Dave Kearns

Had an earthquake just after 8 PM last night, 5.6 on the richter scale, the biggest in this area since the Loma Prieta (a.k.a., the “world series quake”) quake in 1989. There was little damage from this one, though, which had an epicenter near Alum Rock, about 11.5 miles due east of here.

We’d just finished dinner, I was starting the dishwasher and Anne Mary was wiping down the table. But the table started vibrating, and the kitchen counter started jumping! It lasted 25-30 seconds – fairly long for a mid-level quake – and was felt all over the area, from Monterey to Marin.

There were numerous small aftershocks for the next few hours, just enough to rock me to sleep.

I guess, after 6 years, we’re real Californians now.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the official start of the space age – the day in October, 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik, the breadbox-sized (18″ in diameter) first artificial satellite in space.

This was the height of the cold war (we were still having air-raid drills in school) and this major win for the Russians could be foretelling their ultimate victory over the western capitalist societies. At least, that’s what our parents were talking about. To me and my contemporaries (I was in the 7th grade at the time) it was simply “neat-o” stuff. Our talk was about how we would all finally go into space someday. We would all be Buck Rogers, or Flash Gordon, or Commando Cody.

Four months later, the US launched Explorer I and the race to land on the moon was on in earnest.

We’ve come a very long way in 50 years. We’ve explored almost all of the planets in our own “backyard” and launched deep space probes which may only be relevant to our descendants. Watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon in 1969 was my biggest thrill (so far) of the space age, but the launch of Sputnik has to be #2 on the list.

We (Anne Mary & I) spent the weekend launching “Maimeo’s Memories” in it’s physical manifestation at the Cannery Row Antiques Mall in Monterey, CA. This is the “foot in the water” test to see if the antiques, collectibles and memorabilia business will provide the right balance of interest and income for our retirement years. WE aren’t looking to make a fortune, nor to spend 80 hours a week managing our own shop – the mall concept might be just the right thing.

We’ll also soon have the “digital shop” in operation.

Maybe we can plan a buying trip to Boston during the (hopefully upcoming) World Series…..