First Quake

It's been 5 weeks in California and we just experienced our first earthquake. It was a 4.2 quake at 4:42 a.m. this morning (picture shows where the epicenter was). Tim woke up asking what was going on - I think he was a little freaked out. Our place was rocking back and forth, which didn't seem all that bad. It was the noise of our glass shower doors hitting each other that got me up and freaked me out.

Nothing fell off of our shelves and listening to the news a 4.2 quake is not all that big but it's still making the top of the news. Maybe it's a slow news day.

Exciting times here in the Bay area.

DMV Hell

It’s official, I’m a Californian. Well, I will be officially in 7-10 days. I took the California driver’s license and after two tries, yes I failed at my first attempt, I passed! I was totally fretting about the test since I have test anxiety, and for good reason. I failed with 7 wrong on the first try and I even studied! You need 6 or less wrong to pass. Thank goodness I passed the second try (they let you take the test three times on the same day) because there was no way I could ever bring myself to go back to the San Francisco DMV. They were horribly understaffed and I waited in too many lines to count.

I expected more from San Francisco but there is only one DMV office in San Francisco. The nearest DMV is at least 20 minutes away if I were to drive, but since I’m all about public transportation now with no car, it would take me up to an hour to go anywhere else. Boo-hoo for me. I guess I’m spoiled from Seattle and Hawaii where it was easy for me to go to any DMV office.

I made an appointment because I thought it would make a difference and make things run smoother. Wrong. I got to the DMV at 10:15 a.m. for my 10:30 a.m. appointment and then waited in line to get my paperwork for 25 minutes. Apparently, for every appointment person, they take at least 5 non-appointment people. The appointment line was very short while the non-appointment snaked around the small DMV “lobby”.

The waiting didn’t stop there. I got my paperwork and then had to stand in line again to get my number to get my paperwork processed. That was another 10 minutes to fill out my paperwork and then get my number, it’s now around 10:50 a.m. I waited another 15 minutes to get my number where the nice DMV man processed my paperwork and gave me my eye test. Being in San Francisco the eye test was high tech. The eye chart hung on the wall and for the test the nice DMV man got half a piece of paper and covered my left eye and then right eye. He used a piece a paper he folded up for my eye test! I’m pretty sure in Seattle and Hawaii they had fancy eye testing machine thingys, but in San Francisco – eye chart on the wall and a piece of scratch paper. Love it.

After my papers got processed I went to stand in another line to get my picture taken – 15 more minutes and it’s getting close to 11:30 a.m. I got my picture taken and then needed to stand in another line to get my written test. I finally got my test around 11:40 a.m. or so and took the PAPER test. Yes, it was a paper test that I took in a sort of voter boothish booth. Again, Seattle and Hawaii have electronic machines and poor San Francisco has PAPER tests! Very strange. So I took my paper test and it was really difficult!

The nice DMV lady saw the disappointment and shame on my face as she looked over my test marking the questions I had wrong and was gentle. She then told me I could take the test again and to look over my PAPER test and retake the test. So I took my PAPER test and looked over my mistakes:

You want to make a right turn and there is a bike lane – what do you?
a. Merge into the bike lane and then make your turn
b. Stop and then make your turn.
c. Turn right crossing the bike lane.

Now some of you may think this was an easy question but I got it wrong! I won’t tell you which answer I chose. So I looked over my mistakes over and over again and the ones I got right too since I was guessing on some of those also.

Who knows what the speed limit is at a railroad crossing?! I’m from Hawaii. I know, I’ve been gone long enough so I should know this but I got that wrong too!

So I stood back in line to try again, it’s now close to noon. I get my PAPER test, go to my booth and start taking the test. The automated voice calling the numbers being served starts distracting me…now serving B067 at counter 5… now serving H101 at counter 25… now serving F063 at counter 10… now serving A045 at counter 1, on and on it goes. I’m in the booth right next to the main DMV desk so I’m getting distracted by that too hearing if people are passing or not passing their tests. I felt some relief hearing lots of other people not passing. Most of them were non-English speakers but still, I wasn’t the only flunky.

I’m done with my test. There are a handful of questions that I guessed but this test was a lot easier than the first one. I looked over my questions again and again thinking if I fail again I’ll be stuck at the DMV for at least another 30 minutes to take my third and final test. I can’t take the pressure and take my test and stand in line again to get it checked.

