "The Debris Show", our numbers began to grow again. By the end of the year, we were setting all-time records on a nearly week-to-week basis, topping the 100-viewer mark for just the second time in show history. We tackled serious and "mature" topics, but we did it in our own styles. All three of us were just being ourselves again, and it was working wonderfully. Maybe that was the answer to the big mystery of why "The Core" wasn't as successful....people simply wanted "The Debris Show."

We were rolling week after week, never missing a show for a couple months. The viewer counts were way up, the highest average we'd enjoyed in over a year. The topics and phone calls were top-notch. We rolled this very successful stretch right through the Holiday Season and into the New Year. But as mid-January came around, we started having schedule clashes that kept us from having shows on our regular night, kept us from having shows with all three members, or canceled shows altogether. Ric would have plans one weekend, and the following weekend we'd have plans. It seemed as though we all needed a bit of a break, and were just taking turns on our mini-vacations. The viewer count reflected our inconsistency, as they dropped dramatically during January and February. It became obvious that to sustain the success we'd just started to enjoy, we'd have to keep the train rolling week to week. It started to feel a little more like work and a little less like fun, and the idea that our Saturdays were taken up for the foreseeable future suddenly seemed crappy. I loved doing the show, but I also didn't like the thought that it was costing us half our weekend each week. I had the feeling Ric felt the same way, if not even stronger.

The Debris Show: 'The Core' Is Not The Cure

2011-07-06T12:37:00.005-05:00

Summer drudged on, and we didn't hear from Ric for several weeks. I started to think we probably never would. Bridget and I had been planning to continue the show at some point, if we could ever figure out exactly what it was we wanted to do. It was going to take some planning, because David had designed, more or less, the entire system with which we did our shows. It was going to be a "from the ground up" type of project. But not hearing from Ric kinda kept us at bay on moving forward; we both wanted him onboard but neither of us knew if he would ever contact us again.

Having Tavis us with us for the Summer, we stayed very busy with day-to-day kind of stuff, with frequent visits to my mother's place as well as almost daily swimming sessions. I was busy at work as well, so the show wasn't really a concern for a couple of months. Then one day, I got a message from Ric about maybe getting together and figuring out something show-wise. He invited the three of us to his place for dinner, and to discuss new ideas. We had a great time, enjoyed great food, and started the groundwork for what would be a new effort for a show. The three of us still had a bad taste in our mouths from how it had ended a few months earlier, and we were all wanting a fresh start. We decided to change the name of the show, and to fine-tune our content. We wanted to be smarter, less low-brow, and wanted to attract more viewers as well as guests. Basically, we wanted the show to grow up.

I had come up with the name "Core" a few weeks after the Debris Show ended, but had kept it to myself. I didn't want to just say "hey guys, I got this name" and then nobody else even have a say in it. I waited until we all decided to consciously try and come up with new show names, and then presented it to the others then. Everybody loved it, and it wasn't even close. So now we had a fresh start, new enthusiasm, a new platform, and finally, a new name. That September, "The Core" debuted. The initial response wasn't overwhelming, but we anticipated that because we'd been away so long. Our second show back, we planned to do a live show from Wakita, OK to cover the 15th anniversary celebration of the making of "Twister". It was a well-planned and coordinated endeavor, save for one small detail: none of us considered the fact a small town in the middle of BFE would probably have less-than-stellar internet coverage. We set everything up, but Ric struggled to get a solid connection most of the day, which ended up in a frustrating "we give up" moment of defeat that afternoon. We moved the show back to its regular time and did it from our hotel room that night. Still, we weren't really generating the response I was looking for.

The show continued into Fall, and we began alternating broadcast locations between our place and Ric's. It was a cool deal, because each location had its own setup, based on what we had to work with. Plus, we really liked hanging out at Ric's anyway, so doing shows from there just added to the fun. To our eyes and ears, the shows went well, and were quite similar to what we'd been doing with Debris towards the end of its run when Ric was part of the show. But for whatever reason, our numbers weren't growing. Had we been away too long? Were people just not interested in the medium anymore? Were we getting too far away from what we'd been with Debris? I even wondered at one point if not having Reimer around any longer had cost us viewers.

On the surface the shows were running great, but for me personally, I started to feel robotic during broadcasts. I found myself constantly trying to remember and focus on what exactly it was we were trying to be, trying to do. I started to feel torn between going with my instincts (which was what Debris had always been) and trying to maintain a certain level of professionalism and composure (which was what The Core had been founded upon). I started to wonder if maybe I was becoming more worried with trying to increase our numbers than I was actually doing the show. I became obsessed with the pre-show music lists, and those became a bigger focal point for me each broadcast than the actual show content. It became such a crutch for me, that if anything went wrong during the pre-show to interrupt or upset the music, it would completely mess my head up. After a while I became so bad, the others would get visibly upset by my tantrums. I was worried about a half hour of music that no one else cared about, and wasn't giving a second thought to the actual show. My heart just wasn't in it any longer because at that point, regarding the show, I didn't know who I was, what the show was, or who we were supposed to be targeting.

The Debris Show: Ric Comes Aboard & Shane Sinks the Ship

2011-07-04T09:53:00.002-05:00

Once again, like when the string of guests stopped at the beginning of the year, our dynamic was suddenly changed after Erik was no longer a part of the show. But this time, the solution was obvious: it was time to ask Ric to be on the show as a full-time member. He accepted our invitation, and we became a foursome for the second time.

Ric brought a completely different element to the show than we'd ever had, with his quirky sense of humor and clean, quick wit. He also brought a different flavor of music in his arsenal, which was comprised largely of older classics, along with some Benny Hill. He truly gave the show a new personality, which when combined with what we already had, turned the Debris Show into a virtual melting pot of ideas and opinions. Basically, we were stacked with content.

However it didn't take long for Ric to let me know he wasn't wild about David, who had been getting progressively worse since the start of the new year. While my lazy, non-techno butt had turned a blind eye to his behavior for the most part, Ric did not. Ric had technical knowledge, as much if not more than David. He didn't need to rely on him for anything, and thus, wasn't about to sit around and watch him act out whenever the fancy struck. I think David sensed this, because he seemed to straighten up a bit once Ric came onboard. That, or he saw it as another opportunity to rub his disrespect of me (and in my own home) in my face.

April and May went by, and the show was still very successful, averaging about 65 viewers at any one time during a broadcast. The topics we touched on ranged from the stupid to the serious, and everything in between. The shows became a good mix of both comedy and tragedy, and viewer interaction through phone calls became quite common. With more serious topics, often-times people would want to chime in with their own opinions. What was once a gimmick, a novelty, became the standard, as we averaged half a dozen calls per show, which actually filled a lot of time. Sometimes callers would go on for several minutes, forcing us into "overtime". We certainly didn't mind, because it meant we were reaching people.

During this time, David's bullshit began to reach new heights. One of the innovations Ric brought to the show was the use of a condenser mic, which is a single microphone that is placed in a static location and picks up sound from everything in the immediate environment; we placed this in the middle of the table, and it took care of all our audio, for every member of the show. Prior to this, we'd still been using the headsets. While the sound quality they provided was superior to anything we'd ever used IMO, it was hard to get them balanced right with multiple sets being used. David was in control of the audio settings, and could pull the levels up or down at the touch of a button. He could even cut sound off completely to any pair of headsets while activating sound in others. It wasn't until weeks after it actually happened, but I found out David had been cutting the audio from the headsets Ric and I were using during live broadcasts, and making inappropriate comments to Bridget that only she could hear. Unfortunately for David, he was still a member of the show when I found out.

June began, and my patience with David Reimer was on its last legs. I had brought him into our fold, given him every opportunity to be a part of things, shown him infinite patience while hoping he would eventually grow up, and still he took more joy in disrespecting me and seeing how far he could push that disrespect than he ever did being in our company. The only thing holding me back was not having had the opportunity to sit down with both Bridget and Ric to discuss what to do about him.

Towards the end of the month, we had scheduled a Saturday night show meeting. Instead of doing a broadcast, we were going to sit down and figure out what direction the show would be going forward in. Nobody had really said anything, but the feeling was lingering in the air that something needed to change. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was starting to get burnout. I enjoyed working with Bridget and Ric, but David was a problem. Because he would fly right just long enough to get through most of a show night, on the surface he seemed to be improving, which allowed the rest of us to just move past it and go on with the show. But it was the things he'd already done that had started the rift from which I would never recover.

The day of the scheduled show meeting, Bridget and I spent the day with friends, cooking out and drinking beer. We figured since it was a meeting and not a show, we didn't need to be "presentable" for the camera. We had a great time, and eventually made our way back home. When Ric and David showed up, I suddenly felt inspired and proposed we do an impromptu show. The others seemed to like the idea, so we scrambled with the setup and social media, and did a show. The problem was, I'd been drinking all day and, while that was a perfectly normal thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, I had no business trying to do a Debris Show as hammered as I was.

The show was nearing the end of its first hour, when someone in the chat room made a comment as a joke. Being drunk as a skunk, I took it literally, and proceeded to go off on a rampage against this individual, live on the show. Everyone else just sat there looking at me like I was a complete idiot. We went from my drunken rant right into the break, at which point Bridget looked at me and said "come outside now." She explained to me what a dumbass I'd just made of myself, and how I was pissing everyone off. That just made me angrier, and the show was over. David gathered up his things and left without even saying anything to anyone, and was gone by the time I finally came back in the room. Ric, always the level head of the bunch, was clearly upset but did or said nothing negative. He simply gathered up his things, said "we'll take a break for a while" and left. About an hour after everyone had gone, Bridget got a text from David that simply said "I'm done." Good, that saved us the trouble. But there was still the matter of Ric, who was a lot angrier than he had let on. I had, in the span of a few drunken minutes, completely destroyed The Debris Show.

The Debris Show: Erik Comes And Goes

2011-06-23T09:27:00.009-05:00

After the Holidays, the show continued on. Not long into the new year, we invited Erik to join the show as a fourth member. Our string of guests had stopped, but they had become such an important part of the show I worried that going back to the way it had been before would be bland to the audience. Erik had a very outgoing personality, and was a nice addition to the three of us. We now had a seasoned chaser, a newbie, a female, and an up-and-coming chaser. A well-rounded mix of experience and point-of-view.

The shows became increasingly intricate, as David had established (and perfected, as best he could) the multi-cam setup. Our audience had grown to the largest week-to-week average we'd ever enjoyed. Scott Bennett had donated an internet phone (complete with its own number which he paid for) to the show towards the end of 2009, so our call-ins had improved dramatically. Erik brought new topic ideas to the show, and even managed to track down certain chasers to call in and speak on those topics. We now had graphic overlays scrolling the screen during live broadcasts, pimping our own websites. The Debris Show had completed its transformation from a raw, one-guy rantfest with nothing but content into a well-oiled machine, with a complete cast, multiple cameras, viewer call-ins, a viewer chat room, and scrolling text. It had truly grown into itself.

Because of this, Bridget and I started getting the idea to try and get back some of the money we'd put into the show to get it where it was. We came up with the idea of advertising chaser or weather-related products and websites for a weekly or monthly fee. I loved the idea, but didn't think anyone would bite. However, we received quite a few sponsorships over the next six weeks after we started offering advertising. Bridget and I had been supplying pre-show food for the crew for weeks, and now the advertising money was paying for it. It wasn't much, but it was that much less we had to pay for out-of-pocket, which was huge to us. It also paid for the during-show beer.

Perhaps the pinnacle of that era was the party/show we threw post-TESSA. We invited a few people we knew who were in town for the event over to our place afterwards, to hang out and either be a studio audience or even be on the show. We expected maybe a handful, but word soon spread that The Debris Show was inviting TESSA goers over for an in-studio experience. What ended up happening was a full-on party, with probably twenty or more people coming over. The show was a mere after-thought compared to the party, which featured a lot of local chasers Bridget and I didn't know beforehand. One of those people, who showed up early and saved me from a horrible lack of experience grilling for several people at once, was a guy named Ric Burney.

We hit it off instantly, and I was thinking to myself "this guy needs to be on the show." He was smart, witty, and had a charisma about him that IMO would translate into a fascinating guest on the show. He agreed to be on the show, and when we finally did it, it was awesome. Because he was a fan of the show, we stayed in contact afterwards. Meanwhile, Erik's personal life had become quite complicated, which slowly took him out of the picture. We didn't fire him and he never quit, he just stopped being able to make shows. At first I hoped it was an isolated incident, but eventually it became clear that Erik's days as a member of The Debris Show cast were over. So now we were back to three.

