from abc news
Big Gusts

I waited out the 6:30-8:00 freakish windstorm last night. I was at work in Emeryville, and it felt like either some giant was stompong on our ceiling, or a few sound blasts were happening in the parking lot. These old warehouse buildings don’t do well with 60+mph winds, it was weird. I kept wanting to turn to co-workers if but to say, “wow.” (a word I was banned from saying by one co-worker because I say it too much.) “What does this mean, wow?” he says, in a heavy Indian accent, educated by the Brits. After enough hazing I did stop saying it, but those big gusts made me want to lapse back into wow-dom. The Bay Bridge was not so bad around 8:20 when I finally drove over, just a bit of tension on the steering wheel at the cantilever section, and everyone toned down their 70mph sprints to a crawl at 40mph.

Hometown Mall
From sfgate: “The strong winds also knocked over a 30-ton construction crane perched on the rooftop of the Vallco Fashion Park shopping mall in Cupertino, the Santa Clara County sheriff’s office said.”

My hometown mall! The Berkeley Naked Guy (before he went to UCB) used to flash down it’s sacrosanct hallways. Many an afternoon was spent looking for *just the right* pink Forenza sweater, or idly checking out the guys from behind the racks at … Benetton (forgot name, thanks Karen for remembering!). I guess Vallco is trying to renovate and match the glory of Santana Row in the Joser, which is really not a bad mall, and more oriented towards pedestrian traffic. There was just one summer night that was perfect, salsa music in the gazebo, lots of people around, and Nobody was Dancing, a crime against humanity, and something that would not occur in SF. Something for free? We would jump on it without a thought. Weird sidenote: Vallco Fashion Park does not have a web site. How weird! It’s the only place I’ve ever ice-skated, as well.