maybe i'm amazed

I watched in horror today at a slideshow of the destruction in Joplin MO from one big honker of a tornado. Here in the the southeast, and the midwest as well, we have not had a single freakin' break from bad weather news in about six weeks. This particular tornado was so wide and on the ground so long that it took out about 50% of the town, including the hospital. I silently wondered what we would do if that happened. I mean, yeah...we've got a disaster plan and all on paper, but when something like that happens it's pretty much go by the seat of your pants. We are the only hospital in town, with the closest ones of comparable size and acuity level sitting about 40 miles away. It was a monster, even in this part of the country where tornado season starts in January and ends in December. One of the worst ever around here was in January. Talk about getting caught off guard! If you have never seen the destruction firsthand that a tornado can cause, you can't really grasp the power contained in these storms and the way that they shatter lives. With a death toll right around a hundred in Joplin, everybody and their mama is affected in some way. And it's still storming! Come to mention it, our weather's looking kinda iffy too. There have been very few nights that I can remember waking up and dozing off all night with thunder and lightning for eight hours straight like last night.

I ran into two old friend/co-workers today and we all made small talk about each others' health which is what you do when you get older, I suppose. It's either that or your golf game. I saw this totally cool piece on TV yesterday about this retirement place in Florida where everybody has a golf cart instead of a car. They get 'em all pimped out and drive around drinking wine and margaritas and visiting. That's where I wanna go if I don't make it to the beach for my last years. Fiji, preferably. Yes indeed Truman...you did make a huge impact on me.

I'm jonesin' really bad because my camera is wore ass out refuses to play right. After spending some time lusting after 42 inch teevees the other day, I've decided that a camera is a much better investment and will give me more happiness than a bigger picture of Tosh's face. All suggestions from techno savvy friends are invited and encouraged, especially with best prices and customer reviews. Oh..and there's that budget of 200 bucks, firm. Gotta be able to afford a new PC to go along with. My financial widget has convinced me to do things proactively so as not to become beholden to some giant mega corporation with wild ass interest rates. I'll just save up and pay with cash.

Happy Monday to you and yours. The other shoe failed to drop and the world hasn't ended so far so it's all good. Keep the faith ^j^