Earthquake

So, here I am sitting at work having a discussion about laundry and the gym with Danny when suddenly the building starts shaking. Now, I work on the 3rd floor of the Historic Courthouse that was built in 1933. The main part of the courthouse was built in 1903. So, I saying holy crap and Danny just finishes asking me what's wrong when he finds out for himself. Catarina went running to Danny saying that the house was shaking. Otherwise she wasn't phased at all.

That was at 11:42 a.m. So, around noon, I start getting very itchy. The problem with old buildings is that you never know what was in there before, not to mention what it was built with. So, I start breaking out in hives. My co-worker gets alarmed (she was freaked out by the quake) and asks what's wrong. I tell her that I am allergic to something in the building. I frantically start looking for benedryl and nobody has any. So at 12:15 p.m. I came home.I called Danny on the way home and asked him to have my towels in the bathroom downstairs so I can jump into the shower and get whatever it is off of me. The shower felt great, especially being the second one of the day, but it didn't stop the hives. So I took two benedryls and within 30 minutes I start feeling less itchy. I ended up taking a nap because of the benedryl and then when I woke up, I started breaking out again. So, I took another one and got out of the house. I set my air purifier on super kill and I seem to be doing much better. I think I am gonna take another benedryl and go to bed and take the whole bottle with me to work tomorrow.

Other than breaking out into hives, we are all doing well. The earthquake was kind of fun to ride out on the 3rd floor. When they remodeled the building they must have put in rollers or something because that is exactly what it felt like. We didn't feel any of the aftershocks because they were so small, but we sure felt the big one!

***************************************************

Earthquake Details
Magnitude
5.4
Date-Time
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 18:42:15 UTC
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 11:42:15 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
33.955°N, 117.765°W
Depth
13.6 km (8.5 miles)
Region
GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
Distances
4 km (3 miles) WSW (240°) from Chino Hills, CA
7 km (4 miles) SE (135°) from Diamond Bar, CA
8 km (5 miles) NNE (16°) from Yorba Linda, CA
12 km (7 miles) S (184°) from Pomona, CA
46 km (28 miles) ESE (104°) from Los Angeles Civic Center, CA
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 0.3 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 0.6 km (0.4 miles)
Parameters
Nph=095, Dmin=9 km, Rmss=0.34 sec, Gp= 25°,M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=S
Source
California Integrated Seismic Net:
USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR
Event ID
ci14383980
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Dan's Bad Luck

Dan has the worst luck when it comes to vehicles. Last night around 11:15 p.m. he calls home to tell me that he has just been rear-ended... Nevermind that we just got his truck back from the shop after his last little incident...

So, it turns out that the guy who hit him wasn't paying attention to the road (traffic had stopped as it always does in California), doesn't have a California license or ID (he has a Mexico ID which is not a legal form of ID in California), and he may have been under the influence! CHP showed up, finally, and started doing their investigation. They do a traffic break and have Dan drive to the next off ramp into the Jack-In-The-Box parking lot. He gets Dan's info and goes to work on the other party. They let Dan leave and gave him the report number.

When he left, they were doing a sobriety check on the driver of the other vehicle. He had at least 2 other people in his car with him. Dan said he tried to blame Dan for the accident as he had stopped on the freeway. HELLO! This is Southern California and the freeways ALWAYS stop, no matter what time of day it is!

His truck looks fine. He said the stereo went out when the dude hit him. The back bumper looks fine, from what I can see, but he is taking the truck into the shop (again) on Monday. Dan's fine; he said his neck hurt last night when he got home.

Spice of Life

Our cousin, Amber, posted a blog today that has made me do some thinking. She mentioned a friend of a friend's blog so I went to read the blog entry. She lost her baby and is now dealing with the grief and questions surrounding death. She says, "Take a minute for me tonight and record the little things your kids do right now. They don't even need to be cute things. Someday when your baby is grown you may even miss the food thrown on the ground or the face wiped on the sleeve. Cherish the little things. For the little things are the spice in life."

So, here goes nothing...

Daniel: He is an amazing person, father, husband, and uncle. He does what he needs to do to care for our family. He does the yardwork because he says that I shouldn't have to mow the yard, just pull the weeds. He provides emotional support and loves his girls dearly.

Catarina: Wow! She is such an amazing little girl. She has the sweetest smiles and hugs. I love to hear her tell me that we are best friends and that she loves me. Even at four years of age, she is so grown up. She loves to pray and I just absolutely love hearing her pray. I may not understand all that she is saying, but the Lord does. She loves Disneyland! Then again, who doesn't? She has her fussy moments, but when she is happy, she is an absolute joy!

Take the time to appreciate the little things in life as you never know when they will be taken from you.

Thank you, Amber, for sharing.