Big Fricking Storm of 2003 by the numbers

4.1 Miles from my house to work
29 Trees uprooted, felled or partially felled between my house and work
4 Business signs broken and/or destroyed
1 Mapco Gas Awning blown down
2 Neighbors' windows broken by hail
2.5 Diameter in inches of hail that fell at the peak of the storm at my house.
94 Speed of straightline winds that whipped through Murfreesboro
94 Minutes of lost sleep
21 Minutes I spent under the kitchen table. Best cover by my reckoning.
6 Minutes of that I was actually awake.
6 Hours--amount of time power was out before I went to work.
1-0 Bill's score, by his reckoning. In actuality, it's still a 0-0 tie.

A brief timeline:

1:58 I'm woken up by thunder
2:01 I decide to listen to radio for weather updates.
2:01:04 MTSU's weather siren goes off.
2:05 I finally wander into the living room.
2:06 Time to pee. (in the bathroom)
2:07 Notice that The storm is bearing down on Murfreesboro
2:16 Storm actually picks up at my house.
2:17 The weatherperson points out a doppler "hook" heading in my direction
2:18 I decide under the kitchen table is the best place for me.
2:21 When the "hook" is supposed to head over the intersection of Greenland and Lascassas
2:22 Power goes out.
2:23 Gets really frigging windy. Whole brick apartment building shudders.
2:30 I must have nodded off. On the kitchen floor. Under the table.
2:41 Storm gets really ugly again.
2:41:03 I play "lightsaber" with the flashlight.
2:41:19 I notice I can hear the neighbors taking shelter in a similar spot next door.
2:43 I get out of under the table a second time.
2:58 Try to go back to sleep in bedroom. No fan. Hot.
3:06 Try to sleep on couch. Hear neighbors talking outside.
3:12 I go with downstairs neighbor to look for hail dents on my truck.
3:15 Back upstairs.
3:30 or so, back to bed.

It was a little more intense than I'm relating. Especially when the whole building shuddered for a second, and you could hear the ceiling/roof creak. When I heard on the radio that we had 90+ mph straightline winds, I didn't know if to believe it. Lots of trees down. Lots of trash and leaves all over the roads. There were three or four lights out between here and work.

Even with all trash on the roads, there was a woman who rode my bumper all the way up Greenland. She zipped around me and road another car's ass all the way up to Highland. There were two cops. One was directing traffic, the other was aiding the electrical crews who were fixing the traffic lights. The second cop walked up to the girl who was tailgating everybody, and told her to slow down.

I'll take a little justice.

She should have then shot the tailgater.