I work as an IT Administrator for a local construction company in Indianapolis, Indiana, the 12th largest city in the United States, and home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, as well as the Indianapolis Colts and the Indiana Pacers. For you hockey fans, we also have the Indianapolis Ice. Click here for a live webcam shot of the Indianapolis skyline.

Prior to this, I worked for ten years as a Tech Support Representative for a small, local ISP. This is where I developed my intense hatred for the human species, and a complete lack of tolerance for stupidity. You can hear why for yourself by listening to some customer calls.
Note: I plan to organize these at some point in the future, but for now they're just indexed. Also, these calls have not been edited other than to bleep out names of both the guilty and the innocent. Procede at your own risk.

In our spare time, my wife and I volunteer for the National Weather Service as Storm Spotters with the Central Indiana Skywarn network. Indiana is at the tail end of "Tornado Alley" in the central part of the United States, and is very active with severe weather in both spring and fall. Compared with other states, Indiana ranks 15th for frequency of tornadoes, 6th for tornado-induced fatalities, 7th for tornado-induced injuries, and 2nd for cost in damages. When compared to other States by the number of tornadoes per square mile, Indiana ranks 7th for frequency, 3rd for fatalities, 4th for injuries, and 3rd for costs. From 1950 to 1995, Indiana had 897 confirmed tornadoes, resulting in a total of 221 deaths, 3,665 injuries, and 1.65 billion dollars in damage.
As Spotters, our job is to act as the eyes and ears for the meteorologists at the NWS Forecast Office in Indianapolis. While they can make a pretty good guess as to what's happening in a certain area by looking at their radar, they still need trained personnel on the ground to confirm what the radar is telling them. Severe weather warnings are then issued based on a combination of what the radar is displaying and what a Spotter is reporting from the field. We attend annual training classes every spring to maintain our certifications and stay current on new developments, as well as refresh ourselves on what we might have forgotten during the winter. Training covers basic interpretation of radar and satellite imagery, identification of cloud formations, communication protocols, and severe weather safety.
Anyone interested in becoming a Storm Spotter should contact their local National Weather Service Forecast Office for further information, or visit the National Skywarn Homepage for more information.

A lone tech, a camera, and an empty queue. A dangerous combination? You decide.

I don't smoke, drink, or use drugs. So what does my doctor tell me? "Cut back on caffeine and sugar."

If true geeks designed Windows error messages:

My cat, Octavius, assisting me in browsing TSC:
Furry Computer 1 Furry Computer 2 Furry Computer 3 Furry Computer 4

©2003-2005 Eric Wasson
This website designed using Microsoft Windows NotePad & the KISS Principle