Differences

Mr. Frisby and I share many similarities. We also have some differences, though, and we noticed one this week. Upon moving into our new apartment, we started organizing and getting things unpacked. My first order of business was this:



Mr. Frisby's first order of business was this:

Crap

There's nothing like a good move to help you realize you have too much crap. I don't care how much crap you have. When it comes time to move it all, you realize you have too much. Since we had our big move today, all of our crap is piled in boxes around our new apartment. When we have unpacked all of said crap, I will post some photos of our new place.

Happy Halloween!

I have to work on Halloween night, so I'm celebrating a little early. Please enjoy this spooky scary video from one of my favorite TV shows as my happy Halloween wishes to you:

Birthday Golf

For Mr. Frisby's birthday, I told him we would go golfing in Pacific Grove. That was back in April. We finally had the chance to go on Saturday and we had a lovely time. Our friend, Aaron, came with us and we hit the links at 8:15 am. We had to leave our house at 6:30 am to make it for our tee time and I was worried that it would be cold and foggy on the coast that early in the morning. When we got there, it was cold and foggy, but we had lots of fun in spite of the weather.

There were deer.


There was fog.


There was lots of walking.


There were bad lies.

Mr. Frisby's

Mine

There were good shots.


And there were bad shots.


There were some good putts, but mostly bad putts.


And in the end, there were happy golfers!


Yay! Let's go again!

Proofreading

Some of you, or all of you, may have noticed some typos in my last couple of posts. During my many years of schooling and writing papers, I have prided myself on handing in assignments with very few, if any, typographical errors. I always proofread my writing to ensure correct spelling and grammar. My last couple of posts were no exceptions. After writing them and proofreading them, I posted them only to realize that there were some typos that had escaped my scrutiny. This is maddening to me! I have never had a need to question my proofreading skills in the past, but I fear that my age is catching up with me and my mind is not as alert and quick as it used to be. I may have to start having Mr. Frisby do a second proofread on my posts. Birthdays and getting older have never bothered me in the past because all of the physical changes that occurred were positive ones. Now I feel that negative changes are starting to take place and I don't want to get older. After my proofreading skills, I can only imagine what will be the next thing to go...

I Looked Out the Window...

...and what did I see?

A GIANT praying mantis looking at me!



Unfortunately, these pictures don't do it justice. The thing was massive! I actually noticed it first when I was walking up to the door after getting home from the gym. I noticed it out of the corner of my eye as I walked by it and nearly had a heat attack! I quickly rushed into the house to escape it's spiny claws. I grabbed the camera and ran to the window to get a good shot and the thing literally turned its head and looked at me when I took the picture. I texted Mr. Frisby to let him know that there was a gigantic bug outside that was probably capable of eating me. Even when I told him that it was 5-6 inches long (not an exaggeration), he did not seem as concerned for my safety as I thought he should be. He thought it was awesome. I told him it was not. I did an internet search to verify that it was, indeed, a praying mantis and to try to find out if praying mantises of that size were an anomaly and if they were dangerous. I learned that praying mantises are carnivorous and that was enough info for me. The thing stuck around for awhile and was still there was Mr. Frisby came home for lunch. When he actually saw it, he was indeed impressed with it's enormous size. But, still not as concerned with my safety as I thought he should be. He still thought it was awesome and wanted to name it Manny. I said no. Fortunately the thing was gone by the time we finished lunch. I have never seen any sort of praying mantis at my house, giant or otherwise, and I hope I never see one again. That thing was GROSS!

Loma Prieta

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, a 7.0 Richter magnitude earthquake that rocked the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. I remember the day well. I was in the fifth grade and we were studying the Civil War. On October 17, 1989, I was in San Francisco with the fifth grade classes from my school on a field trip to visit Fort Point as part of our Civil War studies. Fortunately, we were on our way home with the earthquake struck at 5:04 pm. On the bus, it felt like all four tires had blown out, one after the other. We weren't sure what had happened, but the bus pulled over and we all got off so they could check the bus. When we got off, our teacher informed us there had been an earthquake. None of us realized had bad it was. My first clue about the intensity of the earthquake came when we passed a sound wall under construction on the way home. On the way up to San Francisco, I noticed the wall was almost finished. When we passed by it after the earthquake, I noticed it was just a pile of rubble. My next clue about how bad the earthquake was came when I got off the bus back at our school and I saw the relief on my mom's face when she saw me. She had no idea where we were when the earthquake hit and was afraid we were part of the damages they were showing on TV. She told me how worried she had been about me. But, I still didn't realize how bad the earthquake was. Then I got home and saw all of the news reports and images of the damage done. It was bad. Collapsed freeways, landslides, fires, etc., etc. Most of the damage happened in San Francisco and Santa Cruz and it was extensive. Fortunately, my neighborhood came through almost unscathed. But, it was quite the event to experience. I can't believe 20 years have gone by since that day.

Where were you when the earthquake hit?