In 2023, the March equinox happens on March 20, at 5:24 P.M. EDT. This falls on a Monday and is the astronomical beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere.
Spring is finally here to stay…I think
Looking back, Payton thinks his late start has something to do with why, after so much rejection, he is still here. "I realized young I was a late bloomer," he said. "Gains are going to come." When his younger brother, Julian, started going to the gym with Darrel Jordan, Payton was still staying home to play video games.
The second that he presses up on a ballhandler, Payton wants him to think one thing: "Help me." There is a certain satisfaction every time he forces someone to call for a teammate to bring the ball up and initiate the offense.
To Caruso, self-belief is an elite skill, too, especially in the G League. "There's always a bit of frustration," Caruso said, when you're that close to what you want. It takes "mental fortitude" to figure out who you are as a player, stay focused, stay committed, stay positive and just ... wait.
"I just got a sense that people were hung up with his inability to shoot," Karl said. "It bothered too many coaches, too many organizations. Like, 'What are we going to do with this guy who can't shoot? He's just a liability.' So, yeah, I think it's just a lack of creativity, a lack of understanding where he'd fit in."
Payton stayed in the rotation for six weeks, started 17 games and felt like he'd shown that his game was where it needed to be. Then the Wizards traded for Shabazz Napier, assigned Payton to the G League's Capitol City Go-Go and removed him from the rotation. His season ended when he tested positive for COVID before the team left for the Orlando bubble.
After a long Michigan winter, sunshine is hopefully here to stay. For many Michiganders, spring means warmer weather, which translates to enjoying the outdoors again. Check out some of the spring-worthy activities you can look forward to in the next couple of months.
It's important to keep in mind that different regions think of spring differently. In the northern tier, highs in the 60s can be reminiscent of spring, as 60s are common average high temperatures in April for much of the Northeast, Midwest and portions of the West.
Flu season is in full swing, and preparation is your key to staying healthy. Unfortunately, despite your best efforts, the flu can still strike. If it does, early detection and appropriate responses are essential to treating this draining bug. There's just one problem: How do you know if you actually have the flu?
Some of my friends at other schools tell me how for their spring breaks, they aren't allowed to stay on campus and have to go home. For whatever reason, Rochester does not enforce this rule. I am very happy for this too, since I wanted to stay on campus, and now I can. Many students leave for home or vacation, but I unfortunately did not get the opportunity this year. I learned my lesson, though, which is if you want to go somewhere like Florida or California for spring break, plan for it a lot earlier than one month in advance. Because otherwise the airplane companies raise the prices of flights so much that it doesn't even become worth it. Anyway, I also live in Rochester, so going home wouldn't really have been worth it. Besides, I do have a significant amount of friends staying on campus to hang out with. The gym stays open, and the dining halls are open at certain times. Basically, I might be stuck on campus, but it is easy to find ways to have fun every night when you have absolutely nothing to do on your agenda.
I grew up both a little frightened and excited by storms and tornadoes. My mamaw and great grandmother were both horrified of storms, probably an undiagnosed case of lilapsophobia or astraphobia. For me, the sound of the nuclear plant sirens being used as tornado sirens was the scariest. Anyway, I began to study and learn as much about severe weather as I could. In the 8th grade, a tornado hit our small town and killed one man. I sat by a wall in my classroom that was mostly glass windows and there was some communication between classrooms that our county was under warning, but we never went into the hallway. I actually stopped the lesson and told the teacher that the sky was turning an ugly, almost evil, green color. My teacher said, "class, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore." It touched down less than a mile from us.
It was roughly 11:30 am as I got to the tree I realized my pink robe sporting neighbor had put his ladder up for me right where I needed it. So I primed and fired up the saw and went halfway up the ladder to get the heaviest part off the roof. The rain had picked up and I began cutting, my mind thinking about how to cover the roof. I had forgotten the weather. As I argued in my mind, almost in a trance, about the quickest and easiest way to get this done, it was like someone snapped their fingers in my face. It was like I woke up and realized it was deadly still. No rain, no breeze, just the saw rumbling and vibrating my hand.
I could barely walk. I was in a state of shock, knee-deep in flood water. I walked around more or less like a zombie shaking and trembling, looking at the other two semis that had blown over. There were people running about in every direction. I don't know how long I wandered around. Some of my other instructor colleagues saw me and came up to me and asked me if I was okay. I couldn't even speak. Finally, I managed to phone my wife at work but she can't pick up so I left a voicemail that she still has. I don't think I ever want to hear that because I do remember I was screaming.
