October 2009 Archives

I sit in my house and look around at all my DVDs and CDs and wonder why I still have them all lying around. I mean, it is almost 2010 and for some reason no one has come up with a reliable Mac based media solution. Is it too much to ask for a central server where all of my music and movies are stored and can be accessed by all my computers but also all of my televisions? These days, I find myself watching more shows on my computer, but I also rip them to my iPhone and then watch them on my 36" Sony Wega. Granted all of my electronics are over 10 years old with the exception of my DVD player. I still do not have Blue Ray or an LCD TV. My 15 year younger self would be very mad if he knew that I have not upgraded!!

I guess part of my problem is spending priorities. I'd much rather go on trips than spend it on new electronics. Despite the lack of new home entertainment electronics, my 2008 iMac and my new 2TB hard drive are screaming for a good solution for ripping all of my media to one place. I know if I leave 1TB for computer backups, I can still rip about 250 DVDs to the HD. I guess I can start there and then move the HD to a media computer that is networked?? I don't know, but Mr. Jobs, I am waiting for a better Apple TV (perhaps something that integrates Apple TV inside an actual TV.. since the Apple TV outputs are too advanced for my TV..). Actually, I am waiting for a better TV period.

So I guess I am just rambling about how old my home entertainment electronics are. Ideally, I want a new 42" LCD 1080p HDTV with a lot of contrast ratio, a storage solution for all my media that is digital, compact, and elegant, a new receiver with wireless speakers, and a way to play or rip HD discs and HD TV programming on the same system.

Any ideas, just let me know!

Josh, Gorn, Huell
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

Truly one of the greats! It was an honor to meet Huell today at the Costa Mesa AAA Travel show. We chatted about UC Davis when I told him I graduated from there and enjoyed his show. I also told him I loved the show where he found the corners of California, but neglected to tell him I was thisclose to his hometown of Gallatin, TN. Probably for the best.

Right before we took the photo, he told the crowd, "It's getting weird towards the end of the line!". Those of us who waited over an hour in line chatted about our favorite episodes and laughed whenever we would hear him exclaim, "Wow!" to one of the people ahead of us in line.

Tuesday October 17, 1989 dawned as a typical day in my senior year of high school. There was nothing out of the ordinary in my school day, other than excitement at the fact I was going to attend my first World Series game. I had an opportunity to go to the NLCS a little over a week earlier for the Pennant clinching Game 5 of the Giants vs. the Cubs. I remember in my Advanced Drama class that my teacher, Mrs. Jenkins mentioned that she also got tickets to the game and would be sitting in the same area that I was going to be in. I don't recall how we got the tickets to the game, but I remember that my step-father at the time, Tom and I were slated to go to the game.

After school, I drove over to Tom's office so that we could carpool to the game. I remember Tom was driving some random car from a car lot that he had worked with, so I don't remember exactly which car we had taken. A key point was that we were low on gas to start, but since we were running a little behind schedule, we were going to get gas after the game. We also needed to take one of Tom's clients to the Oakland International Airport before we could go to Candlestick Park, so we needed to head to San Francisco via I-880, the Nimitz Freeway. Normally, when traveling from Pleasanton to San Francisco, we would take the much nicer I-580 to the Bay Bridge.

Just before 4pm, we were at Oakland Airport dropping off Tom's client and headed for San Francisco. We drove over I-880 via the Cypress Structure to the Bay Bridge. I remember whenever I drove on the Cypress Structure that it always reminded me of the opening in Taxi. Heading past the toll plaza over the Bay Bridge, I remember one side of the bridge had Giants banners and the other side had A's banners. We headed over the upper deck and into the City, completing our journey over the bridge around 4:15. Tom and I proceeded to Candlestick Park parking lot, and ended up in one of the massive unpaved lots past the center field area of the park.

