For many years one particular friend of mine from grade school had tried to convince me to get into the storm chasing business in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex where we were born and raised.
He would come around every Spring or Summer after we had graduated from college and we would sit out back on the porch and have a beer or two as I listened politely to all his stories about all of the money that he and some other guys that I knew were making in the business.
We had grown up together playing basketball in a south Dallas suburb and as mentioned, we had a few college classes together after my baseball daze were over in 1987. The claims that he was making seemed unreal at the time and almost "too good to be true."
You see, I had graduated with a degree in Business in 1988 from the University of Texas at Arlington and had a good job in Real Estate I reasoned. Plus my wife was a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines and I enjoyed the marry me fly free "voucher program" that was in effect at the time. This was in the late 80's before 9-11 when all you had to do was show up before the plane left the gate at Love Field and show an ID along with your little brown "Family Pass" before you walked on board, sat down and ordered a beer...
