wish all teachers were this entertaining

Earthquake? oh yeah.... that.

we were on our way out to the bookstore, halfway down the stairs. we heard the noise. what was that? the air conditioning? a truck outside? there is construction on campus. oh, the building is shaking.... it's an earthquake.

we quickly ran down the stairs and outside. who knew how big this earthquake was going to be? once outside, it took me a couple of seconds to figure out if it was over. i stood still and felt the ground moving back and forth under my feet. over in the corner i watched the plants sway back and forth. this wasn't so bad.

i've lived in SoCal most of my life, so i've had a couple earthquakes under my belt. i figured it was around a 5ish from the way it felt. the USGS reported it as a 5.8, but it's been downgraded to a 5.4.



buildings around campus were evacuated and since we were already outside, we kind of got stuck outside, corralled to the parking lot. otherwise, i would have just gone back to work. eventually, i walked back into the building, where several other employees were just sitting there at their desk, working.

you've got to hand it to californians, approximately 4 minutes after the rockin' and rollin', everything was back to normal. the media on the other hand desperately searched for a news story. they showed photographs from all over the southland of shampoo bottles that fell off shelves and took calls from people that described how their dogs acted strangely shortly before the earthquake.

all in all, no big deal. ask again after at least a 6.5.

what happens in vegas....

what happens in vegas normally would stay in vegas, however, not this time. it's going to be posted online for all the world to see. yeah!

i dragged kat on a long drive through the dessert to get to las vegas. she was a trooper. i'm glad she had the sense to say "take a picture" when we were at the rest stop. i've seen the desert so many times it doesn't occur to me that it's picture worthy. she's from a part of CN that you can't walk more than 5 feet and not smack into a tree.



once in vegas, we did what any normal person does, grab a drink and loose some money, not necessarily in that order. i was happy to be able to smoke indoors.



i took kat to see ceaser's palace, then we walked over to the venitian. i'm used to the heat in vegas, but kat didn't seem too thrilled to be walking in 118 degree weather.



of course, we were in vegas for tisha's bachelorette party.



the girls went to chippendales (who knows where the guys went... didn't care to know).





after that we hopped in a limo. can you guess which one is getting married?





we were headed to....



this is where i have to stop, because even though not everything that happens in vegas stays in vegas, some things do.

kat's visit

kitty kat came to visit me a few weeks ago. unfortunately, i had to work, so i didn't get to go out with her during the week. my sis took her out and she seemed to do more in 1 day than i get to do in a week.





kat and i met up with some friends that we haven't seen in a while. this is the first time i've seen shino since just after my high school graduation (some years ago) and the first time i've seen andrea in a year. even when i saw andrea last year it was the first time in about 15 years.



notice the pizookies. aren't they beautiful?

as a side note, andrea used to be a singer back in thailand. very cute. i used to sing along to the songs, they're rather catchy. through shear, dumb luck i found her music videos on youtube (thanks to whoever posted that). i shall now put them here for your viewing pleasure. sorry andrea!

after you check out her videos, check out her jewelry at Stones & Starling.

The Orange County Fair - Say Cheese!

every year there are two fairs that happen around where i live - the Orange County Fair and the Los Angeles County Fair. Every year i try to attend both. I usually go for the food and to pet random farm animals. As you can imagine, there aren't many goats in suburban Los Angeles County. Really though, it's about the food. Fair food is a cuisine in and of itself, like no other. Healthy is not someone you think of when you eat fair food, not even in health conscious southern california.

i ate sausage dogs a foot long covered in peppers and onions that were grilled over the largest bar-b-que pit i've ever seen. yes, that huge cloud of smoke is from the pit.



they grill corn in the husks there too. i don't know what the heck i put on that corn, i grabbed a little of everything, but i'm guessing there was garlic powder, onion powder, lemon/pepper salt, paprika, and of course lots and lots of butter. it was very yummy.



my friend greg works with a rare fruit growers group and they had a stall in the fair so i stopped by to say hi. he's the one in the green tigger shirt on the right.



he was even kind enough to give us a taste of some of the rare fruit like this cherimoya. okay, so, we're asian. cherimoya isn't that rare to us, but it is to other southern californians. yeah, more food.



last but not least is of course the deep fried twinkie covered in powdered suger and chocolate. doesn't that sound like a heart attack waiting to happen. i've seen it at the fair for a long time now, but this is the first year i've actually tried one. it's actually pretty good and not what i imagined. i figured it was going to be this digustingly greasy delight, but it was actually really wonderful. it was a light and crispy on the outside and warm and delicious on the inside. i really recommend trying one once in your life. then, go home and work out for 3 hours to work of the twinkie.





this year was special for me because i entered some pictures into the fair's photography contest. see the picture with the blue ribbon? that's mine.



the the other picture with the blue ribbon? that's mine too.



we saw the petting zoo, got some cotten candy, and checked out the spa displays then went home. all in all, it was a great night.

Amber the Puppy Princess

several months ago krista's cousin found this pink fluff ball. the fluff ball turned out to be a lost puppy that someone had dyed pink. krista couldn't keep the puppy herself, but the puppy found a good home anyway.

these days the pink fluff ball is no longer pink and goes by the name of amber and she is a princess. despite being a little princess, amber was not happy with her crown. i'm not sure if she looks depressed or is really pissed off at us for doing this to her.

she was a little trooper and put up with us for quite some time. hopefully, princess amber will let me shoot her again one day. pet portraits are more fun that i imagined.

Chase's Birthday Party

the family decided to have Chase's 1st birthday party at randy's aunt and uncle's house, the one we all go to for 3rd of july as well as new years.

obviously, with summer comes BBQs and that means hot dogs. i've always had a weakness for hot dogs cooked over an open flame. if it were not for hot dogs, i may have starved to death before my 8th birthday.



chase's parents decided to get one of those water slide/bounce house combos. i could resist! i want one of these for my birthday party!



i'm not sure whose kid this is, i'm never quite sure at these family functions. i've been with randy a number of years now and i still always end up meeting someone i've never met before. he has a big family. anyhow, i really like the picture, so here it is.

3rd of July

every year, la mirada holds a fireworks show at the park on the 3rd of july. randy's family usually gathers at his aunt and uncle's house near the park to watch the show. everyone has a lot of fun spending time with family and the kids love their uncle. i'm not sure how much his back loves how much they love him.



when randy and i went to las vegas we brought back some sparklers, the good kind, not those darn morning glory things that should hardly be considered sparklers at all. claud and i decided to have a little photo fun with sparklers.