So I'm going to go "weatherman" on you in this post. Back in September, Atlanta had historic flooding and unfortunately, it seemed to be right over the house. Anyway, the neighborhood got flooded and I had just a little bit of damp carpet in the basement. Many of my neighbors had it much worse.

The co-op weather observer just happens to be right next door to the house in the video that has rushing water running through it. Here is the rainfall recorded at their station from 9/1/09-9/27/09. They had a whopping 19.22" of rain. When the flood happened they got roughly 14.50" in 3 days. The radar estimates from the 21st show areas west and northwest of Atlanta(in white) receiving 20"+ in a single day.

It was just crazy! Here's a pic I took with my cell while sandbagging the garage.

Braves/Mets/Rejects

Saturday we went to the Braves/Mets game. TG's favorite team is the Mets and her favorite player is David Wright. We had seats 9 rows above the Mets dugout, even with third base, so TG could see her man up close. The game was tight up until the 7th when The Mets blew it open and the Braves failed to score with the bases loaded for the 2nd time. The Mets eventually won the game. The weather was surprisingly comfortable for a Mid-July day in Atlanta.

The All American Rejects played a free concert after the game. The lead singer, Tyson Ritter, is the quintessential rocker...whacked out! But fun! He has a tornado tattoo under his right arm. That automatically makes him cool.

Adventure on The Outer Banks

The morning of the BooBanks wedding we had time to kill so we went to the Wright Brothers Monument and State Park. It was pretty neat to see all the stuff they had. We walked up to the monument and took a few pics. Quiz: Which brother made the first flight, Orville or Wilbur? The answer is after the pics.

Quiz answer: Orville

The morning after BooBanks' wedding a group of us got up early and went hang gliding on Jockey's Ridge. It's a big sand dune in Kitty Hawk very near where the Wright Brothers made their first flight.

You got some instructions first then headed out to the dune to give it a try. It was a lot harder than you'd think. All you really have to do is relax. Easier said than done when you're running off the side of a steep dune.

You got 5 flights each and all of us had at least one good flight. Jonny had the best crash. A picture perfect nosedive 50 feet after liftoff!

Jonny eating it!

Nic looking good!

TG shows everyone up!

Bakes sticks the landing..kinda!

MB looks just like Orville did!

BooBanks Wedding

This past weekend we went to Kitty Hawk, NC for Cliff and Boo's wedding. It was on the beach Friday evening. It was great to see everybody. We had a terrific time. The reception was in the pier house. The Gahagans like to boogie that's for sure.

Tornado Chasing

It's been a month since I came back from tornado chasing with Vortex 2. It was boring most of the time but absolutely thrilling when we finally saw an EF-2 tornado in LaGrange, WY on June 5th. We logged 10,600 miles through 9 states in 5 weeks time. The food was bad and some of the hotels were as shady as you've ever seen.

Anyway here are some pics of the trip. Enjoy!

Cornhole Champion!

So I went to the Smyrna Crawfish Festival last weekend with some coworkers.  I've never had crawfish before.  The were good, but a lot of work for very little reward.  The shrimp was better.  Anyway, they had a cornhole tourney there.  Tim B. and I(Doogie Cornholers) were a team and Mike M. and Mike Mc.(sorry I forget the team name) were a team.  We both made it through the 1st round with ease. M&M unfortunately ran into cornhole buzzsaw in round 2 and had to sit.  The Doogie Cornholers sliced and dice their way to the finals where they were pitted against some lame kickball team that had uniforms and everything.  Just envision the movie Dodgeball but with cornhole.  After having to go back to 15 twice for going over 21, the Doogies put the hammer down and won the finals 21-15.  

Tim

MB

Who's Next?

The Winning Throw!

Volleyball Tourney

So my sister plays for a traveling volleyball club team and I never get to see her, but one weekend they finally had a tourney in ATL so I drove down to see her. Don't let the picture fool you, she is really taller than me (she is leaning).

She played a total of 7 games and won 6 of them. MB and I saw 2 games and they won both. When they are not playing they have to referee the lines. Basically that means they stand and hold a flag and wave it based off of whether the ball is in or out (very technical, I know).

Severe Weather

So there were some very strong winds earlier this week, and apparently, something decided that MB's neighbors didnt need their fence anymore. His neighbor came over with the chain saw and helped out.

Now, while some would say that all I did was take pictures, and did not help out at all, at least I didnt get the chainsaw stuck in the tree!

Eventually they got it out and chopped it all down into some nice firewood. The bad news is everyone has a gas fireplace, so it got chucked into the woods. 

New Record Holder

So I've started this new segment on the show.  It's basically Me vs Weather.  I do these crazy stunts once a month to show the wild nature of weather.  The first was this past Thursday at the Virginia Tech Wind Tunnel.  This thing cranks up the wind to 200mph!  Anyway, I stood inside the tunnel and got blown around.

I wore a climbing harness and was strapped in to 4 cables screwed into the wall.  I felt pretty secure.  I tested it out at 45mph.  Windy but no problem.  Then they turned it up to 75mph(cat 1 hurricane).  It was tough to stand and I couldn't hear a thing.  Live during the show I attempted to break the VA Tech human wind speed record of 110mph.  I got up to 122mph(cat 3 hurricane)!  I couldn't stand without the support cables and my face got all distorted.  It was unbelievably loud and cold.  With the wind the wind chill was about 35 degrees.  i had to wear gloves but my ears were frozen.  After I broke the record, my producer suggested I go back in and try to break m

y own record and get up to at least 131mph(cat 4).  I got back in and they cranked it back up.  It was nastier than nasty.  I got up to 133mph and they decided to shut it down.  They were a little afraid I was going to get hurt.  I could hardly move.  My face was completed distorted.  There was so much force on my chest it was getting hard to breathe.  It was sick!  I think if I did it again I could get to 145mph.  The next stunt is me being rescued by a swift water rescue team in a raging river.  Stay tuned.

Day Six: Hang Ten

One of the things on our list of things to do before we die is to learn to surf.  Mission accomplished!  We took surfing lessons today on Waikiki Beach and rocked it!  We both got up and rode a few waves.  They weren't all that big, maybe 1-3 footers, but it was a ton of fun.  It was really tiring though.  We were both sore afterwards.  We would do it again if we had the chance.  It was addictive. After surfing we walked along Waikiki Beach checking out the hotels, restaurants, and shops. One block back from the beach is the International Marketplace which is a cheap souvenir heaven filled with magnets, keychains, $4 t-shirts, etc. Then just outside the Marketplace is every high end store you could ever think of, Ralph Lauren, Coach, Hugo Boss, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, etc.

Surfing at Waikiki

Day Five: Diamond Head, Lanikai, and Dukes

Today we headed out to the famous Diamond Head Crater at the east end of Waikiki Beach.  It was a fairly hot and humid day and the hike up to the top was a little strenuous, but we made it. The view, like so many others is terrific.  You can see all of Waikiki Beach and Honolulu from there.  We would have stayed longer except the gnats were really bad.  

We split up after Diamond Head.  Big Jer and Bobbie took a drive up to Lanikai, voted the #1 beach in the U.S. 

TG and MB headed into Waikiki to goto Hilo Hatties(souveniers) and Dukes(popular beach restaurant).  We've heard that Hilo Hatties is the place to get your souveniers because they have everything and they're inexpensive...wrong on both accounts.  The store at the Ala Moana Mall is small and they don't have much beside Hawaiin shirts and Macadamia nuts.  What TG did leave with though, was a gorgeous set of lavender pearl earrings and a white, pink, peach, and lavender pearl necklace.  Plus, she got to crack open a live oyster and there were two black pearls inside which were made into earrings for Bobbie.

Dukes is right on the beach and named after famous surfer and Olympian Duke Kahanamoku. We had Lava flows and fish tacos of course.  Delicious.  The food is good and the wait staff is friendly, plus it sits right in the middle of Waikiki so you can't go wrong.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.  We are going surfing!

Day Four: Recovery

The day on Maui really took it out of us, so since it's raining today, we've decided to relax and go to the spa.  Swedish massage for the ladies and hydro-massage for the guys.  The spa, like everything else here is awesome.  Roman pool, cold plunge pool, sauna, steam room, and lounge with all the green tea you can drink!  For dinner we headed over to the the golf course to eat at Roy's.  Great food, Ahi, swordfish, butterfish, and Kanpachi.  Even better drinks and desserts.  We should be fully recovered and ready for the next big adventure tomorrow.

TG and MB at dinner

Big Jer and Bobbie at dinner

Day Three: Marvelous Maui

We were up this morning at 3:15am to catch a 5:00am flight to Maui.  On the agenda today, snorkeling at Molokini Crater, Turtles Arches, whale watching, and up to Haleakala Crater.  We go on the boat at Maalaea Harbor.  Our tour group was the Pacific Whale Foundation(we highly recommend).  Not even 5 minutes out, a humpback whale came up right next to the boat!  It was TG, Bobbie, and Jerry's first time snorkeling in the ocean and we all had a super fun time!  The colorful fish and coral are spectacular.  The green sea turtles stole the show though.  TG and Bobbie got to touch a red sea urchin.  It was slimy but cool.  On the ride back to the harbor we saw several humpback whales.  That was thrilling.

 Ride out to crater

 Big Jer getting his snorkel on

                                             

 Movie of snorkeling (listen for the whales)

Whale tail

After snorkeling we headed up the Haleakala Crater.  The road is steep with a million curves.  There are a lot of furry cows right along the road.  At around 8000 feet the clouds were actually below us.  The views from the summit are jaw-dropping.  We even saw Mauna Kea that's on the big island.  It was only about 45 degrees there and really windy.  Everything looked like Mars.  It was a lot different than the tropical valley below.  We loved it!

Park entrance

View from summit

We made it!