3 Part Harmony

I let the last week slip by without blogging. I'm going to try hard to not do that.

Last Monday was the first class that I had to drive to the main campus for, the campus that's an hour-ten minutes away from home. The campus I have to drive to twice a week. That campus.

The Monday night class is about media history and new technology, for which we're prisoners in a classroom for three hours on Monday nights. Not that I'm bored or anything, I have to pass this class. Anyhow, a thunderstorm rolls across the state. I heard thunder in the distance at about 830pm. A few minutes later I heard another sound I couldn't readily identify. Then someone says "I think I hear sirens". Yep, that's the sound. A tornado warning was issued for the county. In January. God, I love Michigan.

The class spends the next 15-20 minutes web-surfing, phone-calling, trying to figure out what's going on. The class decides to step into the hallway in case the building gets blown down. When the storm passes, class resumes. Technically, it did resume, but the instructor gave up after 10 minutes, sending everyone home. I had to talk to him about something, as did a few others, and the power went out. Dead. Dark. No light. At all. Funny that we're taking a class about technology when technology lets us all down, without even emergency lighting to illuminate the let down.

I gotta tell ya, when the lights go out, that building gets DARK. Luckily I had a little flashlight, otherwise the walk down the hall would have been, well, interesting. Much like the walk to the truck, when, due to the darkness, I walked into what's less a puddle and more a pond! The water was above my ankle! Great.

Last night, the second meeting of the Monday night class, was weather-impaired, just in a different way. Snow. Just a week after a tornado warning. God, I love Michigan (I really do, don't let the sarcasm mislead you). Driving up last night wasn't too bad, and since the snow had let up as I arrive on campus, I was hopeful that the snow was ending. Not. I left the building after class and saw about three inches on the ground. Great. Slippery road. Whatever, I've driven on worse. US-127 wasn't too bad. I started out doing 45, and gradually crept the speed up to 55. Ok. I can make some decent time.

And then I got into Saginaw County. Hello. Did no one at the Saginaw County Road Commission watch the news? That snow might fall? I swear M-57 from the county line to Cheasaning wasn't even touched by a snow plow. I was doing 45, and that was risky. The entire drive home took me an hour-45 minutes, an extra thirty minutes of driving, after an 18 hour day. I was tired, and stressed trying to concentrate on the road.

At work, the students came back yesterday. Campus at work was great for the last three weeks. We got stuff done, the hallways were quiet, nice. That's done. Campus is great, if we can keep the students away! :)