Here We Go Again, Redux

So, here comes Ike, coming to wtfpwn Tina, err Texas.

I was watching on one of the Houston TV stations website the storm surge, from the hurricane that is still 150 or so miles away, hop Galveston's sea walls like they weren't even there.

Check out what the NWS has to say about Ike.

LIFE THREATENING FLOOD INUNDATION IS LIKELY! ALL NEIGHBORHOODS...AND POSSIBLY ENTIRE COASTAL COMMUNITIES...WILL BE INUNDATED DURING THE PERIOD OF PEAK STORM TIDE. PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES MAY FACE CERTAIN DEATH. MANY RESIDENCES OF AVERAGE CONSTRUCTION DIRECTLY ON THE COAST WILL BE DESTROYED. WIDESPREAD AND DEVASTATING PERSONAL PROPERTY DAMAGE IS LIKELY ELSEWHERE. VEHICLES LEFT BEHIND WILL LIKELY BE SWEPT AWAY. NUMEROUS ROADS WILL BE SWAMPED...SOME MAY BE WASHED AWAY BY THE WATER. ENTIRE FLOOD PRONE COASTAL COMMUNITIES WILL BE CUTOFF. WATER LEVELS MAY EXCEED 9 FEET FOR MORE THAN A MILE INLAND.

The last NWS warning I have seen with the term 'certain death' in it was for Katrina. So I guess the point is that we have about 12 hours left for Galveston, before it becomes an island of corpses.

Of course I hope I and the NWS is wrong, but when you have police asking people to write their SSNs on their arms so it would be easy to identify the body... Well, let's just say that isn't a confidence builder.

I would like to wish my buddy, Keith, the best. He assures me that he is far enough inland in Houston that he will be fine. Good luck!

Back, New Locale, Same Crap? Oh, 500th Post Too!

HAI!

So basically I have been gone for three months. I have had a lot of personal issues, one of the most depressing having to do with money. This is why my blog is at a new location! I won't go into to many details, but I was unable to pay for my Yahoo! service and it got shut down. I was working on getting things back up yesterday, but their web hosting service has gotten very complicated and not worth the hassle or the money.

I decided to go with Go Daddy, not just because of the picture of Danica Patrick on the front. They actually have a decent price and the options that I needed. However, DA was still with Yahoo and it was even more of a pain in the ass to switch things, so I didn't. This is why you are now looking at OP on ERINWINKING.COM! Yes, I am so clever.

Actually, all the really obscure names I wanted were taken (irony much?) so I finally just gave up. Besides, now I already have the domain for when I decide to run for congress! Wheee!

Some notes, all though I say this every time, I am really, really, really going to make a point to blog again on a regular basis. Also, since the move, a lot of the old posts will be lacking pictures till I can go through them all and change the address AND upload them to the new server. Aye yi yi.

Thanks for sticking with me, although until I start emailing people, no one will have read this.

Whatup?

I haven't blogged in a while and there are a couple of reasons for this.

Reason number one. I've been a little frustrated with various events, and as I have learned before, it's best not to blog when I am like that. I'm not just talking about work events, but other events as well. Political, personal... Plus I have been really fucking busy.

Which leads me to reason number two. I'm leaving Las Vegas.

Yup. I finally caved in to my old homeboy from Springfield, Chad Mahoney and sent a tape over to KOKI in Tulsa, where he's an assistant news director. They apparently liked it and last Thursday flew me out for an interview. I enjoyed the city, it reminded me a lot of Springfield, which now that I am not there I realize I missed. The station and all the people who worked there were very nice... I just hope when I arrive I don't find out that they are actually Cylons...

Anyway, was going to accept the offer they gave me (more than I was expecting!) when by random coincidence, Matt - my chief here in Vegas - did my annual review and gave me what I will call a 'wow' raise. So I told Tulsa that I couldn't accept the offer. I was trying not to make it about money (I was, and still am taking a pay cut), but the differences in the two salaries was to great to ignore.

Tulsa counter offered. Something I have never had happen to me before, and had I known that they would have counter offered, I would have asked for more! (Yeah, it's capitalism. Suck it.) At any rate, the counter offer made up for the increase KLAS gave me (in fact, it moved me above what I started at KLAS for), so I took the job.

Quite frankly even though I am taking a pay cut and moving down in market, I think the quality of life improvements will make up for it. Everything is cheaper there; gas, food, rent, my car insurance bill is dropping from around $120/month (that's with a spotless driving record, mind you) to about $200/6 months. Why?

No southern Californians in Tulsa. That in its self makes up for over half the pay cut.

There are many other advantages as well. Oddly enough, many having to do with food. 6.5 hour drive to Springfield (free food!), Steak 'N Shakes (best Midwestern chain restaurant ever), Waffle Houses (smothered and covered, beeyach), four seasons (fall, summer, etc., not the hotel), tornadoes (yes, I do count that as a positive), and actual community (despite what many of the people who live here say, there is no sense of community in Las Vegas, with the rare exception of when someone like a police officer dies. Outside of that, no one gives a flying fuck about anyone else.)

I will miss a few things about Vegas. I'm not ready for a teary goodbye yet, so I won't talk about the people I met. I will miss 24/7 booze. I will miss half nekkid women on all the billboards. I will certainly miss the fact that during even the coldest winter months I can survive with a sweatshirt and my KLAS issue jacket. And I will miss people who I meet on the internet thinking I am somewhat cool because I live in Las Vegas.

So that is that. My last day at KLAS is on April 11, and I will be moving to Tulsa the weekend of my 29+1 birthday, April 22. I'll talk more about things as the next three weeks progress, but for now, this is the end of this post.