It’s now lunchtime and there is less staff so I have to wait about 10 minutes to get my test checked. I go through in my mind the questions I wasn’t sure of but what can I do. I could call Tim but they were really strict about the whole cell phone being off and people taking/cheating. There was even one person that got caught cheating (text messaging) and the security guard got him and carted him off. Exciting times at the DMV.

I’m up next to get my test checked. The person in front of me failed for the third time and needs to come back another day since she used up her three tries. There is some relief in knowing that if I fail again I have a third chance but if I’m that bad should I really be driving?!

I’m up and the nice DMV lady takes my test. As she’s checking it I peer over the counter to count with her how many I’m getting wrong. She goes through the first page and marks two – dear gawd! I have four more on the second side. She goes through the second page quickly and then asks for my Washington state driver’s license to punch the official hole through it. I passed! Thank goodness – I’m not an idiot after all.

The nice DMV lady sees that I failed the first time and congratulates me. She then tells me that the test is difficult and that she wouldn’t want to take the test and would rather bus it than take the test. I feel a little better take my whole punched Washington state driver’s license and make it back home on the bus and await my much earned California driver’s license that should arrive by mail in 7-10 days. Good-bye Washington. I am now one of the many hated Californians now – god help me. Now serving G101 at counter 4.

Freestyle Cruisin'

I know, that’s not the best title but that’s what our cruise to Alaska was called. Freestyle Cruising is AWESOME! There were twelve restaurants that we could go to for our meals and all very casual. We loved it. The “we” I’m referring to is Tim (my mans) and Tim’s parents, Sandy and Bob (or Rob, or Robert, depending on how much trouble he was with Sandy).

The trip took us from Pier 66 in Seattle, to Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria, and then back in Seattle all in seven days. It was a great trip and a true vacation. I got to relax to so much and get my mind focused so that I was able to read not just one, but two Economists and understand and retain most of the information! That’s a big deal for me. Tim felt the same and he was actually mellowing out by the end of the trip. His control-freakness level dropped from 95% to 40%. I just made that percentage thing up but what I’m trying to convey is that Tim was really mellowing out by the end of the trip.

Highlight of the trip – Tim and I went ziplining and survived despite Sandy worrying that we would drop like stones to our demise while up on the platforms.

In an effort to try and keep this post short I’m shortcutting my sentences so you can just get a feel for what each day was like. Otherwise we’re looking at a super-duper long post, cutting it short makes it just super long.

Day 1 – We’re on our way
Leave San Francisco on a 6 a.m. flight to Seattle. Don’t worry Sandy – the fog won’t make us miss the cruise. We make it – sorry to my friends that I couldn’t see you while I was in Seattle. Set sail – party on pool deck. Frou frou $8 drink in bright orange plastic cups. Macarena, Electric Boogie from live band. Crazy cruise people – uh-oh. Leave sunny Seattle for foggy Alaska. Weather is bad fog is thick. Crew member sees all the fog on the pool deck and says, “what the hell?!” Getting a little worried like Sandy. Went to art auction for first time – cool. Sandy plays the slots for the first time - $10 gone in under 3 minutes. Drinks after dinner in Spinnaker Lounge listening to big band music I start falling asleep. Go to sleep by 10:30 p.m. with the rocking of the boat. I’m very relaxed and very tired.

Day 2 – Juneau
Sandy is sick. Uh-oh. Ship doctor gives her Cloraseptic. Hand sanitizer is my new best friend. Get to first port – Juneau. Cold, rainy, gray. Yay, first excursion – Deluxe Mendenhall Tour! Sandy and Bob ready in ponchos. First stop boring museum, next Salmon Run – cool losta salmon. Third Mendenhall Glacier. I feel bad – I’m adding to the retreating of glaciers by being on the cruise. Guilt. Last stop Glacier Gardens Rainforest. Uh-h I’m contributing to the destruction of rainforests too! Nice garden – lotsa pictures from our trip photographer Bob, Tim’s dad. Upside-down tree trunks. Tim’s sister Chris woulda loved this. Pretty cool, up the mountain in a golf cart. Going down Sandy is sure one of us will fall out of our gold cart and roll down the mountain. We survive and get back on the boat wet and tired. Dinner at French restaurant – fancy. Un, deux, trois, clang of dome for food. Lotsa singing for birthdays, anniversaries. Tim spills two adolescent delinquent stories –Sandy not happy. No more wine for Tim. In bed by 11 p.m. and fall asleep quickly to the rocking of the boat.

