Journal Entry

Friday, September 15, 2000

Did I do it again?!? Yikes! Time really does fly here.

Well, I'm back, with a whole lot of new info for ya. I received the "Welcome Kit" from SnapFish.com, a company who will process your photos for free, for a minimal $1.70 shipping and handling, and will not only mail back your photos, but will create an online portfolio with them. Why is the service free? Well, they stipulate that you must login to your portfolio to view your photos at least once, meaning the ads placed on those portfolios generate their main source of revenue. So why am I talking about this? It just so happens that I do, in fact, have a camera here, and on one of my good days I will be snapping a roll or two of the campus, dorms and eateries, and will post lots of new pictures to the web page. Maybe I'll even schedule a controlled-release of the pics so the "flair" won't be lost after they've been out for a few days.

First announcement! Yes! I am into the Cornell EMS. What's EMS? For those acronym-challenged among us, it's the Emergency Medical Service on the Cornell Campus--part of the Environmental Health and Safety. It's not an ambulance service, but is instead a basic life support and first responder team. The hours of operation are from 3pm-midnight weekdays and 24 hours on weekends. Basically, CUEMS will respond to any medical call from the campus because they can reach the location about 5-10 minutes faster than the local fire department and/or Bangs (local for-profit) Ambulance. In case either transport or more advanced life support is necessary, Bangs ambulance is dispatched. During hours CUEMS does not operate, Bangs is automatically dispatched, and, unfortunately for the student, they will pay up. CUEMS is a free service to anyone on campus.

My first meeting/training is Saturday (tomorrow) at noon, and Sunday at 7pm. Saturday is a general orientation, get-to-know-everyone, and basic training event. Sunday will be the required OSHA training for bloodborne pathogens and body substance isolation techniques.

As a CUEMS member, I will be required to ride 4 shifts this semester, which is a relatively small amount of time. A huge perk is the fact that, as a member, New York State will reimburse approximately $650 of the cost of my concurrent EMT training course. Translating to $162.50 per shift, I think that's an OK hourly rate. Or if you want to look at it another way, it's about 140 hours worth of regular-pay hours of lifeguarding (more hours than I will lifeguard for the entire year). Is there any better way to get hands-on experience in the field of emergency medicine?

BOOM! CRACK! Ruuunnnn!!!!! Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!!

Yep, that was me this week. When storms come here, they come fast. Sunny one minute, and five minutes later it's pouring with lightning everywhere.

Not only everywhere... Striking buildings. Buildings you know. Buildings you're walking NEXT to. Ok, so let's back up a bit.

I'm walking back from my EMT course on Wednesday. I step out of Teagle Hall, and it starts to rain... OK, it's raining harder now. Alright, I give up. Go for the umbrella. (phew.. still in my backpack) So I'm cool with this... Oregonians can deal with rain. [small boom] What was that? [skyline flashing] Oh. Great. This is going to be fun.

Cut.

OK let's give you some background info. The campus is big, but not THAT big. You can really walk anywhere on campus in 15-18 minutes. Anywhere, in this case, being from Teagle to my dorm.

Action.

Position update: I'm no more than 50 yards from the door back into Teagle. It's pouring buckets. [flash flash, bigger boom] Oh dear. She's not kidding around today. [Flash] OK, let's figure this one out... count the seconds till the boom. [six seconds later... BOOM] Well, that was loud but I think I'll make it.

Afterthought... how SLOW could I have been walking?! Resuming...

[BOOOOOM] Umm OK, that was about 3 seconds apart. What's going on.. this is moving fast.

So I'm down towards the Statler Hotel now... about 150 yards from Teagle. I still figure I can make it to the bookstore to pick up a required manual for my writing seminar. [multitude of flashes and loud cracks and roaring thunder] AAHH! What?! Then out of nowhere, a HUGE gust of wind arrives and nearly breaking my umbrella and knocking me over. What is going on?

At this point I'm crossing the street by Sage Hall, and all hell breaks loose. I close my umbrella figuring I'd rather keep it than be a little more dry for a few seconds then wish I still had it as I curse the wind for carrying it away. I'm seeing flashes in the sky, the booms are very close behind, and, remember, the rain is still coming down, but even harder now.

I run into the door of Sage hall, soaked. I hang out in there for about 15 minutes until I get tired of it. I sprint the 100 yards to the bookstore, again soaked even more. I find the manual, purchase it, and work my way out of the store seconds before they lock the doors (closing time). The rain lets up significantly, so I break out the umbrella and start my walk home.

I get to about 1/3 the way there when nature calls Round 2. It's worse.

Pausing again... Some personal info this time. I'm cool with lightning when a) I'm inside, or b) I'm outside and I can't see the lightning bolt. Continue...

OK, so condition (a) isn't exactly met. (b) is fine. [Flash] Mmm. Scratch that. There it is. Clear as day... or clearer actually. [CRACK] It strikes one of the halls down the hill on west campus.

Logic break-- West campus is lower in elevation than I am. I am higher than where the lightning just struck. a + b = screwed

Instincts take over. Run. I don't get very far. [FLASH/CRACK/BOOM] Lightning just struck Baker Lab. Where am I? About 50 yards from the building. Ooohh dear. The 5 or 6 people remaining on the sidewalks panic. What help they are. Time to run faster.

The flashes and booms continue, and I make it to Donlon in one piece. So I log onto AOL's weather page for Ithaca: Huge red text saying "THUNDERSTORM WARNING THROUGH 7PM". Nice. Where was that warning 3 hours ago? I click on Local Doppler. A concentrated bright orange band creates a slash-like line across nearly the entire state of New York.

Where do these storms come from!?! I'm used to the Northwest, where weather is more often than not predictable at least 24 hours in advance. Here? Not so. Try predicting. If you're right, it's called luck.

Until we cross paths again...

Aaron