Berkeley is shaking things up again
One of my favorite things to do after a mild earthquake is visit the usgs.gov site to answer the "Did you feel it?" questionaire. You can see the results of today's minor quake at:
http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/ca/STORE/X40193843/ciim_display.html
My office shimmied side-to-side for about 3 or 4 seconds, desk, floor, everything. Richard is home sick (pneumonia) and I jumped up to find him and ask: "Did you feel the earthquake?" He looked up slowly and said, "What earthquake? Who are you? You're nice..." So I left him and his bottle of codeine in peace and waited about 15 minutes before checking the quake web site sponsored by the US Geological Survey department.
Yep, there it was, the epicenter in Berkeley, which either means the Hayward Fault is breathing or the university students are protesting. Here's another data resource if you're interested:
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc40193843.html
If you've never been in one of these little quakes, they feel a bit as if a huge and heavy truck passed right by you, so heavy that the ground rumbles and shakes.
Except there is no truck.
Richard (sans codeine) is the king of realizing when we're experiencing the earth move, but the longer I live here, the more adept I seem to become at realizing what I'm feeling. So true, in so many ways.
iTalian
Santa brought Richard an iPod Nano for Christmas. Ricky the Rapper has a new grove.
How much is that (reading) doggie in the window?
One of our favorite independent book stores, Green Apple Books, is raising money for a youth literacy charity by asking people to sit in one of their bay windows fronting Clement Street and... read.
Yep, they provide chairs, coffee and $5 of credit to their store, for sitting and reading for an hour. They can accomodate two readers at a time, and literate, well-behaved dogs are welcome. I've been waiting for this all of my life. Being paid to curl up with my husband and dog, and read. In many states, these are better labor conditions most jobs.
Apparently, Richard's been waiting for this all of his life, too. I called to tell him we were booked (ha), and to say I was already planning what to read. Richard laughed and said, "I'm already planning what to wear."
More to come as this story unfolds...
Planes, trains and elephants
I've ridden bicycles, ferries, horses, even an elephant on one occasion. But yesterday marks the most diverse series of conveyances in a 24-hour period. Journeying home from a business trip on a Sunday while Richard is off on his own business trip, I made tracks with:
- a rental car (Kia Sportage)
- a hotel van (Dodge)
- two planes (737) through three cities (one of the joys of flying Southwest)
- a bus (the Air Bart at the Oakland Airport)
- a train (the four-car SF-Millbrae Muni that takes you from Oakland to SF under the Bay)
- a cab with a failing transmission and a ton of cigarette smoke
- my own two feet
It's a new personal best.
I've been travelling more than I've been home the last three months, and last night was the strangest homecoming yet -- the Man was in Florida and the Dog was at the vet getting her yearly shots and physical.
The house was quiet and cold, which is fine, but it was empty too.
No whistling, singing, jiving Italian.
No happy leaping Catahoula Leopard Hound.
Just three weeks of personal mail, voicemail, and email I haven't seen, read or heard. And hollow, echoing rooms.
Come home, Lassie, come home!
