Happy Thanksgiving/ My Crazy Mold Experience

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! I hope you are all enjoying the festivities today! I know my house most certainly will be filling up on lots and lots of turkey and all the other yummy things.

Have you ever had a time where you were extremely thankful for one thing in your life? It could be your kids, your family or your job. This year I am most thankful for my health!

You see, as of this summer, I started dealing with a crazy mold issue. I found out that the carpet in our home is super contaminated with mold spores! Not like a normal level (which is in the 10,000 range), but in the very unhealthy high level (2 million mold spores per affected room!) This problem also led to really bad health problems this year including having a hard time breathing!

At this point, you might be asking, “This is a weather blog. How does this relate to weather?” Well believe it or not, it is a meteorological issue! I didn’t know this until I hired an air quality specialist to come to my house and do an air quality study on my home. Turns out, the specialist is a meteorologist and has a PhD in Atmospheric Science! Yet another tie in to weather and meteorology!

I decided to talk about this problem at full length in my video blog above. I also talk about what I did to help get rid of it because I found that there is very little information out there about mold exposure.

I hope you all enjoy the video and your day!

Until then,

-M

All the Different Types of Meteorologists

(Irene Sans, Certified Broadcast Meteorologist. I met her!)

I didn’t know this until now. But now it makes complete sense!

Did you know that meteorologists work in other fields than just the National Weather Service or on TV? Neither did I.

For some reason, I’ve been introduced to a whole lot of mets  who work in fields I didn’t expect. And it is pretty cool that you can work pretty much everywhere.

It all started with a simple webinar a few months ago about Women in Weather. I mainly attended because I am a major fan of a particular TV meteorologist who was going to speak during the event. But little did I know that they would have mets from all sorts of fields there too!

Then a month ago, I met a meteorologist who does air quality and mold tests for businesses and homes and a handful of meteorologists last week at meetup who all know how to code and work as computer programmers and software developers. It’s amazing to me that there are a lot of jobs out there that need a meteorologists help.

So here are the jobs I have found mets work in so far:

• TV, radio and other media outlets
• National Weather Service and other forecasting agencies
• Oil companies
• Airline companies such as Southwest Airlines
• The International Relations Office at the NOAA
• For cities and states. (They need it so they know whether they are going to need snow plows during winter storms!)
• FEMA for weather-related emergencies and wildfires.

So, now you know. Meteorologists are everywhere!

Until then,

-M

How I Trained My Arts Focused Brain

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all having a great start to September! As of Tuesday, Sept. 1, we started the meteorological first day of fall!!! It’s different from the astronomical in that a) it has a different date and b) it relies on weather patterns instead of the position of the earth.

Today I want to talk to you about a weird phenomena going on with my brain. I am naturally a right brained person. As you can see from the picture above, I am naturally very subjective, I look at wholes and I am intuitive. (It’s funny because the picture actually reminds me of my husband and I because he is very left-brained haha!) I can write essays no problem on a book I’ve just read, I can argue philosophy and I actually have a Bachelor’s of Arts right now. I am good at arts and I love it.

The weird thing is, now that I am pursuing a meteorological career, I’ve had to change the entire way I think about stuff. You see, meteorology is not just about telling you on TV whether or not it is going to be cloudy or not. It actually takes a lot of math and physics to figure out what will happen in the future. And it has been incredible to see how my thinking patterns have adapted to a “science-way of thinking.”

At first, I was a little intimidated when I decided to pursue a meteorological degree. I remember when I read the degree requirements and going “awwwww maaaaaannnnn there is so much math!!!” I liked math and physics and LOOOOVVVVVEEED Earth Science and Geography as a kid, but my whole life was focused more on the liberal arts than anything. But, when I found out that I’ve actually wanted to do weather my whole life (I really missed the weather section we would do for a week at school and have been obsessed with weather believe it or not), my attitude changed and I was willing to take the challenge.

The first few weeks of school were the hardest for me. Going back to math and learning about science was tough. But, slowly but surely a light switched on and I was able to do it! It was hard to adopt a new way of thinking. It was hard to sit and have patience to test things, to go through steps logically and not have someone tell me an answer. It was hard to see at first that math was useful for real life situations. But, here I am! I’m not afraid to step in a physics class with all the boys and give them a run for their money!

The lesson I’ve learned is you can change and you can accomplish your dreams no matter how scary things seem. If you didn’t do well at it before, maybe now is the time you can do it! And, my little pitch to girls out there who would like to do science but think it is a “man thing,” don’t be scared because you can do it! Even though life is hard…pushing towards your goals and making them happen now is much more rewarding.

Until then,

-M

Coming Home to the Land of Glitter

I come from a place that is known worldwide, but I find I very hard to explain what it was like living there. I was born and raised in the most glamorous place on Earth: Las Vegas.

It’s a weird thing for me to get asked about my hometown. It’s the same two questions over and over, “What was it like to live there?” and “Do you live in the suburbs/close to the hotels?” And I always get the same blank stare when I always respond, “Boring. And 30 miles away.”

I’ve always wondered why? Because for me, it’s not hard to phantom that more than a half a million people live there. That there are schools and doctors and hospitals and parks and grocery stores and lots and lots of crime and seedy people (to where everyone keeps the doors barred and it is not uncommon to wakeup and find there’s a SWAT team at your neighbors house). That’s the life way beyond the glitz and glamour of the Strip and it is true for anyone who has lived there.

