First 2011 Chase in the Books

Finally was able to get out there. I wont recap the day too much, the log is up on the site. I don't know if I need to repeat anything here. If there are any blogger-only readers out there that would like me to link photos and site posts please let me know, otherwise I will just use this blog for what it is...a blog.

Anyways it felt great to be out there. I really missed chasing and was reminded as to how much I really do love it. When I stepped out of the truck in Nebraska City with 80 degree temps and brisk south winds with a huge storm going up in the western sky it hit me...this is why I am alive...this is what I live and breathe for. Everything else is trivial.

Eyeing a setup on Monday in Texas which scares me. Gas has hit 4.19 in Chicago which is just brutal. I won't let that stop me from chasing as long as I have the money but damn...4.19...REALLY?! This is going to be a really tough year as a result of this. Life is a catch 22, to have more chase money you need to work more but when you work more you cant chase. Talk about a tough situation to resolve. Im supposed to talk to my snow removal boss in April about summer work. If I am lucky he will be understanding of my chasing obsession and work with me. Id be willing to take un-paid time off as long as it meant I could do it whenever I wanted. Ha...I can dream can't I?

Chilly temps here in Chicago, gross. Only 31 degrees right now. After the spring tease of recent days it makes it that much harder to deal with. You hate to see this during a time of year when you know you could be getting severe weather instead. Cold and snow is ok in the winter....but its severe weather time now!

Yargh...

A Sad Stat.

It is March 14th...2011.

I have yet to embark on 2011s first chase, and thus 2011 will have the latest official start for me personally than any other year. After seeing Sean Caseys IMAX movie the other day [which was awesome albeit a little short] I have the itch to get out there more than ever. Its driving me insane. I need to chase.

Life has been slugging me in the gut with one big financial blow after another lately, and also unlike any other year I am a bit worried about funding this year. I am far from a rich man, but I've always been able to get by. I do not have steady employment, but the side jobs I do work usually help me get what I need to do done and I was ready to go this year until gas decided to shoot up the way it did. As long as I have the money, it wont stop me from chasing, but I'm worried my annual chase budget will dry up sooner than later this year. It also doesn't help I will be on more solo missions with my man chase partner starting a new job.

For some reason everyone elses American dream does not make me happy. Working a 9-5, having a family and a nice white house in suburbia...its just so...thought-less and cliche. I've always felt conformity is for suckers, but alas, opinions alone don't pay the bills, so for now I must still continue to be a slave to society's monotony...unless I catch that miracle break, the kind that sometimes falls in others' laps but never mine. The other problem...I have never been one to brown nose and hump legs to get to the top...which these days its pretty much the only way to get things done, I must learn to swallow my pride I guess.

Anyways, checking the GFS shows a nice active pattern continuing. I feel a potential first chase coming soon, but hopefully not anytime this week as Ill be working one of said side jobs from Weds - Sun. *sigh* I will never consider myself successful in life until I never have to worry about money or a job keeping me from a chase...until then. Life rolls on...

On another note. I finally have some hail guards for my vehicle. A detailed site update about those will be posted hopefully in the next day or 2.