I forget to put up my do not disturb sign, to embarrassing results

I have some updates on the Mex vacation (having too much fun to blog last week) and some more videos, but I am currently in California for work (sucked, got home late sunday night, was on a plane monday morning for Cali, no idea how I used to travel like this all the time) and the hotel JUST NOW got their internet fixed so I haven't been able to write anything...

Anyway, quick but funny story. Last night I asked the hotel to reboot their router as that's what my diagnostics were saying was the problem. Instead of doing that they put me on the phone with some poor moron from ibahn who walked me through a series of useless steps (he was obviously reading off cards or something because any time I tried to divert his attention to my findings he freaked out). After about 5 minutes of that bullshit I was like "do me a favor - call the hotel and tell them to reboot the router". Which he did.

So they sent a maintenance guy to my room who crawled under the desk and watched as I showed him the diagnostics results and then stood there looking at my computer going "hmmmm" as if he could somehow solve the problem by staring at my computer with a dumb expression on his face. Finally I was like "why don't you go reboot the router" and he said he would. Minutes, and then an hour went by as I watched the router, which was still online. Finally I gave up on the router ever being rebooted, ate a pizza and then two mangoes, and started watching "stardust memories".

I was watching with my headphones in because I don't like to disturb people (I hate it when someone in the room next to me is blasting the TV or video games on a computer). It was totally silent in my room. About an hour into the movie I started farting because of the mangoes. I decided to record one of my farts to text to FH (this is something we do, I know, very mature for two almost 44 year olds). I wanted to impress him so I really let it rip. Right as I finished there was a knock at my door. I was like "oh god" and decided to sit still in the hopes the knocker would go away. No such luck, the person kept knocking. So finally I opened the door...

...and there was the maintenance guy, barely able to keep a straight face, letting me know that he had forgotten to reboot the router. I felt bad for him because he was trying to be professional even though both of us obviously wanted to die laughing. Which I did as soon as I closed the door. I am sure he heard me. I'm sure half the hotel heard that fart. FH said he held the phone up to his ear because my farts are usually not that loud and he texted me that my fart ruptured his ear drum.

And now I think I will go get some sushi.

Acaraje!!!

My friend Jessica just got her brazilian street food business running! Check out her web site: http://brasilstreetfood.com/

batting practice

The guys we hang out with down here are all obsessed to a certain extent with baseball. Bambino plays in a league and his brothers Willy and Arturo go to the batting cages at least once a week.

Here's my first time in the batting cage. Note that I've never really swung a bat before. I did have to play softball in gym class and occasionally tried to hit balls with my brothers in the back yard but never had any instruction. I think I'm probably one of the few people to trip over a ball in the batting cages...ball speed was 45 mph.

if you didn't break something you aren't really surfing

Monday I was waiting out in the line up at Olas Altas (water was confused, waves were crap) and FH, who had just ridden in was like "good one behind you!" So I laid down and started to turn my board (I was facing out to sea) but the wave suddenly jacked up and was rolling right at me. I was sideways and looked at FH. He looked horrified. I thought "jump off the board" but, since I'm cocky, I then thought "I can catch this thing!"

Needless to say I got slammed by the wave and ended up in the washing machine (never go into a wave sideways on a surf board). Rolled over 5 times before surfacing (that wave was by far the biggest, over 6 feet, and fastest of the day) and miraculously I was totally okay. I didn't even swallow any water.

...except that, after walking 5 miles to and from another beach this afternoon, I realized that (I think) I broke my toe. FH thinks I hit it on the surf board fin. He said "you're like that doll in your room, made outta paper".

Anyway, we're having a great time and food as usual is amazing. For dinner monday (I had to limp to the restaurant) we had chicken tostadas and the grand total for dinner for both of us was $4.50. Everything was home made.


And, here's a pic of my toe.

Took a few days off surfing - going to tape my toe tomorrow and see how it goes

 Tomorrow I'm going to post some pics of the shenanigans that went on tonight. Our friends down here in Maz took us to a batting cage to hit some balls. The place is also a bar and they didn't seem to mind that no one was wearing a helmet in the cage and I was in there filming with my gopro....

explosions for jesus

FH and I arrived in Mazatlan yesterday, and, neither of us being religious, were shocked to find out a big party was going on at the malecon (board walk in the centro historico). To celebrate easter the city throws a huge shin dig culminating in a "naval battle". While I'm not sure what a naval battle has to do with jesus, since he didn't die at sea, I was excited to see the battle.