Day 3 – Skagway
Second excursion. Train ride up White Pass. We picked the wrong car. I think we’re in India – see video of ride on separate post. The voices in Hindi seem to rise as the narrator of the train begins to speak. Women playing cards, men sleeping, kids outside on platform with their mothers yelling for them periodically on the 3 ½-hour ride to come back inside. The women start to pass food around. One of the men yell, “men first”, the women ignore him and pass the food around to the other women and children. It’s crazy – havoc. I want to jump off the train to regain some sanity. Indian music playing on an iPhone. Looooong 3 ½ hours.

Back on ship we go for a drink. I need it. After dinner we go to a comedy show – funny! Sandy is back at the slots. Tim and I have been winning. Sandy wants to try the slots again and gives us $5 to play – winner! After a couple of tries we get $55. No more gambling – we’ll leave as winners.

Sandy goes back to the doctor – her cold isn’t going away and the Cloraseptic doesn’t seem to be doing to job. Dr. Sandy says Z-pack is the way to go and the ship doctor prescribes just that.

Day 4 – Glacier Bay
Wow – Glacier Bay. Up front and close in the cruise ship. Beautiful. I’m tired and watching the glacier from our cabin. The view is perfect outside of our balcony. I feel bad – this is too luxurious. We see campers they must hate us, big cruise ship come floating in while they probably took days hiking in. More guilt.

Quote of the day from Sandy – “Why are these pictures in black in white?”
Tim’s dad – “Well, snow is white and the mountains are black.”

Tim’s parents are awesome. Sandy is really starting to freak out about me and Tim going ziplining. The comments about it being scary seem to be rising. Ziplining scare level is Orange at high. The Ziplining scare system is similar to our Homeland Security Advisory Security. Tomorrow is ziplining day!

We see a magic show after dinner – very cool. The shows on the boat are awesome.

Day 5 – Ketchikan

Tim’s parents are on their own for the day touring Ketchikan by land and sea. Tim and I will be taking our lives in our own hands and will go ZIPLINING! Ziplining scare level is RED! Even Tim’s dad is making some comments about our imminent death – I mean how scary it is. I’m getting nervous. We’re up at 5:30 a.m. for our 6:50 a.m. ziplining.


We say our last good-byes to Tim’s parents and board our bus for ziplining! Get to our destination and get the safety and don’t freak out talks by our college-aged guides. We gear up and I don’t remember a thing. Tim videotaped it all as I was in my nervous state. Our group has a family with children in their teens, this helps Tim and I get over the nervousness. If they can do it and their parents, we can too! The first couple of runs are easy and my whole body is tense. By the end I’m trying to cannonball to go faster and it’s raining so we’re going even faster. We love it! And we’re still alive. I want to do this for every vacation.

We get back to town do some shopping call his parent so to let them know we’ve survived. Ketchikan is cute. Best port of all but we have the shortest time.

Tim is starting to crave news. We look all over Ketchikan for a Wall Street Journal. The closest we get is a Seattle PI that is sold out. Tim is craving news so bad he gets a USA Today.

Back on the ship. Tomorrow is our last day before we get back to Seattle.

Day 6 – Victoria
Most of the day we’re at sea and we get in to Victoria at 6 p.m. My body is so sore from ziplining I sleep for most of the day. I feel muscles that I apparently never use in my abs, thighs, and arms. I can’t even sit up without being in pain. I’m such a wimp. Tim and his parents hang out while I’m recuperating. We get to Victoria and go on our last excursion – Butchart Gardens!

It starts to rain as we take off for the gardens. We seem to be cursed with rain. Our driver tells us it never rains in Victoria – just our luck. We have two hours to walk around the gardens. We get there and take off – but have to slow down because there is a butt load of people. It is packed – there are not only tourists but locals tonight for the fireworks and music. It’s so crowded we’re forced to go extremely slow and I get worried we might not have enough time to see all the gardens.