The Debris Show: CTV Era Ends

2011-06-18T09:31:00.004-05:00

Buried internal issues and all, the show kept rolling along and growing every week. By this time, Bridget and I had met a lot of local chasers, and often times one or more of them would come over on show night to hang out. Soon, every show had a live studio audience, just people who wanted to hang out and be a part of the event. From this, we got the idea to start having guests on the show. Connor McCrorey, a new chaser who was living in DFW at the time, made an appearance. Other local guys such as Justin Cullum, Gene Yates, and Erik Burns also appeared on the show in varying capacities. Then folks from out of town wanted in on the action. Ben Holcomb was in Oklahoma, visiting from Michigan, and drove another three hours south from his vacation spot to be on the show. Our friends Gary and Lucy Blinebury came out from Indiana, and stayed a few days with us while on their travel vacation. Lucy is originally from overseas, and being female, made for a fascinating guest to finish out 2009.

During that December stretch when show popularity soared and guests were plenty, I became increasingly boisterous on the show. I was venting on every topic in chasing that caught my attention, as I would normally do anyway, and now people were actually tuning in to watch me do it. I was having fun, and I was holding back less and less. Before long, it became obvious that the mutual loyalty between CTV and The Debris Show was starting to jeopardize their credibility while holding us back. Erik had been on the show one night, calling out a local DFW news station who had screwed him over on a piece of video he'd sold them. We received a message very quickly from Steve to have him stand down, because the station he was talking about also happened to be a big CTV customer. At that point I knew, even before it was brought to me officially, that our days on CTV were numbered. It was a friendly parting, but necessary for both parties involved. The Lucy episode would be our last on the CTV stream service, and we went out with a bang, thanking CTV for all their support, and basically saying "farewell". Beyond that moment, none of us knew what the future of the show would hold.

Once our relationship with CTV ended, so did our string of guests. It was the Holiday Season, so most people were doing "normal life" things, while we didn't have a platform for even doing a show. I put David to work, researching both Livestream and Ustream, the two major free streaming services at the time. I told him to try each one, and make a decision as to which would work the best for us. This was another mistake on my part, because it further reinforced Bridget's notion that I was taking the show out of her hands and placing it into David's. But truthfully, I just assumed that with her school work during the day, she simply wouldn't have time. Yet another mistake on my part, born of assumption. (Are you seeing the pattern yet?)

About a week later, David reported back to me that we would be going with Ustream. I was secretly hoping it would be Ustream, because Bridget and I had opened an account there about a month prior, when we first sensed that things with CTV would be ending eventually. She and I were somewhat familiar with it, which I thought was important; the show was already under enough of David's control, we didn't need to let it slip completely away. As David's grip on the show had increased, so had his tendency to act out. His antics on the show had slowly started to move over into the real world, and they weren't nearly as amusing when we weren't broadcasting to an audience. He was slowly starting to show his true colors, but by the time I figured it out, he was more or less entrenched in the inner workings of the show. A few friends had warned me that it was a bad idea to bring him into the fold, but for whatever reason, I had believed in David Reimer. Over the next few months, as the show began yet another change of direction, he would prove me wrong.

The Debris Show: Two Becomes Three

2011-06-17T14:01:00.006-05:00

The show plowed on through its first few months, and our numbers were growing. We'd established a regular following of viewers (people we could count on), and had started to make a name for ourselves. We started doing broadcasts 15 minutes early, to play music and get the crowd pumped up for the show. A regular gathering in the spotterchat room paralleled our broadcasts, and added an extra element. Bridget came up with the idea of using Skype to allow viewers to phone in with questions or comments, and while at first we struggled mightily with technical issues, it eventually became a wonderful tool that further enhanced the show.

One of the chatroom regulars, a young nerdy fellow named David Reimer, came to us one night before a show to ask if he could assist with the Skype thing. Bridget and I figured why not, so he did a remote help session with us during a show one night. It went fairly well, and he was beginning to grow on us, so we invited him to help out each week with calls. After a few weeks, we invited him to be on the show, as tech support and to add another personality. However, I made it clear that if David joined, Bridget (who, up to this point, wanted nothing to do with being a part of the actual audio/video show) would have to step into the spotlight as well. She agreed, so we became a trio.

David brought with him a lot of nerdy techno knowledge, which served the show well. He created a multiple webcam system, which allowed him to change angles between various cameras. Now that we had three personalities actually talking on the show, it made perfect sense. Bridget and I went out and spent a decent amount of money on various types of microphones, trying to enhance our sound. While the built-in laptop mic worked well enough to do the show, it was lacking in overall quality. Because I felt audio was the most important part of the show, we went through an extensive phase of trying every kind of mic we could find at WAL-MART or Fry's within our budget. We settled on a mix of headphone mics and a stick mic; Bridget and I used the headsets while David had the stick. However, David somehow cut the cord on the stick mic the same day we purchased it (the first sign of what was to come with him) so he ended up joining us with the headsets. The Debris Show had made a dramatic transformation; we went from one guy on a garbled mic and one generic camera angle, to three people with three camera angles, all talking on crisp microphones. To say the least, it was a vast improvement.

While Bridget was still rather gun-shy about being on camera and speaking much at all, David and I found instant chemistry; his nerdy, youthful demeanor chock full of smartass meshed brilliantly with my raw, more-experienced, "fuck you" attitude. We were at each other constantly, and the audience loved it. Over the next few shows, Bridget slowly started to get more involved in the show itself, taking on a kind of "mother" role to David, which created even more back-and-forths of constant jabbing that the viewers lapped up. By the time another month had gone by, we had all developed into our roles nicely. On the surface, everything seemed to be clicking. But internal issues were slowly starting to rise, which would eventually cause real problems.

Bridget, who had been running the show until David came along, began to feel as if her role in the show had been given to David by me. She didn't mince words when she brought it up to me, more than a few times, about how she felt she was no longer important to the show, or even needed. My view on the situation was, I had always wanted her to be on-camera with me, as a co-host. In my mind, once we made the decision to bring David on, that signaled the end of the "Shane solo crazy rant" era, and started the "Shane & Bridget" show. I don't think she had a problem with that vision, so much as David was simply beginning to take the show over tech-wise. Even I felt his role growing while ours wasn't; he was running everything from his machine, and whatever bells and whistles he created week to week came and went with him. I'll be the first to admit that while I sensed it was happening, I never said anything or did anything to rock the boat. I'm lazy and technically-retarded, so all I wanted to do was come up with topics and talk on camera. I ignored what was going to become a major issue down the road.

The Debris Show: The Early Days

2011-06-17T11:03:00.005-05:00

As we began our early phase of planned shows on the CTV stream service, Bridget took over all the technical aspects so I could concentrate on the show content and performance. We experimented with different setup locations, so we could give the audience a little bit different look each time (which consisted of one actual location: the same setup spot in our living room, just facing opposite ways depending on our mood).

As for the show itself in that first month, it was pretty basic but still structured. I'd write down ideas all the previous week leading up to a show, and when it was time to do the broadcast, I'd just pick whatever topic I thought was most interesting first, and simply work my way down. I might only have three or four ideas on a piece of paper, but I could spin each one into 10-15 minute bits. I did this on purpose, because I wanted a show that was structured enough to be interesting, but still free-style so the audience would keep coming back. It didn't take long to learn that what people loved most wasn't necessarily what I was saying, but how I said it. I would get emails and talk to people in live chat during the week between shows, and the opinions were all pretty much the same: they loved my angry, honest rants.

It made sense, because I'd built my name in the chasing world years earlier (quite unintentionally) by being blunt and honest on chasing forums and grouplists. To outsiders, I was this nobody with no credentials but a million and one opinions. To me, I was just a new chaser who was absolutely obsessed with any and everything to do with chasing, and usually had an opinion about it. Another thing that helped mold me into what I am today, was the fact no one took me seriously. I would get scoffed at by veteran chasers, because (1) I didn't have much of a chasing resume yet and (2) most chasers back then had left-brained, passive, almost-introverted type personalities; I'd always been the polar opposite. When I came onto the chasing scene, most chasers, away from chasing, could be found programming, doing math equations, or staring through a telescope. I was more likely to be found at the local watering hole, reveling in drunken bliss and scoping chicks. So from the very moment our two worlds collided, I was beyond the atypical storm chaser. That they wouldn't take me seriously didn't help matters.

But I digress...

I held little back on the early shows, except mentioning actual names. I would talk about anyone I wanted, as long as what I said was the truth. People used to warn me about silly legal things like "libel" and so forth, but I stood by my principle: If what I'm saying is true, and I don't mention names, fuck'em. If the person (s) I'm talking about realize it's them, and they get pissed, even better. The beauty in that is, if someone should come forth, suspecting I'm talking about them, they immediately mark themselves "guilty" to a viewing audience who otherwise would've been none the wiser. It's a can't-lose situation. And I used it to my every advantage on the show.

Not long into the early phase of the show, real-world issues began to arise. I would get angry emails, even phone calls, regarding show content. But I stood by my principles. In fact, if someone started causing me a headache away from the show during the week, I'd lay into them even harder the next week; if I was going to have to deal with issues in my personal life regarding a silly one-hour show where sometimes the truth hurts, I was gonna earn those headaches. Over the course of the first six weeks of the show, it had cost me a few admirers as well as a professional tour guide gig. But I didn't care. The show was real, honest, and entertaining. As more and more issues arose for us because of the show, the more of a life the show began to take on. We had found something, and it was starting to affect people (for better or worse). We weren't going to stop now. Chasing needed a different kind of voice, one that nobody had ever provided before. Oh sure, weather shows were a dime a dozen, and all were successful and had their own audience. But nobody in the world of chasing or weather had ever done anything like Debris. We were breaking new ground.

Certain aspects of the show became fun for the audience. I almost always drank beer during the early shows, but out of respect to Scott and Steve at CTV, I would drink from a cup, so as not to promote the consumption of alcohol on their professional streaming service (which had a lot of heavy-hitting customers who were far more important than The Debris Show). Because of this, I would joke with the audience and say I was drinking "Orange Juice" or simply "OJ". It became a running joke for a while, as people would randomly ask "how's the OJ?" We were building a relationship with our viewers, and I loved that, because that's all we had. Without the people watching, I was just some nutbag screaming at a 16-inch monitor. I think people began to relate to us, because the entire point of the show, down to the name, was reflective of our laid-back style and approach. The show, technically, was less-than-stellar. But we used what little technology we had to the fullest extent, and made it fun to watch. We didn't need the professional setups of shows like High Instability and Weatherbrains; our appeal wasn't our technical prowess or smooth-operating shows. It was content.

The Debris Show: Raw Conception

2011-06-14T14:33:00.006-05:00

Back around the time CTV was created, Steve Miller OK and I used to get together quite often for beers. We used to talk about CTV stuff, ideas for new technology, and what we thought people would find interesting or useful. Through all of that, one of us threw out the idea of doing a live streamed, weekly "talk show" type of thing (I don't remember who it was). We had a lot of ideas, and talked about doing it, but it never materialized. I had always blogged and posted on forums about various topics in chasing, but had never even fathomed trying something on a video format. I had plenty of material and the antics, just never thought to put them on camera. Then on November 1, 2009, I had an epiphany.

While sitting around in our little hovel in Norman one Sunday night, I was in a particularly pissy mood. The "Storm Chasers" craze had just gone into high gear, and because I've always known all the bullshit scripting and Hollywood glamor that goes into that program to make chasing seem interesting and the chasers seem like rock stars, the constant worship from star-struck people who had no clue what real chasing was about, was making me insane. I was also angry about noobs that night for whatever reason (there's always a good one), so I decided to just say what was on my mind. Bridget and I had a CTV account, but had never used it in the field. However, from home base it worked perfectly on all our test sessions, so we decided to fire it up and see what happened.

I sat down on our rickety old futon that Bridget had nabbed off Craigslist for $25, set the laptop in my lap (appropriately enough), and just stared into the built-in camera and talked into the built-in mic. I went off for about a half hour, bitching about whatever came to mind. There was no plan, no show name, no script, no formula, and no breaks. Just 30 solid minutes or more of me ranting into a webcam. The only prep we did was to post on facebook a few minutes before I went on. Once I had said all I wanted to say, we just stopped the broadcast. It had been fun, but we didn't really didn't think much beyond that.