Our seats were in the Left field area, right in the front row! I was very excited once we realized where exactly the seats were. I remember to my left the huge scoreboard was a bit difficult to read, but that the Jumbotron was easily seen. Around 4:50 or so, Tom mentioned to me that he needed to go make a phone call. So for the next 10 minutes, I watched the Jumbotron and excitedly awaited the start of the pre-game festivities. Before I left the house, I had set the VCR in my room to record the game on ABC, just in case someone hit a home run and it landed in front of me, I would be on TV.

Just after 5:00pm, I remember thinking the following: The Giants were showing a video of "Great moments in Giant History" home video that was for sale. I remembered hearing something about Bob Welch and the last time he pitched, I think it was for the division win or something like that, there was an earthquake in the morning. I kid you not, but I was thinking about this, because Bob was scheduled to pitch game 3 that day. So as I am watching the video and thinking of this, I hear a load roar. At first, I thought I was at Shea Stadium in New York, because I thought it was a plane going overhead. Then all hell broke loose. The ground jerked violently, and instantly I knew we were having an earthquake. I was watching the scoreboard and Jumbotron and they all of a sudden went out. All the light standards in the stadium went out and I remember looking up at them and that the poles that held the light standards looked like rubber. 15 seconds later, the shaking stopped. We all looked at each other and was like "YEAH! GO GIANTS!" We all let out a cheer and waited for the game to continue.

Tom returned to the seats and asked if I was OK, and I said yeah. He remarked that he was in the concourse waiting to use the payphone when it shook and the whole thing moved 10 feet side to side. I am sure he was exaggerating a bit, but once it did move, everyone scattered. At this point, we did not know if the game was going to be played. There were no PA announcement at all, but one of the fans behind us had a radio and reports were beginning to trickle in. We heard it was possibly a m5-6. We then started to get reports that there were fires in SF and that the Bay Bridge had collapsed completely.

Tom and I noticed that the players were leaving and the balloons were being taken back off the field. We then decided to make for the exits and head home. Our first obsticle was that we could not remember exactly which car we had (after all it was not one of our regular cars) and where it was parked. Understandable after what happened, but still nerve wracking. Once in the car, we realized we had a bigger problem. KCBS was telling us that all the bridges were closed for inspection and power was out to most areas. This meant a much farther drive home via San Jose, and to boot we had not enough gas and we needed to find one with power.

We left Candlestick and headed south inch by inch. Traffic was incredible. After an hour or so, we finally got to a part of the peninsula that had power and was able to get gas for the car. A further two hours later, we passed the San Mateo Bridge, and a few minutes later, KCBS reported that the San Mateo had just been cleared for re-use. We decided to get off the freeway parking lot, and turn around. All the traffic was still going south to San Jose, and the Northbound 101 was empty. We quickly turned around and headed to the San Mateo Bridge and headed home. It was only about 35 minutes more before we got home to Pleasanton. I remember crossing the bridge and holding my breath. You could look at the lights of the cities around the Bay and see just how many people were without power. I remember thinking that in the Geologic time scale, missing the collapse of two structures by 45 minutes was cutting it close. Listening to the damage reports on the radio was vastly sobering, and the same time very interesting. I think that is why to this day, I love tuning into the radio or TV when earthquakes strike to see what is happening.

When we arrived in Pleasanton, Mom was relieved that we were safe (I don't remember if we had called her before we got home). I walked up to my room and it looked like someone had just tossed it to the side. I wish I had taken some photos, but in the pre-digital era, I rarely had a loaded film camera around my room. All my dresser drawers were open and wall hangings were askew, but that was about it. A little later, I remember Mom asking me where my car was, and in a panic, I could not remember where I left it. Like trying to find our car at Candlestick, the routine things all got forgotten when the quake struck. Eventually, we remembered that it was at Tom's office and we went to fetch it.

Eventually we went to bed and ended one of the days of my life I will never forget. I am amazed that I still remember these details 20 years later. I wish I had written things down and photographed better. My VCR Recording of the quake coverage was pretty cool to watch, but for some reason, my 17 yo self decided to record over the footage with the re-played Game 3 some 10 days later. I still regret not buying a new tape. The only bonus is that you can clearly see me when Matt Williams hit his home run mere feet from me in the 2nd inning.

