Marc and Morgan’s spot on the web

Yes, that does say 10:28 in the morning, and yes, that does say it’s 96 degrees outside already.  It’s hot.

Really cool, Google Maps now has Street View for Reno!  Photos appear (at least in NW Reno) to be from sometime around spring 2007.

I went to Vegas for a few days. Here are a few things that I realized:

1. After not being there for years, I will find it even more irritating when people automatically assume that if you are from Nevada, you are from Las Vegas.
2. It is VERY dirty. There was trash everywhere!!
3. Everything costs more than it should. There are not that many ‘good’ deals. Whatever happened to 99 cent breakfasts? Oh that’s right, we are in a recession.
4. A lot of sarcasm from service people – ie that bell boy that made sure to let me know that he would not the one there when I picked up my bag. After being so snide, I quickly put away the tip that I was gong to hand him. After all, my bag only contained a few clothes and dirty underwear. So what if he ‘misplaced’ it? Should have been nice, taken your tip and then been done with it. Customer service was not a strong point where I was staying. But I also wasn’t staying at the Bellagio or Trump Towers. The Stratosphere was cheap and worked.
5. Stratosphere was not close enough to the Convention Center to walk in the shoes I was wearing. I am now nursing a HUGE blister on the bottom of my foot.
6. The Monorail sounded like a great quick way to get there the first morning. Upon arrival to the stop, I found that it was $5 for one way!!! I was only going two stops. I was duped and had no choice.
7. Since I sat at the blackjack table for 4 hours and gave you all the money I had, you could at least buy me breakfast. The older gentlemen that I played with kept commenting on how they used to just give you free things and now you have to beg. I begged and got a $15 comp for breakfast. It was a LOT less than I had lost and I only could choose from half of the menu. (Again, everything costs too much.) I guess it is true that beggars can’t be choosers.
8. The person staying in the room next to me must either have passed out or not been there. No one needs to listen to the TV that loud.
9. The water out of the sink smelled like sulfur. It makes me sick even thinking about it. I contemplated the idea of going down to the casino and brushing my teeth in one of the bathrooms.
10. I had a great view of the air conditioners on the roof. Yep. Nice view.
11. The sandwich was really worth the $8 that I paid for it. I was starving.
12. I missed my family while I was gone. I am so used to being with someone – I can get lonely really fast.

I think that Reno should market themselves a bit better. We aren’t as big as Las Vegas, but we have a lot of the same commodities. It is so much cleaner here, smells a lot better, and a tad bit greener. It is good to be home.

I think Reno is known for it’s unstable weather. One day it is 80 and the next day it snows. The wind can be pretty intense. It is just something that I have come to accept and love about Reno. Now, the earthquakes. Well, I am not feeling very comfortable with them.

For those that are not in this area, we have been experiencing some seismic activity around here. To quote someone from the paper, it is very ‘unnerving.’ To think that nature has such a control over an event that could be catastrophic! Nevada is the third highest state for seismic activity. Between some big ones we felt on Thursday and the following afternoon, we had some 150 tremors to follow.

You can miss them if you are driving or walking around or just not paying as close of attention that I devote to it. Sometimes it is probably my imagination as well. And to sound like I sit on my rear all the time, I have felt a number of substantial quakes in the past few days. One that made me run in to Sid’s room while he was napping. Yep, he was sounds asleep. Last night Marc and I were awoken from slumber by a 4.7. Marc went for Sid and I went for Lola, who was sitting up wondering what the heck was going on as books were toppling from her bookshelf. She came back to bed with us. I reluctantly put Sid back in his crib and then laid awake to feel a couple more good sized ones and wonder if I could move away until after it settles. Or maybe it is just something I have taken notice to.

So, I will accept that it could happen and that is that. But I don’t like it and I still think that I feel them all the time. In fact…is that a little rumble now?? Maybe just Cina walking by.

Time for anti-anxiety meds and an updated homeowners insurance policy that covers earthquakes.

Apocalyptic windstorms and

snow on the tulips.  Welcome to Spring in Reno.

Bonus this morning: a little earthquake

I was a little skeptical of actually getting a historical snow storm, but we did get hit pretty hard. It rained all day yesterday and then snowed heavily after. This morning was pretty clear. Marc went to the vet’s office to get some medicine for Daisy (poor old dog), while Lola and I geared up and went outside to play. She’s got a little cold, but it was so much snow! We pulled the sled out, slid down the driveway and then I pulled her down the street. Here are some pictures:

They say there is more to come. We had a bit more today and it is snowing lightly now. Ah, Reno Winters. And the last huge storm we had was after Lola was born. Wonder what my kids do to make the weather do this?