The response was positive and large enough that we felt we needed to do another show the following weekend. Steve was hosting a huge chaser party that Saturday, and suggested we do the show from there. Someone came up with the idea of me getting my head shaved live during the show, and suddenly we not only had a great platform for show #2, we had a fantastic gimmick to promote it. (I had been contemplating shaving my head for several months and had long-since gotten used to the idea of it; by the time we actually did it live on the web, it was nothing but an afterthought to me. The audience, however, unaware that I'd "made my peace" with losing my long locks, was shocked as it happened: a few women who were watching as Bridge cut off my ponytail actually gasped).

The show was a huge success, but again, Bridge and I were just living in the moment. We had no plans for anything further. By the middle of the next week, we suddenly found ourselves moving to north Texas. That consumed the rest of our week into the weekend. Sunday came and went, and we not only didn't do a show, we'd forgotten about the show. It was the middle of the following week before we established internet service, and to our surprise, we found multiple emails and messages asking about when the next show would be. I remember sitting there with Bridget and asking "You mean they actually want to see more?" I didn't think anyone would remember after just two half-assed shows and nothing else, but apparently more people were tuning in than I imagined. We decided to start doing hour-long shows each Sunday at 10pm, which was the exact time all the Storm Chasers sheep would be finishing up their hour of worship. We wanted to get 'em while they were weak.

Coming Attractions: The Debris Show Story

2011-06-13T13:14:00.005-05:00

In the coming days, I will begin a series of posts regarding the Debris Show. I know the show's ending was confusing for the audience, if nothing else, and I hope to answer some of the questions a few of you might have about the show's untimely demise. But to do that, I feel it's necessary to start from the very beginning. The show had long-life potential, and did last well over a year (not too shabby in this "now" generation that forgets something as soon as they walk into a different room), but was stopped well short of the projected lifespan. There's no absolution regarding the show staying dormant, but for the time being it's history.

I'm going to delve into the gritty details, the inner workings of the show. How it started, how it developed, and how it eventually derailed. And all the subtle happenings in between. So if you were a fan of the show, keep checking back for the Debris Show Story. Coming soon.

A Nightmare Come True: The Conclusion

2011-06-10T10:29:00.003-05:00

So that's been the dark trip through our year since early April. The complete look (as well as can be seen from the outside looking in) at everything we've had to shoulder since what should've been the beginning of a great chase year. That leaves but one piece of the story: the ending. Where does all of this take us next? What direction are we going now? The answer is simple: forward.

The irony (if that's the correct usage of the word...I still don't know what it really means pertaining to context) of this "nightmare" is, it doesn't change anything. I still must get up in the morning and go to work to ensure we stay afloat in the present. Bridget must still get up in the morning and do her studies to hopefully build a better future. Life goes on as it does every other day. So the comical conclusion to this horrid phase is basically that it never happened.

I've got several projects planned, which include the ever-needed updates to my website. Now that I've given up on being a true "company" or "brand" with which I expect to actually make money, there is no time-line on these updates. The site gets very little traffic in general, so there's no "audience" to have to constantly feed new content to. The beauty of a dead-end street website is, you can take your time working on it. Nobody's going to complain.

Once all of the content is updated, that will free up a lot of time/energy for any possible, whimsical changes I might dream up. I've kept the look of my site more or less the same for a decade, partly because of laziness, but mostly because I just like it. It's simple, to-the-point, and isn't a commercial site. It was a cookie-cutter website for the first few years of its life, but time, technology, and trends have made it unique (some would say "a dinosaur"). There's no new DVD in the works this year (as if I needed to say), so that allows all of my time/effort to be put into the website. Believe me, I'm not excited about doing the work. But I am excited about having it done.

The major project between now and the next chase season will be a new car (again, as if I needed to say). After years of driving cheap beaters, which are great bang-for-your-buck bargains but not the most comfortable or workable cars on the road, I've decided to spend more and get something a little more practical and comfortable. Something with resale value. Something I can replace before it dies (something that, at 39 years old, I've yet to do). It's time I drove a car worth more than the video camera I'm using. Bridget deserves a little comfort, and I deserve a little more peace of mind. For years I've sacrificed comfort for value, and for a lot of those years it's paid off. But I'm not 25 anymore, Bridget likes air-conditioning, and it would be nice to have a vehicle that's worth washing once in a while.

So there you have it, dear reader. The downward spiral of our storm season, from start to finish (with a few more graphic details left out for your sake). The road ahead is long and winding, and full of possibility. There are still many construction zones we've got to negotiate before we find the true open road, but believe me, that open road is ahead, and somehow, some way, we're getting there. 2011 might have succeeded in quieting the monster for a little while. But you can't kill passion, and that my friends, is all I'm made of.

A Nightmare Come True: The Residual Effect

2011-06-09T13:17:00.005-05:00

The biggest problem with the crap year we had, wasn't anything that actually happened during our season. The biggest problem lies with the residual effect. It's no secret I've lead a life of, well, poverty more or less during the entire span of my chasing career. I only know one way to make it work, and that way, unfortunately, doesn't always translate to success that can be projected throughout a year in my normal life; somehow, some way, no matter how successful my chase season was, I always end up paying for it somewhere down the road. The residual effect. But, in almost every year of my chasing life, there's been at least one day that made all the residual effect downtime misery worth it. One great chase event documented on video, makes a 9-10 month span of "just getting by" misery acceptable. Multiple great events in a given season make it almost forgettable.

But this year, there was no great event. No payoff. No physical manifestation to point at and say "there, that justifies the previous 9-10 months' worth of crappy living." So now that we're thrust back into a particularly nasty residual effect, I find myself asking "what the fuck was it all for?" To the nomadic chaser, whose entire season is a single, weeks-long trek with no breaks, having a bad year means they had a bad vacation. To the hobbyist, it just means it was a dull season. But for people like us, who live to chase, and base every major decision around it, we basically just lost a year of our lives. If you would've told me that our 2011 season would've been the fruitless waste of time it was, around July of last year, then we would've done things differently. We would've invested all the time/money we put into chasing into other things to enhance our lifestyle, we would've started a nest egg. If Bridget and I weren't chasers, and had all the money we put into chasing, we'd be in another tax bracket. But there is no way to know in advance what a chase season holds, or what the future in general holds. That's part of the appeal; chasing is a gamble, but the rewards are a kind of sugary sweet that knows no rival.

But it doesn't change the fact: we basically lost a year of our lives. So dealing with the aftermath, as we are right now, is kind of uncharted territory. I make it through well enough, because of that eternal hope gene I talked about a few posts back, but it's still a constant source of stress and worry. I find myself in situations at work, where the other guys are discussing business ideas, and I'm thinking to myself "I wonder how long it's gonna be before I can get another car?"...."It's June, I should still be chasing"...."I wonder how long it's gonna be before I have enough good material to make another DVD?"

That's where my head is, all the time, 24/7/365. Because I'm here to chase. That's why I walk the earth. That's why I draw breath. Everything else is just something to wade through, dabble in occasionally, and try like hell to not let corrupt my next chase season.

15 Years

2011-06-06T19:44:00.003-05:00

Today marks the 15-year anniversary of my first chase/tornado. The day that changed my life forever, and began a decade-and-a-half long journey of adventure and discovery. Those of you who know me or have followed my work know the story, so I won't repeat it here and now. For those of you who don't, I offer this.

A Nightmare Come True: The Loaner Factor

2011-06-05T08:57:00.004-05:00

A few days after our initial rental fiasco, we were actually able to successfully rent a car. However, as careful as I was, keeping us out of hail and getting perfect position more than a few times during the day, the storms just wouldn't produce while we had excellent views. This would become the theme for the rest of the year, as we were tethered to a vehicle which couldn't receive hail damage. A friend loaned us one of his old spare rides, completely unsolicited (as did Mr. Ben Holcomb back on May 5, 2009) which was a wonderful gesture. I gladly accepted, because chasing or not, a vehicle is necessary when you live twenty miles from where you work. Daily life went on as normal, uninterrupted. However, as far as chasing was concerned, this created a whole new level of difficulty.

For the rest of the year, our chasing life became a game of "hope the storm does exactly what you need at exactly the right time", which anyone in chasing worth their salt knows translates into "you're fucked." Having to have a storm produce tornadoes at the precise moment when you can see them and be free of hail danger, is basically chasing with handcuffs. For starters, you need the right storm mode; classic or LPs are the preferred type. Once you establish that, you need a storm to form in an area with a good road network, that suits the storm's path. Once you establish that, you need the storm to produce a tornado while you're in the slim window that having all the other stuff fall into place creates. And the chances of that happening often enough to count on? Virtually zero. For us in 2011? Actually zero.

A great race driver once said: "you can take a great driver and put them in a sorry car, and they won't win. You can take a so-so driver and put them in a great car, and they might win." Translate that over to chasers and situations, and you have our year in a nutshell. Sure, I made plenty of mistakes in the field, as I normally do over the course of a chase season. However, rarely was I "fully armed" to chase the way I normally chase. In fact, thinking about this the other day, I went back and looked over our 2011 results. I came away with an interesting little stat: out of 17 chases, 14 of which were busts, there was only one chase where we busted on a day that had tornadoes, while we were in our own car (chasing normally). The rest of our failures were directly linked to rentals or the loner, and the fact I spent more time, focus, and energy avoiding hail instead of trying to find tornadoes. It still doesn't make me feel any better about what we missed.

A Nightmare Come True: The Rental Delima

2011-06-01T09:43:00.009-05:00

Once the initial shock of "holy shit our car is dead" wore off, I began to focus on the next piece of business: finding an alternate mode of transportation for our planned weekend of chasing April 9-10. Bridget and I did some quick research, and found a rental company not too far from us. We don't have many close friends, so when we don't have a vehicle, we're walking everywhere. I did a Google Maps distance/direction check to find the shortest path to the Avis rent center, which is about four miles from our place. We went online, reserved a car (for a really good price because we'd done it online), and set the pickup time for 8am Saturday morning. The lady on the phone alerted Bridget of a credit card hold which was standard policy, and their website listed said hold amount as $140. Bridget asked the woman on the other end of the line to confirm the hold amount of $140 as it was advertised on the website, which she did. So we added up the price of the car, insurance, and the $140 hold....we would have enough to rent a car for two days, maybe enough left over to eat and put gas in it. This was early April and we'd not seen much of anything; the gamble seemed well worth it.

I made my way out of our complex the next morning around 5:30am, not really knowing how long it would take me to walk the four miles through largely busy city streets. As I walked alone, through the darkened city that was still sound asleep, I imagined what the day's events might hold; would we come away with our first ever Iowa tornado? Gradually the early morning darkness yielded to morning light, as I neared the rental facility. It was around this time that I realized I had severely under-estimated my walking ability; I was arriving a full hour before pick-up time. Fortunately, I had my phone with me, so I just surfed Facebook for an hour until the doors opened.

A little over an hour later, I finally gained access inside the Avis rental center to start my transaction. The lady ran me through all the normal policies and whatnot, and I passed the credit check and all that good stuff. Then she began to tell me about the credit card hold. I cut her short and said "yeah, we saw that online last night while we were making the reservation....$140." She looked at me funny and said, "Actually sir, the hold is $200." I said "but your website says the hold is $140, and the woman my girlfriend spoke to yesterday confirmed that amount."

"I'm sorry sir, but the standard hold rate has always been $200."

"Then why does your website say $140?"

"I don't know sir, we can't check that because we don't have internet here."

So I had her add up the total amount to rent the car, plus the now $200 hold. I had plenty of money to drive away with the car....and enough left over for maybe enough gas to get us to the target. Our weekend of chasing was suddenly, unceremoniously, over. The feeling that came over me standing at that counter was one of equal parts disbelief, sadness, and rage. I walked out of the building, crumpled my reservation receipt in my hands, and threw it on the ground as I walked across their parking lot. (It should be noted that, while I'm not a whackadoo environmentalist type, I do respect the Earth as a living thing and always go out of my way to not litter). I was livid.