I am glad that people are posting their videos on YouTube of the earthquake. It takes some effort to get those old VHS tapes converted, but I am glad that I can see footage that I actually still remember vividly!

Here are some of my favorites:
ABC's Local coverage shortly after the quake
KXTV in Sacramento Live news when quake was happening
Footage from the game
The actual ABC Footage of the game when it happened.
The SF Chronicle Loma Prieta page

Tomorrow is the 20th Anniversary of the m6.9 Loma Prieta Earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area at 5:04pm on 10-17-89. This approaching anniversary has made me reflect on that day a lot and spend a lot of time watching old broadcasts on YouTube. It also has me thinking about all the big quakes I have felt in my life. Using the Club Josh Daily Update and the USGS as references, I have determined the top 5 quakes I have felt (plus a bonus). They are:

1 - m7.1 Hector Mine (10-16-99) - 10 years ago today I felt my largest quake. I had just relocated to Southern California a few months prior and this was my first quake felt in Studio City. I remember it was around 2am, and it woke me up. It was a good shaker, despite being so far away. This is one of the few quakes I have actually dived under a table for.

2 - m6.9 Loma Prieta (10-17-89)- More on this tomorrow on the 20th anniversary. Needless to say, I was in a seat at Candlestick Park waiting the start of Game 3 of the 1989 World Series.

3 - m6.6 Mid-Niigata Prefecture Japan (10-24-04) - My first international quake was a big one. Daniel and I were at the Hotel Kazusaya in Tokyo's Nihombashi district. We had just gotten back to our room after a day out and were trying to decide what to do in the evening. Literally as I sat down on the bed and Daniel went into the bathroom, our whole hotel room started to shake. This shaker lasted quite a long time. A few minutes later it started again. We went downstairs to make sure everything was OK and then headed back up to the room to turn on the TV. Japan has a cool system for earthquakes. Within minutes, all the main channels have a map of where the quake is and then the perceptive magnitude (like the Mercalli scale back home). This quake had at least 3 m6.0+ aftershocks, but they are not counted separately even though they are still some of the largest quakes I have felt.

4 - m6.6 San Simeon (12-24-03) - The Christmas Eve Quake was all the way up in Central California, but it was enough to give me a few mile S wave rolls down in Orange County. I was actually surprised that I felt this one..

5 - m6.1 Palm Springs (7-8-86) - I was at my grandpa's house in West Covina on a bed with rollers on a wooden floor. When the quake started shaking, the bed started to move across the room and really scared me. I remember all through the night that this one cabinet with glass doors would keep vibrating every time there was an aftershock. This added to the sense of fear and dread that I had all night.

Excluding aftershocks of the quakes above, the rest were below 6.0, with the largest being the m5.5 Chino Hills quake (7-29-08). I was thankfully at home in bed so I could immediately go on the USGS site and see what was going on with the quake. My closeness to the epicenter led to a stronger P wave than I was used to, but other than some minor objects being moved on shelves, everything else was OK. The m5.2 Big Bear quake of 2-22-03 was notable because it struck as I was leaving my house on my way to work at Disneyland and I felt it and got to listen to live team coverage on the radio on the way to work. That quake was also part of my blog post chronicling my day where I was up for 24 hours.

There are also several large California quakes I did not feel due to my location in the state (I was in Davis during the m6.7 Northridge, m7.3 Landers, and m6.5 Big Bear quakes of the early '90s). I was in Woodand on a Geography 102 field trip during the m7.2 Cape Mendocino quake, but still did not feel it..

Tomorrow I will write an in-depth post about what happened to me that fateful October day in 1989, including what led to me being where I was at the time of the quake, and the epic journey home.

I have been back from the Southeast for a few days and am settling back into my vacation-at-home routine. I smartly took an additional week off from work to get my vacation accrued balance down so I would not lose vacation time. It does feel weird not going back to work after a few days, but I got over it fast.