As it would turn out, there weren't any naval ships. It was just a set up of fire works on either end of Olas Altas beach that were being fired into the centro historico. It was still exciting, but not for the reasons you might expect.

before the fire works there was a small, 3 truck parade - that's not a topless lady, just a statue of one

mariachi band plus some women in skimpy costumes

 

the fire works set up on the side of olas altas where we normally surf - yes, they had a fire extinguisher - safety first - by the time the show started there were lots of people standing on this sea wall, about 10 feet away from the fireworks - there were cops, but they were busy texting

our maz friend Bambino seemed surprised that the show did not start on time - about 15 after the scheduled time, as some of the fire works were about to be engulfed by the ocean, this guy came out to light the fire works - I took a pic of him halfway through the show with burning embers on his shirt but the pic is too dark to see anything, unfortunately

the show started out as normal fire works shows do...

...a few fireworks high in the sky...

then they lit off these fireworks, which shot straight into the sky - you can see people in the crowd running away from the sea wall as a huge burning ember lands on the side walk

the next firework they shot off sprinkled even more embers into the crowd...

...and into the street

In any case, no one was injured and all seemed to be having a great time. Unlike the US, there was no price gouging and FH and I had a dinner of vampiros for $7, and the total cost of beer for 5 of us was about $11. We left the party at 1130 and I was surprised to see people just arriving at that hour. The singing and festivities went on until about 530 in the morning (I know this only because the noise would wake me up when my ear plugs fell out). The malecon was clean this morning and there were no signs of the party (not sure how they did that).

To be cautious we went to the beach at stone island today because FH thought they might have hosed off the malecon into olas altas, potentially causing the water there to be full of bacteria.

Tomorrow surf's up at olas!

white board frame finished!

Saturday morning I stapled the white board frame together using my staple gun (everyone should have a staple gun). Then I primed it, realized I should have sanded it first, and then figured fuck it and added another coat of prime. Sunday I added three coats of green glitter paint.

The glitter paint has to cure for 24 hours so I had to wait until 2 pm today to mount it. All was going smashingly well until I tripped while trying to maneuver the frame into my house. I accidentally broke one side off and jammed my right pointer finger. The frame was fixed with a few screws. My finger still hurts.

I drilled holes in the wall so I could mount the frame on studs even though it's not that heavy.

not perfect but considering I had no idea what I was doing, and that the total cost for the frame was $12, not bad!

I'm not bernie madoff, but I do have screws on my desk

Well, it's been quite a day. Got up at the crack of dawn because the guys came to turn on my sprinklers at 730 this morning and for some reason, when people come to my house, I feel the need to be showered and stuff. Not that they care.

Then I moved my old shelves out of my office and put together my new ones. Very cool.

green matches my treadmill desk, sans glitter

Then I began the project to create a frame for my white board. Note to self, do a search before attempting to paint a white board on the wall. I found a bunch of suggestions for just taking a picture frame, putting a cool pattern in where the picture should go, and then writing on the glass. Cheaper, and a lot less work than my project.

Should have done a search before hand...

In any case, I've never built a frame before. I went to home depot and the only wood I could find was a thick pine but I got it anyway. And, while I was driving to hd, I saw the car in front of me hit a guy on a bicycle at the junction of Colfax and I-25 (exit ramp). He was okay but his back tire was mangled. Stupid bitch talking on her cell phone.

Where was I...oh yes, making the frame. I wouldn't suggest this process, but here's what I did:

One side of my white board is an inch shorter than the other (shut up Bob and Steve - YOU try leveling painters tape by yourself) so I decided to put the frame on so I could exactly measure where all the pieces needed to be cut.

so, um, that's my manual saw and crappy plastic mitre box - and my cutting surface is my as yet to be installed swamp cooler

fucking board kept moving around, and I have no idea where my clamps are, so I improvised with zip ties and zip tied each board to the mitre box before cutting it

switched to using my DWR desk that used to be in my office because the swamp cooler was not cutting it (haha) and then realized I cut one of the boards at the wrong angle...redo...glad I got all the boards in the same size so I used the mis-cut board for the (shorter) side and an as yet to be cut board as the replacement for the mis-cut board

ends sanded...ready to assemble...

are you fucking shocked? me too - it WORKED!!!!

