More like "Awesome Blog Advisory", amiright?

Naps are awesome. I had been up since 6 this morning, after not sleeping very well at all last night, mainly thanks to Jim calling me at 2:45 a.m. to explain to me the phenomena of cell phones, and how they work. I didn't answer, and was a little curious why my voice mail notification didn't sound right away. Then, 3 minutes later, right was I was starting to drift off again, it beeped at me. I thought something must've just gone a little screwy with the phone and caused a delay but no, it was a 3-minute long message. It was well worth being woken up to hear a message in the morning about towers and being able to walk around or even drive while you're on the phone. I love my friends.

So, as I was saying, naps are awesome. I laid down around 4 and started falling asleep, when it suddenly started raining, kind of out of the blue. I guess maybe out of the gray would be more appropriate. There was no rain in the forecast whatsoever, only the token 10% chance of precipitation. It was shocking, and made me want to lay there and watch it come down. But after a few minutes, sleepiness won out and I was in dreamland. And it was marvelous. Until I woke up and saw it was 5:30, and was totally disoriented and not sure whether it was AM or PM. I took a few moments to kind of come to my senses more, and gather my wits (not that there's really much there to gather).

We in Eastern Iowa are currently under a "Air Stagnation Advisory." I don't really know what that means, but I don't like the sounds of it at all. According to the National Weather Service (and I quote)

THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES HAS ISSUED AN AIR QUALITY ADVISORY FOR THE STATE OF IOWA. OZONE AND FINE PARTICULATE LEVELS APPROACHING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY HEALTH STANDARDS WERE PRESENT OVER MOST OF IOWA EARLY SATURDAY MORNING. WINDS ARE FORECAST TO INCREASE SUNDAY WHICH WILL CAUSE ELEVATED AIR POLLUTANT LEVELS TO DISSIPATE.

THE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES RECOMMENDS THAT IOWANS WITH RESPIRATORY OR HEART DISEASE...AND ELDERLY AND CHILDREN LIMIT PROLONGED EXERTION UNTIL AIR QUALITY CONDITIONS IMPROVE.

AN AIR STAGNATION ADVISORY INDICATES THAT DUE TO LIMITED MOVEMENT OF THE ATMOSPHERE ACROSS THE ADVISORY AREA... POLLUTION WILL INCREASE TO DANGEROUS LEVELS. IF YOU HAVE A RESPIRATORY ILLNESS... FOLLOW YOUR PHYSICIANS ADVICE FOR DEALING WITH HIGH LEVELS OF AIR POLLUTION.

so that seems pretty awesome. Dangerous levels of pollutants in the air. Sweet! The only thing I've really noticed has been my allergies being a little more active today, which is always a good time. Not. This could explain why, even though it rained, it is still pretty miserably humid and hot and just uncomfortable to be outside. Oh wait no, that's the status quo for Iowa in the summer. My mistake. But what is this world coming to when there is an Air Stagnation Advisory in freakin Iowa? LA I could understand, I still have the standard-issue oxygen tank I was given by the Visitor's Bureau from when I traveled there a few years ago. But this is the heartland, the amber waves of grain (actually here it's corn, but who's counting) and all of that, we're not supposed to have pollution issues, are we? Or am I just ignorant to the situation? As far as I can remember, we haven't had such an advisory, but then again, I don't always pay attention.

One last thing, here's a link to the article my friend Bill wrote about Paul Shirley that I mentioned the other day. It's a good read, if you can make it through the crappy formatting. I don't know what the deal is with that. He emailed me a copy that was laid out very well, with paragraphs and everything, so I don't know why it's not the same on their website. Oh well, that's Ames for you.