Not sure what I am going to do until next Tuesday. I want to get out of the house, but I have a lot to do around here. If I was smart, I would do some hard core pre-Winter cleaning, but that is no fun. The biggest thing I am looking at is how to spend my Coinstar cash at Amazon. I just need to pull the trigger and get it done. I have already done some post-vacation work on the web site - just check out the What's New blog to see what I have done so far..

I am a bit nervous going back to work as long time readers know, things at work tend to go crazy when I am gone, so I am waiting to see what sort of things I will deal with when I return. Crazy tidbit? Today is my 8th anniversary at Disney, and I do feel that I am approaching a crossroads in my career there. It will be an interesting few months and hopefully things will work out for the best, whatever I decide to do.

Our last day in the South dawned in Franklin, TN at the uber-swank Residence Inn. We took it easy in the morning, despite having a lot to do today, but since we arrived at the hotel late last night due to the long drive from Atlanta, we needed the slow start. It also helped that this Residence Inn had a later breakfast schedule than the others. We finally loaded up the Santa Fe and headed into historic Franklin. We were not sure what we were going to see, but Mom had gathered some brochures to steer us around.

After driving though downtown, we first stopped at the Carter House. No, it is not where our 39th president was from, but rather an important historical location for the 1864 Battle of Franklin during the Civil War. It turns out, the Carter House was right near the battle lines between the Federal and Confederate forces and the house itself was hit with thousands of bullets. You can still see some of the holes in the wood of the house as well as some of the out buildings on the property. We decided against taking the guided tour as we were pressed for time, but it was nice to walk around the property.

Next stop was the Carnton Plantation and Battlefield. It took us some time to get there since we missed the sign for the turnoff. Fortunately, it is a beautiful area with lots of nice big homes and ranches so we did not mind too much. Carnton was also at the center of the Battle of Franklin - a place where nearly 10,000 people died. The Plantation is also the site of a Confederate Cemetery. The owner of the house, John McGavock set aside land after the Civil War after discovering the poor condition of the Confederate graves. While we were there, they were setting up for a wedding in the back of the house so we took our photos of the house and the grounds before heading down the road. It was my first visit to a Civil War site and I was glad that I finally was able to be somewhere that had so much history.

Completely shifting gears, we headed towards the Loveless Cafe made famous by the Food Network. True to word, when we arrived, the place had over an hour wait for lunch. We were starting to get pressed for time to get to the airport, so we decided to head to Krystal Burgers for lunch. Heading down the road back into Nashville proper, we were having a difficult time finding a Krystal and our adventures took us on side streets near Vanderbilt University. I must say as much as I love UC Davis, these Eastern schools always have a different feel about them. Maybe it is all the rabid college football fans that are around the area. Finally, we gave up searching for Krystal and headed to the airport.

We had about an hour to get to the gate for boarding, but thankfully BNA is a smaller airport and it was not very busy. We checked in our bags (arrrgh - stupid American and it's $20 baggage fee!) and made it through security with about 10 minutes to spare before boarding. I decided to grab a last minute Burger King fix to take on the plane, so I raced down the terminal to get it. By the time I got back to the gate, Mom and Gary and their preferred status were already on the plane, leaving me to wait until Boarding Group 6 was called. Once on board, I chowed down on my BK and was ready to leave.

The flight to Dallas went smoothly and Mom and I discussed a few things about our forthcoming trip to Argentina. It was only a 90 minute flight so before we knew it we were on the ground in Dallas. Mom and Gary had to rush to make their connection in another area of the terminal so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I headed down to my gate where I proceeded to wait and wait and wait for my flight. We were about 45-mintues late leaving due to a mechanical problem in the galley, and right before we boarded, the paramedics were called for a passenger. There was a conspicuous empty row of seats once we were on board, so I hope all turns out OK.

