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Aftershocks, 18 years later

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loma_Prieta_earthquake

In 1989, a 7.1 earthquake ruined a perfectly good fight my girlfriend at the time and I were having. We were standing either in the living room or in my bedroom screaming at each other. She had been drinking a lot of vodka straight, I was sober but no less out of control. She threw things at me, I tried to kill

Easter Everywhere

Acid Tomb: "Earthquake"

her (ah, teenage love). Then California shook. The old house lurched and immediately started shuddering violently, everything rattling, very frighteningly noisy overall. We immediately made for my bedroom doorway to ride it out. I saw my mom's cat (the late, great Diana) zip between our feet into my room and under my bed: she never went into my room (before or since). The sound of earthquakes in houses is a familiar one to many Californians (and some Washingtonians, as I now am). Anything remotely like that sound (and there are precious few things that make houses do that) sends instant chills through my body.

Once the quake was over, I grabbed my mom's guitar, the phone, and my girlfriend and we went and sat on the front lawn. Every car alarm within earshot was going off. I was able to get one call through to my mom's work to check on her before the lines either went dead or were jammed up. So we just hung out and I played guitar till my parents got home.

That night, my family stayed in the living room together and tried to sleep as we listened to horror stories on the radio by candlelight (our power was out until the next day). I think my girl stayed over, but I can't recall. I remember hearing about people being assaulted in SF, and-at one point-we heard that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. When we got power in the morning and turned on the television, we saw on the one station we could get in that "just" a 50 foot portion of the upper deck of the bridge had collapsed onto the lower deck. All very scary. Oh, and Diana didn't come out from under my bed for a good, long while.

QotD: This Show Never Sucked

Which TV show never "jumped the shark"?
Submitted by healthypanda. 

"TV Wheel" never jumped the shark, never even had the chance to. Joel Hodgson's post-MST3K show, I believe it was live or improvised somewhat or both. Awesome. One episode. Too weird for mainstream society, but it lives on in my tv heart. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_TV_Wheel]

Vox Hunt: Blow off some steam

Show us how you blow off steam.

Necronomiconway_twitty2

Car Bad, Camping Good

Yurtcabin_KITS1

Just when I was thinking I might have the Volvo sorted out, I find I am missing some bolts to throw it all back together with. Of course, why not? Went to Whidbey Is. yesterday for Tracy's friend's b-day party. The younguns played for hours, and they had a great time. Work last week was brutal-summer, busy, things at HQ suck.

 Week before camped w/ parents, all 3 of my younguns, and the wife. Well, it was sorta camping-they were these tiny new cabins at a campground . It was cool, my mom and I hadn't camped together since I was a kid. Camping w/ my mom was a great part of my childhood. We all played Yachtzee (YACHTZEE!!), swam at two different beaches on Bainbridge Is., visited a Native American museum in Suquamish, and took Mexican food back to the campground after our last beach visit (a particularly tiring, hot, fun one). Also, my mom & I teamed up on her uke and my git around the campfire, and apparently our caterwauling garnered the attention of the authorities. The camp host had to remind us that it was past "quiet time". We were the loud family at the campground, an unusual position for us. It was also great to have Lucas there, very special to me-second time camping w/us. Friday back at work in the morning and I felt relaxed and good. By the end of the day, work BS had me ramped right back up to insanity. Oh well, still good.

woe be unto me

http://mingle2.com/zombie-quiz

Bummed that Dave is leaving our fair continent, and that Emily has a 5% better chance of survival than me in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

--ME/07

QotD: I Was Wrong (an awful song by late era Social D)

Wrong

Nomeansno

How often are you wrong?  Do you find it difficult to admit it when you are? 
Submitted by emily ann.

"Wrong?" What is this "wrong" that you speak of? The only "wrong" that I know of is the great album by NoMeansNo, "Wrong." Otherwise, it has no meaning for me. I will admit that I listen to it often, is that what you mean?

QotD: Grown-Up Boot Camp

What are three things you want to learn, and three things you can teach others to do? 
Submitted by bookishbiker.

Want to learn to: speak another language, fix my car(s), be a better parent.

Can teach others to: ride a bicycle, curse creatively, appreciate different kinds of music.

QotD: The Never-Ending Boat Ride

What's the longest boat ride you've ever been on?

I'll admit, I'm a landlubbing s.o.b. My future wife and I took a ferry from Victoria, BC to Vancouver. It was night, the ferry was large, and we couldn't see anything beyond the dim glow surrounding the vessel. I imagined disastrous incidents, and was very nervous. Or maybe it was the ride to Victoria from Anacortes, WA. I don't know which was longer. The ride from Anacortes was uneventful (cloudy day, I hadn't had much sleep, beautiful homes on tiny islands here and there). I met a fellow the other day whose father was on a boat 12 hours out of Hawai'i when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. My parents saw loads of mylar balloons littering SF bay area on a ride out there fairly recently.

Just another day in Takoma

Saturday got to get down with the Volvo, tore it back apart (as oil leak remains) to find that a washer sorta plate that sits between the crankshaft pulley and sprocket got tweaked and-in the process tweaked the sprocket itself. Meanwhile I suspect that two oil seals I replaced failed and/or were installed improperly (UNBELIEVEABLE!!). And so sucky shitness of the automobilic variety continues. The Toyota is hanging on by a tenuous, 300K mi. thread, my Dodge still languishes in a rented parking space, and the "free" Ford sits on the side of the apartment with a dead battery again. NO, WE ARE NOT WHITE TRASH, WHY DO YOU ASK?!?! (Let's review, 3 of 4 cars broken down, kids outta wedlock-even if we're legit now, shitty parta T-town.....oh well, I got my PMA [and speaking of PMA, you can preview the new album by the Baddest of Brains here:www.myspace.com/badbrains])

IN OTHER NEWS...Spent two and a half hours today bugging 911 to get rid of the crack smokin' motherfuckers (no, not Nirvana) out from in front of my building. 7-9 phone calls (including one frustrating as fuck conversation w/one of Tacoma's finest) wasn't good enough. By the time their shithole van decided to move on, during my last call to 911, I was told, "There are units on the way!" Well, a shitload of good that'll do since they're LEAVING, YOU NUMB CUNTS!!! JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST, THEY WERE ONLY PARKED OUTSIDE LIKE SITTING-FUCKING-CRACK-SMOKING-DUCKS FOR OVER FOUR HOURS TOTAL, AND YOU SORRY-ASS "WHY NO, WE DON'T LIVE INSIDE CITY LIMITS, WHY DO YOU ASK?" MOTHERFUCKERS COULDN'T APPREHEND BETWEEN 3 AND SIX CRACKHEADS THAT WERE JUST WAITING FOR YOUR LEGAL CARESS!!!  Worthless.

To shake that bad, bad Tacoma vibe that sometimes really gets to me, we went down to Olympia and the young'uns got some books w/gift cards for "the largest independent book store in Oly", and we finished the day with pizza at the Old School Pizzeria where Athena ate four freakin' slices, and the kids got to play pinball for the first time (a "Dirty Harry" one, incidentally). Rock over London, Rock on Chicago. P.S. Check out new links re: pizza, books, music. etc...P.P.S. Had our last t-ball game yesterday. I almost cried, but don't tell (oh, wait...it's the internet, duh).