Actually I did live out west for one year.. USAF at Noton AFB nice and all but the smog was brutal.. Could not take a deep breath! But we had a great time..saw most of the state from San Diego to San Francisco. Loved that Hurst castle! I cant imagine having that kind of money!

You poor poor man! You suffer from a climatary version of the Stokholm Syndrome! The harsh weather has compromised your powers of reason. Come West young man! If you won't come at least send your wife, I'm sure SHE would appreciate the change.

Generally we think of bitter cold in winter, (WHAT A BUNCH OF WHIMPS!) mud in spring, ( GOOD FOR GROWING THINGS) humidity in summer ( EVER HEAR OF NATURES SAUNA?)and 3 weeks of glorious colors in the fall. ( NOW YOU'RE TALKING! ) We also think of rust and decay.( TRY RUSTIC AND HISTORIC ) Apart from being glad we live here not there,(KEEP THOSE BIKINI CLAD WOMEN. WE PURITANS PREFER MORE SPIRITUAL VALUES IN A WOMAN.) that about covers it.

Yet another reason to move to OC.

I was channel surfing the other day and saw this movie apparently set in southern Cal.. seems there was this million year old shark and he was terrorizing these scantily clad bikini women in S Cal.. attacking them and ripping off their tops..really awful,,.,I could only watch for about an hour then had to turn away as my wife came home...

Generally we think of bitter cold in winter, mud in spring, humidity in summer and 3 weeks of glorious colors in the fall. We also think of rust and decay. Apart from being glad we live here not there, that about covers it.

Regarding disasters.. I have noticed that California has wildfires and earthquakes, the middle America has tornadoes and the south hurricanes. The Northeast has nothing except for an occasional snowstorm that skiers enjoy. This tells me god loves the people of the northeast the best. The rest of the nation should be like us..Is there anything that comes to mind when you folks of Orange County think of the Northeast? Well I guess you should take a hint from the divine ruler and follow our lead...

From your tone I'm guessing you don't have asteroid/tsunami insurance! You probably don't even have a tsunami evacuation plan. Who are you going to call when it hits, Tsunami Busters? If this is the prevailing attitude on the eastern seaboard I weep for the citizens of Rhode Island!

Some effects of the quake will be enduring but the clean up will take 2-3 years and the rebuild 5-7 years. About 10 years from now most issues will be resolved.

The car companies will recover in a few months, Nissan is part of multi-national Renault so they have resources to draw upon.

Well if the asteroid is big enough its the end of all of us just like the dinosaurs. I am thinking that it will take decades for Japan to recover.. I wonder what will happen to Nissan? Will they ever be able to make cars again? Same for Honda and Toyota..I bought my car at a new Nissan dealership and I wonder if they will be able to stay in business..

Yea, whenever a quake hits my first thought is "Is this the big one?". Getting worked up about it serves no purpose, but am I concerned? You bet I'm concerned. Water heaters are required to have approved seismic resistant strapping, building codes are updated to include seismic resistant features and we bolt large furniture items to the walls. But at some point it won't be enough and that's what insurance is for. If the epicenter is under your feet or if you are in an old structure or on unstable ground you're in for quite a ride. As for tsunamis, we should be OK unless it's caused by a planet killer asteroid which would generate a tsunami that would take out all of California, Oregon and Washington.