I started the long walk back home in a daze. My entire storm season had just been destroyed right before my eyes; if we couldn't afford a rental today, I didn't see how we could afford one every 3-4 days for the remainder of the year. Getting a new car wasn't even in the realm of possibility, and regardless of how desperate I am, I will never ask a friend to lend me their car to chase. A kind of calm began to slowly come over me, the way it always does in the first few minutes after I start processing a huge disappointment or failure in life. I've been blessed (or cursed) with an uncanny ability to cling to hope, no matter how dire the situation seems. I started to think towards the future and of the past simultaneously; I knew that somehow, someday we'd recover from this and shine once again...because I'd done it before so many times over my chase career, and life in general. During this epiphany, little bursts of the present would inject themselves into my thoughts, like little sharp pains of reality that kept screaming "you're going to miss stuff this year."

While juggling all of that in my head, a car pulled up next to me. It was two people who were lost, and they showed me the address of where they were trying to get. I actually knew the area well (despite the fact Bridget and I can't afford to go out and actually "experience" where we live), and was able to point them towards their destination. They thanked me and, as they drove away, a warm feeling of satisfaction came over me. It felt good to be able to help someone else, and do it with a smiling, helpful attitude, during a moment when I was trying to recover from a dreadful personal situation. It made me realize that yes, we were going to suffer in the short term, but we'd find some way to make things better, make things right again. I smiled a little, and continued to walk home.

About halfway back, my phone rang. It was Mickey, calling to see how I'd been. I gave him the Reader's Digest version of my morning, to which he of course offered his condolences and well-wishes. I told him "You know, it really sucks for us, but right now, there's a lot of people in the world who have it a lot worse than we do. My missing out on some chases isn't shit compared to what Japan's dealing with right now." Again, in that moment, I began to see light at the end of the tunnel, and pulled myself out of the pity party I'd been throwing since I left Avis. Nope, this wasn't that bad a deal when I took a good look around.

I got home, and Bridget met me at the gate with a look of concern. "What happened?" she asked...."where's the car?" I explained everything to her, and she took it even better than I did. She's always been great at dealing with disappointments, probably because she's been dealt more than her fair share in her life, and the three years she's spent with me have certainly added to that total. We resolved to forget that weekend, go to the shrimp boil we'd been invited to, and just eat shrimp, drink beer, and enjoy a weekend with friends. We'd figure out our chasing problem on Monday.

We had a great time at the party, filling ourselves to the gills with delicious, spicy boiled shrimp and ice cold beer. The day was going well, but eventually afternoon turned into evening, and I slowly gravitated from the back patio into the game room, and onto the computer. I started pulling up live streams from chasers who were out where we should've been, and sat there and watched as Ben Prusia streamed the development of the Mapleton, IA tornado. I called Bridget and Joe (the host) inside to show them. Those familiar little reality pains started jabbing again, as we watched a large barrel tornado develop. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

A Nightmare Come True: The Car

2011-05-31T20:06:00.008-05:00

On Friday, April 8, I took my car to the WAL-MART store located along N Tarrant Pkwy just east of Davis, in North Richland Hills. As I paid before leaving, I was presented with a checklist which I was told I had to sign. This was something new; I'd been to this store maybe a dozen times before and had never been asked to sign anything other than a receipt if paying with credit. I looked over the sheet before signing, and saw that it was basically a checklist the mechanic had marked, next to a few items he recommended I have serviced. The only items marked were tire tread depth, and the fact my car was a half quart low on oil when it came in for service. I acknowledged both, signed the paper, and went on my way.

I drove straight from the store to a QuikTrip gas station on Davis, maybe 3-4 miles away. I noticed the smell of oil burning, but dismissed it as often times I myself get a little on the headers when adding. But once I stopped and was fueling, I saw a little smoke coming from underneath the car. I found this slightly alarming, so I popped the hood. I saw no oil or even smoke coming from the engine area, so I looked underneath the car. I saw several splotches of oil on the ground below the motor, and could see where the smoke was coming from: it had leaked from somewhere, and had blown up under the underside of the car, and was burning where it had contacted the exhaust pipe. I found it a bit odd that they had been so messy (I'd never seen anything similar before in a dozen oil changes at this same store), but a check of the dipstick showed the level was fine. I paid for my gas and drove to work, about 15 miles away in Grand Prairie.

As I went along, I started smelling the oil burning again, but just assumed it was the residual, original spill still burning off the exhaust pipe. However, as I began to encounter stops signs and red lights, I started seeing smoke rising up next to my windows, obviously coming from underneath. At this point I feared something was very wrong. However, I was close to work (where car-wise co-workers and tools are) so I drove the remaining few miles into my place of employment. By the time I rolled through the gate and onto the yard, smoke was billowing from underneath my car. I rolled to a stop, but kept the motor running. A co-worker noticed the smoking, and quickly came over as I popped the hood.

The first thing I did was check the dipstick: clean and dry. Then I looked underneath the car; the oil I'd seen leaking before wasn't residual from a messy job...it was the oil leaking out of the car outright. I lost nearly all of the oil in less than 20 miles. To make matters worse, my mechanically-inclined co-worker pointed out a coolant leak......from the seal where my distributor attaches to the side of the engine block....which he said indicated a likely cracked head....from intense heat do to the oil leaking out. He told me to shut the motor off before I did any more damage, so I did.

We pushed the car to a corner of the yard, and I immediately called the WAL-MART location that serviced the car. I got a manager, who relayed my call to automotive. I told them of the situation, and they said they'd send a tech out as soon as they could. I informed them that my job takes me all over the DFW metro, and I had prior obligations in Sunnyvale, some 30-40 miles away, and would not be there when the mechanic showed up. They said this was not a problem, to just leave the car unlocked. I made sure the car was unlocked, and left for my job.

While working in Sunnyvale an hour or so later, I received a call from the WAL-MART tech who was at my car. He called to ask where the keys were, so he could start the car. I told him the keys were with me, and that I'd taken them because I didn't want to risk blowing my motor by starting it again. Instead of telling me "well, I need to see the car run or I cannot do an evaluation", he simply said "I'm going to put a quart of oil in here and see if I can tell where it's leaking from. I'll leave the rest of the oil next to your car." I then asked him what he meant, to which he replied "I brought four new quarts of oil with me." I told him "ok", and hung up. I never heard from him again regarding the actual inspection of my car.

When I returned to my place of employment's office, a co-worker ran up and told me the WAL-MART guy had said for me to try and start the engine....that if it was knocking, that was bad and to shut it off. I thought this was kind of odd, since he'd told me he was going to add just one quart to try and find a leak and leave the other three quarts bagged up next to my car. My first instinct, before starting the car, was to check the oil. It was well above full, meaning he'd basically just poured all the new oil into my car and then left (not what he told me he was going to do). After seeing he'd completely filled the car with oil, my next thought was to look for a leak. I looked underneath the car, and stared for a good thirty seconds....no leak, nothing. I decided to try starting the car. Not five seconds after I turned the motor over, two streams of oil started pouring from the area where the oil filter is attached. I turned the car off, and the leak immediately stopped. I showed this to 3-4 of my co-workers and my boss: the car only leaked oil when it was running, and it leaked BAD.

Later that day, the tech who'd done the inspection called to say that it was now up to their insurance company to either approve or deny my claim, and that I should hear from them by Monday. When the agent handling my claim called, he informed me that WAL-MART would NOT be held responsible because the tech's report stated that "the oil pan drain plug and oil filter were both TIGHT & DRY." He also said the tech mentioned I had a "severely deteriorated" oil seal, and that when he inspected my car, he could feel "a space around the seal where the oil filter attached", blaming it on the bad seal. I immediately thought back to the "waiver sheet" I was made to sign at the store; there was NO MENTION of any deteriorated oil seal, let alone one bad enough to cause over 3 quarts of oil to spill out in less than 20 miles. I would assume that might've been a priority on a spec sheet I was made to sign, detailing the mechanical shortcomings of my automobile.

When I threw this back at the agent, he told me without mincing words, that basically I was fucked because the report had been made by the tech, had been officially submitted, and the review was over. I then told the agent "But no one from WAL-MART has actually seen my car RUNNING. The leak isn't happening when it's just sitting." Again, he used the "your claim has already been denied" line.

I had the car towed to a mechanic my boss uses for a second opinion. He called within a few hours, and said "I don't know what they did, but as soon as I started this thing, oil just poured from the oil filter." He also said there was a possibility that it could have been my oil seal blowing out, but that "it would be a hell of a coincidence" if that was the case. He finally stated that, to prove one way or another whether it was a bad seal on my car or a mistake made upon installation by WAL-MART, he'd have to take the filter off. I told him not to touch it, and just tow it back to my place of employment. So right there I'm out $130 just in tow fees, and I still have a leaking car that nobody from WAL-MART has seen run or WILL see run. And the filter they put on is still on the car, and has not been touched since the guy who installed it.

So I called the location where the car was serviced again. I told them about the mechanic's report, and asked that they send another tech out to actually see my car run. I told them to pick a day/time convenient for them and that I would adjust my schedule. I even went so far as to say "if what your mechanic says is true, then you need only send a tech out to remove the oil filter (which still hasn't been done) to prove WAL-MART is not at fault." The manager agreed, then told me she'd call me back with a date/time. I got a call back just a few minutes later, from the same manager, who informed me that since a claim had already been made/denied on the car, they wouldn't send out a tech for a second time.

A friend of a friend sent us the names/numbers of a couple regional WAL-MART managers, and told us we might have more luck going that route, because WAL-MART doesn't like lawsuits, especially public ones. We tired calling both managers, got the initial "Oh my God, we need to take care of that" urgency that I'd received from all the other WAL-MART people I'd spoken with since this all started, but then received NO REPLY after they promised to get back with us.

My car remains on my employer's yard. The oil filter installed by WAL-MART on April 8 at 8:55am is still on the car, and has not been touched since that time. And whenever I start the car, it still leaks like crazy. WAL-MART refuses to send someone out to remove the filter to prove their innocence.

Regardless of whether or not any attorney will take my case, I've got no choice but to move on. Honestly, I don't expect anything will come of this, because things like this usually work in favor of the corporate giant and not the honest, working-class person. Oh well, I have to get up each morning and go to work lawsuit or not (victory or not), so I'm less-inclined to cling to the hope based on principle alone. Chock another one up for the Big Guy. But fuck'em, I'm a cockroach. They'll never kill me, I'll just keep coming back. My Dream will not be extinguished by any force known to man. (As I've said before, I'm in negotiations with Death as I type, so even that is not necessarily a lock).

A Nightmare Come True: Intro

2011-05-30T11:55:00.002-05:00

As promised, the dirty details of how our 2011 season became a disaster are forthcoming. After giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to title the entire opus "A Nightmare Come True", with each individual catastrophe or setback documented in chronological order, and given its own part and sub-title. I will share as much as I feel interested in sharing, meaning I'm pulling no punches regarding privacy or sensitivity; the only limiting factor to the details I spill forth will be, simply, my interest in them.

As wonderfully as 2010 went, this year was equally bad. Things started off well-enough, with my 6th and latest DVD release "Out of the Blue" doing reasonably well, our first trip as a couple to the Denver conference, and just a week after that, our first tornado of the year. The company I work for provided me with about $600 worth of decals/graphic work for free, which served as a rolling billboard on our little Honda. Yes, the Passion Twist brand seemed poised to have a banner year in 2011. The weekend of March 8-10 approached, and brought with it multiple day chase ops, from the Central Plains through the Midwest. We were set and ready to go, save for one last trip prep detail: an oil change.

Coming Attractions

2011-05-29T12:31:00.001-05:00

There's a reason why I've not posted to this blog since February 27. It's because there's been nothing to post about, other than a months-long living nightmare which ripped our chase season away. I won't bother with the details just yet (they are coming), but rather give you a taste of what's coming up over the Summer. I've had a lot on my mind which I intend to talk about here, so for those of you who enjoy my offerings, the bounty will be plentiful. I'm looking forward to getting this thing back to life, because it's a huge portion of the therapy I'll need to see this horrible chase year through to the other side.

Talk to you soon...

February: A Harlot No More

2011-02-28T08:56:00.013-06:00

Yesterday Bridget and I observed a tornado near the Kansas/Oklahoma border, north of a tiny town in the latter called Grainola. It was our first chase of the season, and a fantastic start to what will hopefully be a productive and consistent year. But it wasn't easy.