Butchart is beautiful, but oh so crowded. We leave and drive through downtown – I wish we had time for tea (we did have time for ice cream, however :). Too bad. We need to get back on the ship and have some late night barbecue for our last dinner. We get back on the boat and encounter another long line for the barbecue. It’s a beautiful night – the rain stopped and it’s warm. I’ll miss the boat and the hand sanitizers.

Day 7 – Seattle
We are docked early and are planning to leave the ship for the airport at 7:30 p.m. Our flights are at 1 p.m. to San Francisco and 2:30 p.m. to Ohio. We are surprised how quickly we get off the ship, to a taxi and to the airport. We get to the airport by 8 a.m. What are we going to do until our flights? We all try to get on earlier flights but Tim and I are one short to get on a 9:30 a.m. flight but Bob and Sandy get on a 10:30 a.m. flight to Denver where they will still have to wait for their original flight to Ohio.

I’m exhausted and dive into the newest Economist. At least this vacation got me focused enough to read. We finally get on our flight and get home at 5 p.m.

Last thoughts – Sandy and Bob are awesome. If you ever see them ask for the poncho picture. It's priceless. We had a lot of firsts on this trip making it even more memorable. I have enormous guilt for being on that cruise but I so loved it. Alaska is amazing and makes me come to grips with my humanity. Ziplining is my new addiction, I just need to get in shape for it. More pins for Tim to put on the big map for the new places we just visited. I love my obsessive compulsive man.

I can highly recommend the Norwegian cruise to Glacier Bay – freestyle cruising is awesome and now I need to go and plant some trees.

Smells and Sounds of San Francisco

I was doing my errands today in Little Chinatown and saw an older women and her father walking and looking at the shops. As I stopped at the ATM I heard her say the best line to her father:

"Let's go over to the other side of the street. It smells too Asian here."

I'm not really sure what Asian smells like but it's apparently not all that good since she wanted to go to the other side of the street to get away from it. So if I ever smell too Asian, please let me know.

Out and About

Tim and I finally got out of our neighborhood and went into downtown San Francisco and Walnut Creek this past weekend. Saturday night was out on the town with a friend of Tim’s, Suguru, and his girlfriend Rieko. Had a nice Japanese dinner and then saw Ratatouille. I always find it amazing that when I’m around Japanese I start to become more Japanese, i.e., polite. It’s a scary incarnation but I am Japanese American and apparently my time in Japan has scarred me forever to be super polite whenever encountering people from my homeland.




We saw Ratatouille at the Metreon, which is in the SOMA neighborhood (right side of the map), I think that’s right. It’s in the shopping heart of San Francisco. If Lara is reading this – they even had a Beard Papa’s! If you all have never heard of Beard Papa it’s a cream puff dessert shop. It’s onolicious. Onolicious is today’s pidgin word.

Onolicious adj. highly pleasing to the senses, esp. to taste: an onolicious dinner.

But we didn’t go for dessert because Tim and I need to shed some pounds before we go and binge eat on the Alaskan cruise we’re going on next week with his parents and because the movie ended around 11:00 p.m. and that is way too late for Wendy and Tim to be out so we said our good-byes and made it back home to Little Chinatown.

On Sunday we went really far out to see my friend Andrew in Walnut Creek (map to the left and remember, we have to cross the Bay Bridge to get over to East Bay - that's far man!) As we were driving out and going from freeway to freeway, Tim noticed that the landscape changed from our lush cold foggy coastal scenery to rolling dry hills. Andrew later pointed out that we were in a “desert” and we realized that we were in California and then I realized that I wrote yet another really long run-on sentence. Living in the city one can sometimes forget that there is a whole other world out beyond the city limits.

We went to see Andrew to see Mt Diablo and the view. Before going up the mountain we filled our bellies at an Indian buffet where I overate so badly that I couldn’t eat anything for the rest of the day. But I digress, on the drive up I realized again – we were in a desert! It’s so different from the green and wet mountains of Washington. As we meandered up passing crazy cyclists (I mean those awesome cyclists – I mean no disrespect Tod and Troy L.), the elevation was getting to me. I apparently have something wrong with my sinuses so when I get up to about 2500 feet (yes, I have noted the exact elevation when this happens) I get some horrible sinus pressure and my hearing goes and the pressure is quite uncomfortable.

