Christopher A. Wheeler

One time I almost drowned in the wave pool at Wacky Waters. Some people are sympathetic when they first hear that. And then they hear the rest of the story. I wasn’t a little kid, as they imagined, and in fact was about 23 years old. Also, I was in the 2-ft section of the pool. As I was trying to leave the pool, a big wave hit me in the back and knocked me down. I smashed my face on the bottom of the pool. Everytime I tried getting back up, another wave would come and knock me down again. I was seriously underwater for over a minute, and I was choking on water and I kept thinking about how ridiculous the news would be that night: “Adult dies in 2 foot section of pool, full story at 11″. Finally I was able to get out of the pool and I lay there and was coughing up water and blood was running down my face. The lifeguard ran over and said he thought I was just playing around and that’s why he didn’t come help me. Now when people hear this story they laugh at me.

This is a republish from last June, but the information is no less important now.

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So a few months ago I was driving with the kids in some bad weather and I pulled over because it was raining so hard I couldn’t see. We went inside Walgreens to wait for it to clear up when they informed us there was a tornado warning. They locked down the store and I had to wait in the little break room with the kids and the employees. It really sucked. I didn’t have any idea what was going on so I kept texting Kate, who was in class with a computer and internet access, to find out what was going on. As it turns out, the tornado didn’t get too close to us, but I was still a little freaked out knowing there was a tornado warning in effect and I was away from my computer and TV and couldn’t figure out what was going on.

So later that night I signed up for some free severe weather alerts at http://www.weatherusa.net/alerts/. You have the option of having text messages sent to your phone, an email, or both. So far it’s been working well. Now when there is severe weather we are notified immediately.

I have no affiliation with this site other than being a satisfied customer (am I a customer if it is free?). Anyways, just wanted to let you all know in case you wanted to sign up.