After deciding a few days prior that I didn't like the system and we wouldn't be chasing it, I woke up Sunday morning and, for the first time in a long time, had the opportunity to view the RUC model and compare it to the days' worth of GFS and WRF runs. Normally, the RUC is a whackadoo compared to the others, regularly spiking certain parameters that the others are more conservative (or realistic) about. But after viewing, I discovered it showed what I had been suspecting (hoping for), which was a slight westward placement of the overall setup, along with earlier initiation. This not only meant a better opportunity to view storms, but more daylight to do it with. Normally, even if I've got the day off already, I won't just "chase to get out there". Don't get me wrong; I love chasing, but I'm not a huge fan of just driving. But the RUC was all I needed to see to confirm a feeling in my gut. The chase was on.

We drove to Blackwell, OK, where I met another chasing couple (Justin & Dixie, whose last name escapes right now, apologies) while we stopped for gas and a drink. After chatting with them a few minutes, my phone rang. It was Mickey, who was with Chad. He asked where we were, to which I replied "Blackwell". He laughed and said "that's where we are." They arrived a few minutes later, and after some catching up and analysis, we were off towards a few budding storms to our west.

We spent the next hour getting in front of, then being chased by, what would end up being the storm of the day. For a large part of the adventure, our plan and road network worked perfectly. What did not work perfectly was the storm itself, which continued to struggle with surface inflow and LCL height. Eventually, it moved into better air and had a low base, but still couldn't overcome due south surface winds. By now, we were getting back to I-35, and staring the jungle in the face as our only option to continue east and pace the storm.

We kept on, but an earlier north jog had cost us a lot of space as the storm made up a ton of ground on us. By the time we found another east road that put as back to 35, the storm was on our heels. As we continued east past the interstate, more and more chasers joined the party. In the town of Newkirk, which I'm not at all familiar with, the map showed a road heading east out of town towards Kaw Lake. I figured it would be easy to spot, since a recreational lake is the epic center of towns like Newkirk, OK. However, we missed our east turn, lost precious minutes trying to correct our mistake, and fell behind the storm just as it finally prompted a tornado warning. Finding our east road, we made haste in diligent pursuit of this rocket storm.

Our east road ended, along with the pavement, and we found ourselves dirt dobbing north on wet backroads, with no GPS or even paper map assistance. We were basically in "take the road that goes the way you need to go" mode. Unfortunately for us, there weren't many options, so it became a game of "take the road you're on and hope like hell it turns the way you need to go". Chad's car does better on slick mud and gravel than ours does, so he and Mickey gradually pulled away from us as we all continued to try and keep up. Before long, after several other chasers either drove away, stopped, or took different forks when they occasionally showed up, we found ourselves more or less alone, out in the middle of BFE.

The fastest speed I could maintain and not lose control was about 35mph, which was just over half of the storm's speed. The fence that ran along either side of the road was blocking my view of the base, which was already cast in bad contrast and moving away. I was frustrated that we'd been on the storm its whole life and got passed just as it went tornadic, and was basically just looking for a place to turn around. However when an east option showed up, I just took it and kept going. A few miles later, Bridget spotted a suspicious lowering. I was pessimistic, because the lowering had looked ragged the entire time we'd been behind it, and I assumed what we were seeing were just scud fingers. We kept moving east, and the lowering kept changing shapes rapidly. Right about the time I was convinced it was something, we hit a deep valley, which killed our view for the better part of a minute. Cussing and screaming the entire way out, we finally crested the next hill and saw a well-defined (and large) funnel. Deciding we were probably seeing the best view we'd have the rest of the day, we just pulled over at the top of the hill, got out, and shot video.

I managed to get decent tripoded video of this large funnel, which began to slowly taper down to a tiny mouse tail point, before receding upwards again. Between its visual appearance and consistency, I suspected we were likely watching a tornado in progress. After we lost sight of the funnel due to contrast (or lack thereof), we jumped back in the car and continued east. A few minutes later, while fighting horrible road conditions trying to keep up, we heard reports that confirmed it as a tornado. As this information blared over the scanner, without saying a word, I just smiled, stuck up my hand, and high-fived Bridget. It had been a good day.

Now that we'd scored a tornado, the only thing left to do was try and figure out where the hell we were. Darkness was imminent, and between trying to keep the car on the road and watching the storm, I really hadn't paid attention to the route we'd taken. We turned back, and I replayed as best I could the way we'd come, reversing it in my mind to try and get us back to civilization. It took forever, but we finally found our way back to earth. This was the only time in nearly 15 years of chasing where I observed a tornado, but didn't know for certain what state it or we were in at the time. I heard "Grainola, OK" from multiple sources, so we went with that.

After years and years of teases and disappointments, February finally delivers for me. You are a harlot no more.

Denver Part Deux: The Red Lion (FAIL)

2011-02-24T14:01:00.010-06:00

As great as the conference itself was, we had some issues with the venue, namely the Red Lion hotel. I'm about as low-maintenance as it gets, generally easy to please and not very demanding. So the fact I'm blogging about this says something, and there are others who stayed there last weekend who would agree with a lot of what I'm about to say.

Let me start off by praising the Red Lion for its "public" half. The lobby, bar/restaurant area, and ballroom/conference rooms were very nice. I found all both accommodating and aesthetically pleasing. Since we spent the majority of our time in these public areas, my overall perception of the place, from a conference point-of-view, was positive. However, eventually we had to trudge back up to our room, and that's where the happiness ended.

First off, I know for a fact we paid the same "discount" rate as others did, yet we had neither a microwave or (more importantly) a mini fridge. That was an instant red flag, as nobody likes a cold Subway sandwich that was toasted 20 minutes earlier as you drove back from getting it, or having to make a bucket run down the hall to get ice at 2am. Oh well, those luxuries seem to be hit or miss at most places we stay. So we overlooked that one.

But then, one of the most basic fundamental (and personal favorite) features of a hotel room proved inadequate: the shower. Bridget never complained about it, so I guess she had some type of "shower control mojo" going on, but for me, every shower was an adventure in getting the temperature right. My choices seemed limited to boiling hot or ice cold, the difference between each being the slightest touch of the "cold" knob in either direction (while "hot" was turned wide open). It would take, literally, a couple of minutes to get the setting tolerable for me (I never got it exactly where I wanted it). I'm not hard to please, but for what we paid and the hotel's boasting, you'd think decent showers would be a given.

The next thing about this establishment that drove me nuts all weekend were the elevators. They took forever when summoned, to the point where if I was upstairs going down, I'd just take the stairs, because they were quicker. When they would finally show up, they were excruciatingly slow, especially when coming down to the first floor, as the final few inches seemed to take a lifetime. The look of them wasn't too impressive either. More than once I found myself standing there thinking "so this is what 1975 was like in an elevator."

Apparently the hotel has a policy of holding money out on a credit card, as a security measure. This is a common business practice, but unlike every other place that's done this to me, Red Lion failed to alert me in advance. No, I only discovered this after a phone call to their accounting department. The woman on the line was helpful and very polite, which I appreciate. But the hotel itself gets a big FAIL from me for not mentioning the hold policy when I checked in. Perhaps they assumed I expected it, but no other places we stay during the year while chasing do this, and my previous NSCC stay at the Holiday Inn didn't include a hold.

Lastly, and this is my biggest gripe, the outside beer/liquor policy is severely inconsistent. I was happy to drop nearly two bills Friday night at the bar, reveling in drunken chaser social bliss. There were no incidents that night I'm aware of involving people getting into trouble because they brought in their own beverages. That place made a lot of money that night. However the following night, we weren't hip on repeating our huge bar tab, so we went out and bought our own beer along with a big rolling cooler (that looked like luggage) to tote it around in. When we came down to the lobby Saturday night wheeling our beer, nothing was said. When I took out a few cans at a table in the middle of the bar area and passed them around to friends, nothing was said. As I sat in front of the main fireplace, next to my giant cooler, swilling beer, nothing was said. As we rolled it into the banquet dinner, nothing was said. As we drank after dinner and during the video show, for over two hours, with the cooler and open bottles of gin and vodka on the table, nothing was said.

But as we were getting up to leave our table, nearly three hours after the first drink, we were told by a manager that we weren't allowed to have outside beverages in the banquet hall. Um, a little late with the memo, but okay. Then, as we continued our partying in the bar, I was suddenly, rudely kicked out for having outside beer. I immediately grabbed the cooler, and left the bar area. I returned, and continued my merrymaking, unsuccessfully trying to locate a sign or banner stating this policy. There was none. A long while after I'd taken my cooler back up to our room, many folks continued to drink their own beverages outside the bar in the lobby. This went on until around the time the bar closed, when, just as suddenly and rudely, we were kicked out of the lobby and scolded for having outside drinks in there (although at the time I wasn't drinking and the beer wasn't mine). Of course, as innocent as I was that time, to the woman clearing the beer cans, I looked guilty as sin, because they were the exact same brand she'd nailed me with a few hours earlier. The look she gave me as she passed by was something to the effect of "you smart ass son-of-a-bitch." Why not.

So despite a wonderful conference overall, the venue left a lot to be desired in our opinion. If the conference stays there, well, we'll be better-prepared next time. If it moves to another hotel, that would be just fine with us.

Denver Part 1: ChaserCon FTW

2011-02-24T10:23:00.010-06:00

Bridget and I attended the 13th annual National Storm Chaser Conference in Denver last weekend. It was Bridge's first appearance, and my first in nine years. We had an amazing time, and met a ton of new friends, old friends we'd not seen in years, and of course the usual suspects. For several years since 2002 (my first NSCC) finances have been rough for me, so I chose to boycott this event based solely on money (or a lack thereof). However this year, the stars finally aligned and we were able to pull the trip off.

Over the years, and I suppose I've fostered this notion myself, the perception has been that I generally thumb my nose at Denver each year because it's just not that great a time. I guess there's a certain amount of truth to that (at least until last weekend), because as I missed year after year, I grew used to the idea of not experiencing the single-most entertaining chaser event in the world. After a while, I began to forget how much fun the event actually is, and the thoughts that floated to the forefront of my mind were "that's a lot of chase money to blow over a party atmosphere I can replicate at home." What I was forgetting, however, was it takes a lot more than booze and lavish surroundings to mimic the Denver experience. You also need a lot of cool people. So, going into this year, I was still against making the Colorado venture, even though we could afford it. But Bridget was relentless in her quest to experience the Rocky Mountain Chaser High, so my opinion was moot. We were going.

As the trip neared, and it became clear it wouldn't affect us financially nearly as bad as I'd estimated, I began to loosen up and come around to the idea. In the few days before we left, I re-discovered that old giddiness I'd had so many years before, anticipating what would surely be a great weekend. The drive out was incredible, kind of like a chase but not quite. The kind of incredible where you have a long way to go, but the reward at the end is so worth it. Once we arrived, the fun began.

There were so many people there, it was impossible to get to all of them (my only regret of the entire weekend). I'm the kind of person who enjoys the one-on-one experience, as I feel that's the best way to truly get to know someone. I tried to squeeze in as many intimate conversations as possible, but there was only so much time. It was mentally exhausting, but the kind of tired you love. My status in the chasing world was a lot different nine years ago; I only hung out with people I already knew, ignoring probably 80% of all attendees simply because (believe it or not) I'm rather shy socially. I'm friendly and willing to make new acquaintances, but I rarely make the first move. Because not many people really knew who I was, not many approached me. However this year, it seemed every time we turned around, someone was saying hello or waving from across the room. It was kind of overwhelming, and unexpected. We met so many interesting people, all of whom share the love of the open road and open sky.

So to bring the conference experience full circle, the event itself was FANTASTIC. Kudos to Roger Hill, Tim Samaras, and all who are involved for not only inventing this thing, but keeping it alive for so long. It ran smoothly for the most part, which is quite a feat when dealing with schedules and over 300 people milling about. It's an experience Bridget and I will never forget, and one we hope to relive every year from here on out.

Bucket List A Little Shorter Now

2011-02-03T08:57:00.007-06:00

I've always said that snow/blizzard chasing is a futile endeavor with a high risk/no reward ratio. Last Tuesday, Bridget and I confirmed that long-standing belief. The "chase" itself was successful enough, in that we saw a ton of hazardous road/weather conditions along our trek, without becoming a victim of it. I don't know how much of it was the car and how much of it was me, but for my money, I'd take either of us on ice/snow on the open road over anyone/thing.

