The Ice Storm

I like to try and stay positive, but sometimes I just get pissed off and I want to kick a puppy! Arkansas was hit with the 100 years storm and it has dropped 3 inches of ice and about 5 inches of snow her. Arkansas is not use to snow and the entire State was ill prepared for the massive detestation we have here. We lost power on Monday night and our energy company says it may be 3-4 weeks before power is restored. Just in my area over 10k people are without power, which equals this entire county.

The last 12 months has been really hard on families in this area. In March of 2008 We had the worst tornado in 100 years hit my little town and caused massive damage. A few months after that we had, a snow storm (yes, shortly after the hurricane) and 2 tropical depressions move over Arkansas. It caused massive damage and we lucky enough to afford a power generator to run some essentials (TV, Satellite, Internet, Lights, Refrigerator) You know, the essentials.

Then we had a couple floods, a snow storm, and now in 2009 we have our first 100 years storm to start it all over again. to be honest, my entire family is exhausted! even though we have power and water, we have just about been pushed to our end. We have 6 kids ages 10-15 and its tough enough when everything is going smooth, with hot water, regular heat (we are using our fireplace) its a tough son of a bitch right now.

I do realize that many people have it much worse than us, we are very spoiled and we take everything for granted! Some peopel without heat, some even without water, and I’m sure some that failed to be prepared for this and are low on food. sine the whole place is covered with ice, no power, no way of traveling in this snow, even if you could there are no stores open not even Wal-mart!

the Positives

If you’re still reading, thanks for letting me vent and now I’ll discuss the positives! In every situation there is a positive. It’s the law of the universe.

My family and I have been spending a lot of time together. We have busy lives so that is a huge positive. the kids are growing up so fast and its a great time to have so much time with them. It is challenging because we are at risk of spending too much time together. As you can imagine being iced in causes a ton of stress. Overall, I know we will look back and smile of these times.

I was once again reminded I work for a very cool company. They are very caring and just some of the smartest people I’ve ever met. the people I work are always going above and beyond for their employees. My boss is easily one of the wisest people I’ve ever met. I know how rare a company like this is and I love being there.

Anyway, I’m done rambling for now I’m kinda tired and I just lost a buy-in playing poker. Check out this blog post to see how this all started last year. Arkansas Tornado