Shake N Bake

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good ol’ earthquake around these parts. Whew! What a day! At 11:42 this morning there was a big jolt followed by quite a bit of shaking. As the news reports have come around and settled down, it seems to have settled on a magnitude of 5.4. I have family all across the country and in Canada and I know in the past some have asked what an earthquake feels like. The best analogy I have come up with is it is like you are standing on a bridge and a big semi truck drives across. The intensity of this shaking will range depending on the structure of the bridge – the bouncier the bridge, the greater the earthquake magnitude. Another less pleasing example is if you are in a building (not on the ground floor) and a really large person walks by causing the floor to bounce or shake. Unfortunately I have been suspicious of earthquakes too many times under this scenario.

All sense of time is lost. Some people thought today’s earthquake lasted 90 seconds. Knowing the time continuum is altered, I guessed it was probably 30 seconds. The reports I have found seem to say it lasted 20 seconds. Twenty seconds may not sound like much, but try sitting still for 20 seconds and just imagine everything shaking - my 5th grade teacher had our class do this for 60 seconds - SCARY! It's a long time! I think part of what messes up the passing of time is that you spend the duration expecting it to stop, wondering if it’s going to get worse and then being shocked that you are still shaking. You also have to contemplate how to protect yourself: Can I stay where I am? Should I get under something? Should I go outside? What is near me that can hurt me?

Here is how my 20 seconds elapsed. I was in the galley at work, leaning over the counter reading the newspaper. BIG JOLT! “Huh, an earthquake. That’s funny. It’s been a while.” SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE… “Uh, this is pretty big. Where should I go?” I’m glancing around the room. There is kind of a table that has trash cans stored under it. “I could crouch under here, but last time I crouched at work during an earthquake I got teased…don’t want to get teased.” Looking around for more options. “Well there’s a doorway, I’ll go stand in that, then if anyone sees me I won’t look like I overreacted when this is all done and no big deal. But if the world crashes around me and I’m safe…Ha HA, I’ll show them!” THEN THE WORLD STANDS STILL

The Aftermath:
I come back into the galley and notice drawers have slid open, so I walk around closing those. Then I start to go back to my desk and walk into a crowd of people starting to rush out of the building with cell phones in hand. “Are we evacuating? I guess I should go get my purse and cell phone.” But not everyone is evacuating. “Okay, I’ll try calling Jim.” No cell service. “I’ll check the internet for the magnitude and epicenter.” It takes a couple minutes but I see it’s near Chino and 5.6. I take my stuff and kind of wander around to figure out what people are doing. Some are evacuating but many are not. I go to Liz’s desk and see people are on the phone over there. So I stay there and we swap stories. Jim and I finally get some texts back and forth to each other. I feel a little after shock. But all is right with the world.

Now, looking back at my decision making process, I’m feeling kind of dumb. Had I just been at my desk, everything would have been much easier – DUCK AND COVER! But where I started off in the galley was under a skylight – so that definitely was not the place to stay. But the doorway that I chose has glass all on the outside of the framing on one side. Plus it was a hinged door that could have severed my fingers (drama, anyone?). It reminds me of when I was in elementary school at a sleep over and an earthquake hit in the middle of the night. Everyone else ran downstairs and I ducked under a glass table suspended from the ceiling. Real SMART! And then worrying about what other people thought? Please! Lame!!

Growing up in California and being trained in earthquake safety from day one and it still all flies out the brain.

Ahhhh....Drugs

I spent several hours this afternoon at the hospital with one of my dearest girlfriends. She was admitted to the hospital after going to the emergency room. It's been a rough day but it looks like she is going to be okay.

I really wished I had a pad of paper with me today because the things one says while under the influence of drugs can just be comical. Here are two of my favorites:

When the doctor came in to give a big update, he asked if she had anymore questions. She turns her head to me and says: "Do I have any more questions?" And this just cracked me up mostly for the phrasing.

She also was not allowed to consume anything by mouth - no water, no ice chips - nothing! Her mouth was getting parched and she cries: "I wish I could have some water - the Nazis!"

I just love her!

A Bicycle Built for...One

I've been talking about getting a bike for several months and I've been saving my pennies. Now I just needed to start the research to know what kind of bike I wanted. At first I was thinking about a cruiser. A bike shop close to home had some really cool ones with flowers on the seat and everything. It felt so girly and fun.

But the more I thought about it - I didn't want a pedal break and it would probably be a good idea to have gears. And every day on my way home from work I pass a bicycle shop that looked just big enough to have a variety and just small enough to hopefully offer good service.

Today Jim and I were able to meet for lunch right by this shop so we walked over to take a look. And I was right - a friendly man immediately came up to help. He was full of information, understood what I was looking for and the bike he recommended was only slightly above my price range. So I'll save up a few more of my pennies and hopefully be able to buy it next month. I may look around a little more, but at least I've got an idea to start from.