Now all I have to do is staple the frame together, prime it, and then paint it with the glitter paint. Hopefully the staples will work...and not exactly sure how I'll get it on the wall by myself...but I'll think of something.

BTW, fitbit only gave me 500 steps for spending an hour sawing. Fuck you fitbit.

tools at the ready for mounting the white board...

lemon oatmeal bars and no bake oatmeal cookies - more disasters from my kitchen

My neighbor Carol sent me a recipe for oatmeal lemon bars to help me with my cooking skills. I decided to make them last night, as well as some no bake oatmeal cookies (I like oatmeal) that are supposedly so easy to make that they're on a web site for 6 year olds who want to cook.

I gathered all the ingredients...

...and realized I was looking at the wrong recipe. Different ingredients.

The lemon bars were supposed to go in an 8 x 12 inch dish. I used a 9 x 13 because that's what I have. And it said to butter the dish before putting the bars in it. I had doubts whether just butter was okay with a glass dish, or whether I should add flour, and whether the recipe writer assumed I'd be using a non-stick dish...in any case, I decided fuck it, I'll just butter the dish. My hand mixer looks like it's dying of exhaustion because it took almost 7 minutes to mix the butter to the point where it was squishy.

Lemon bars, assembled. I had to cook them for 4 extra minutes, not sure if that was because of the glass, using a different pan, or just a general fuck up on my part. The recipe said to cut them after I took them out of the oven but then to let them chill in the pan before removing them. I wasn't sure if that meant to put them in the refrigerator or if it was more like a Jay Z chillin thing. I put them in the refrigerator. When I took them out of the pan the bottom of the lemon bars were stuck to the pan but I figured out how to get them unstuck by using a knife and a spatula. Overall, they are good, but think a denser bar would be better. Should have waited until I had the right pan.

To make the no bake oatmeal cookies the recipe called for a cookie sheet, which I don't have, and parchment paper, which I don't have either. Wasn't parchment paper replaced in the middle ages? I used the top of a tupperware container and some wax paper.

So, the first step in the no bake recipe was to bake something. Odd. I had to melt butter and milk together. I used powdered milk and guessed what the powder to water ratio should be. To be honest I just threw a tablespoon (since one was already on the counter) in with some water and decided that was good enough.

It said to bring the milk and butter to a rolling boil. Not sure what that meant but once the milk and butter puffed up I assumed it was rolling.

The milk and butter mixed in with the other crap. And the recipe said to work quickly forming the mix into balls and dropping it on the parchment paper. Well, it was really fucking hot and hard to work with. Like trying to make balls out of boiling tar. Maybe they assumed that little kids cook so slow that if they didn't say hurry up the kids would take hours playing with the batter (or what ever you call the above mess) and not end up making any cookies.

I switched to this 8 x 8 metal pan because the tupperware lid wasn't working out very well. And at this point I realized I left out the 2 cups of sugar the recipe called for. I was like fuck it, I'm not going to try to add it in now.

Who pooped in my pan????

Completed food. Actually, both are pretty tasty. And now I don't need to cook for at least a month because that's how long it will take me to eat all this...

Van de Graaf generator

I got this from my brother Bob regarding my shocking treadmill:

You've made a pretty effective (and large) Van de Graaf generator.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/vandeg.html

Be proud, not many people build these anymore.

 

Well, go me...I guess.

my brother advises me on how to avoid shocks

me (to my brothers):

When I walk on my treadmill (in my running shoes) I keep getting shocked. Also, twice when I've touched my laptop the shock was bad enough to shut it down.

Any ideas?

I walked 10 miles at work yesterday...

my brother Steve (that's Dr. Steve to you, I can still call him just Steve):

Rubbing a rubber balloon on your head generates static electricity.  A treadmill is basically a very big version of this.  There are some static generators that are a rubber piece moving along a metal bowl in dry air.  Know any place with dry air?  