I-35 resembled more of a county or backroad than a major interstate, with several miles of packed snow and ice that forced drivers to basically take the "middle of the road" approach. It was difficult to tell where the road ended and the median began in several spots, and the fact that truckers just didn't give a damn about anything smaller than themselves didn't help matters. The road itself was easy enough (all things considered) to negotiate, but when semis would approach (quickly) from behind, it became harrowing to say the least, as I was forced into a game of "don't get hit by the truck as it slides by and don't slide into the truck since you're now forced to drive on black ice until it clears you". I'm a calm person, even in stressful situations, but that was some white-knuckling stuff right there. Not really the most enjoyable experience, even if we'd made money. Which brings me to my next point.

The whole idea that day was to stream and try to make some chump change off it. I'm getting out of the streaming game in April when my account expires, but Bridget is taking over with her own account. Tuesday was a test run to see how the equipment works and (hopefully) a day to make a little shake. However, as happens any and every time I'm involved with a money-seeking endeavor in chasing, there was no payoff. For whatever reason, I am the Touch of Death when it comes to making money from chasing. It's not like we're trying to do different things; we've had countless news-worthy events right in front of us, but no one wants to fatten our wallets. Oh sure, we get a lot of viewers, some of whom have the ability to make us a little richer, but never any takers. I've lost out on money through chasing every way imaginable. So from this past week's experience, my only thought wasn't of anger or frustration (I'm well-used to failing at the money thing by now and I expect it). My thought was "this wasn't fun enough to justify ever doing again without being paid."

So while the experience was rewarding, it's something that I look at as a kind of bucket list thing: Ok, I can scratch that one off now. Time to move on.

How 'Rice' Really Went Down

2011-01-20T09:40:00.019-06:00

Bridget and I experienced the tornado of our lives near Rice, TX last October. She streamed nearly all of the tornado's lifecycle, while I shot what is probably my best-ever video as of this writing. The live show, along with "syndication" on youtube and facebook ever since, has kept this intercept fresh in the minds of those who are interested in and follow our chasing exploits. Since that day, we've received several congratulations and compliments from folks, praising our well-played hand which put us in perfect position. But what people don't know, is exactly how that chase came about.

Traditionally, I've always had to "work" for my tornadoes, meaning I've enjoyed far fewer backyard type chases than the average Tornado Alley chaser. Because of this, I've always had to stay glued to computer models for days in advance, to have some kind of idea where I'll need to be and how much time I'll need to get there; it's always been a planned ordeal, with little spontaneity prior to leaving. Staying put at home and waiting for something to pop just isn't in my DNA, because that situation has been so rare during my chasing career (and probably explains my career-spanning tendency for missing events close to home).

On the morning of October 24, 2010, I had no intention of chasing, despite knowing a risk existed. We'd gone out the previous two days after setups that appeared, to my eyes, as good if not better than the 24th, with less-than-stellar results. After having burned through two-thirds of my weekend, I wasn't about to waste my lazy Sunday on a wild goose hat trick. I didn't even bother looking at models. Instead, I went to play flag football with some buddies. Chasing was the furthest thing from my mind as I enjoyed a typical good day of football for me, featuring solid defense, a couple of big plays on special teams, and a TD reception.

I returned home just before noon kickoff, and proceeded to spend the bulk of the afternoon watching my Steelers beat the Dolphins on what was, admittedly, a pretty bogus rule enforcement. (However I maintain that the rule, as explained, is just as valid as the "Tuck Rule" and, the situation on the field that lead to the rule being enforced had never really happened before: a touchdown, ruled as such, on the field, followed by a fumble that was not paid attention to by officials because the play had been ruled a touchdown...without the benefit of an actual official's eye on the play as it happened live, they were forced to use replay, which was inconclusive from every angle. Plus, the Dolphins had 2:33 left to drive forty yards for the winning field goal and blew it, so that's on them.)

After the game, I resigned myself to staying mostly horizontal and watching the late games. Apparently I took a little catnap along the way, as forty-five minutes passed in what seemed like a few seconds. Bridget's voice roused me fully-awake, and I could only smile half-hearted as I noticed a nearly-empty bag of Cheetos resting comfortably on my stomach (I had to marvel at the professionalism of my Sunday Couch Potato skills.) She was saying something about a storm just east of us, and immediately I thought "crap, she's not gonna let up until we either leave to go after it, or I somehow prove to her it's not worth messing with." With the remainder of my Lazy Sunday on the line, I was lobbying hard for the latter.

I glanced outside to the northeast, and spied what I have to admit was an impressive tower. But, it was already northeast of us moving east, and we had a lot of Mid-Cities traffic between it and us. I told her to fire up the radar and have a look. Deciding to at least be fair, I told her if the storm motion was 35kts or more, we were staying home...but if it was 30kts or slower, we'd go after it. Silently hoping for faster than 35kts, I listened as she defiantly proclaimed "30kts". Then I looked over at the screen.

I was in.

We quickly gathered up our stuff, threw everything into the car, and took off. We weren't even out of the neighborhood before I started bitching about traffic and how we were never going to catch the storm. However we kept pushing on, fighting unusually heavy traffic for a Sunday. Not long after we'd gotten out of town and onto an actual highway, it was apparent we wouldn't catch the storm. This was disheartening, because by now I was into the chase and the storm was looking more and more impressive. I kept heading east a while more, trying to come up with an answer. Finally I thought about the orientation of the dryline, and decided our only shot was to head south and east, to get back ahead of it. If we could get there, anything new that formed along it would be west of us and moving towards us. It was a simple enough plan, and as it happened, the only one we had.

We worked our way down to I-45, then headed southeast along it. As we drove, what had started as a little thundershower was now developing into a full-blown supercell. We were on a collision course with it, and I kept thinking "this is working out perfectly, something's gotta go wrong." But nothing did. We kept moving, the storm kept intensifying, and as we entered the core, it was tornado-warned. We pushed through a thin sliver of rain/hail (aided by the fact the storm's precip body had sagged southeast, leaving us just the small northern loop of the core to penetrate) and, after a few random tennis balls (one of which took out the passenger's side rearview mirror), we had the tornado in view to the west as it formed.

Another little-known secret about this day, Bridget's camcorder had a full memory bank, and would not record. Instead of throwing a tantrum as I would've, she had an epiphany. She grabbed the stream cam (because it was mounted facing out the front windshield and was missing the actual tornado at the time), and basically used it as a camcorder, streaming the entire event live handheld. It was a flash of brilliance under pressure that I never would've thought of, and just one example of how invaluable Bridget is as a chase partner.

Well, you know how the rest of the day went. Tornado of our careers, lots of accolades, and incredible exposure because of the live stream. Bridget is still quite new to chasing, but she's got a few things going for her that a lot of newbies don't. And I don't mean chasing with me. I'm talking about her natural humility, but at the same time, being fiercely aggressive with her desire to learn. She's not afraid to voice her opinion, but she never loses site of the big picture. And her multi-task skills? Incredible. She does more with a computer at one time during our chases than I've ever done in my entire life. She's part of the new breed, the techno generation, but she brings to the table a unique set of skills that are her own, and enhances my ability to succeed when she's riding shotgun. I don't tell her often enough how important she is to not only me personally, but our success as chasers.

So, as much as I would like to take credit for Rice, I can't. Oh sure, I made the calls in the field to get us there. But Bridget made the call to get us out the door, kicking my "veteran chaser" ass into gear when I was too lazy to even entertain the idea of chasing. IMO, that's a veteran move right there. She's still a newb. She still has a long way to go. But there are areas other than forecasting knowledge and field experience where chasers learn, and in those areas, she's well on her way to becoming a talented chaser. I couldn't be prouder.

We Owe Nothing

2011-01-11T12:32:00.020-06:00

I was browsing the blog of Chuck Doswell today and came upon an entry that inspired this piece. Chuck is of course a fantastic writer, but I find the majority of his offerings to be atmospheres above my head, and consequently, I struggle to fully grasp much of what he says. However, I decided to keep plowing ahead today when I discovered an older post about being a responsible chaser. Chuck mentions the Responsible Chaser while making his overall point about how two chasing legends have contributed to science and society through their work. But as I read along, I began to see places where I disagreed with Chuck's opinion of exactly what a responsible chaser is.

A responsible chaser, as Chuck describes it, is an individual who not only (1) obeys traffic laws and (2) doesn't bother others, but "gives something back" to society. The "give something back" as described by Chuck consists of calling in reports, donating video to SKYWARN or other educational purposes, and a general "this isn't about me" attitude. The justification of this opinion is that chasers should reward a society that rewards them by allowing one to participate in storm chasing/observing in the first place. I agree with that assessment, but I don't.

I agree that someone engaging in storm chasing/observing should obey traffic laws and shouldn't bother others. I disagree that this desired behavioral expectation is indigenous to storm chasers. These basic rules of thumb apply to all motorists, some of which, on occasion, happen to be storm chasers. I believe that chasers reporting when_enabled_to_do_so (cell phone, the internet, HAM radio, even CB radio available) is vital. However, if a chaser is not enabled to send a report of what they're observing, I don't at all believe this automatically qualifies them as irresponsible. Old school, bare-bones, or poor maybe. But not irresponsible.

I've always valued individualism above almost anything else. The philosophy that a person's own life is the most precious gift, and should be lived by that person for that person. Not a negative, hateful selfishness...but rather a positive, warm celebration of the self. The idea that a person should be happy themselves first, and then begin to look at their surroundings (what healing can an unhappy soul do for others when damaged itself?) Jumping back on topic and applying this to chasing, I do not believe there is harm of any kind in chasing purely for one's own personal joy. There is no crime in being happy when it hurts no one. Principle be damned.

What does an individual, as a chaser, really owe society? A report called in is the right thing to do, not a payback. Offering video free of charge (when it definitely wasn't free to obtain) is a choice, not a moral obligation. Going about one's business in a calm, collected manner while bothering no one isn't an activity that requires a favor in return or needs to be answered for. It's a right every American has, a right that doesn't include an asterisk or fine print.

Media Dummies (not what you think)

2011-01-10T10:14:00.016-06:00

If I was looking for a company to provide a service, the first thing I'd be looking for was some proof of credibility. You know, some indication of the company's ability to produce quality service of the variety I'm needing. This isn't rocket science, this is just old school business shopping. The kind they did back in the days before computers and attorneys. Back when a handshake and trust was all it took.

Today, things are much different. Less emphasis is put on real-world credibility, and more is put into a virtual, online presence. Web designers are held in higher regard than real-world employees who do the actual legwork. This is because presentation is what it's all about today. Don't worry about you company's ability to do the job so much, just make sure you get a nice, neat, professional website established asap. Then make a huge announcement about said website, and do everything in your power to steer as many eyes to that website as humanly possible. But what do you do once people get there?

Services rendered? These days, quite often as a potential customer, you're kinda on your own there. I'm not talking about what they say they can do, I'm referring to examples of what they've done. You know, the whole track record thing. In many instances, the best offering you'll stumble across in today's world is the "testimonial". Those all-too-anonymous happy customers who are just brimming with glee about what a great job whatever company did for them. People you don't know, never will, and who, in the grand scheme of things, actually provide zero real evidence of a job well done.

Where are the photos? The videos? Some physical example of your work? And most of the time, people aren't even looking for a hint at the quality of work, they're looking for proof it's ever been done, period. The reason? Because the internet has created the latest trend, the overnight sensation. "Companies" who claim to provide some type of service, yet all you ever see is their logo or company name on a website. Because this blog is geared towards the weather & chasing community, I'll focus on those types of "companies."

As I've mentioned in previous entries, I've discovered social networking and its ability to reach a large number of people relatively easily. The benefits provided me by Facebook are inarguable, but I've also discovered that Facebook, like so many other things in this world, has an equal set of pros and cons. The number one con in my not-so-humble-opinion? The constant ads from these dummy companies, almost always ending with the word "media". Now don't get me wrong, I know there are some legitimate outfits which provide media services, but the real ones are more the exception than the rule.

You can spot a true media company, because their posts are frequent and meaningful. They talk about current weather events, and almost always include a link to someone who uses their service, who is out there in the field actually experiencing weather. These do not bother me at all, because it's weather news. I might not be interested in whatever particular event is being covered at a given time, but I always respect those posts because they are legit. The people behind them aren't just playing on Facebook, they're working. The same cannot be said for many others.

