Entry #1- Noobiness

So I made a blog. If you couldn't tell.

My 7 month journey on Twitter has made me realize that you really can't jot down your thoughts with only 140 characters. And I have other content (not really professional, but that's called being a NOOB, right?) to display, so I thought, "Eh, why not?"

I've been fascinated by weather ever since the F3 Granville-Utica, IL tornado on April 20, 2004. This tornado killed 8 (arguably 9) in Utica. It also occurred on a day with no risk area outlined by SPC. Several other weather events between 2004 and now helped fuel my passion, like the June 5, 2010 tornadoes, the Groundhog Day blizzard of 2011, and most recently the November 17, 2013 outbreak. I also know quite a darn bit about weather for someone my age. I'm no meteorologist, and there are many others my age who know much more, but I've picked up so much knowledge along the way. But I'm also a noob. I do noob things. I try to limit my noobiness, but I still let a noob outburst out once in a while. You'll see me going off on Twitter trying to look like Mr. Expert, and those with higher meteorological knowledge are probably just thinking "let it go, he'll learn" or "why wont this kid ever shut up?!". If you ever see me doing that, PLEASE notify me on my noobiness level. I'd rather learn from my mistakes than keep repeating them and keep looking like an idiot. Of course, looking like an idiot IS one of those things that comes with being a noob. (Have I used the word "noob" enough yet?)

I've VASTLY improved my noobiness level since I started Twitter, though. Five days after I started on Twitter, the Weather Channel and Good Morning America wanted to use my thundersnow footage (which I shot on February 17th). I basically pulled a noobtastic noobstravaganza and made a gigantic deal out of it, tweeting about it probably 75 times, personally thanking Jim Cantore, and freaking out. I got media attention in our local newspaper, too. I look back and I'm actually not very proud of it. It was basically a "look at me" deal, something that's generally frowned upon in the weather community. I'd go on Danny Neal's Northern Illinois Storm Chaser page and post how much he impacted my life, yadda yadda. Sure, I greatly appreciate his contributions, but going out of my way to type up a whole essay to send him is a little much, don't you think?

I also tried to forecast myself when I first started on Twitter. That was a noobsaster, needless to say. I now relay information when necessary or I find it interesting, but almost never post my own conclusions. I'll sometimes put a little of my input into it, though. However, I like Twitter for the use of sarcasm. Most sarcastic phrases can be written in less than 140 characters.

So, I'll wrap up my first blog post there. I'm not worried about how well it flows or having structure to my ramblings. They're ramblings. We have English classes for that. Sorry if this post is boring, I'm thinking of other topics I could talk about that would be MUCH more interesting.