The brand is KHS and the model is the Urban-X. My only disappointment is that it only comes in red or black. I have always had a blue bike and was planning on continuing the trend. So I may get red to match Jim's. Black just feels too boring. Then Jim and I can ride together to our parents' houses, or to small group meetings or whatever. I think it will be really fun!!

What's Next?

Melanie asked me on Saturday what my next big project is going to be. This question has really stumped me. I think I have felt for so long that there was always something next. I like being busy – thanks mom and grandma! I enjoy the breaks in between, but there is always something next. But Jim’s party is done. My web class is over. There aren’t any major home projects on the horizon for at least a few months. And other than just trying to maintain the norm, I’m not sure what to be focusing on.

I have lots of ideas: Push my doctors for referrals and information. Look into adoption. Learn PhotoShop. Develop my web design skills and work on our family site. Learn about organic gardening. Read books. Learn to play the drums. Focus on building relationships. See if I can drink a gallon of milk in an hour.

But I’m not feeling motivation for any of it. Am I burnt out for now? Work has been so busy for the bulk of this year, maybe it’s catching up with me. Should I just take advantage of this time to re-scoop-erate (as Baskin Robbins would say)? It’s hard to feel like I can rejuvenate when I’m keeping busy with the daily chores. Next month we travel to Canada for my cousin's wedding and maybe that will give me the restart I need - just to have a change of scenery and be with fun people in a beautiful setting.

By the way, I’ve heard that drinking a gallon of milk in an hour (without puking it up) is an impossible task. But with how fast I have drinken (I know, not a real word) a tall glass of milk and still wanted more, this may be my second secret super power. One day I may need to find out. I drink it even faster when it’s got Hershey syrup mixed in. Watch for my name in the papers!

Jim's 30th Birthday Luau

The day for Jim's party arrived and I think it was pretty successful. The final minutes of preparation were a bit of a hurricane (as is to be expected I guess) but there were many hands available to help out and I appreciate every single one!! It was just nice to have an excuse to have people over. I love entertaining and making food and just being together. Jim was a little embarassed to have the attention on him, but he had a good time nonetheless.

We had some nice Hawaiian centerpieces, tiki torches and I found this great 50 foot banner of a sunset. Once evening hit with the torches lit, the sunset and water looked pretty darn real! I think we'll leave it up as long as the wind will allow.

I had read about this game called pineapple bowling and wanted to give it a shot. My mom and I spent a lot of time hollowing out these pineapples from the bottom (while trying to salvage as much edible pineapple for kabobs). Then you use coconuts to bowl over the pineapples. I think it kinda worked. It was good for a laugh anyway. By the end of the evening the coconuts had been cracked open to oblivion.

The food line...

Happy Birthday to you...

This is the Tiki bar before the marachino cherries jar was spilled three times. I don't know what was such bad luck about that jar. So we finally just dumped all the cherries into a dish. It takes time, but I smarten up...

Our small group from church.

Neighbors and friends.

The train crew.

Friends.

Family.

I got so carried away with this Luau theme and it was just so much fun! I can now see why people get into Hawaiian stuff so much. There is something addictive about it. Jim saw how much I was enjoying it and has brought up the idea of going back to Hawaii for our 5th anniversary. So we'll see if we can make that work. YIPPEE!! Who knew that this white girl who doesn't tan or spend much time on the beach would develop such a love for all things Hawaiian.

Life Interrupted, then Continues On...

Life the last two weeks has not been what I would have planned. I came down with a NASTY flu / cold thingy and it really knocked me off my feet. I'm still coughing and have a little stuffiness, but at least I am alive and kicking. The timing was horrible as my job gets busiest the first two weeks of every month, plus I had to finish up my web design class and Jim's birthday party is fast approaching.

But I did get an "A" in my web class with 420 points out of 425 possible for my final project. So that feels great!

Parents have been pitching in to help us get the house ready for the party and I don't know what we would do without them.

But the big update for today is my curtains. Jim and I have been struggling for months (almost a year, really) to find the perfect curtains for our living room. We have had lengthy discussions and down-right-foot-stomping-folded-arms sessions at JC Penney. Once we agreed on the "apparatus" style (rings with clips) it was becoming impossible to find the right fabric. So my mom and I finally took a friend's suggestion and headed to the fabric district of Los Angeles. I heard there was bartering/negotiating involved and that conjured up scarey images in my head. But once we were there it was not scarey at all. We looked and looked and looked and I was about to settle on a design when we walked into the right store and there my fabric was glimmering in the heavenly light surrounded by angels and harps. No second guessing - that was my fabric. And the guy at the store was very helpful in helping me pick out the right sheer to go behind it.

Since then Jim and I have hung the curtain rods and my mom has been dilligently sewing the fabric. Last night the all the planets aligned and the curtains are now beautifully hung.

Here are the curtains in the context of the room

This is a slight close-up of just the curtains.



You can see the clips and the detail.


And the rods and everything together.

Another fun hurdle to all of this was the massive size of our slider door. We needed rods that were 144". These are not easy to find especially in an appealing design. Thank the Lord for Lowe's! My curtains are up and all is right with the world!