Another Chapter: Don’t Piss Off The Fairies

Ok, so this time my extended delay between posts wasn’t just because of work…

This time, nature played a part and nearly killed me. So, here goes, yet another chapter in my life.

On Tuesday, I went to a client site all day and then I had to decide on my way home whether or not to go out for some dinner or just heat up the really delicious chicken left-overs that Leah had prepared the night before. Rather quickly, I decided that I wanted Leah’s chicken left-overs.

So, I went straight home. It was sunny but looked like it was about to rain. I had lost a thumbdrive the day before and spent a few minutes looking throughout the car for it. I had to give up, though, because the rain came in kind of quickly. So, I went inside, pet the dog briefly, and then went to the office to take off my dress shoes.

The next thing I knew, the rain really started pouring and branches started hitting the house. I never think much about it, but this time I had a bad feeling. So, I actually went ahead and went into the bedroom to put on my tennis shoes -even though I hadn’t had time to change out of my dress socks. I just felt like I should be prepared for some reason.

Then, to my surprise, the debris hitting the house really started to sound heavier and heavier and I didn’t know at the time that it was a combination of large golf ball-to-baseball sized hail and branches from the trees. So, to get an idea what was going on, I looked out the back window but it was pouring down and the wind was blowing so hard that I couldn’t make out anything. So, I went to the master bathroom window (rear-facing) and still couldn’t make out anything at first. But then, all of a sudden, the rain stopped and I could see.

That’s when I saw the most terrifying thing ever. In an instant, I “thought” I saw trees breaking and coming towards the house, but that was a little too unrealistic, I thought. However, I heard wood breaking and cracking and felt the entire house shake violently. Then, I felt a major draft and without really thinking clearly, I thought that I should go see what happened -in case a door flew open by accident.

First, I went across the hallway and looked out the front-facing window and I saw a continuous “gust” of wind that was blowing rain and small trees horizontally over the top of the house at what appeared to be high velocity.

When I got to the opening to the living room, I saw that the back door had flown open and was flapping in the wind like paper and branches, dirt, and rain were all flying in horizontally. It was very surreal. At that point, I still only thought, “man, this is some heavy wind and rain” and didn’t realize that I was in the middle of a tornado and that when the rain stopped earlier, it really was trees breaking apart and the “eye” of the tornado coming down that I had witnessed. There were no sirens and no warning.

So, again, without thinking, I wondered where was my dog, Heidi. But, before I could see her (on the other side of my sofa in the living room), a tree flew in the back door and then a massive 16-inch wide, 30-40 foot tall tree came ripping through the living room -right at the back door- and another one fell on the kitchen too! I had chills about my dog at that point. I couldn’t really function or think about anything else. I didn’t even think about getting to safety because I had not yet gotten my pet –a classic mistake, I know.

I would not have been able to get to the other side of the sofa to get Heidi and I was also frozen in place as a result of the shock and disbelief that a tree crashed through the house and another one completely destroyed the back porch in one sharp blow. However, I am fortunate (and so was Heidi) that she poked her cute, little head around the corner of the sofa trying to look for me. Thank goodness, because seeing her “unfroze” me and I took off running towards her. I picked her up and started running back to the opening of the hallway -which is right next to the basement hallway door.

But, right as a I got us there, another -even larger- tree crash landed on the house right there at that opening to the hallway! It came crashing down on our heads but -fortunately- the support beam there held up and saved us both. The crashing force did cause part of the roof to fall on me and the shaking caused me to stumble and drop Heidi, but I picked her up quickly. That tree caused the roof support and roof in the main part of the living room to collapse right on top of where Heidi would have been sleeping.

The tree had crashed right over the basement door and crushed it enough that I couldn’t quickly get it open. So, in my panic, I simply ran into my office. Only a few seconds later, another tree came crashing down on the roof in the office, but thankfully, it did not make it all the way through. So, I just picked Heidi up and held her in a corner …waiting for our death.

I quickly grabbed a post-it note and scribbled the words “I love you, baby” and stuck it on Leah’s desk, just in case. Then, as I could hear more trees hitting the house and heard breaking wood and felt the house shaking, I added the words “bye” to it. I really thought I was a goner at that point. It all seemed surreal but I had accepted –after having seen the power of this wind and those falling trees– that I would not be able to save us in the event that a tree came down on our heads or the wind ripped us out of the house.

After a few more minutes of that and a few more crashes, it was over just like that. All in all, the tornado came through the backyard and hit the house for a total of probably no more than 1-2 minutes but it sure felt like an eternity. Now that it’s over, I am told it was only a level 1 tornado. My God.

Once it was over, I went into disaster recovery mode. I immediately went in to the kitchen -stepping over a LOT of debris and roofing. I knew Heidi’s nerves would be shot, so I wanted to get her a rib bone to gnaw on. That’s when I saw the devastation in the kitchen and the living room. It was massive. However, I was able to get a rib for her and took it back to the office. She was in shock and just took the rib but then set it on the floor. She didn’t even want it. I guess I can’t blame her.

So, that is when I decided to immediately assess and catalogue the damage. I felt this was especially important since so many wild and crazy (i.e. unbelievable) things have happened to me in my lifetime so far. So, this time, I wanted so much undeniable proof that no one would question me. So, I grabbed my camera and began taking pictures and video.

I spent the next several hours (in shock) but working like a mad man to gather up my computer equipment (which surprisingly were the only possessions NOT destroyed by the trees, rain, busted pipes, etc). Also, to my amazement, my data center (where my special purpose servers were located) was hit by trees and the roof collapsed but my most important servers, networking equipment, and air conditioning equipment (critical) all made it without even a scratch. That is simply amazing –especially considering that a bunch of rainwater began to soak parts of the data center. However, we kept our servers and crucial equipment in racks up off the floor and most damage occurred to the computer equipment in the middle of the room -which was all easily replaceable (albeit expensive).

It was definitely a chore to move everything I could salvage that night, so that Leah and I could sleep elsewhere (she had been at a friend’s house during the tornado –thank goodness!). It took a few days and the help of my good friend, Frank, to get all of the servers and data center equipment back up-and-running at our disaster recovery center –which wasn’t quite ready yet. We had planned for catastrophe’s but this one hit before my service, ShrinkTheWeb, even went live. So, that sucked. But, within just 2 short days working day and night, we managed to get everything back online and working. Thanks, Frank!

Aside from that, it is now Monday, and I’m just now catching up a little bit on work and projects I had been working on last week. However, since a lot of people are complaining and wondering why I haven’t gotten a lot of progress completed on their web designs or their sales presentations, I wanted to take a moment to write this entry and explain to everyone at once what happened. That way, I can simply tell people to come to this site -instead of repeating the story over and over. I feel that repeating it is making it tougher to forget and move on. The shock and gravity of the situation and the impact it has had on my life is so substantial that I really want to just look ahead and continue my original goals and pursuits.

It’s not like I wasn’t already in a major financial bind -thanks to crooked cops and huge investments in my new ventures- but now, its almost kind of funny. I mean, this is ridiculous. At least I was able to work non-stop (yes, more than usual) and get back up-and-running, but boy is this all just too much. I sure hope I really am close to making something amazing happen with my company, because I’m tired of having to write about bad things all the time. It’s time for the good stuff!

By the way, if I have helped you out in the past, now is a GREAT time to help me. I don’t have time to call everyone and harass people who should be stepping up to the plate, but it’s time for anyone who should be helping, to take that initiative and do so.

I cannot show pictures of the data center, because of confidentiality issues.

So, without further ado, here are some pictures and some videos: