Between the Lightning and the Tornado

As many of you know, I've trained as an engineer at one of the nation's finer institutions for higher learning. I fully appreciate and overwhelmingly prefer the astute analysis and logical reasoning that characterizes the engineering profession -- to the point I must hide my disdain of those less inclined -- and am most proud of my abilities in this regard. Despite my allegiance to science, rationality, and the mighty powers of the logical mind, I am also unabashedly appreciative when I get dumb-head lucky.

I rode home on my bicycle in the weather shown below without gathering the relevant data required for a rational or logical decision.


The redness underneath the word "Atlanta" had just passed over the route I had taken about 40 minutes prior. I must have ridden in the clear area that in this image is just underneath the last 'a' in 'Atlanta'. I was aware that the tornadoes were at least 8 miles away (red outline) and when I went outside to climb on the bike, I saw and understood the thunderstorms were headed eastward away from me (yellow outline), but the storm-lashing delivered upon my home's roof within minutes of my arrival embossed upon my memory an imprint that seemed thoroughly complete in its design to leave a lasting mark.

I was dumb-headed lucky. I barely got dampened.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 7 miles
Number of Cyclists seen: A Big Fat ZERO (everyone else must have been paying attention to the weather channel)
Weather: refer to the image above. (I'm not saying anything else.)