5.8 Earthquake

Below is the official news post for our most recent earthquake. I was at work in the Capitol Tower when it struck in Hollywood. (on 4th floor) The building swayed and jolted for about 10-15 seconds, and I decided between diving under the desk or running down the stairs to outside. By the time I even got to the stairs it stopped, but I went down anyway, as you never know how long any of the aftershocks or waves will last. I was not the only one, as many people were in the parking lot, not anxious to go back up. However, it was about it. A few smaller aftershocks were recorded in Diamond Bar, near by Chino Hills, but for the most part, no dammage reports, just a lot of "shaken up" people.


CHINO HILLS (KABC) -- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit late Tuesday morning two miles southwest of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County.
The jolt was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and slightly in Las Vegas. It caused buildings to sway and triggered some precautionary evacuations.
No damage or injuries have been reported as a result of the earthquake.
The quake struck at 11:42 a.m. PDT. Buildings swayed in downtown Los Angeles and San Diego for several seconds.

Bass Lake

Over the 4th of July I went up camping to Bass Lake, near Oakhurst, CA with my good friend Michael and his boyfriend Andrew. We had a great time. It was a group campground in the Sierra national forest with a group of about 110 gay men. It was very relaxing and a great time for everyone. We were out on the lake most every day.
Many people brought boats, So we got to do some boating and wake boarding. That was fun, in addition some great swimming in the mountain stream fed lake. We also had the opportunity to do some great hiking up in the mountain streams that fed the lake. It was amazing and very beautiful. One of the parts of participating in the camping was volunteering a day for cooking. We took the 4th of July and were on the tam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the day! It was fun, and we all had a good time in the outdoor kitchen!

It was all to fast and all went by so quickly before we had to head back down to LA for the 5 hour drive. It was not too bad, as we missed most of the heavy traffic, leaving at a late enough hour. The trip was great, and the area was superb, only a few miles from Yosemite national park!

Limekiln State Park

Our neighbors George and Greg had such a good time camping last time, they decided to go again, this time they picked the spot. (we also invited our other neighbors Brian and Dennis as well as their friend Kate) They chose a great place up the California Coastline, along the Pacific Coast Highway, about 40 Miles north of San Simeon is the very first Costal Readwood grove, in Limekiln State park. We left on a Sunday AM and drove up the 101 freeway, and the PCH with a stop along the way in Paso Robles, for a quick stop for some wine tasting at a vineyard. We then stopped in Cambria for a nice lunch at a cute roadside cafe/restaurant. It was fun, and nice and cool along the coast. We found a great campsite under all the redwoods and then started to explore the hiking trails and the beach area were we were camping for the next two nights. A very wonderful bubbling stream ran right through the campground to the ocean, and hiking trails all the way back to the waterfall deep in the redwoods where it all started. It was amazing hiking all the way back in the woods. The park is named Limekiln for the fact that early settlers found a great deal of lime in the rocks and ovens are still there from where they smelted the lime out for commercial use in cement making. It was very interesting to see! We all had a great time, and ate and cooked like crazy, as we all enjoyed the beautiful surroundings very, very much. We had a great drive back with a stop along the coast to see the elephant seals on the beach area where they lounge and in their protected habitat. We also stopped in San Luis Obisbo for a great lunch and a little walk around the very beautiful downtown of such a nice coastal town.

Pride Run 10K 2008

On Saturday of Pride for Long Beach, I ran the Shoreline Frontrunners, annual 10K run. http://www.shorelinefrontrunners.org/priderun/results/ It was a very hot, hot day, and by the time the run started at 8AM it was in the upper 80's and very hot. My friend Eric had come down from San Francisco to run it as well. (He runs in the Frontrunners in San Francisco a lot) Also my good friend Tigger ran it with us and my friend Steve. We were all excited and started off with a bang. Because of the heat though, I was sweating buckets by mile three, and then I hit a WALL. I thought I was going to fall over in the sand face first on the beachfront pathway. I managed to keep going though, and persevered to the very end. I made it in across the finish line with a time of 41:23 and was very happy with it.

I didn't think it was anything great, but it turned out I took the 1st place medal for Men's in my age group. 41-50 years. (4th overall) Eric took the 2nd place for his age group and Tigger took the 3rd place medal for her group in women's. We were all very excited about it and went out for a great breakfast later on! It was all good and we had a treat of mimosas to celebrate with our hearty breakfast!

Lake Perris Camping

The last weekend in April with temperatures unseasonably warm, in the mid 90's we drove inland to go camping with our neighbors, George & Greg to Lake Perris, near Riverside, California. We had such a nice time, even though it was terribly hot, the lake was cool and we had a nice time cooling off in the water, even though we really didn't feel like going swimming in it. (Lake Perris is a water reservoir for the area)

Ironically this was the same weekend when they received about 2 feet of snow in Northern Minnesota. We talked to my dad on the phone while we were sweltering in the heat and he had just finished blowing snow from the driveway. How ironic is all of that! It was a fun, and quick camping weekend trip, and we stopped in Riverside on the way back for a small little tour before heading back home.

Hollywood & Vine Fire

As I stepped off the Hollywood & Vine train stop this morning I could smell the smoke from this fire. It was right on the corner of the intersection in a popular Hollywood night club. The intersection was littered with over a dozen fire trucks, and fire hoses all over the street. Up in the air was nothing but black smoke coming out like crazy! It was quite a scene. I went to the gym and completed my morning workout just a block and a half away. After when walking to work I ran into all my co-workers on the street outside the Capitol Records tower. (2 doors down from the fire) Our offices were right in the area where smoke had been blowing the past several hours, and so the building was closed for the day until the air quality would be better. It was an unexpected day off work, but just glad that no one was injured or hurt in the fire!

You can read more if you like on the following link;

http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-restaurantfire,0,1122118.story

Portland, OR

Dale and I flew up to Portland, Oregon on the weekend of March 28-30th to visit our friend Eric. We had a hard time finding open flights from the LA area to Portland, so we flew into Seattle from Long Beach, and Eric drove up to pick us up. It was a snowy day in the Seattle area, and Eric had driven in snow most of the way up from Portland, and it started to clear on the drive back down. We were not in any hurry, and took our time along the way. It was a nice winter wonderland in some places but was all pretty much melted by the time we got back to Portland that evening.


We all went out to Breakfast one morning at the Bob's Red Mill in Milwaukie, OR. They area a local miller that has products around the nation in most grocery stores. We have always loved and used most of their products, so it was fun to see the mill where it all originates from and have a delicious breakfast in their restaurant.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/company.php


We also went to Breakfast at one of the best, outrageous, most typical Portland fares you can find. The Tin Shed Garden Cafe; http://www.tinshedgardencafe.com/index.html

The food is amazing, the fun part is that they have over half their space in outdoor seating, and even though it was cold, in the 40's, we sat outside next to a blazing outdoor fireplace for a lovely breakfast that none other could compare! If you want the quintessential dining experience while in Portland, this place is a must!


We also took an afternoon to enjoy a movie and shopping in the Hawthorne area. This is one great area of Portland, and the Bagdad theatre ROCKS! http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=9&id=176




We did some cooking and made a nice meal for Eric, with some great grocery stores in the area to choose from. We then headed out on Sunday to catch our flight back to LAX from Portland. This was one interesting trip, 4 different airports, in a round trip. That is a first!