NZstorm wrote: Thu 06/02/2020 10:10How was ChaserCon Neill?
Very good! Travel to wasn't uneventful. After a very bumpy flight over the pacific we were stuck on the Apron at LAX waiting for our gate, when not one but two A380's (Korean & Emirates) went to their gates ahead of us. Additional (for Corona Virus) security screening at LAX really slowed things down, watched my connecting flights boarding time come & go whilst stuck in huge queues. Was lucky enough that the airline expedited my process through, ran from Tom Bradley to United terminal 7, was met & got presented my boarding pass & sent through TSA Precheck and I literally boarded the aircraft and they closed the door. Flight to Denver was also bumpy & I thought my bag wouldn't make it, was surprised & very pleased it did.
Didn't notice the clock in my room was about 20 minutes slow & sadly missed most of Rogers opening comments (8am). Justin Hughes (AlisonHouse) was first up on Applications and Data (8.15 to 8.45). Patrick Kerrin gave a good presentation on 90's chasing, from the dark ages to new millennium (8.45 to 9.45), was extremely good, described plugging into EFT-POS terminals phone lead to download data, Accoustic Couplers on payphones and suchlike. Many younger chasers were very surprised at lack of data & connectivity. Short break (Yay for the Starbucks in the hotel). Dr Jason Persoffs from the good old days and beyond followed similar themes to the prior presenter with some great stories (10 to 11am). Dr Josh Wurman and colleague Dr Karen Kosiba spoke next, great presentation, had no idea they used the DOW's to observe/measure hurricanes, have taken them down to South America etc. Coverend new developments etc (11am to 12pm). They had a DOW there we all got to climb over (I had already in 2015 though). Ryan Shephard also had his TIV(2) there.
Lunch was interesting, the NZStormchasers T Shirt helped me meet many chasers in person I know online (1 to 1.15pm), sandwiches were the order of the day, my Turkey BLT was awesum. 1.15 to 2.15 saw Dr Greg Forbes give a presentation on some of the history of chasing & his involvement with Mr Tornado (Ted Fujita, when wen named Mr Tornado hadn't seen one, how excited he was when he finally did) also Mr Rogers and StormMasterG. I later commented in person how sad I was with it being the last ChaserCon & his final full retirement at the conclusion of last years chase season I may not met him again. We had a short break. Then Tim Marshall, always the show man he appeared as Doc from Back to the Future (last year had a basketball player come out as Chewbacca, everyone thinking it was him, only to join a short time later as Hans Solo). His Back to the Futurecast was very interesting. But most presentations including his were themed on history, getting back to basics, being safe etc. (2.30 to 3.30pm). Final afternoon session was from Jon Davies, he looked very deeply at the May 28th 2019 tornadoes near Lawrence KS. Essentially, post other material and looking at the detailed analysis showing comparisons between that event, multiple photo's from different angles etc I felt a lot like the video analysis by Skip Talbot I had posted earlier was a personal attack in the end. Roger & Caryn Hill then spoke openly about the incident that day were a rain wrapped tornado impacted two of their tour vans. It was the first time they had spoken publicly. Long story short, it could happen to any of us & they were keen to pass on the danger we all weren't as aware of as we could be & wanted to prevent a repeat (thank heavens no one was seriously hurt). That wound down closer to 5, later than intended. I tried to record all of that part but have a chunk missing as my memory card filled up & I didn't notice straight away (I have given a copy to Caryn & intend to let Jamie listen to what I have).
Dinner was ok that evening, with some fresh faces who joined just for that. Roger was the Keynote speaker, going in to the history of ChaserCon & giving a Final Farewell talk, including why ChaserCon was trademarked & would not be used by someone else in the future. I & many others were evicted from the bar at about 3am.
Sunday I didn't get in there (not for trying, we were busy talking in the hall) until 8.45am for the talk by Dave Lewison, Chase/Life Balance, How do you make it work? It seems SDS as we joke about is very real for some people and suicide is over-represented. Earlier Dr Jason Persoff (MD) had offered a number anyone could call for help, sadly I didn't record it. 9.45 to 10.45 say Brandon Sullivan gave a talk on Sticking to your target, with lots of practical advice and examples were it had paid dividends. Lets face it, who hasn't re positioned multiple times only to end up back where or close to where you started. We had a great example last year ourselves (Other kiwis too!) which that applied to, sadly we couldn't get back in time & missed a great tornado.Quick break then George Koronous (11am to 12pm) gave a great presentation in to Chasing Unusual Weather around the world. Note, any form of damage to your passport may prevent you accessing a country, getting it wet or bent are the top two that could be problematic. George Concluded saying he was looking for someone to travel to South Africa with him to access a Volcano... I suggested Justin Noonan & have also conveyed same to Justin, fingers crossed for him as his Vanuatu experience was ruined when the Lava lake drained. Roger closed up, I Ubered to the airport for my flight to San Francisco and watched the SuperBowl in a suitable clubroom. I'm not sad the 49'ers didn't do so well as I know plenty of ecstatic chasers who wanted the Chiefs to win, was a very interesting experience. Flight back over the Pacific was again a bit bumpy in places.