On the aircraft, I had two overexcited, overweight musician types to my left and behind me I had this man who had a 10 month old kitten that was sedated as his carry-on. Actually, I think the kitten had its own seat on the plane. It meowed on and off through the flight, and thankfully the musicians slept for most of the flight. I got to watch two episodes of New Europe on the flight and I was impressed with some of the visuals that Michael and his team got, especially towards the end of episode two in Turkey.

I was finally on the ground at SNA after three grueling hours. Daniel came and picked me up and after a brief stop at Del Taco, we arrived back at my apartment. This trip was certainly a lot of fun, and I loved so many things about it: new states, meeting new people, Dollywood, the western part of North Carolina, and much more!

Stay tuned for further adventures!

Today we had a lot of errands to run around Atlanta and we did not make it out of the area until after 1pm. On the list, we visited Garys sister and his childhood home, as well as his parent's graves. I was glad that we got most of the family stuff done that we needed to, and it was worth being a little late.

Before departing, we made one stop at a KFC that had a huge mechanical chicken on top of the restaurant in Murietta, GA and then tried to find the world headquarters of The Weather Channel. TWC was not a well marked building and we had to make a grand circle before we arrived. I was disappointed there were not any gift shops or cardboard cut outs of TWC weathermen, but I did at least get to take a few photos.

It was finally time to collect our bags and hit the road out of town. Hunger didn't let us get far so we ate at Mrs. Winners chicken restaurant for lunch and gassed up the Santa Fe before finally leaving the greater Atlanta area.

After almost two hours we arrived in Chattanooga, TN. We thought that would put us back in Central Time, but sadly not - the Central time border is just a little farther west. We first stopped at the old Chattanooga train depot where the station and the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo arrived and departed. It is now a Holiday Inn where you can sleep and have meetings in the rail cars. I think it is a cool concept and want to stay there sometime.

Next up, we headed up towards Lookout Mountain hovering above Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain is home to three attractions: The Incline Railway, Rock City, and Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls looked the most interesting to us and was open the latest so we headed there. The outside reminded me of the Loch Ness Monster Visitor Center in Scotland, but the inside was considerably more modern. We descended down into the mountain with a guide and walked along narrow paths stopping at various formations in the tight caverns. This is certainly not a place for claustrophobics! Finally, we arrived at Ruby Falls which has its own timed light show. I was impressed that the lights were all high efficiency LEDs. It seems the attraction was renovated recently to make it a Global Green Attraction that uses minimal power. I like that they timed the show to prevent people from lingering too long and to keep the groups moving through the area.

On our way out, they were prepping for the Ghost Cavern experience where they send you down one of their caverns they normally use for evacuations and scare you with chain saws and zombies in the dark. Somehow, I think the tight spaces lend itself to being more scared than your typical haunted maze.

We then departed Chattanooga and headed towards Nashville. We stopped for dinner after we careened down I-24 back into Georgia and then it curved back into Tennessee. We ate at a Western Sizzle restaurant which was a glorified Sizzler. It was good food, with the exception of toothpick remnants that I encountered in my fillet.

By the end of the dinner, it was late, but we gained an hour now that we were finally back in Central time. We decided to take the off-interstate detour to drive by the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg, TN. It is way off the beaten path and in the middle of two interstates. It took us an hour to get there and then a little over an hour to get back to the Interstate. Google Maps again wanted to send us in the wrong area, but at least there are signs in the major tourist areas to keep you heading in the right direction. We did miss one turnoff on our way back to the Interstate, but at least we were still going in the right direction so there was only a minor delay. These rural areas must have had a great meteor shower show! We did have a full moon so even though it was dark, we could still see.

We finally made it to Franklin, TN and our final Residence Inn. This one had just opened and it showed. It was completely up to date with all the modern conveniences and decorations. The sofa bed was about the same as the rest, but it was nice to not see any weird stains or crumbs when you unfolded the mattress.

Tomorrow we fly home, and we plan on seeing historic Franklin and then do some last minute drive-bys in Nashville before catching our plane home.

