Tsunami What???

Welcome to the West Coast Chris Payne!  

I will preface this post by letting you all know that I do not have television and usually have to go out of my way to figure out what is going on in the real world, so when sporadic events such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis happen I don't hear about them until after the fact.  

4:11AM: (TEXT) Wendy - "I know it's early there but are you evacuating?"

(IN MY HEAD) - "What the hell is she talking about? What's going on?  Why should I be evacuating? Why don't I own a GD TV!"

Luckily my computer was right next to my bed so I opened it up and immediately went to CNN.com to find out why I should NOT be in my apt: 8.9 Earthquake Devastates Japan

Awesome!  

Followed up by: Tsunamis to reach Hawaii and the West Coast of the U.S.

Even better!

(TEXT) To Wendy - "No.  I'll let you know if I do."

4:45AM: (Phone Call): Mom - "Blah, blah, blah, tsunami...are you getting ready to leave???"

                                   Me - "No.  I'm sleeping it's 4 in the morning."

                                    Mom - "Ok.  Well it's going to hit by 10:45...oh wait!!!  That's 7:45!"

                                   Me - "Ok.  I'm going to bed." (In my head I'm thinking I've totally got another couple hours before I have to get out of Dodge!)

                                     Mom - Ok (nervous) I love you!

                                    Me - Love you too.

6:52AM: (TEXT): Jason M. - "WTF! Stay Dry!"

                              Me - "Thanks man!  Sitting in my SCUBA gear in my living room just in case."

So at this point I thought I should probably wake up and see what the heck was going on.  Now with no TV I was limited to the radio (useless) and online radio (completely useless) so I was checking the weather channel updates and the news station websites.  Everything was saying it was going to hit anywhere around 7:30-8:30.

I also got a lot of help and info from RSI up in San Fran which was huge because she was letting me know the updates and when/where it was hitting.  Thanks a ton for that, greatly appreciated!  And of course Dad's text "Who's this Sue Nami that's coming to Monterey?"  Nice, Dad!

With all of the hype everyone was hearing about we were not affected at all here in Monterey.  I cannot imagine what the people in Japan are going through.  We were lucky with a low tide and being pretty far into the bay helped a lot.  Santa Cruz harbor got hit pretty hard and a bunch of boats got tossed around.  

I think the most interesting part of this whole ordeal from my perspective was having the friends and family rightfully worried on the other coast (and this one) and then waking up, walking outside to a bright sunshiny day and not seeing any signs of panic or concern.  Once I realized I was not going to have to evacuate I walked to the end of the street where I can see the beaches and watched for a while.  There really weren't any huge waves but you could see the wave activity pick up; just nothing further than the beaches.  

Anyway, thanks to all my friends and family that were concerned enough to reach out to me this morning even though it was so early.  I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness and I'm glad I've got people out there that are looking out for me.  

Love you all!