I don't know how long it took me to calm down and regain my senses but I finally went back to record a video walkthrough of the damage. Then I went back to my pickup truck which was still running and started to pick up some of the debris and nails so I could drive out of there. I've been through a couple traumatic incidents in my life as a veteran of the Gulf War. This was, hands down, one of those most traumatic and terrifying moments of my life. I think the real reason why I was so terrified because I had no training, no warning, and no defense against whatever was coming. The tornado was classified two days later as an EF-1 tornado. It had a base of about 75 to a hundred yards across.
I wiped the blood from my eyes and saw a 1965 Pontiac Catalina next to me. My first thought was why is that car in the bathroom with me. Then it hit me that I was some 80 ft from where the bathroom once stood and was out in the parking lot in front of the shop. I pushed and clawed my way out of the rubble, shocked angry and thankful to God that I was alive. I survived bruised from head to toe with a broken foot and some lacerations. I went back out to the shop the next day and just cried seeing where I had crawled out from the broken pieces of the toilet under where I laid. Turns out the toilet had just been set on the wax ring and caulked to the floor, not one bolt in the slab. In retrospect, that toilet not being secured is probably what saved me as I think I was traveling with the debris in the twister. not sitting still being struck by the debris field.
It ws April 4, 2007, around 6 pm, when my father passed away shortly after a tornado hit Haltom City, TX. I was not with him when the incident took place. On this day storms were everywhere and sirens were going off. That is the normal during spring time in Texas. My father's friend, who owned the property, told me the following story the day after the storm while he was recovering from injuries in the hospital. They were standing outside while sirens were going off looking at the green skies when things got unusually calm and quiet. My father looked up and saw a "hole" in the sky and shouted "RUN!!!!". The friends split up. My father went under a large wooden rack where tons of lumber was stored. His friend hung onto an oak tree and didn't let go. Debris flew all around them severing my fathers ear in half. When that happened, he looked over and saw the shelf was going to collapse on top of my father. He shouted for him to get out from under the lumber and run to the tree but unfortunately the sound of the roaring tornado was too loud for my father to hear hi sfriend. The shelf collapsed with my father under it and the F1 lifted up and was over. After my father got pulled out with the help of everyone that was around, someone performed CPR but there was no saving his life. He had no broken bones and his body was still intact. The medical examiner ruled it cardiac dysrhythmia. My father's friend made it out with cuts and bruises.
I think it was pure fear that caused my uncle to have a heart attack on the porch that day. We took off to the hospital while warnings were still being handed out like parking tickets. That was the scariest drive ever. I remember looking out the window expecting to see another tornado any minute. Thankfully we made it safely and spent part of the night at the hospital. My uncle was there for days but he was released and is still going strong today.
Fast forward to November 11 2002, Mossy Grove, TN. The skies were so blue all day but I had a pit in my stomach when I seen the black clouds off in the distance. Poor Nana was at church that night along with a bunch of other family and my cousin Linda got up with her newborn to get a drink from the water fountain near the entrance. She looked up and saw the huge tornado coming across the parking lot. She ran and dove into the pews while the tornado moved and twisted the church off its foundation. Most of the congregation dove to the corner. That corner of the church was still there after it was over. We lost lives that night and in such a small county we felt every single loss, especially the small baby who didn't even get to start her life. Her papa was trying to rush her to safety from the mobile home they were in. Ironically, their mobile home wasn't touched but their truck was and both of them perished together. That town still bares the scars and the fear. All of us do really. I was once told we couldn't be hit by tornadoes because of the mountains. What a foolish thing to say, especially since Mossy Grove almost got hit again later but the skies showed mercy that day and settled down almost as if it took pity on us and our non-Walmart or McDonalds town. Lightening can and it will strike twice, three, four times in the same spot. The sad thing is most of us still aren't really prepared for another one. I'm working on a plan. That is the best thing to have here in Dixie Alley because the storms are getting worse. The April outbreak was a nightmare and I got stuck in a Food City that was about to close while there was another tornado warning for where I was. I was so froze in fear so my father drove to me just to let me follow him home. His truck was struck by lightening on his way. Anyway, stay prepared people and most importantly stay informed. I listen to the Weather Channel and am grateful. My 6 year old son is a meteorologist in the making. He loves weather as I do and can tell you how any storm happens, hurricanes.. tornados..floods..smart little feller he is. 2ff7e9595c
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