Up a little late today, but sort of on purpose. We did not feel like braving the morning commute in the notorious Atlanta traffic, so we delayed our departure until after 9am. We had an errand to run before we could make our way down to the city center, and by the time we were on the road, we were pushing 1030, and we arrived at the CNN Center around 11.

I have to admit to a bit of geek-ness when I was at CNN, since I love to watch it, especially during breaking news. Of course, all the good stuff like The Situation Room and Anderson Cooper 360 are filmed in Washington and New York, but at least we got to see where the regular news desk is filmed. Gary had revealed that before CNN was there, it was the Wonderful World of Sid and Marty Kroft. I don't know why, but that makes me laugh.

The actual studio tour was a bit worn and didn't really cover what I thought it was, but it turns out we had just missed the VIP Tour which actually goes down into the newsroom. We were left with peering through the glass that overlooks the newsroom as well as taking photos at a fake desk. (Yes, there is a Gorn photo there I need to scan.) The tour took about an hour and after getting my complimentary Anderson Cooper bookmark and an extra one for Tiffany, we set out for the World of Coke.

World of Coke is just across Centennial Park from CNN. Centennial Park was built for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and it certainly has seen better days. Sure, there were parts that were still nice, but there were definitely some rough edges. I kept looking for a memorial for the bombing victims, but I could not find one. Before long, we arrived at the World of Coke.

I am not sure what to make of this place, it is basically part Coke museum and part repeated commercial. It was cool to see some of the older Coke promotional products, and I am sure if I collected Coke stuff I would have been in heaven. I enjoyed the bottling exhibit as well as the historical stuff, and the fact that most of the staff seemed to really enjoy their jobs. To me, personnel can make all the difference, even in a mediocre attraction. The other big let down was the tasting room. Had I never been to the Coke area at Epcot at Walt Disney World, this would have been amazing. Also, the fact that I stopped drinking soda and caffeinated beverages in January, blunted the experience. One of the things I wanted to try was Sprite Zero which actually was quite good since I drink a lot of Minute Maid Light Lemonade. What really amazed me was how awful regular Coke and Barq's Root Beer tasted after not having them for 10 months. I guess I really am over having Soda! I will say the Pineapple Fanta from Greece was tasty as was some of the South American citrus drinks. After a brief scare where Mom left her cell phone behind but quickly recovered it, we headed out to find a landmark of Atlanta - Pitty Pat's Porch.

For those of you who do not know, Pitty Pat was the name of Hattie McDaniel's character in Gone With the Wind. Pitty Pat's porch specializes in Southern Cuisine, and we were hoping to grab some lunch. After wandering around with some bad directions from Google Maps, we found the restaurant only to discover they had already closed from lunch and were not quite open for dinner. Disappointed, we headed back to the car and Mom and Gary decided to take me to the Varsity, a famous burger and hot dog diner next to Georgia State University. I can only imagine how crazy this place must get on Saturdays during football season! The food was good and cheap with fries that remind me of In-n-Out and shakes that remind me of Bob's Big Boy. The burger I had (Sorry purists, I was not in the mood for a hot dog) was good, but Steak N Shake still has my favorite so far of the trip.

We were pushing 4:30 so we knew we needed to head back to Dallas, GA for a family dinner with Gary's relatives, and after a quick photo stop at the Margaret Mitchell House, we were on our way. I can not believe how long it took us to get back to our hotel to drop some stuff off and then head to Gary's Aunts house. It took just over two hours since we left downtown to get there, and most of the bad traffic was on the side streets! I felt like I was driving from Burbank to Anaheim on the I-5 on a Friday.

By the time we got there, people were already eating, but we quickly joined in and sat down for a reunion. Most people I had never met, and a few I knew from Mom's wedding and just from meeting over the years. We stayed until after midnight chatting which made for a late arrival back at the hotel. I had hoped to meet up with Colleen from High School while I was here, but she had gotten back late from her event as well. Hopefully, she will hit the OC in the coming year or at the very least see her at the High School Reunion in the Bay Area next year.