The evening held such promise.
OK, sure, maybe not everyone would be grabbed by the monthly meeting of the Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society. A night mingling amidst bona fide weather geeks may not be everybody’s definition of fun. But, well, we’re retired and live in the boonies. It doesn’t take much to convince us to hop in the car and drive into the Big City. And by that I mean Beaverton.
Last night’s was the second Chapter meeting I had attended. Rob -- Woodhaven’s official Society Member -- has hung with his weather homies on several addition occasions. We don’t like to brag, but Rob is a trained “Severe Weather Spotter” for the National Weather Service. This means he attended a Saturday afternoon seminar about clouds and the things that fall from them and graduated with his very own Spotter ID and official snow ruler. His job is to call a special Severe Weather Hotline if he spots things like tornadoes, flooding, high winds, heavy and/or blowing snow, freezing rain, high surf, or volcanic or earthquake activity. Rather heady responsibilities indeed. I’ve tried to help keep his ego in check.
Since last December presented Rob many, many opportunities to use that official ruler and Hotline, we were looking forward to last night’s “WINTER 2008-2009 RECAP” presentation as an opportunity to relive that embarrassingly unproductive snow-filled week we spent trapped at Woodhaven, drinking snowballs and greeting neighbors as they arrived by tractor. Well, that plus the meeting was held at a local TV station.
Yes, fine, I really went to the meeting so I could star gaze. It happens that the local TV weather folks who seem most involved in the AMS are from the channel Rob and I watch every morning. And the meeting was held at those very studios! I was very excited by the prospect of meeting Mark and Drew and perhaps catching glimpses of either of the Stephanies and maybe even Andy. So excited, I also had my camera, spare battery, and Piglet safely stashed away in my purse in case there was an opportunity for photo ops. As we drove over, I had uncomfortable flashbacks of the Mean Greek Ladies at the Parthenon last fall and prayed that there wouldn’t be any security bag checks in which I was going to have to not only explain but relinquish my beloved stuffed pig.
Oh, were it had been half as exciting as a bag search.
As I discovered and noted a few years ago after a brief foray into the World of Cribbage, there is indeed a club for every interest, hobby, niche, and inclination. Count weather among them.
The people attending last night’s meeting were very serious about their weather. A number of them were also active participants in a weather blog moderated by the TV station. As we went around the room introducing ourselves, the bloggers followed their names with “aka …” giving their blog handle. “Oh, Tornado Ally – great to meet you! What did you say your name was?”
I tried to follow the presentation. I really did. There was all sorts of enthusiastic discussion about 500 vs. 1000 millibar readings and thickness and the Euro vs. GFSx models. Geothermic snow board split flow inversion troughs. The guys (and it was 90% male attendance) debated weather events like I’ve heard guys debate sports.
“When was the last time we had snow turn to freezing rain and then immediately back to snow again?”
“I remember that happened in January 1969.”
“Well, I remember it in December 1990.”
“December 1998.”
Somewhere around here I had a brain freeze and spent the rest of the meeting: 1) noting the cute yoga outfit worn by the young weather gal from a competing station; 2) confirming my suspicions that another weather gal isn’t a natural blonde; and 3) silently debating the fashionability of wearing socks with Birkenstocks.
After a non-sequitur discussion about trees and drought raised by a visiting arborist and his entire home-schooled brood, the meeting ended somewhat abruptly 2.5 hours later when it was realized that a couple of the attendees had a live broadcast to attend to.
As we filed out, I did have a chance to meet a star, shake his hand, and exchange names and some chit chat. I stopped short of pulling out my pig and camera, deciding instead to play it cool. The Star had been great fun to listen to during the meeting, showing a fun sense of humor and sarcasm and ability to both play in the sandbox as well as step out of it and watch others play. I decided me and my pig would pounce another time. Which means, it seems, I might soon be the newest member of the AMS.
No comments:
Post a Comment