Speaking of close calls…
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Work
I forgot to mention another I had last month. Luckily this one didn’t involve my life, just my livelihood. Four years ago, just before I accepted the job I have now, I accepted a job with IndyMac Bank. I knew I wanted the job I have now; I just wasn’t sure it was going to be offered to me. The job at IndyMac paid more but the commute was going to be 90 minutes on a good day. The mortgage industry was flying high back then and they were expanding rapidly. Much of the office space I toured was still empty or under utilized.
Luckily a few days before the IndyMac start date my current employer called me back and offered. I probably could have used the IndyMac offer as leverage but I didn’t want to push my luck. I really wanted the job.
Fast forward to last month – the mortgage industry is in total meltdown. IndyMac Bank announced layoffs of 3,400 people….and that’s BEFORE the federal government took them over! It’s possible I would have had enough seniority by now to survive the cuts but I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that. With the raises and profit sharing I’ve gotten I probably make more now than I would be at IndyMac anyway. I guess I do make the right choice sometimes. 
Close call with the Grim Reaper
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita, Phun
So anyway, last night I met up with a group of folks to go to the Griffith Observatory then hit up a few bars. We met for some fish tacos first tacos to form some carpools. I’m driving my car with 3 others on board.
We’re driving up the hill/mountain to get to the observatory, which is on top of Mount Hollywood. It’s about 20 minutes from dusk. We’re tooling along chatting with the windows up and stereo on, about to make a left up a switchback turn to go higher up. All of a sudden there’s a pedestrian woman in front of me looking to my left. There ain’t shit over there but trees so I’m transfixed on her malfunction. The girl sitting next to me her mouth drops open. Turns out there’s a minivan flipping end over end down a 250 foot hillside that is at least 45 degree banking. SHIT! Brakes to the floor. The fan lands right in front of me, rear wheels on the road, front wheels facing up the hillside. The front is completely crushed. Anybody still in front has to be toast.
This is right up the street from Griffith Park so there are a fair amount of people a bit down the hill. I pull over, we bolt over to the car. Three of us pull off what is left of the sliding door on the minivan. The driver is alive but pinned under the windshield. We’re telling him to stay still but he’s afraid. He manages to pull himself out of his seatbelt from under the windshield down to the rear seat where we don’t let him move.
At this point I’m still don’t know how he got to where he landed. I look up the hill and it’s got to be nearly 80 yards of thigh high grass to the road he drove off. The last 20 yards are about 60% grade. Apparently he came around the corner too fast and went off. If he had not hit the tree right at the road edge he would landed on us. In the end we survived. The night wasn’t clear enough for the observatory but we hit up The Griffin and Bigfoot Lounge afterward for drinks. Well, drink as in singular for me. I was driving. 
- After I’ve told this story a few times it will have grown to include the van was on fire, his passenger was pregnant and we delivered the baby before getting them out whereupon the van exploded.
The Tax man hath cometh
Posted by Dubbayoo | Filed under Amore & Vita
No, not Uncle Sam. This time it was the SoCal Great Weather Tax Man. He comes to collect the fees we pay in exchange for having 350 days of sunny 70 degree weather every year. The fees are paid by having to deal with fires, earthquakes, mudslides and sometimes, in the case of unpopular jury verdicts (think Rodney King and O.J.), riots.
I’m too far away from forested areas to worry about fires and too far away from ‘tha hood’ to worry about riots. Therefore my taxes are paid in the form of earthquakes. After ten years of living in L.A. I finally experienced an earthquake large enough to feel. The Northridge quake was four years before I arrived. About six years ago there was a very mild one in the early morning. I slept through it all and I’m a light sleeper so that tells you how insignificant it was. Two years ago there was one around 4pm on a work day. It happened to be raining that day and since my office is window-less I just assumed it was thunder.
Last week we had 5.4 on the Richter scale. I was sitting at my desk and it shook for 15-20 seconds. To be honest I wasn’t scared at all. It actually felt pretty cool. I’m told there’s nothing to worry about until things start falling off the walls, although most people use something called Quake wax to prevent that from happening.
Hopefully the Tax man won’t return for another ten years at least. As for now I feel proud that I’ve done my duty as a good citizen of California but for the record, as a native Atlantan I feared tornadoes much more than I do earthquakes. On average they do more damage and are much more frequent.
