04:42 – a 4.2 earthquake rocks you awake¹. It’s the “natural” alarm clock. It was about 8 miles or so to the South-East on the Hayward fault. Now I try to get back to sleep, heart pounding and all that.

1. Of course, being on the landfill part of the county tends to accentuate the shake a little. It seemed like it went on for about 7-10 seconds↩

Last night was fun. I went to the title="Conga Lounge in Rockridge">Conga Lounge in Rockridge to see some
Elvis related events (what with it being the anniversary of his death or
disappearance). The lounge is tiny, and actually much smaller than I thought
it would be, but still a good little place. I’ll have to see about going back
there when there are fewer Elvis revelers. As it was, the Elvis snacks they
had out, toasted peanut butter and banana sandwiches, donuts, and fried chicken
were just fine. Anyway, if you’re in the Rockridge area I suggest you give it
a try.

Last week I was at my new dentist’s office for my first visit. As I sat down
in the waiting room my ears perk up to the music being piped in. It was none
other than title="lyrics @ azlyrics.com">Roots Radicals by href="http://www.rancidrancid.com/" title="Rancid Web Site">Rancid. I had
to stifle my laughing because it was just such an odd song to hear at a
family dental practice. I mean, people like their punk rawk, but it was just
kind of surreal.

During the course of my visit people obviously couldn’t make up their minds
because it would change to country then top 40 then soft rock then 80′s hits
then pop. The peak of the musical journey was Simon and Garfunkel performing
on the TV on some morning program while my teeth were being cleaned.

Despite all the musical choices that was by far the best dental hygiene visit
I’ve ever had. If anyone needs a dentist in the Bay Area (probably easier for
East Bay residents) then don’t hesitate to let href="http://www.hmdds.com/contact.html" title="Herrero | Martenson">Dr.
Martenson know that I sent you. If you should desire more opinions just
come by the Whitney House and ask since most of us use Dr. Martenson.

The move went off without a hitch this weekend. The cats are adjusted to the
new place. All is good.

More later.

Well, I got up this morning in time to see the title="Chinese Space Program Time-line">first Chinese manned space vehicle
fly overhead. It was hard to spot at first because the moon was so bright,
but seeing it fly overhead made me happy. I’m glad China is able to keep going
like that, however I do wish that all countries interested in space exploration
would put their nationalistic pride to the side and just work together. It
would be cheaper and get the entire planet farther along in the long run.

Speaking of space, do you ever see href="http://www.starwars.com/databank/species/jawa/"
title="Star Wars Databank">Jawas in your neighborhood? I do. I guess it
was the once or twice a year heavy trash day today, so everyone has been
putting piles and piles of stuff out for the last couple of days. In the last
day I’ve seen the same van at several places in my neighborhood. The
passengers going through the piles of heavy trash and taking what treasures
they want. Now, I’m not going to fault people for doing that, in this country
(or what’s left of it) people are free to go through piles of refuse and take
what they want. It’s just that they were overly enthusiastic about it, like
Jawas on a droid.

As heard at work today: “East Bay is pig latin for beast…and that’s no
accident either!”

I laughed

Hehe, that title sounds like a kids toy: My First Earthquake(tm), now with
more death and destruction!

At any rate, here’s the info
title="Event: nc40146204">from the USGS. It was a 3.9 so apparently not
that strong. The center was less than a mile from my place. Basically it
went like this: First I thought there was either a really large truck
outside or someone was moving furniture upstairs (which shouldn’t happen as
the folks up there are out of town and I’m watching their place). That lasted
for a couple of seconds and then there was a jolt. It felt like it moved
East to West through the house. Polly (cat) got freaked out and ran. Joe
(other cat) was just laying there.

It was interesting, and now I’ve lost my earthquake cherry.

(update @ Thu Sep 4 20:05:28 PDT 2003)
Apparently there was a href="http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc40146208.html"
title=" Event: nc40146208">second quake about 1 hour 15 minutes after
the first one. I didn’t feel that one.

So, yesterday I decided I would listen to the propaganda and take BART (that’s Bay Area Rapid Transit) into work and save driving across the bridge and finding parking. I got a pointer from a fellow Wild Brainer that there was a super easy place to park a short distance from the Rockridge BART station. So, I got up earlier yesterday and found the parking just fine and then rode down in to the city.

All was going well (I mean, I even did fine with the wonderful area of 16th St. and Mission) and the ride back that evening was fine. Let me just say, reading on the commute is great.

The good feelings ended when I got to my car and found the front passenger window smashed out. Apparently the dick that did it was looking to see if I had left the faceplate to my radio in the car (which I hadn’t). Whomever it was went through the glove box and center console (leaving the quarters there), removed my map book from the seat pocket it was in, and got nothing. There were also scratches on the door beams where it looks like the retard (and I say that in the nicest way possible, I mean, there was nothing in my car and that was plainly visible through the windows) tried to pry the door open.

When I called the Oakland Police they proved themselves to be useless by stating it would be a three hour wait for an officer to file a report.

Needless to say I had a fun morning getting my window replaced (and if you are in San Francisco and need that kind of service I highly recommend Safelite at 655 4th St., 415-431-4117. They were fast, professional, and courteous.). I goto the insurance adjustor this afternoon to see about getting the other damage repaired.

I won’t be listening to any more propaganda about BART for a while, at least not until they provide more secure parking at the stations (or maybe I decide to ride a bike to the station, but oh, the hills).