Your treadmill should be properly grounded and oiled that will reduce friction, and therefore electron exchange.  But if you are doing 10 miles a day and you are overwhelming it then you need to go to other measures: Look at #1: http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Static-Electricity

Consider a personal ground, before you fry your computer: http://www.overclockers.com/personal-grounding-are-you-and-your-components-static-safe/ or http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Anti-Static-Wrist-Adjustable-Grounding/dp/B00004Z5D1/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1397060633&sr=1-1&keywords=grounding+strap

Potentially your house has a poor ground.  I don't have an earth-ground tester, but many electricians do (they are only around $4k, we all should have one). Rather than hire an electrician to test your ground and install a rod, it might be cheaper to add a new grounding rod, just make sure that it's not in soil, that it's grounded in rock.

Every time I get my house fixed up to the point where I think I'm done, someone comes up with something else...now I'm worried about my house not being grounded properly...

and the winner is...me!!!!!!!!

I am shocked to report that I actually won an auction on eBay (for less money than I was willing to pay on top of it!)!

I am soon to be the owner of two great white shark teeth (and one megalodon fossil thrown in there too).

best self present - EVER

I guess it might sound strange but I am REALLY excited to receive these. Should come by Tuesday at the latest. Ever since I was 5 I've always wanted a REAL great white shark tooth. No idea how Sea World got these (that's where the owner bought them, back in the 80s). Hopefully they didn't kill a shark.I'm calling these teeth an early birthday present (eBay waits for no one and doesn't care when your birthday is).

Hopefully my arts and crafts neighbor might be able to help me figure out how to do a little display case for my teeth.

In other news, I've been taking a course on financial markets and have applied some of what I've learned to my eBay auctions. Here's a weird thing. I had three items that didn't sell, one because the bidder canceled the bid after she won the auction. In any case, I thought I had them priced right (about 50% below the market value I determined by looking at similar items and how they were priced) but I lowered the prices of all of my items and now have bids that exceed the expected price I was hoping to get. In the case of the item that I had to relist because the bidder fucked up, when I relisted I lowered the price by $5 and currently have a bid that is $10 higher than I would have gotten had the original winner not canceled her bid after winning. So by listing an item WAY below market value I'm actually getting way above the market value.

Financial markets are crazy because people don't always use logic when it comes to money...

Random fact - the reason that exchange rates between countries fluctuates so much is because the US is not on the gold standard anymore and many countries tie their currency to ours. And hedge funds were designed to REDUCE risk for investors. That didn't work out so well. And there are assets that you can only invest in if you have $1 million dollars in assets (minus your home) because someone determined if you have a million in assets you must be a "savvy" investor. Hm...

some badges I'd like to give to my fitbit

First, let me say I DO LOVE my fitbit. I like to be encouraged and get badges and shit. But sometimes I feel a little annoyed when my fitbit tries to push me to do more than I have. Weirdly, it's like I'm letting my fitbit down. And it's not even a person. It's just a piece of plastic that gives some people rashes.

Anyway, I made these badges for my fitbit:

adventures in moving and mulch

While it might seem that I've been slacking off lately because I haven't updated my blog in a while, it's quite the opposite. I've sold all my stuff on ebay except for two items (only one doesn't have a bid). And I've also made my first bid ever (for a collection of great white shark teeth with a known provenance - sea world in the 80s of all places).

AND, I moved my treadmill desk to my house and redid my office:

treadmill desk, pre-glitter paint

office, before

I added a white board to the wall using that white board paint - it was messy to work with so it better fucking work or I'm going to be pissed - can't write on it until tomorrow

treadmill desk in my office!

desk is cooler now that it has glitter on it

it's a little tight but I can vacuum on both sides of the treadmill AND still have room for my shredder and printer

The other thing I did was re-mulch my lawn with that rubber mulch. Supposedly it keeps the bugs away, doesn't break down, and is better for the plants because it doesn't retain moisture and get moldy.

On the potentially negative side, I am a little worried my yard will smell like tires come this summer. Which is still better than my neighbor's yard, which smells like dog shit because they never clean up after their dogs.

50 bags of mulch and three trips to home depot...the last trip an employee named Pedro felt sorry for me and helped me pack this last load of mulch in my car - when I offered him money he looked surprised and said "no, it is my job to help you" - for the record I did it on the down low so he wouldn't get in trouble for taking it - Pedro is a good guy

the mulch mobile...