The view was great, we got to see a whole other part of Northern California, and Andrew took some pictures that we’ll put up soon. After our trip to Mt. Diablo we went to see movie #2 of the weekend Evan All Mighty. It was 4:00 p.m. on the weekend that the movie opened and there were maybe 10 people counting the three of us. Doesn’t bode well for the movie.

Movie Review
Ratatouille was awesome. It made me laugh made me tear (not cry) a little and best of all made me love rats. Go see it, it’s worth it.

Evan All Mighty was not so awesome. It’s a summer fluff movie and was entertaining but not worth going to the movies for. This is a rental for Steve Carell fans. If you’re not a fan don’t even bother.

Thanks Suguru and Andrew for getting us out! Next week is the Alaskan cruise. Should be fun – wish us luck with the weather.

Mini driving through a Tree

Pictures of Seattle to San Francisco

I’m just a bill – just a SB412 Bill

Big day for Wendy. I went to Sacramento to speak in support of a bill for a liquefied natural gas needs assessment study on Monday. All that schooling finally paying off. My boss was out of town for a Utilities and Commerce Committee meeting on SB412 (for all of you bill fanatics here is an article that summarizes what went down at the meeting and the bill itself http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/jul/03/bill-asks-for-study-of-need-for-lng/) we were in support of, so Suzanne (the other intern) and I would get our moment of glory. (That was the longest run-on sentence I think I have written so far). I was so excited. I was going to the Capitol to represent our organization. I was starting to envision a career in the public sector. Maybe this would work – the public sector, I would be a public administrator. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up and this really got me excited. I was going to see and be a part of our government in action.

I leave for the 3:00 p.m. meeting in Sacramento from our apartment at 8:05 a.m. to take a MUNI bus (city bus) to get downtown to catch the Amtrak bus to go over to the Amtrak train that leaves at 10:25 a.m. in Emeryville. I’m tired just explaining my commute – one way. But I say to myself, I’m going to a committee meeting to represent our organization and speak on their behalf. I’m doing my part not only for the organization but my part as a citizen. We get to Sacramento at 12:25 p.m. have a nice lunch, where I dropped a tomato on my nice suit pants and then kept getting flicks of the chipotle dressing on my blouse. But that’s okay, I may be a slob, but I am about to make my way to the Capitol, food stains and all.

We get to the meeting room at 2:30 p.m. after taking a quick tour of the Capitol. I realize that I think this is the first time I have been to a state capitol. God bless the Hawaii public school system and my own disinterest in our government. I am a sorry excuse for a public administration major. We soon find out on the reader board that the meeting for SB412 was going to be taped so now Suzanne and I freak a little and realize that we may want to memorize our script and I better blot my oily face and put on some lipstick. Rory, our boss, told us we may only have to say that we are in support of the bill but just in case he wrote us scripts. So we start to memorize our scripts. I start getting a little nervous being that we’ll be on PUBLIC ACCESS television! How exciting is that. I’m being facetious and I just learned how to spell facetious. Thank you Google.

I’ve made a little timeline of the meeting because I feel that will give the best feel of how the meeting went.

It’s 3:00 p.m. and everyone seems to still be milling around in the hall so we finally decide to make our way into the meeting room. I hate to be late and love to be right on time – I know, I have a problem. We sit down (I have about half the speech memorized) and wait for our moment of public access fame.

3:10 p.m. People still milling about, not everyone is there so they need to wait around for another committee member to show to get a quorum. The room is getting warmer with all the bodies milling about.

3:15 p.m. Still milling around and more people keep coming into the room, but not the committee member needed for the quorum yet.

3:16 p.m. Yay! Another committee member has finally come in – we have a quorum!

3:17 p.m. I start to rethink my new interest in the public sector. The lateness really bothers me. If there is anything I hate more it is a badly run/late running meeting. I’m getting really thirsty and have to take my jacket off because I’m so hot.

3:18 p.m. Senator who wrote the bill starts to introduce it but wait – there aren’t copies of the amendments!!

3:19 p.m. I am really rethinking the public sector, but there is also the strange attraction of getting these people organized. I’m 50/50 now for the public sector.

3:20 p.m. Thecommittee chair suggests that another bill (410) be introduced since the committee members are lost without their copies that the staff is now frantically trying to get copies for.

3:20 – 3:21 p.m. I start chatting with the person sitting next to me and somewhere in the minute of chatting they voted on the bill (410) and were back on 412. I turn to Suzanne and we don’t know what the hell is going on but I better stop chit chatting and start paying attention.

3:30 p.m. I’m getting bored again and look at Rischa’s notes (the chicky sitting next to me that I was chatting with and missed SB410 entirely) and see her script. It reads:

Script for 412
Name: Rischa (Last Name)
Organization: Environment California
In Support

My script was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer than that. If anyone is interested I’ve made a separate post with just the script since this post is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay long. I kinda like Rischa’s better. I think maybe we don’t need to read our whole script. If so, my fifteen minutes of public access fame would now be cut from 3 minutes to 30 seconds.

3:35 p.m. The copies arrive and the committee members can now talk/have countless endless questions about the amendments. Still hot.

3:46 p.m. Arguments for the bill are to be proposed. We’re up soon! We all go up (around 5-6 of us) but we’re told only two people can speak on behalf of the bill and the rest of us would just come up to say if we supported the bill or not.

4:00 p.m. I’m on camera with my lines:

Wendy (last name)
Pacific Environment
In support

4:01 p.m. I’m back in my chair. I did my part. It wasn’t exciting as I thought it would be.

4:01 – 4:55 p.m. Sheer hell – I have to pee, I’m thirsty and really hot. There are arguments opposing the bill and more questions. Even the Senator is getting a little testy with the questions.

4:55 p.m. A vote gets taken but…they need one more vote so they don’t have a final decision. I don’t remember if the committee member stepped out of the room or they just weren’t present, it’s all a blur of disorganization.

4:56 p.m. I tell Suzanne we’re getting the hell out of there. I’ve had enough. My career in the public sector was short but sweet – it’s over. There is no way that I can/will be a government employee. Oh well, all that education showed me that I really don’t want to work in the public sector. We’ve already missed our 4:40 p.m. train that would get us back at 6:15 p.m. in the East Bay (still about 30-45 minutes away from home for me) so now we have to take the 5:40 p.m. train. I have to pee, I’m thirsty and really hot. But hey – at least my career choices are being narrowed down.

What I learned from my trip to the Capitol.

1. Tomato does not stain.

2. Chipotle dressing doesn’t stain after a wash.

3. The air conditioning in meeting room 437 at the Capitol needs some work.

4. There is a reason a good reason why government is slow and it REALLY annoyed me. I hate to say this but I can see where Bush and Cheney are coming from about less government. Although their way of a few men making all of our decisions doesn’t really work either. Yeah, this experience was so bad that it turned me into a Republican. Kidding! I would hope that the torture of a 2-hour meeting in a hot room wouldn’t do that to me. If I’m that weak I need to go back to liberal camp.

5. Sacramento is hot.

6. Dave Jones (on the right) from the 9th District in the California State Assembly looks like Steve Carell (left). Jones' online picture does not look all that much like Carell but in person – twins.

7. The Utilities and Commerce committee was like high school. You had some members talking to each and even standing up and walking around and coming and going while the meeting was going on and the Senator was talking. I guess I’m old school and when a Senator is introducing his bill you listen. I had horrible flashbacks of an NWRPCA staff meeting. That’s when I realized…

8. Nonprofits, the public sector – they’re all the same. It’s just one loooong meeting after another and someone is always going to have way too many questions and make the meeting go on forever.

9. I get really hot and am really sensitive to the heat.

10. I cannot wear fancy high-heeled shoes.

Yes, this was an incredibly enlightening trip. BTW – the bill passed and now it goes to Natural Resource committee next week, for all of you who were at the edge of your seat about the vote. I was really excited and looking forward to going to that meeting but the gods have intervened and I will be in Alaska.

Tim's Photo (for documentation purposes)

I'm not vain. I have posted this photo so that it gets saved online, so that I can link to it in my profile. Enjoy :)

It was taken at the Dalia lounge at a farewell dinner for my Former Boss in November of 2006.