Happy Halloween!

Shaken

We felt the earthquake last night. It was moderate, they said, but it was still a pretty strong one. From my recollection, it felt the same as the one that happened in 1990 in the Philippines. But back then, the epicenter was a good 100 miles away from where we were. Last night's was around 20 miles away.

Reports say there was very minor damage, if any, but still, a quake as strong as that one hasn't happened in a while and it kind of does a check on how we have taken emergency measures for granted. I hate to think about it, but if that had been a stronger quake -- darn! we ran out of the house with nothing in our pockets, and we didn't even think of grabbing our jackets! But yeah, if there should be any good from that, my purse is now within sight, ready to be grabbed on the way out of the house should anything happen. And I have a set of both car keys, just in case.

Earthquake

5.6 quake hits near Alum Rock, only minor damage reported

By Leslie Griffy and Sandra Gonzales
Mercury News

Article Launched: 10/30/2007 08:19:16 PM PDT

A moderate, but powerful earthquake struck San Jose just after 8 p.m. tonight, shaking buildings and prompting rattled residents to pour out of their homes.

The temblor lasted about 30 seconds and was a magnitude 5.6 quake, according to a preliminary estimate from the U.S. Geological Survey.

The epicenter was five miles miles from Alum Rock, seven miles from Milpitas and nine miles from San Jose City Hall with the earthquake originating 5.7 miles below ground.

Shaking was felt throughout the Bay Area. Ten aftershocks with magnitudes of 1.3 to 1.8 were reported by 8:45 p.m.

There were no immediate reports of major damage, though cellular and landline telephone service failed for a time in some areas.

(Karl Kahler / Mercury News)

On the north end of San Jose's downtown, shaken residents left apartments, condos and homes to survey the damage. Luckily it was minor.

The quake shook a metal garbage can into a car parked on the street and at 350 North 2nd a water pipe broke, streaming water into the parking garage of a condo building.

"At first I thought it was a train," said David Eaton, who lives in the building. "But it went on way too long. And then I heard things starting to fall and I knew it wasn't the train."

Although it was Eaton's first big earthquake, he was prepared. He stood outside of his building with his two dogs, carrying a flashlight and other emergency equipment.

"This building is only two years old but it really shook," he said.

Down the street near a VTA bus stop driver Christopher Archuleta stood outside of his line 23 bus with a big smile.

"That was fun," he said shaking his head.

He had been driving when the wheel started to shake and then bus started to sway.

Two of his passengers told him it was their first earthquake. He said the girls seemed nervous and were unable to get their AT&T cellular phone to work, but were able to borrow another passenger's cell phone to let their friends know they were OK.

In Cupertino, Vishram Dalvi said that his "entire house shook, pictures swayed, a few things fell off. We ran downstairs with the children but everything stopped. I am worried with what they say about the big one being long overdue now- was it every 140 years?"

In Palo Alto, one resident described the earthquake as feeling as if a "big rolling freight train just went through my backyard."

Within minutes, fire stations in Palo Alto reported in to the dispatch center that there was no damage to their stations.

Sarcasm

Galing sa school, bumanat si ate: "Mommy, can I have some?" habang hawak-hawak yung plastic na lalagyan ng dried mangoes.

Sabi ko, "Sige."

Kaso humirit pa. "Can I open it?"

Aha! Pagkakataon ko na. "Hindi."

Sinagot ako ng tutol, "Pano ko kakainin kung hindi ko bubuksan?"

Sagot ko, "Ewan ko, akala ko naisip mo na kaya mo tinatanong, e."



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


Part 2:

Habang kumakain ng pananghalian, sabi ng bubwit, "Mommy, ayoko na."

Dahil hindi masyadong maganda ang pakiramdam ko at wala ako sa mood makipag-pilitan, sabi ko na lang, "Sige, pero mamaya, walang hungry-hungry, ha?" Aba, tama lang naman ano? May pagkain, ayaw daw, tapos saka ako uungutan pag nagutom ng wala sa oras?

Oo daw.

Mahigit tatlong oras ang lumipas, may maliit na boses na nagtatanong, "Pwede ako kumain ng Stikko?"

Ayan na nga ba ang kutob ko. "Bakit mo gusto ng Stikko?"

Ang sagot? "E kasi, masarap."

Haha. Talaga lang, ha? "Masarap o nagugutom ka na?"

"Masaraaaaaaaap!" Trying to be convincing pa ang loka.

"Pag hindi mo sinabi ang totoo, hindi kita bibigyan."

"(Waaaaaaaah) Iiiiii'm huuuuuungry!"

Almost

We're ready for Halloween! Little girl wanted to be a princess, but I told her everyone would be going as princesses. She agreed to be a fairy after I showed her the wings. Big girl is too old to go as a princess, but she didn't want the pirate costume. She relented in the end after we agreed to return it if she didn't like it after trying it on. Then they got really excited while trying the costumes on, they didn't want to take it off anymore.