Lola and I peaked out our front window this morning to discover that we can see the balloons from this house as we could from our last.  It is not the same view, but really impressive from our driveway.  I have only done Dawn Patrol once.  my mom dragged us out so early, I don’t think I had hit REM.  It was nice though. She made breakfast and there was champagne (I was too young to care).  It was fun.  I remember being impressed even as a snotty teenager.  Now, I wouldn’t want to fight the crowds. Maybe next year for Dawn Patrol.  I think we will walk tomorrow morning to get a closer look.  Lola was impressed with just what she saw this morning, I bet she will love it.

I am back to work this week.  I have to say what a warm welcome they had – there were tons of books to be put away. Nothing makes the day go faster than a lot of work.  I truly missed it – actually my coworkers more than the work!  Ane with only 15 hrs,  it is easier to be away from the kids.

Parkerbailey (the ‘85 VW) was sold to a nice kid this week.  I guess he was older than a kid.  Sad to see it go, but the Eurovan will help ease the pain. We have the Saturn for sale if you know anyone interested.  A good car and I liked it. But we can’t keep them all!  I already feel a little overwhlemed with the neighbors cars – but he has ten kids!

I am enjoying the cooling weather and am looking forward to the encroaching fall weather.   Changing colors, cooler weather, Marc, Paige, Lola and Gigi’s birthdays, Halloween, and a visit from Nana.

That spells HOT.  Damn hot.  Tied the all-time record for hot yesterday in Reno, 108 degrees (or 42C for you foreigners).  That’s at least two days over 100 this week, today as well, and the forecast is for high 90s for the next several days.  Enough already.  It’s 7am and 80 degrees in this house (note: that’s still 80 vs. already 80 – I think that’s an important distinction; it’s not that it was nicer and has risen to 80, it just never got any cooler in here).  We couldn’t take it last night and moved ourselves, the poor dogs and a certain sweaty two-year-old down to sleep in the basement.

We went to have the new house inspected yesterday, and their air conditioning was set to 71.  It’s amazing how much difference 9 degrees makes.  Maybe it’s just psychological, but on days like this, I’m never going outside after we move.  I don’t understand how people live in places where it’s like this routinely (Baghdad, Arizona, Laughlin, etc.) and especially in developing/war-torn countries where air conditioning and/or a consistent power supply are a rarity.

Nothing else of note to report or link to.  As usual, impending baby and impending house dominate our overheated life right now.  Well, on with my day.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to one and all.   The margaritas and cerveza will commence after work today, I believe.

In neighborhood news, our long-under-construction corner Starbucks finally opened yesterday.  And there was a line in the drive-through today.  Hopefully this won’t mean the demise of our friends at the Purple Bean, but if the quality of their drinks continues along the lines of our last two visits, they’re in trouble.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my little Purple Bean, but S’bux makes some good java and that last Americano from PB was nasty.

Not really our neighborhood, but I’m pretty sure I saw a dead body in the Eldorado parking lot yesterday on my way to work.  Police were there and there was a sheet over it so it wasn’t gory or anything, just a bit unusual.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a corpse out in public like that before.  Haven’t seen anything in the news about it.

Also of note, our wacky weather continues.  Looks like it might be back on track today, but we had snow yesterday.  I’m ready for warm weather, my facial hair is gone, let’s get on with it already, ‘k?

More breaking news at work: we’re finally a wireless hotspot at the library!  It’s been a long time coming and we’re WAY behind the curve in the library world, but if you need a connection, come on down and say hello.  And what a perfect time for our old laptop to lose all ability to power up, so I guess I won’t be trying out the wifi anytime soon.

OK, well, I feel like my threshold for what is interesting/significant enough to merit writing about here has lowered to an unacceptably dull level, so I’ll wrap it up and try to refrain from such mundane news in the future.  With any luck, my next post will be about the selling of the house, fun times with Grandpa Dave later this month, and the move into a new (as yet unfound) house.

I started to post this about FIVE HOURS ago with the best of intentions. That never works out. A couple big announcements turned into new pictures and videos, other stuff came up, and now I’m down to 5 minutes before we can start watching tonight’s DVR-delayed episode of 24, so I’ll be brief.

First off, we found out this morning….WE’RE HAVING A BOY!  Yep, Lola’s going to have a little brother.  Revised due date is now July 23.  Baby Boy Tiar now has his own album in the gallery, including today’s ultrasounds and all previous.

Almost as exciting (relax, I did say almost), on my way home, I saw that Pho 777 is rising from the ashes of the Mizpah fire in a new location. Still on 2nd St., in the former Kim Son space, a block west and across the street. Still under construction, but stay tuned.

The only other thing I was going to report was the weather – from what was until recently a miserable excuse for a winter, we now have something to shout about.  Snow falling like crazy today, all day.  Nothing that will shut down the city, but one of the biggest accumulations this season. Very nice.

So that was going to be all I had to post, then decided I would add some pictures, then videos, etc.  So check out Lola’s page for a few new videos, a few new photos in Lola’s photo album, and this one just as a nice inclusion here showing my impressive facial hair (and this was two weeks ago):