John Spencer
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2000
- Messages
- 857
Man, do I feel lucky today. Memphis got hit yesterday morning with a freak storm cell that produced straight-line winds close to 100mph. And where was I? On the Interstate heading to a customer's. Amazingly, no one was injured when all the electricity poles and light poles snapped like twigs and went sailing across the roadway. It was a truly awesome sight, and gives a man a greater respect for the power of nature. As I drove down Kirby Parkway, which has some beautiful homes, it was horrifying to see some of them demolished by centuries-old trees that had been snapped about 4 feet up the trunk.
So at this point, over 250,000 citizens of Memphis and Shelby County are without power, and many are without water, since their pumping stations haven't been brought back online. We're still powerless, but my office is up and running, and I being the network guy, get to babysit it all day in case we relapse.
Luckily, my wife and I are fine, as is our property. The only things I was worried about was my wife, who's expecting our first child, and my cats. So our apartment and cars coming through unscathed was icing on the cake. But the poor sap who regularly steals my wife's parking space got a heavy dose of karma when he went out to check his Jeep Cherokee, only to find it impaled by a one-foot-diameter oak branch. It went straight through the roof and didn't stop until it lodged itself on the rear axle. But he was pretty upbeat about it, and actually greeted me with, "At this point, I wish you had complained about me parking in your spot!" Pretty decent guy. At least he has a good perspective on things. There's a lot of people who got hit a lot worse than us, and for them I truly mourn. This has been a tough year so far for West Tennesee.
So at this point, over 250,000 citizens of Memphis and Shelby County are without power, and many are without water, since their pumping stations haven't been brought back online. We're still powerless, but my office is up and running, and I being the network guy, get to babysit it all day in case we relapse.
Luckily, my wife and I are fine, as is our property. The only things I was worried about was my wife, who's expecting our first child, and my cats. So our apartment and cars coming through unscathed was icing on the cake. But the poor sap who regularly steals my wife's parking space got a heavy dose of karma when he went out to check his Jeep Cherokee, only to find it impaled by a one-foot-diameter oak branch. It went straight through the roof and didn't stop until it lodged itself on the rear axle. But he was pretty upbeat about it, and actually greeted me with, "At this point, I wish you had complained about me parking in your spot!" Pretty decent guy. At least he has a good perspective on things. There's a lot of people who got hit a lot worse than us, and for them I truly mourn. This has been a tough year so far for West Tennesee.
Perhaps he'll stay out of your wife's parking spot now?