I guess this picture would have been more interesting if I had taken a before shot so you could see how crap the yard was looking

adventures in craigslisting

My colleague is still in search of work, and I often use emails to him to procrastinate putting shit on craigslist because I find it boring. Our email exchange (he tends to comment in my emails rather than respond in his own email):

Me: Okay, gotta get back to the task at hand which is putting some of my stuff on ebay. I am the worst at writing item descriptions. I start out with some random, rambling story to get people's attention but then fail to put in useful information like sizes or measurements.

 

> So you're probably the source for some of the famous Craig's List ads then?
 

I just sold my versa climber on craigslist today. Sorry to see it go but I can't do it with my knee anymore. I was worried the guy who came to look at it would be a serial murderer but he was just an overweight programmer looking for exercise equipment. He almost fell off the versa climber while trying it out which was a bit nerve racking as I'm not sure my home owner's insurance would cover that. Was hoping my dear machine would go to a better home.

> A better one missed, but at least its a "needy" one...

 

Oh well. He paid me in part with a $50 bill and I realized I've never in my life been in possession of a bill that was over $20. I had to look at it closely because I've never seen one before.

>  Just had a $100 the other day - a shower gift...  It is strange.

a lost title results in spring cleaning

The other day I was on a boring conference call and decided to clean out my filing cabinet, which is right next to my desk. In the process of doing that I realized I have no idea where the title to my car is.

Two years ago I decided to clean out a bunch of paperwork I had for my consulting gigs and moved a bunch of files I don't need to access very much into a cabinet above the closet in my guest room. I figured the title would be in there so today decided to search for it.

I did not find the title but did find a bunch of papers I don't need anymore. It all started out so innocently, throwing away old expense reports. Then I started throwing away my training materials, old pictures, and software CDs (bye bye XP!).

Then I decided to get rid of my music CDs and photo printer. Then I decided to clean out the cabinets over the closet in my room. The hour I estimated for my title search turned into an all day thing.

Anyway, someone who shops at goodwill is going to be psyched because among other things I donated 4 coach bags and 4 coach wallets there today. Just couldn't be bothered to put them on eBay. And, btw, what is up with the crazy people on Denver's craigslist? I sold a few things there and would get emails at 10 o'clock at night from guys asking if they could stop by around 11:30 that evening to look at my versa climber, sleeping bag, etc.

As. If.

Maybe I shouldn't clean when I'm depressed but I am a big proponent of getting rid of things that I've forgotten I have. And it turns out it's pretty easy to get a duplicate title in Colorado. All you have to do is mail in a form and $8.20. They send the new title to you, eventually.

Tomorrow I'm going to paint my treadmill desk with some glitter paint. Should look cool, or horrible.

nothing says "thank you" like a drink of death

I have a neighbor that I do jobs for, like fixing plumbing stuff and working on her swamp cooler. I got an email from her on Friday. The wind storms we had last week caused part of her fence to collapse and she wondered if I might be able to fix it.

fence was all fucked up

 Even though I don't know anything about fences I told her I would give it the old college try. I managed to get it put back together with a few brackets and stuff. It's not perfect but she's going to have the whole top part of the fence replaced this summer.

at least it's sort of back together now

She offered me money for fixing it, which made me feel really embarrassed and of course I didn't take it. So she said she was going to make me a nutri bullet drink. I had no idea what that was but it sounded interesting so I was like "cool!" She brought it over to my house as I was putting my tools away. I took a cautious, tiny sip to be polite and immediately my tongue started swelling. I asked what was in the drink.

"Pear, avocado, almonds, honey, and milk (plus some other stuff)." How nice, I thought, about the only food I have a severe allergy to that wasn't in the drink is shellfish.

I went inside and took 2 benedryl which is making me feel super hyper. I did not say anything to my neighbor about my allergies.

FH texted me:  

Nothing says thank you like a poison drink. Is she from ancient Rome?

Hahaha!

while cheering up a colleague I make a startling discovery about Mr. Potato Head

I have a colleague who was recently laid off. We have stayed in touch trying to keep each other's spirits up. He sent me this link to David Thorne's blog:

I don't have an excuse to ever be in a bad mood again.  Just have to read another of David's posts...

This one provided today's laughs - pure genius.  Know you will appreciate this... http://www.27bslash6.com/function4sports.html

In response I wrote:

Thanks for sharing! I wonder how famous David Thorne is. Seems like he would be a fun guy to have a drink with.