But that’s not what I want to talk about here. What I want to talk about is that feeling that everyone gets when the return to their hometown. For my husband and my sister-in-law, its returning to the land of beautiful mountains and where it’s a right to be outside. For others who live in Eastern Washington, its going back to the place where there are trees everywhere and a very small community.

But for a Las Vegan, it’s different. Really different.

I had the pleasure of going back to Vegas a few weeks ago. As soon as I land a McCarran, I get excited by the neon lights (literally). I have a extra sense of awareness while I walk down the streets and become really protective of my family. I also feel free to walk around the whole place without a care in the world, knowing just by sight which people are out to scam you and how to avoid them. People driving 90 mph on the freeway doesn’t bother me. And even though I can’t afford it, I still love gourmet dining and love to go into Louis Vuitton just to look around. Walking around may sound boring you, but to a local, we love the architecture because it is so beautiful, we love looking at people and we loving caking on the makeup because we like to look just a beautiful as everyone else. Suddenly I don’t want to wear just jeans and a T-shirt, I want to get dolled up, put on my big heels and strut my stuff like I am in a Miss America pageant. It’s just out culture there. We live in a culture of luxury. And that luxurious streak stays with you through you whole life. Because even though I’m outdoorsy, you just can’t help but love the luxurious life.

So, why would I say that is boring? I mean, eating good food, going to all the attractions and having fun sounds great right? That’s a blog post for another day. Let’s think about the good things here!

It’s my home. It’s where I grew up and it can be fun to visit, even if it is only once in awhile. It’s my home and I will always be a glitter girl. Always.

Hope you all are well!

Until then,

-M

I Have the Jitters

The agony! The nervousness! The excitement! Oh boy, it’s the first day of school.

It’s that time of year again, I’m going back to school to start my fall semester. I’m happy to say I took two weeks off after summer classes (I got through Calculus! Yay) for a much needed vacation (I wrote about what I did. Stay tuned for more posts this week!). And now….it has come to an end.

I have to say I am excited for what this fall semester brings! I am taking another Calculus class, Physics I, Physics I Lab and my favorite, Synoptic Meteorology. Some of you may be wondering, what in the world is Synoptic Meteorology. Well, here is the course description:

“This course presents a descriptive approach to the structure and behavior of mid-latitude, synoptic-scale weather systems. Primary topics include the physics of synoptic-scale air motion, the role of synoptic weather systems in the general circulation, jet streams, airmasses, fronts, and the application of these to cyclones and anticyclones. Elementary quasi-geostrophic theory and weather forecasting are introduced.”

Is it crazy that I am almost falling out of my chair with excitement about this class?! It is pretty much what I live for.

The weird thing is, the same nervous feeling I felt when I was little kid the day before the first day of school, still sticks with me. I’ve noticed it is a different from the feeling of starting a new job or even meeting someone new for the first time. This is in a different category. I wonder if I will meet anyone new, will my new profs be nice to me, will my favorite profs still be the same? I will find all of that out tomorrow.

I will let you how it goes!

Also…if you are wondering. The picture of the top are some of the weather symbols you would find on a weather map. My favorite is the thunderstorm symbol!

Until then,

-M

Nothing’s gonna stop us, nothing’s gonna stop us now….

When I was a broadcasting student, it was a Gonzaga Television tradition to clap and sing along with  as it played in the background of one of our commercials. I know that song from front to end, especially the chorus because it just became a thing at the broadcasting building (If you don’t know that song, you are missing out. Stop now and youtube it! Here, I will even link the song.) Little did I know, that song has become my mantra for pretty much everything hard.

At least for me, right now I am facing getting a lot of school work done in a short period of time. I am one of those ambitious people who decided to take a lot of classes during summer semester, and boy can it be hard sometimes. For the last few weeks, I have been going to class in the morning, coming home, working on homework until midnight, sleeping until 2 a.m., doing more homework and repeating the cycle and I still feel like I am falling behind sometimes. It would be easier for me but the work involves historically difficult subjects like math (all the Calculus classes you can imagine) and physics.

But really, like anything in life, whether it be trying to find a new job, training for a race, buying a house for the first time, or just going through a really really hard day things will get difficult and you should never let something stop you from what you are doing.

One of my favorite quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt is “A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.”

It makes me feel empowered to know that you can grow stronger just by feeling the heat (ha! Weather joke!) And as my husband says, “boy howdy is it freaking hot!” But I know I can get through it.

I also heard some quote on TV, (was it a psychologist? a pastor? I really don’t remember) that you will never feel right about something and in fact feel frustrated until you actually start working towards you dreams.

I know that is the truth because there have been many a time I have wanted to do something and got scared and chickened out. And until I started moving towards my dream (especially my career in weather and a few other miscellaneous things), I was not happy with myself deep down inside. In fact, I would look fine on the outside, but something was just rattling around in my head, wanting me to just accomplish one of my goals.

So, yes, it is hard. Life itself is hard. But I’m going to be strong and be shouting the lyrics to nothing is going to stop me now in my head until I accomplish my goals. And you should too. Don’t let something hinder you from taking the steps needed to achieve things beyond you wildest dreams. Don’t let fear or the risk of failure hinder you, because you won’t be happy unless you try.

So sing along just like me to Jefferson Starship when you are having hard times and remember, NOTHING”S GONNA STOP US NOWWWWWWW.

Until then,

-M