Saturday, December 16, 2006

CRAZY WIND STORM !!!

On Thursday, Dec14 as predicted by Steve Pool (local weatherman) the winds came and conquered. And I mean CONQUERED. The was the highest recorded wind storm in many years. The highest recorded winds Sea-Tac airport was 69 MPH. EEK. Talk about turbulence. Anyway, back to me.
I went to bed at about 10:30pm Wednesday. The winds were high, but not too bad. I went to bed thinking Steve was wrong. (again) I woke up at ??? the power was out. After going down stairs to get me watch and flashlight, it was only 730am. Good thing I have Fri/Sat/Sun off. So, not being able to do anything, I went back to sleep. Woke up to knocking at my door, it was the neighbor telling me not to use the water, flush toilets etc. What!? Well, because of the power outage, the sewer pump isn't working. You don't have to tell me twice about the sewer. (My downstairs was flooded due to the sewer pump malfunction, few years back) Anyway, went back upstairs to my bedroom, and opened the curtain. This is what I saw... (keep in mind, I'm on the second level)

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After the shock, I ran down stairs to check my deck.

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I wanted a Christmas tree (I mean "pine tree" with ornaments and lights. ha ha) but not this way. Luckily, I received no damage, just the tip of the uprooted fir tree, leaning on my deck. My neighbor is the one that got his deck damaged. Here's more pictures of what the WIND left behind.
The tree and my neighbors deck.

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Here's my deck

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Well, I thought that the power would be out for a few hours, but boy was I WRONG. So, with nothing to do, but work on my sudoku book, I decided to get dressed and get some Starbucks. How would I do that, my car is in the garage and the power is out. I had to find the key to the manual door, after 20 frustrating minutes of searching, I finally found it, and opened the door. Drove to the nearest Starbucks. Okay, did I mention that power outage. What was I thinking, of course the Starbucks was closed, as well as the whole strip mall with Safeway etc... So headed down to Southcenter. What else was I gonna do but shop. And shop I did. The stores at and around Southcenter were open. Headed downtown to do more damage. Well, headed home at around 11pm and there were lights on here and there. As I crossed the last (working) traffic light before my house, I thought, "yeah, good sign. Electricity must be on." WRONG. No lights, nada, nil. Did I mention it was about 30 degrees ??? Brrrr. Nothing to do, but pile on the blankets and try to sleep. Today, awoke to no power. The fallen tree still there. Brrr. No, it wasn't a bad dream. How was I going to survive today. What do I do. Do I smell. As I was folding my clothes I washed on Thursday morning, I hear a click. I turned to look at my alarm clock, and saw 12:00, 12:00 blinking. Thank you Jesus! Halleluyah! 36 hours without power. I wonder if the pumpkin ice cream is still good... ha ha...

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Home for the Holidays

Went home for a "Family reunion" of sorts. Gave my family their gifts from my adventures and went for a Family Reunion Christmas Party.
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The Leong Family, Me, Wendy, Mom and Dad

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Brandon and Leighton enjoying their "daan tat"
Brandon likes only the inside.

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Uncle Herb and Aunty Gail

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Kimberly, Leighton, me, Brandon and Chelsie

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The Mow/Leong Clan