Here it is 9:17 PM (actually 10:17 here in Texas) on Tuesday, and I sit in a chair by the window on the 12th floor of the Dallas Texas DoubleTree Hotel as outside a huge thunderstorm winds down after pelting the area with water, hail, and lightning. At the nearby freeway exchange northwest of the hotel, emergency vehicles' flashing lights grab the eye, and sirens blare as others come to join. I have no idea what happened, but assume that the bad weather resulted in a severe multi-car accident with perhaps many injured. I hope this is not the case, but I can't imagine why so many sirens and flashing lights keep approaching, one after another. From the elevators, we (my coworker, Randy, who is here too -- we're attending a two-day training work-related seminar) can look west and see the flashing lights, and other cars off the side of the road with their emergency flashers on. My curiosity is driving me crazy.

After the first day of training today, a good day of learning new, useful stuff, we returned to the room to drop some things off, and dial-up to the Internet. While gazing out the window, we noticed a very familiar pattern of spires rising above the treetops not far away to the south and east of us. The bits of the top of the building we could see looked like an LDS temple. Once connected to the 'net, Randy did a quick search, and there it was! The Dallas Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a hop, skip, and-a-jump from us. We just had to drive down to it on our way to find a restaurant for dinner, and make a parking-lot loop around it. It's a nice building, a beautiful spot. Hungry as we were, we didn't stop and check out the temple grounds, so it was hello, then goodbye.

Dinner was found at Rockfish Seafood Grill a few miles west on the freeway from the hotel. Randy had swordfish, and I had salmon on a cedar plank. Mine was good, but a rather different flavor than I'm used to. I couldn't quite decide if I liked the sauce they put on the fish or not. I did like the corn salsa. The garlic mashed potatoes were good.

Holy cow! Here comes yet another emergency vehicle, over an hour after the first! That must be one nasty pile-up. Or perhaps there are others in the area that we don't know about. The hail did come quick, pelting the hotel windows with loud cracks. Since then, the rain has stopped, and all seemed calm for quite a while, until that siren approached.

Yesterday evening, we arrived at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW), much later than the original flight was scheduled for, due to a switch of airplanes because of a mechanical problem. Fortunately, that meant we avoided another severe thunderstorm that struck before we landed, then cleared up. Other than the delay, keeping us in Salt Lake City for a few more hours than originally planned, the trip out was uneventful.

Did I mention that the SkyWest flight from St. George to Salt Lake City was absolutely, stunningly, beautiful? I had a window seat on the right side of the plane, and my face was plastered against the window all the way, looking out over Utah's rugged terrain. The cliffs of Zion National Park were particularly beautiful.

I was able to see the burned top of Timber Top Mountain from above. Despite the damage, Zion remains stunning. I did see smoke columns, but not from Timber Top. They were from fires further north in Utah.

Landing at the Salt Lake City airport was enjoyable too, for as the plane descended, the salt marshes and wetlands below came closer and closer, allowing me to see individual birds here and there dotting the emerald greens, browns, and blues with white and other colors. The scenery from above was very pretty, in spite of the lake's level being so low due to the extended state-wide drought.

And while I've enjoyed a break from the normal routine, it sounds like my coworkers have been hard pressed dealing with customers whose computers or networks have been affected by the most recent computer worm going around (it only impacts Microsoft based systems, so my home FreeBSD system is immune), the Blaster worm. I'm glad I missed out on the excitement so far, but feel bad for Mark and others at work who have been up-to-their-ears in telephone calls from customers, those affected, and those worried about potential infection, or even those who mistake some other problem for an infestation.

Well it's getting late. It's nearly 11:30 now (Dallas time, Central Daylight Time). Randy's about ready for lights off, frustrated by his laptop having rebooted yet again for no reason. Ug, that would drive me crazy too.