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When my sister graduated college, she moved to LA to become an actress.  In LA those involved in or desperate to be involved in the "scene" are often, pretty, plastic and pretentious.  If you aren't over the top you're are biege, featurless and boring.

In LA the weather men do not simultaniously deal with feet of snow in one location (Tahoe) and sunny mild temperatures in another (Reno).  They do not deal with killer tornadoes (Oklahoma City) or earth moving hurricanes (New Orleans).  They present pleasant weather that usually doesn't change their viewers' daily plans and almost certainly wont change their lives.  One of the few acceptions reared its head recently, wild fires.  But this is my blog and for now I will paint Southern California as a weather utopia where the weather man has very few worries, or substance and they can focus on fitting into LA's standards. 

In LA the weather men have over the top names.  Names like "Jonny Mountain" and "Dallas Rains".  I do not know if these names were given to them at birth, or if they were changed to be catchy weather guy names...but I have a pretty good guess. 

When my dad visited my sister for the first time he heard the names of the local weather men and was inspired.  I can imagine the stream of thought going through his brain turning to a flooded river busting out of its banks. 

These were my dad's exact thoughts some time in the spring of 2001. 

"Jonny Mountain, Dallas Rains, thats kind of corny"

"But these guys are extremely successful weather men"

"Wait, Dennis is getting his degree in meteorology, he wants to be a weather man"

"Dennis needs a name like that"

"Lets see, Dennis Thunder, Dennis Freeze, Dennis Lightning"

"Nope not catchy enough.  I think the first name has to go too"

"Ok Dennis is tall and thin"

"Slim Breeze"

"No that sounds like a blended girly drink. "

"Ok, Dennis has firey hair!"

"Flame McHurricane"  "Sparker Knight"

"No thats WAY over the top, I need to tone it down."

"His hair isn't firey, its just red...RED!"

"RED STORM"...I'm a damn genius."

So now every once in a while my dad calls me Red Storm.  I don't mind it.  I think it is funny.  In fact you probably wont hear me say "Good morning I'm meteorologist Dennis Flack" if I ever work in LA.