For starters, and this is a perpetual fact when dealing with anything related to the weather/chasing world, the storm community is a very small portion of society (regardless of how many chasers want to think we actually matter to the world at large). Right off the bat, that should indicate one thing: if there's an individual or company providing legitimate services or making big news in the community, most people within the community will have heard of them. The individual aspect can always be argued because it makes sense that an individual might have chosen to keep their endeavors private. But for a company to be unheard of, there is no argument. Either that company is brand new, legit, and has yet to build a following (highly doubtful in the case of storm chasing), or they're just another overnight pop-up using a semi-slick website as a front page ad for what is, largely, nothing else.

Ok, fair enough. But what's the purpose? What investment has a person made into a "media" company that does nothing but solicit other Facebook users for their free photographs? How many late hours has a person worked to build a "media" company that serves no other known purpose than to randomly post copied and pasted weather updates from sources that have already been visited by folks who are interested? (I call those "Jonnny-on-the-spot" companies). The answer is either (a) nothing, or (b) something that they're obviously not seeing a return on. Can it really be worth that much just to have a website claiming to be a company? To some, apparently yes.

A word of advice to all the fake companies who wish to be respected as real ones: provide some type of content to prove you are what you say you are. Don't be the "storm chaser" who has 34 pictures of him/herself posing with their truck along with one random non-severe cloud photo. Don't be the tour company that boasts a "#1 ranking"" but has not a single tornado shot anywhere on their website (that hasn't been created). Provide a meaningful "about us" section, let your potential customers know who you are. Give some background and experience, let the people know how you got to be the professional you claim you are. And for the sake of all things good, provide an example of your work through yourself, not some random Tom, Dick, or Harry nobody knows.

Be real, or just don't be.

Happy New Year * 2010 Season Overview

2011-01-04T09:12:00.012-06:00

First off, Happy New Year dear readers. 2010 went out with a bang, and considering the overall relentlessness of its entire body of work prior to New Year's Eve, it wasn't much of a surprise.

For Bridget and I, it was a great year overall. For the first time in nine years, I found myself with all my own resources coming into the season: home (yeah, I've had some baaad years throughout the past decade), vehicle, job flexibility, finances, and of course, a video camera. We were able to write our own ticket, more or less, as to how we chased, where we chased, and how much we chased. A freedom I've longed for my entire chase career, but seldom enjoyed. A freedom that works quite well with my style of chasing, which is basically a twisted blend of make-it-up-as-you-go and lots of luck.

We started early and for the most part, had success throughout our entire season. However, as has been the case with me most of my chasing life, June signaled an abrupt, unceremonious end to our consistent chasing. For whatever reason, the sixth month of the year has always been the hurdle I can't seem to get over. But with successful Aprils and Mays, it's easier to accept. Marquee days for us included the March 8 "See Text" event, April 22's classic TX panhandle action, and the twin OK May High Risk events on the 10th and 19th, respectively. The Crown Jewel of the year was of course the October 24 Rice, TX tornado, which supplanted 2004's Mulvane, KS glow worm as the signature tornado of my career. From start to finish, 2010 just seemed to work for us.

I set career highs in mileage, and subsequently, average miles per chase. I also set a career mark for most tornado days in a year (11), and tied my all-time record for most states chased in a year (10). My 2010 totals for number of chases (32) and success ratio (1 in 2.9) were both second all-time marks. Of all the stats I keep, only one failed to reach #1 or 2 all-time. My tornado total for the year (21) was only good enough for third-best all time. But overall, top-to-bottom, my 2010 body of work was probably my best season ever. Now comes the next challenge...topping it in 2011.

Sleeve Part Deux (Oh Contrarian)

2010-12-29T09:45:00.008-06:00

This opening line is actually the last one I wrote for this entry, as the following is semi-related to the "Sleeve" entry from yesterday and I just now, at the end, realized it.

It stands to reason that a person's level of commitment, interaction, or involvement in something is responsible for how seriously they discuss or react to issues related to it. It's also a fact there are many different types of people in the world, and they should never be expected to agree on everything (or even anything in some cases). Within this myriad of personalities, there usually lies a majority and a minority. And almost always, you'll find a third type: the contrarian.

Applying this observation to storm chasing, it's common to find that the two larger groups are most often separated not only by their opinions on a given issue, but the seriousness of their involvement in the conversation to begin with. Chasing is many things to many people, so it's natural that some will lie awake at night carefully crafting their next rebuttal, while others simply drag their feet lazily through the water, just to make a rift. (Personally I'm somewhere in the middle, though I do tend to gravitate closer to one side or the other depending on the topic de jour).

The contrarian, as it pertains to chase-related debates, is almost always an individual who has strayed so far beyond "lazy rifting" that they really have no emotional investment in the art of storm chasing whatsoever. They partake of the activity (usually on a self-sanctioned limited or even strict basis; "I won't take more than two weeks off to chase regardless."), but it's more of a business venture than a journey of personal satisfaction. Practical, not passionate. Their viewpoints are often contrary not only to the majority opinion, but the level of seriousness given the overall discussion. Because they have no real ties to chasing emotionally, they remain perpetually on the outside looking in, and thus, have a nonchalant attitude towards chasing in general, which, when applied to a specific chase-related discussion, wanes further still.

Speaking as someone who cares greatly about chasing, I think it's fair to say I've just described my polar opposite personality type reasonably well. This would indicate I have at least some understanding (and more importantly, tolerance) of this particular brand of individual. But this is something you don't usually see from the other side of the fence. Contrarians not only contradict the popular opinion, they ridicule the majority for their level of commitment to said opinion. They are unable (or unwilling) to comprehend a point-of-view or an emotional investment that differs from their own, resulting in thinly-veiled snarks that they probably aren't even attempting to hide in the first place.

Majority and minority groups attack one another for their differing opinions, but never cross over into the realm of "you're taking this too seriously" or, to the contrarian, "you're not taking this seriously enough." Yet the contrarian finds more pleasure in pointing out what he/she sees as an obvious character flaw (too serious) than the actual issue. Perhaps this is a result from the contrarian's own character flaw? Perhaps the inability to see things through another's eyes?

It's Just The Internet (Wear It On Your Sleeve)

2010-12-28T14:05:00.008-06:00

When did emotion become overrated? When did it stop being cool to wear it on your sleeve? Oh that's right, it started with the internet generation. The generation whose very lifeblood is virtual, digital, and only a keystroke away from annihilation. So it drips with irony that this bunch would be the ones who cling so tightly to the old world wide web proverb of "think before you hit 'send'." What exactly does that mean?

"Think before you hit 'send'" is basically telling us to collect ourselves emotionally, before we share our type-written thoughts with the world. It's not telling us to be certain we understand what we're replying to, it's not telling us to make sure we have all the facts, it's simply saying "calm down". As if laughter or tears trump misinterpretation or lies. Phooey.

For years I took heat over my animated posts on the WX-CHASE grouplist, a now mostly defunct group who's priority has always been minimizing signal-to-noise ratio, factual posts, and a mostly-robotic tone. Character was frowned upon, which made myself and that particular group of people a volatile mix for many years. Even if the facts were there, and the post was beneficial, there were still those who looked down on it if "feeling" was involved. I was once told, in a private email, that many members suspected I had "emotional problems" because of the way I posted. What was the problem? That I had emotions? After butting heads over and over, I eventually withdrew from the group.

"Think before you hit 'send'."

Then came Stormtrack. This was basically the answer to WX-CHASE, for people like me who wanted a place to discuss weather, storms, and chasing without having to pretend we weren't human beings. It was a beautiful thing, equal parts business, pleasure, and everything in between. Harmonic balance. The issue that eventually came to light with Stormtrack wasn't the stifling of emotions, but rather the clashing of them.

Membership grew exponentially, and began to reach beyond the seasoned chaser, weather enthusiast, and scientist. New blood and demographics were flowing into the forum like water, and the melting pot of personalities reached a boiling point (born largely of the overall ignorance-yet-frequent posting of many new members). Seasoned members grew tired of the drop in quality offerings, while new members felt slighted by the lack of interest in their presence. This lead to many "flame wars", where personalities clashed and the debates were often-times personal. Like the WX-CHASE brass, Stormtrack sought to eliminate this emotional element from its content. But, like every other forum that's actually active and is used often, it failed, and continues to fail.

Emotion on the internet and behind a post, status update, or email is not a bad thing. It's not the real world. In the real world, a person can get mad, walk up to a woman, and strike her. Then, a half hour later when they've calmed down and regret horribly what they've done, they cannot undo it. On the internet, a person can get mad, write a scathing review or critique, and a half hour later when they realize what an ass they were...they can delete it. Wow. With the internet, people don't have to think ahead. They just delete it later.

For clarity, it's important to note that I'm a firm believer in the "sticks and stones" mentality, meaning I don't buy that mamby pamby "generation hurt feelings" crap that words hurt as much if not more than a fist. They don't.

Out of the Blue

2010-12-27T09:49:00.006-06:00

Good morning dear reader. Hopefully this entry finds you comfortably basking in the afterglow of a lovely Holiday. Myself, I'm lounging on my wonderful double-lazy-boy recliner couch thing, still in pajama pants. The way it should be, really.

The end of the month is nearing, which means the end of my December promotional push for "Out of the Blue" is also nearing. Just a few more days, and all those annoying facebook promos will disappear forever. I understand it's annoying to some people, but it's also necessary when you're trying to actually promote something. I always take the first month after a release to really push it, and once that first month is over, I never mention it again. When you sell something as obscure as a personal chase video, the audience is already small. Maximizing sell potential to that small audience early on is key, because once a chase video is a few weeks old, people stop caring (if they ever did). So, this week wraps up this latest promotional effort, which, by my modest standards, has been pretty solid.

Already in its first month, OOTB has outsold both "Tenacity" and "Weather", and is closing in on "Lemonade". Social networking, as much as I hate the very concept of it, works. Facebook has made all the difference, and has proven far superior to Stormtrack, which I completely boycotted this time around. "Blue" is doing better in its first month than any of my other videos did in their first month. And it's done so without the benefit of public viewer reviews (the one perk of using Stormtrack to advertise). So social networking has proven its worth. I am a believer.

On We Go

2010-12-25T09:46:00.006-06:00

SMOK, we both knew you were right when you said I'd be back. What can I say, I just have to write about this crazy obsession called 'storm chasing'. I love it.

Anyway, after sitting around for a few months with the "plan" to incorporate a blog system into my website like most others have already done, I came up with this redneck version instead. I'm lazy, so it was just easier to use the limited (but adequate) tools here on blogger to simply create a pseudo front page into my website remotely. A lot less work, a lot less thinking, and I still get what I want out of the deal.

So basically what this is, is an alternate path into Passion Twist. You can access any internal link found on the actual website main page from here, by scrolling down and looking to the right. Since I rarely update the actual website, I figured this would be an interesting alternative for folks who want to see what I'm up to and check in on the website while they're here. Again, the same thing everyone else did two years ago, but far more shade tree ;-)

A few things are now different since I resurrected this thing. You might notice that comments are no longer allowed. I debated a long time over this. I've always prided myself on being not only outspoken publicly, but also allowing a fair shot at rebuttal by my readers. After all, if you're going to take shots at something or someone, you should at least expect a fair amount of return fire. It's only proper. However, after battling endless anonymous hecklers, I grew tired of the attention it kept taking away from the subject at hand. There's a difference between thinking up the most outrageous stuff you can write down, just to get a reaction....and just writing what you honestly feel, despite knowing the reaction it will cause. In my opinion, the latter owes it to no one to make available the ability to fire back. So because I cannot keep hecklers away, and (to my own undoing) cannot stop myself from fighting with them, I simply chose to eliminate comments altogether. This blog is what I think. Outside opinions are not needed. If you read something so horrible you just have to say something, you can create a dummy email account and send it to me that way...so I can delete it.

The focus of this blog hasn't changed much. Expect the same thing you've gotten from me since day one, with personal chasing news sprinkled in. There will be chase reports (condensed versions that will appear later on in detail when time permits), Debris Show stuff, an occasional inspirational piece, and of course Passion Twist website news/updates/yada yada. For a third time, basically the same thing all other chasers already do, except held together with baling wire.

