My brother may have one the sandbox, but I two the sandbox.

The office is abuzz after a nice 5.8 5.4 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was about 30 miles away from here. The building shook steadily for several seconds and, sadly, the stack of coins on my desk collapsed.

Here’s the detailed info.

No, this is not the post where I tell all about my trip to Cuba. I haven’t found the patience to sit long enough to write about it yet.

But, one of the photos I took in Cuba was just published in a travel magazine called Glimpse. They sent me a copy of the issue and the article, “Insider’s Guide to Cuba,” is actually pretty good. Along with some history and factual information, it also features impressions gathered by American students visiting Cuba, and even has step-by-step instructions on how to Rumba.

My photo is on page thirty-two in the section on music. I took it in Santa Clara’s city center (Parque Vidal) during a flamenco performance by a group calling itself La Casa del Trompo. Santa Clara hosted free performances each night that week and it seemed like everyone came out to listen to the music and watch the dancers. Pretty cool, really.

Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, where I run, isn’t well lit after dark but last week I went out there anyway even though the sun was already setting. It was after work and a little bit later than I usually go out there, but I knew the sunlight would last long enough to run a couple miles. Near the beginning of my route, there’s a half-paved, half-wooden bridge where, if you stop, gives you a good view of the bay. I didn’t stop, but just after I crossed it this night, I had a pretty cool run in with a couple of bobcats. They walked out of the brush just as I jogged past about ten feet away. One of them kept going and turned back into the brush, but the other stopped and just watched me. I wish I’d had my camera, but of course that would have made running difficult.

Yesterday, I tried out a new route to ride my bike home from work. It led me through William R. Mason Regional Park. The park has a narrow strip of land that serves as a nature preserve in the middle of a very urban area right next to the University of California in Irvine. There’s a nice paved path through the preserve that makes for an enjoyable commute to work. I liked it so much, I took the same route going to work this morning and again on my way home. It was on the way home tonight that I had another wish-I-had-my-camera moment. I turned a corner and there in the middle of the path stood a coyote. It saw me coming and moved off to the side and, like the bobcat, watched me ride by from about ten feet away.

I usually only see various birds, rabbits and western fence lizards, so these run-ins were pretty exciting. I’ll let you know if I come across any other interesting wildlife.

My roommate is watching Fox News. Listening to them go on and on about Clinton and Obama meeting or possibly not having met yet, whether anyone new has arrived or departed, descriptions of vehicles, anything they can think of. I’d almost forgotten why I don’t watch TV news.