Sale

The other day, there was an advertisement on TV about one of the nearby shops having a clearance sale today. I really wasn't paying attention as I have no plans of going shopping anytime soon. Then D got all excited. She said, "Mom! Sale! As low as $2 - $6 on selected items!"

Haha. The kuripot-ness is rubbing off.

Tagged: Screenshot

Era tagged me here to post a screenshot of my desktop. (Era: I am so sorry for not doing this any sooner. Thanks, too, for the Egel. Everyone: you all deserve an Egel! Especially for keeping up with me. *LOL*)

So, here's mine:


I took this photo on New Years day 2007 in Pasadena, right after the Rose Parade. We went to J's previous office to get our stuff and it had this magnificent view of the mountains from the building's balcony. This is the same mountain range I stare at everyday driving D and A to and from school, and somehow, in that 2 years that we called that place home, I have found it very relaxing to watch the mountains. When we were getting ready to move, I planned to take pictures of exactly what I look at on the drive home, but I didn't get the chance with the ultra-busy schedule that we had. This is the next best thing I have on my computer. I wanted to take that with me for when we move, to still be able to get a glimpse of the mountains I have learned to love.

Oh, and I don't like a lot of clutter on my desktop, so the only folders I have on it would be the really temporary ones (as in I keep them there because I needed to edit the contents immediately, and then they would be deleted afterwards) and a couple that I access all the time. One folder is for the stuff I needed while househunting (which I haven't had the time to weed out and delete/keep yet), two of them are picture sets (I needed to edit the filenames before adding them to my main library -- I know, OC!), one for all my receipts from online transactions, and another for the downloads (I would rather it be in a folder on the desktop -- saves me time from searching through the file directory to locate where all my recent downloads went, and I don't really like seeing new downloads cluttering up the desktop, hence, a folder for it. And yes, I said I know already -- OC nga!)

And now I am tagging everyone!



Note: Copy Starts Here!

Desktop Free View Instruction:

A.Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. You can do a screen capture by:

[1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).
[2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V).
[3] If you wish, you can “edit” the image, before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of Icons, things like that.

C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants.

iRonnie - I Set No Corner
Thess - Thesserie
Rebecca - Skippy Heart
Knoizki - A Dialogue With K
Beng - Kauderwelch- domlawrenceOSB-
bluepanjeet™ OTWOMD™
Marie @ Vanidosa Marie and Vanidosa at blogspot
Ems @ Just Let Go and Pieces of Me
Yen @ Me and Mine, Little Peanut and Our Pea in a Pod.
Alpha @ my blog
Jen @ Cellulitic Bliss,
Arlene @ Life’s What We Make It, and All About Her
Leah @ A Matter of Perspective
Mich @ Random Thoughts
Era @ Permanence in Change
Mitch@I can dream, can't I?

Surfboard

When A was a baby, I used to do the ironing once a week. That time, most of our clothes were really wrinkled after hanging them out to dry, plus D used to have a uniform for school. After moving out of the country, I learned the trick of folding clothes out of the dryer right away. Doing that prevents the clothes from wrinkling and eliminates the need to iron clothes. So, I haven't ironed until recently.

With J starting a new job, he's decided to change his office wardrobe from casual to business/professional. I need to iron at least his clothes again. Although I didn't use it, we still have an ironing board in the house for whenever we need it. When I took it out last week, I realized that A hasn't really seen one. D went up to me and said, "A thinks it's a surfboard. She asked me when she saw it." Funny. Last weekend, she wanted to cuddle with me, but I was going to do the ironing. She said, "The clothes are going surfing? On the 'surfboard'? Just like in 'Surf's Up'?" Okay. Now I know where that idea came from.

Alive!!!

After 2 painful weeks of getting ready for the move, we have finally gone through with the inevitable. We had our stuff taken by the moving people on a Wednesday, cleaned the house on Thursday, and drove north on Friday. And since it was A's 4th on Sunday, we also had her birthday and last day in school on Thursday. I had never have so much stuff going on before -- not even the times we were cramming in school to finish projects while preparing for exams. Let's just say that I was lucky I was able to get 4 hours of sleep/rest before embarking on a 6-hour drive. Getting there, of course, wasn't the end of it. The house was clean -- but not enough for me. So, I was still up almost the whole night wiping and scrubbing everything I could see. We had to get the house clean before all our stuff came in.

The movers came in today and the house is just a mess! The garage is now cramped with all the boxes, and we still haven't fixed the furnitures inside the house. We wanted to do the bedroom first. I didn't think I would miss our bed, but after a week of sleeping in sleeping bags, I think I am ready to sleep on our bed now.

Things aren't really settled in yet. We still have a lot of arranging to do, but at least we have the cable TV on, the internet is running, all the services are now going and D is back in school. It might take me a month to do the unpacking, but I intend to take my sweet time doing that.