So yeah....I'm excited. I've shed the forums and group lists and all other public venues that I wreaked so much "havoc" on in the past just being myself. Now that I've left all those places behind (and I'm sure they're all better for it), I'll continue to do my thing right here on my own patch of virtual grass. It doesn't matter what you put over it....you can only contain this mouth for so long. Looking forward to the future :-)

Constructive Criticism = Personal Attack?

2009-10-22T10:26:00.001-05:00

Why is it storm chasers respond so negatively to constructive criticism? There may be several answers, depending on who you ask and the chaser in question, but today's entry will focus on an experience I had last week.

While browsing youtube, bored (which happens quite often on this side of the calendar), I came across a video of a night time tornado somewhere in Mississippi I think (after the person's reaction to my comment, I have found I care less and less about the details of his YT offering). The video was ten minutes long (the full amount allowed by the popular video upload site for its users), which I thought kind of odd considering it was a nocturnal tornado (night tornadoes are split-second bits at the very best; to keep a person entertained for a full ten minutes with nocturnal video takes what must be, in my opinion, a very impressive and obvious tornado). However, curious, I clicked 'play' and began the journey that would eventually rob me of ten minutes of my life.

For starters, the guy's watermark was not just text, but text overlayed onto a gray bar, which was completely blocking the lower left 3/4 of the video (where the action area was, according to the audio and my inability to find anything remotely resembling a tornado). This in itself was annoying enough after a minute or so, but I stayed glued. Time after time I heard excited shouts of "tornado on the ground!" and eventually "wedge!" but could see nothing. I'm not sure if it was simply the bar blocking the screen, the fact he had horrible back lighting the entire time, or that there simply was nothing to see. Four minutes in, then five, then eight...I still had seen nothing resembling a tornado. Eventually I reasoned the guy must have included some still or slow-speed shots of the tornado, because it was obvious to anyone watching the clip, there was nothing that made the viewer point and say "tornado right there" in the real-time video. But alas, there were no stills, no slow-mo, just ten minutes of pitch black video with about four decent lightning flashes, none of which revealed a tornado (that I could see).

After watching the entire video, I made a few constructive critiques in a text comment. I suggested he (1) remove the watermark from atop the area of interest, and (2) include screen captures or slow-motion segments of the actual tornado. I never questioned his claim of a tornado, merely made suggestions to improve his clip so the viewer could see what he and his group saw live. The reaction I got was a long and detailed excuse of why he was incapable of the technology needed to do screen captures or slow-motion clips, which on its own I was prepared to accept and move on. But then he ended his paragraph with a smart ass "if I wanted advice on how to upload my videos to youtube, I would've asked for it."

So back to the topic. Why did he react so negatively? I made it clear I watched the entire clip, and that I was really wanting to see this tornado. I offered helpful hints to improve the clip so the viewer experience could match that of the author's as he saw it happen. I was not rude, snide, or in any way sarcastic. This leaves me only a few possible explanations to why this transpired as such.

Youtuber Syndrome : The disorder that seemingly 95% of all youtube users suffer from. Symptoms include believing everything they offer to youtube is video gold, automatically becoming extremely defensive and reactionary to constructive criticism of said videos, and making harsh and unwarranted comments to the author of said critiques before blocking them, therefore "ending" the discussion before the other party has a chance to reply.

There was no tornado in the video: A fact that causes a rapid, negative reaction from the author, as they become angry with the fact anyone would make any suggestion to event hint at what they already know: they're full of shit.

So what was the reason in my case? I'm apt to believe a combination of both. Nothing disappoints me more than being unable to engage a person in a debate they themselves started. In my not-so-humble-opinion, this is the real-world equivalent of punching someone when they're not looking or their back is turned. But life is full of these types, and I would do well to take my own advice (so often given to others) and just let it go.

But then what would I write about?

Perception = Reality = Fleeting

2009-10-17T07:54:00.000-05:00

There's two things storm chasers are horrible at estimating: the distance they are from a tornado, and the importance of storm chasers to the general public. The latter inspires today's entry, as yet another rash of "impending legislative doom" speak is making the rounds on StormTrack.

Apparently this guy named Richard Heene is behind some sort of strange publicity stunt, the point of which is still unclear. Because the guy claims to be a storm chaser, and has made some television appearances as such, some of the ST community are in an uproar about how this is going to reflect badly on storm chasing. I don't think so, for a couple of reasons.

For one thing, Heene is so uninteresting, it took all the energy I have to even open up a second tab and make sure I was spelling his name right for this entry (in the end, it was my desire for quality posts that drove me to do the research, nothing else). The guy comes across as a certifiable whacko, which is one of the most boring and predictable (and easily-packaged for TV) personas out there. He's nothing we haven't seen a thousand times over, except that this dude comes attached with a "storm chaser" label. It's no different than "Twister", just one of a thousand horribly unrealistic but wildly entertaining adventure films, all of which had the chaser's seal-of-approval until they made one about chasing. This all points to the second reason I'm not even blinking about this story.

Many storm chasers have some kind of delusion of grandeur they matter to the world at large. I've never understood how this came about, especially when you consider that 80% of StormTrack itself doesn't care enough to even post. Is this because many chasers are also internet addicts, introverts, social retards, and often-times virgins? The type of demographic, oh-so-common in today's world, that basically live their lives online? This would seem to make sense, because this person's opinion of what the "world" is would be everything they see on their computer screen (like this perhaps).

I'm not here to burst anyone's bubble, but get over yourselves. People don't care who storm chasers are, what they're doing, or anything about them. They're no more boring or exciting than railfans, skydivers, or mountain climbers. You don't see those activities being the focal point of an investigation when someone who partakes of any of them are in the public light for something completely unrelated. What a person engages in is background noise compared to what they've done to earn their fifteen minutes of fame on CNN, Fox, and all the other excuses for news in the 21st century.

When someone like a doctor or lawyer is convicted of murder (and it's happened before), people don't just stop going to see doctors or using attorneys. When teachers and preachers are convicted for child molestation, people don't stop sending their children to school or to church (well, maybe the Catholics). And these are positions that actually matter to society. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, preachers, all important social positions in our world. Storm chasers? What are those?

So relax StormTrack people, chasing isn't going anywhere because some whack job decides to be Darwin's top candidate for 2009 and calls himself a chaser. You have to remember, this is CNN, Fox, and America. Those three ingredients were specially-crafted for the 3-minute attention span. In a month, people will stumble onto this blog entry and ask themselves "what is he talking about?"

Judge Not

2009-10-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

There has been much conversation throughout the years over "storm chaser" versus "tornado chaser". The popular point-of-view is that being a storm chaser brings some kind of mysterious nobility to an individual, while being a tornado chaser automatically qualifies a person as a mindless adrenaline junkie, who "just doesn't get what chasing is all about" and "fails to understand the 'entire chasing experience'". I say hogwash.

Choosing to make the tornado their primary goal does not make a person some Mountain Dew-swilling, extreme freak. Not when you think about it. Anyone can find a storm. You can be thirty miles away and succeed in storm chasing. All it takes is a semi-decent forecast (or a good guess) and you're there. But while succeeding on that storm from thirty miles away, you could be missing a tornado. To be there for that show, you'll need to do a little more than just roll up on a thunderhead from one hundred miles distant. Tornado chasing requires not only good forecasting, but a good understanding of storm structure and behavior in close proximity, in a real-time environment. There's simply more skill involved all the way around.

The next point is success itself. Do so many chasers really prefer chasing storms over tornadoes? Or do these people simply like the much better odds for success, given a mere storm qualifies as a win. I know it's true in some cases because I've read it. People admit they are storm chasers because they can't deal with the long odds of success against a pure tornado chaser. Fair enough, but IMO, this speaks volumes about a person's overall dedication. To even consciously consider your chances of being successful when questioning why you're out there, is, to me, the reasoning of a person who is far more practical than passionate. Someone who looks at a chase as a business decision, not a quest for personal pleasure; "Do I really think it's worth spending the money?" instead of "Do I think there could be tornadoes in Iowa today?" (without a thought for the expenses involved). There's nothing wrong with either line of thinking...but it does beg the next question.

For the practical chaser - the storm chaser - what's the drive? What can possibly motivate someone to spend thousands of miles on the road and hours of personal time on something that is just a hobby? Something that exists, if we're being truly honest, to simply take up time? Perhaps I'm too flawed in my character to see this objectively, but I just can't fathom putting so much effort into something that wasn't a huge part of my life. Then again, there's golf. An activity which, in the case of several chasers, is very much like storm chasing. It's a way to blow off steam, to clear one's head, to maybe finalize that big deal that's been sitting on the table. A distraction. But there's the flip side of the practical (storm) chaser...the artist, the dreamer. Otherwise known as a photographer.

Photographers are the pure storm chasers, the ones who target storms but possess the passion necessary to be tornadoes chasers. However, their passion lies with the challenge of capturing the perfect image of a storm, not just trying to find a tornado. They do the miles, they see the storms, but, like a tornado chaser, their opinion of what constitutes a chasing success is a small sliver compared to the basic, practical storm chaser. A beautiful storm witnessed but not captured on film (or digitized, as it were today) to one's personal standards, can make what the practical storm chaser would call a great day into an average one, or even a bust in extreme cases. Much the way a tornado chaser would consider the same event a bust without observing a tornado from said storm. Like tornado chasing, storm photography requires a heightened skill not needed for mere storm chasing.

And what about skill itself? It no doubt takes more skill to consistently capture tornadoes than it does to capture mere storms, that is not arguable. So why then, is the tornado chaser made out to be the antithesis of what he really is? Let's look at who is pointing the fingers.

Scientists: PhD wielding curmudgeons (sometimes themselves storm chasers) who consider tornado chasing to be nothing more than a pursuit of self-glory, largely because the media has latched on to "tornado porn" the past decade. Therefore, anyone who pursues tornadoes out of personal passion is automatically lumped into this category, tailor-made and hand-crafted in the bowels of the Ivory Tower. No amount of explanation (as if one is needed) or reason can change these minds...hence the term "curmudgeon".

Photogs: Though this term is widely used simply as a synonym for "photographer", I choose to use it as a kind of knock on those who value structure over tornadoes, to the point where anyone who chases for tornadoes is "not appreciating the storm itself". This opinion never fails to produce rising bile in my esophagus. Not appreciating the storm itself? Because a person chooses to focus on only one portion? It's not like someone can dry erase everything but the tornado. An appreciation of the entire storm is quite necessary for successful tornado chasing, because these magnificent creations are the mothers of the tornado. One simply cannot waltz up to a mama bear and swipe away one of her cubs. At least not without losing the other arm in the process.

Culturists: Those who not only chase for the storms themselves, but equally-enjoy the open roads, beautiful scenery, small towns, and people of the Great Plains and Midwest. For these people, the "entire experience" is the draw, and they can be perfectly happy with an otherwise busted day storm-wise, when stumbling upon some natural artifact or field of sunflowers to gaze upon and perhaps photograph. "You're not appreciating the entire experience, you're so lost on what all chasing has to offer." Again, hogwash. Just because a person chases to see tornadoes doesn't mean they don't appreciate the journey. Because there was no specific mention of a chaser's encounter with a stray buffalo in the chase report does not mean that moment in time was not special to said chaser. Hey folks, as "spiritual" as you are, let's try to look past the trees and see the big picture, instead of judging a book by its cover.

The fact is, in some small capacity, each of these groups and their opinions are correct. But the bigger truth is, they incorrectly lump all tornado chasers into this group. This simply isn't the case. Some of us who chase tornadoes do so because we just love to see the aesthetic beauty of the tornado itself. Because we love the challenge of trying to find the most elusive phenomenon on earth. It's a lot more cerebral and a lot less cock-n-balls than most detractors would believe.

So to the scientist, don't hold the tornado chaser's high standards of (what is considered) excellence against him...you would do well to mirror that dedication and passion in your own endeavors. To the photog, don't let the tornado chaser's passion for the pup lead you to think he's no compassion for the mother, for one cannot be had without the other...as an appreciator of the Big Picture, you would do well to consider this and incorporate it into your line of thinking. And finally, to the culturist, to the lover of The Entire Experience, let not the tornado chaser's lack of mention bring you to believe he doesn't appreciate every wonder along the way to tornadic bliss, for the tornado chaser keeps these cherished moments inside his heart and mind, to be enjoyed on a personal level...and understanding that, as one who appreciates it all, should come naturally to you.