Me, Myself and I, I, I

2012-01-08 21:09:58.000 – Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist

Me, Myself, and I, I, I – in the weather room.

Like most kids, when I was a kid, I used to wake up really early on Saturday’s to watch cartoons. One of the cartoons I liked to watch was Looney Toons with Bugs Bunny and pals. While there were many great and memorable shorts, one of my favorite Bugs Bunny shorts was called ‘Baseball Bugs’. In it Bugs Bunny claims that he could single-handily win a baseball game against the ‘Gorillas’ baseball team, a bunch of oversized, un-sportsman-like players. As the episode progresses, Bugs Bunny is seen playing all the bases and positions on the field. He would throw a pitch then race behind home plate to catch it. If a ball was hit, he would catch it then throw it to himself on the appropriate base or bases. He was one player playing as a team, covering all nine positions at once.

Now, while it is near impossible for any one person to physically be a one man (or woman) team, mentally, I’m sure we have all had that feeling once or twice before. Those days when we have a list of 100 things going on and we somehow manage to get through them; as if we were able to replicate ourselves and send our replicated minions forth to accomplish all our goals only to come back together at the end of the day. While Roger called this multi-tasking ability ‘wearing a number of hats’ or ‘diversity’ in yesterday’s comment, for some reason when I am busy with several tasks all at once, I can’t help but remember the Bugs Bunny episode and feel like I am ‘Bugs’n’ out up here. A typical day this week has been: do a weather observation, de-ice, answer phone, respond to emails, delete/update/respond to Facebook entries for the Observatory, complete daily check, change charts, continue on monthly check, work in Lightroom, continue with calibrations, train new employees, hang with overnight guests and answer questions, eat as a group, write up a comment, type up weather reports, post reports online, record radio mp3’s, record weather phone, go to bed then wake up and repeat. It’s been busy and exhausting but just as Bugs Bunny came out on top at the end of the game, so far I am staying on top of it all. Hopefully that will be the case by the time Wednesday rolls around.

Ryan Knapp,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist