Do you know what to do in the case of gas buildup in a building you are in?  What if you were working in a fast food restaurant, say Burger King or Wendy’s, and a member of the Fire Department or Police Department called and told you that your building is filling with pressure from gas that must be released, else the building will explode?  What would you do?  Well, in restaurants in Minnesota, Oklahoma, California and Arizona, the employees smashed every window in the restaurant to “release the pressure”.  In California, the manager even rammed his car into the building to make absolutely certain that all that “pressure” had a place to go.  Personally, I like to think that I would question that phone call before causing $10,000-$35,000 in damage.  First, I would wonder how somebody not in the building with some testing equipment could possibly know about pressure in the building.  Second, even if I believed there was an excess of pressure in the building, I think I would just open the doors … that should be enough to equalize pressure within seconds.  But no, the employees of these fast food restaurants and their managers just went right on and smashed those windows!  The callers, by the way, were just pranksters.  If I had to guess, I would say they were probably nearby, watching and laughing until they cried!  I know I would have been.

Coming soon to a neighborhood near me … the Cat Café!  A local entrepreneur is opening a new coffee shop and cafe in my neighborhood where patrons can enjoy espresso drinks, tea and sweets while surrounded by cats. (So, what is different between this and my home, which I share with 7 cats?)  The front of the Kitty Brew Cat Café would be a traditional cafe setting, while a separate room in the back would house up to 16 cats along with seating and furniture for both felines and humans. “We’ll have interactive furniture the cats can jump on and play, but also things like bean bag chairs (I have to wonder how long those will last?) for people to be level with the cats and engage with them. We’ll have Wi-Fi so people can come and work like they would at a regular cafe, just surrounded by cats,” said the owners of the café, Ken Molnar and Jenni Barrett. Barrett is also planning to obtain a liquor license to hold wine tasting events.  All cats will be obtained from the local Humane Society and will be adoptable.  I am considering calling them and asking if they would like to have one of ours, Tiger Lily, who is the meanest darn cat I have ever known!  It is an interesting and fun concept, but personally I will not likely go there.  When I go out, I rather like to enjoy a fur-free environment for a change.  Also, if I went there it would be with my family, and then we would end up with an 8th cat, I fear, as they are incapable of passing up a kitty.

This past weekend was devastating for so many people in Japan and Ecuador.  Two earthquakes hit the Kyushu region of Japan, one on Thursday and another on Saturday.  As of this writing, the death toll in Japan stands at 41, with another 968 injured.  On Saturday, an earthquake also hit Pedernales, Ecuador, where the death toll currently stands at 246, with more than 2,000 injured.  In both countries, rescue workers continue to race the clock in hopes of finding more survivors.  “You can still hear people calling for help — we can’t get to them,” said Luis Flores, a rescue worker in Pedernales.  It goes against my grain to end the Monday post on a sad note, but I think it is a good thing sometimes for us to stop for just a minute and realize that in spite of all our daily trials, in spite of the political mania, it could be so much worse.  My heart and thoughts go out to all who were affected by these tragedies over the weekend.