In other news, I am still making inquiries about that job post you forwarded but no one seems to know a thing. My assumption, based on something I heard in a meeting, is that it might be for X. And it wouldn't surprise me if he put the posting out and then totally forgot so when I asked him he had no knowledge of it. He seems like a good enough guy but boy is he scatter brained. And full of really stupid ideas. And, unfortunately, something about him reminds me of Mr. Potato Head so every time I see or talk to him that jingle about Mr. Potato Head plays in my head and makes his ideas sound even more stupid.

Oh shit. I just looked up the Mr. Potato Head jingle on youtube and realized that the song in my head must be one I made up because it's different. I wonder if there were regionally tailored Mr. Potato Head songs? Or did my brain really conjure up that jingle, which is horrible?

Self doubt sets in. I guess that's what I get for making fun of X.
 
...and since I'm an aspie I just did a search on the words of the jingle and realized that it's the jingle for Strawberry Short Cake but in my mind it's about Mr. Potato Head.
 
Possibly that false memory was caused by a severe concussion I suffered falling off the roof onto my head when I was 7...

Which reminds me, I did my medical assessment thing today in the hopes I might get the promised $150 for completing it. I lied and said I only drank 2 glasses of wine a night and they said I drink too much. Ha. My DOCTOR is the one who told me to drink at least 2 glasses of wine a day and that was when I was on chemo. Also, it said I need to sign up for a weight management plan. At first I was insulted but then realized the stupid computer thinks I'm underweight. I have very small bones so I weigh less than other people and the medical assessment can fuck off about that - even my head is abnormally small. I figure I'll lie on the next survey and say I quit drinking and gained 5 pounds and then be like "so send me my money bitches!"

In unrelated news I took an hour break from work today and went to home depot and procured Martha Stewart green glitter paint for my treadmill desk. Will send you a pic when I get it painted. It's sort of a calming green but like a calming green after a nuclear holocaust.

I've been typing this while sitting in on a meeting with B and K on coordinating a bunch of acronymic groups with our practice. Having failed to ask at the beginning of the call what the acronyms stand for I was immediately bored and decided to check in with you. I think I got an assignment but I'm not sure because I was listening to the Mr. Potato Head jingle trying to reform that memory. Now I have a slight head ache and would really like a glass of wine.

Well, you've just wasted precious moments of your life reading the above, and I apologize. Hope things are going well and that you're getting some promising leads on the job front. Keep me posted and I'll continue looking around.

mazel tov and happy monday!

can't catch a ball or a bird

Yesterday FH saw a cat on the sidewalk trying to catch a bird that had a broken wing. The bird ran into the street and the cat didn't follow. A car came and the bird ran back to the sidewalk. The cat resumed the chase. The bird figured out as long as it stayed in the street the cat wouldn't come after it.

Today, while trying to play fetch with Mr. Nuts, I realized the wounded bird was in FH's back yard because Mr. Nuts went...nuts...barking and chasing it. Of course, he didn't really know what to do once he got close enough to catch it.

The bird ran under the boat and I brought Mr. Nuts inside. Hopefully the bird is clever enough to move to someone else's yard...

fetch

Have I spent my whole life fooling myself that all dogs like to play fetch?

Since I'm walking on my tread mill all day, and then walking to dinner, FH suggested I not take Mr. Nuts for a walk because that's excessive. So I thought it might be fun to play a game of fetch with Mr. Nuts in the back yard so he can get some exercise.

Silly me.

it's not halloween so why is my zombie knee dressed like Mr. Potato Head???

Guess the hut trip took its toll on my knee (maybe didn't help that when I got home Monday morning I walked an additional 8 miles on my treadmill - honestly, I thought it would make my hip flexors feel better). It looks like Mr. Potato Head.

are you fucking kidding me? like my right knee is competing with my left knee trying to be twice as big - what an asshole

Luckily I have my TENS and running my program for an hour greatly decreased the swelling. I love this thing and probably would not be able to walk if I didn't use it every day. Fuck medical marijuana or pain killers. TENS works and involves no drugs.

he's just jealous that chihuahuas can't use TENS

But, of more interest, here are some pics my dad sent me of Balboa Island. He's in Cali for a meeting (and of course they had an earth quake).