The Siren That Cried Wolf

This morning there were some "severe" thunderstorms in the area where I live. I use "quotes" because I don't really get what makes some thunderstorms severe and others not. I get that "Severe" thunderstorms are supposed to be capable of becomining a tornado, and that in some cases the winds of a particular storm can be so high that the storm is likely to cause damage, but most thunderstorms are just loud rain... what makes them so severe?

Anyway, the suburb I live in (or maybe the whole county) has a tendancy to blare its warning siren as long as there are dark clouds and rain (sometimes just for the dark clouds). This morning was no exception. It's like the Commissioner in Charge of Sirens has an extreme paranoia of tornados or bad storms and wants to be sure we know there is a storm, ANY STORM, coming. This would be great if every storm was worthy of this fanfare... but most storms, including this one, are just a short rainstorm. So, we've now been desensitized to the sirens, so now when a real tornado comes through threatening to blow us to Oz, we won't care or take shelter. (The other funny thing about these sirens is they are accompanied by an announcement telling us to "STAY IN YOUR HOMES!" But the announcement isn't very loud, so we have to go outside to hear them.) Anyway, that's enough excitement from the suburbs.

In other news, I went to a poker tournament at a bar last Thursday through this tournament series. It was really fun, and I did alright. Out of the 60 or so people who showed up, I finished in the top 15. And I would have done better, but I made a real bonehead mistake on the hand I went out on. Oh well, the tournament was free. And I ran into the guy whose blog lead me to Riverush tournaments. In fact, I even got mentioned in his blog (although he didn't know me from Adam at the time... and still doesn't... and seems to regret me mentioning his blog at the tournament... eh).

Finally, I've gotten two more callbacks. One more in NY, and one to a Minneapolis firm. Still waiting to hear from the firm that I really want to work for, but the new NY firm was another one that I was impressed with.