Holiday weekend?

[Aspirin99]

For those in the US, how was your holiday weekend? I spent the entire time helping my wife get ready for her first day as a third-grade teacher. I'm building a web site for her. Today is also the first day back to school for my two teenagers.

[Kumbafu]

For those in the US, how was your holiday weekend? I spent the entire time helping my wife get ready for her first day as a third-grade teacher. I'm building a web site for her. Today is also the first day back to school for my two teenagers.

My kids are in a year-round school and have been back on track since the begining of Aug.

Since the weather's been hot lately [in the low 100's... and as high as 114] I took the kids to one of the community pools. Not long after being there we started hearing thunder. There have been storms to the east of us, but nothing significant by us. We saw no lightning... but heard a lot of thunder. Then a bit of rain came. We got out of the pool and figured we'd wait it out [since a storm the previous day came and went in about 10 minutes]. The wind and rain steadily got worse, but then tapered off. So, we thought it was moving on.

The next thing we know, the wind picked up even worse. In fact the rain was flying horizontally and felt like hail as it hit us. It was really stinging. It even took one of the umbrellas over the fence and across the park. The wind even changed directions 180 degrees at one point.

The really odd part was, I called to tell my wife who was shopping just 5 or so miles north and she was experiencing blue skies and dry weather... albeit hot. She had no clue what we were experiencing. There was even a small brush fire just out of reach of the storm.

There were trees uprooted and loads of branches all over the neighborhood. The wind did a good job of cleaning out the pine trees... the streets are covered with old, brown needles.

Needless to say, everything was soaked. The moment I realized I had left my car window down a few inches due to the heat, we high-tailed it back to the car to go home. In the process of getting from the pool to the house, my cell phone got drenched. I let it dry out for a day-and-a-half and even used a hair dryer on it, but all it does now is blink the Verizon logo, then a white screen back and forth. So, I suppose I'll have to stop by Verizon and get a replacement.

[David]

I spent my long weekend in Vegas.

I got to see Cirque du Soleil KA.

It took 7 hours to make a 3.5 hour drive home.

What fun :)

[Kumbafu]

It took 7 hours to make a 3.5 hour drive home.

I did that once. What a frustrating drive that is. Fortunately, when I got stuck on that traffic it wasn't hot like this.

Oh, I forgot to mention the earthquake. 4.7 magnitude Sunday morning. Felt like the thud a large truck makes passing by. It rocked the house for just a few seconds. I knew from the sudden feel of it that it was close. Every other earthquake I've experienced have been more of the rolling motion [an indication the epicenter was a distance away].

I went on the USGS site and found that it was centered only about 3 miles from the neighborhood. There were multiple aftershocks, but I didn't feel those. There was also a 3.2 the following day about 20 miles away, but I didn't feel that one either.

[deltagear]

First day back to college and I already drew a picture, woohoo!

[stan2reason]

Hey Kumbafu,

We're practically neighbors. The quake was very strong where we live--15 miles or so from the epicenter. We felt the whole house rise a bit. Very icky feeling.

S2R

[Kumbafu]

Hey Kumbafu,

We're practically neighbors. The quake was very strong where we live--15 miles or so from the epicenter. We felt the whole house rise a bit. Very icky feeling.

S2R

Really? Hmmm... that would more than likely place you in Riverside, Perris, Elsinore, Corona or South OC.

Surprisingly, I actually like earthquakes... as long as they are mild, of course. Surprising because 1) The obvious, it's an earthquake 2) My first memory of an earthquake was the 1971 Sylmar quake.

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

I was just a small child and we lived quite a distance from the epicenter [we lived in Buena Park] but I remember the quake waking me and through the shadows my bedroom door looked like a figure of someone [or something] violently shaking my bed.

I also clearly remember the Whittier Narrows quake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittier_Narrows_earthquake
[Still living in Buena Park with this one. My only loss was a gallon jug filled with pennies]. Crashed to the floor in a starburst pattern.

and the Northridge quake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Northridge_Earthquake

I felt one earthquake while at a red light in my car. At first I thought there was something wrong with it. Then I saw traffic signals swaying and business windows rippling. A helicopter traffic reporter commented that he knew somethng happened because virtually every car on the freeway applied thier brakes simultaneously.

[David]

There seems to be a bunch of us that live in SoCal.. Apparently, there's something in the water! lol

[phrog]

It took 7 hours to make a 3.5 hour drive home.

What fun :)
Yeah, I had a car like that once.

[minorwork]

Full time prepping for the local Skeptics monthly meeting. I was the presenter. The subject, The Electric Universe. Putting together handouts. Writing. Deciding if my strong magnet demo would cause trouble at the Library's metal detectors. (No demo)

REALL. Rational Examination Association of Lincoln Land is the name of the skeptic Meetup group. I also go to the local freethinkers meetups when I can. The freethinkers were probing for a new name. I told them my idea, which caught there interest for about 5 seconds. Daring Unbelievers Making Atheist Solutions Simple. Boy, they need to lighten up!