Another Water Taxi Day

Whenever we want to do anything special on a nice day in Fort Lauderdale – we take a water taxi ride.  Lynne and John are back in Fort Lauderdale, staying in the same RV park as us, and it was Lynne’s birthday on Sunday.  We started the celebration by going to see Avatar at the IMAX theatre in 3D – WOW.  This was a new experience – we need a new word – this was so much more than a movie.  Stunning.

I told you it was a nice day!

You get to cruise all around for $15/day.  Port Everglades was busy;

Then we stopped for lunch at Bahia Cabana and met friends :-)

We walked over to the beach where Mom and I put on a drunken version of the hula! 

I think we actually believed we were back in 1954 when we performed *for real* just a block away at Bahia Mar.  I even have an old picture to prove it!

That’s Mom and me in 1954 at Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale.  We had just returned from living in Hawaii for a couple years.

A great day … Happy Birthday Lynne.

Earthquake

Have you heard the news of the Earthquake in Chile?  It is rated as 8.8 on the Richter scale.  That is HUGE.  The one in Haiti was 7.0.
When I was 12, I lived in Anchorage, Alaska and we were there in the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964.  Luckily, we had just returned from a vacation to Florida the day before and my parents weren’t planning on going back to work till Monday.  So, we were all 3 home, together when the earthquake hit around 5pm.  It was measured as 8.5 on the Richter scale, but I understand it has since been ‘upgraded’ to 9.2.  Each whole number increase (7.0, 8.0) represents a tenfold increase in amplitude.  A 10.0 has never been recorded.  The largest ever recorded was in Chile in May 1960 … 9.5.
What I remember …

• The telephone poles outside looked like they were mounted on top of ocean waves.  Each pole would alternately sway from side to side, almost touching ground each way.  The wires strung between them would snap taught when the poles on either end were on the top of their wave, leaning out and go slack when they were on the inside of the wave leaning in.
• We had a television on a rolling cart and it would roll all the way across the room – then back.
• We had a china ‘hutch’ cabinet that walked across the floor throwing plates and glasses as it went. 
• My Dad positioned himself in a door frame with his back to one side and bracing his arms against the other side.  My Mom stood in front of him and I was in front.  My Dad’s braced arms held us in during the 5 minutes of riding our house like a bucking bronco.
• 5 minutes is an eternity!
• Our house sustained little damage – we were in the C Street valley which was pretty stable ground.
• We were evacuated for the night due to predictions of a tsunami coming up the valley.  We spent the night in our car on higher ground.
• Friends who lived in the ritzy section called Turnagain got to ride their houses down the hill as the clay type of ground actually liquefied with the shaking of the earthquake
• There were not many deaths in Alaska because there weren’t many people.  The greatest number of deaths from that earthquake was in Crescent City California due to the tsunami.

My Dad (Tom Van Valkenburg) was a photographer at the time and he worked with a pilot to take several aerial photos of the quake’s effects.  Those photographs went to Washington D.C. and were part of the information that resulted in Alaska being declared a disaster area.  Here is an album of some of the photos I had scanned a while back.  These came from a small magazine that was published back then.  I’ll have to hunt some more and see if I can find the original photos …

See the partially collapsed building, right below the QU in this photo? That was the J.C. Penny building where my Dad worked. 

Downtown Anchorage - 4th Avenue - after the 1964 Good Friday earthquake.  Can you see the people in the street?  Gives you the perspective of how big the crack in the pavement is.  

New Wordpress Blogging Class

I love Blogger for personal blogs – but I also love Wordpress, especially for somewhat more complex needs.  We maintain two Wordpress blogs: www.PicasaTutorials.com (Picasa Tips_ and www.WiFiSavvy.com (Computer Tips for Travelers) and I’ve set up several Wordpress sites for others.  For people who want to manage their own websites, I think Wordpress is a great way to go. 

So, we’ve added it to our list of seminars and will be offering it at the upcoming FMCA National Convention in Albuqurque.  One of the Wordpress sites I’ve set up recently was for my Women’s Executive Club.  So, I decided to offer a seminar to any WEC members who were interested.  It was great to have the opportunity to rehearse the class with a small audience.  It went pretty well.

On Saturday morning at Chadia’s business meeting room, we had 9 Women’s Executive Club members who came to learn how to Blog.  I taught the class and Jim was to assist.  Lenore and Lyn created brand new blogs during the class.  Emily , Joyce , Chadia and Jenette learned a little more about their existing blogs.  Lynda , Carol and Liz got ideas!

You can download a copy of the class handout if you’re interested in learning about blogging with Wordpress.

Show-Me-How

In case you were wondering how to get a new template for your Blogger blog (like I just did) – here’s the video I made about it.  I recommend watching it fullscreen.  Just click the button on the bottom of the video that looks like:  (use [Esc] to get back)

Coconut Grove Art Festival

Not our normal Sunday!  But Jim’s son, Devon, was working at a booth – so that sounded like a good excuse to visit this famous art festival in South Miami.

It was a gorgeous day for it – and we weren’t the only ones that thought is was a good way to spend the day.

Beautiful ... and Bizarre ... art
Can you see the flamingo hidden in this – the signature art for the festival?

Good Food

Here we are showing off our purchases:

Verizon had a booth ... the Art of Technology.

They were promoting the Palm Pre Plus – a phone I’ve been thinking about getting.  Se we joined in the game  they organized to win a phone.  Mom is the only one who lasted past the first couple rounds!

We didn’t win the phone.  But I took the opportunity to ask one of the Verizon reps about the comparison between the Droid (what Jim has) and the Palm Pre Plus.  He said that his choice was clearly the Droid.  Ok

It was an enlightening day … gotta get some culture once in a while!  But, when we saw the iguanas pumping iron, we figured it was time to go.