from the motorola SLVR.

UPDATE: This entry also included audio, which never posted due to a recent CMS upgrade. It was just an explanation of the photo and how I was spending the evening by the fire instead of the computer. Bah. Well, at least I got it fixed for the next time I send an audio file with my phone!

tagged: evening fire upgrade reading cold audio cms

daniel · evening · 1 comment · ping it

This from an anti-abortion pastor in Milwaukee:

Last week I groaned when I read how Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law in California which foisted homosexuality upon the children of that state through the state school system. The bill was SB777 and it clearly redefines (perverts) what sexuality is, as well as promotes the legitmacy of homosexuality upon children starting from kindergarten on up. He signed the bill on Saturday, October 13th.

Seven days later on October 20th, wildfires broke out across California in several places.

Ugh. There’s more in the ‘via’ links.

(via Richard via Towleroad)

tagged: gay san diego firestorm 2007 fire education law

daniel · late morning · 4 comments · ping it

This is nothing. Just me and my diminishing voice relating my days up to and during the Firestorm 2007. I don’t think I mentioned any links.. 

tagged: work gay san diego podcast firestorm 2007 fire observations

daniel · late afternoon · say it · ping it

Dear Local 8,

Thanks for showing some regular programing. Even though I normally watch Fox on Tuesdays, it was a much needed diversion.

Your friend,

Daniel

tagged: san diego news firestorm 2007 fire diversion

daniel · evening · say it · ping it

We had to run out to Ralph’s today for some necessary grocery items. The traffic on the Friars Road was gone. The news finally broadcasted that the Q was totally stocked with supplies and volunteers. I think that helped a lot. We got to the store in a normal amount of time.

Shopping was a different story. People are just buying in bulk right now. People with full carts were roaming the store grabbing anything they could think of. The produce section was emptying fast. The water aisle? Totally bare. It was kinda creepy. I hope they don’t run out of food. I have been off of the news broadcast lately. I was getting a headache from it. Are there freeways still closed? Last I looked there were two.. Hmm.

Anyway. I think I’ll install an update to my blog software. Nothing like breaking your blog for a while to distract the mind. 

tagged: san diego shopping firestorm 2007 fire ralphs

daniel · late afternoon · 3 comments · ping it

Here are some links to SoCal Bloggers that have experienced this fire firsthand…

Spinnerdude
Ryanstask
Howlingpoint (gave me the idea for this post)
A Life In The Day
Grrrrrrl
Hey Freak
Tenth Muse
Nate Ritter (also on Twitter with up-to-the-minute info)

I will add to the list as I find more. Feel free to comment with any others you have seen.

UPDATE:
San Diego Fire Flickr Group
SoCal Fires Flickr Group
Cat Dirt Sez
List of Twitters covering the fires

UPDATE:
Steve’s Place
Latelatenews’ Blog
Softservegirl.com

tagged: san diego blog firestorm 2007 fire socal bloggers

daniel · lunch time · say it · ping it

Okay, so here is my impression. I understand how blessed I am to not have been evacuated or worse, lost my home. I do. It is a major disaster. I cannot bear the thought of enduring what all those people are going through. But srsly. With all the coverage. There is no escape from what is going on. I think I have information overload. My mind is getting a bit numb. I am getting numb. It is starting to look like a movie. Is that right? It doesn’t seem right. But then I have been looking at various forms of Firestorm 2007 coverage since 5:30. That’s 6 hours straight. Even with my gorgeous Local 8 crew that is a lot.

I may have been overcompensating after my day of NO information. But still. 6 hours. No commercials. Fire, fire, fire… *twitch* Maybe if we saw more about the shelters, how we could help, something. But no. It’s mostly fire. Fires burning strong, fires going out, places next to fires… FIRE.

Now I feel uneasy for having shut it off. People do need the information. Am I weird?

I just need to think about something else for 5 minutes. Oh, and they better not let my Kyle get burned or otherwise injured. He is the sports guy. He should not be chasing fires.

And just in case you think I am slowly going crazy here’s a map of the big Witch Fire:

*twitch*

tagged: san diego firestorm 2007 kyle kraska fire local 8

daniel · late at night · 4 comments · ping it

UPDATE: How you can help!

It seems like just yesterday I was writing a petty little post about things in my own world. Things have changed just a bit today. San Diego is on fire. Not all of it, but a good portion. I am more than a little worried. So far we are okay. In fact we are really close to an evacuation center, so as far as location I think we are in a pretty good place. For now. The scary thing is that so much is dependent on the winds. The path of the fire can change at any time. That said, how about a formal update on things here? First, the news:

Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds consumed huge swaths of bone-dry Southern California on Monday, burning buildings and forcing more than 265,000 evacuations from Malibu to San Diego, including a jail, a hospital and nursing homes.
More than a dozen wildfires engulfed the region, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and threatening scores of structures. Overwhelmed firefighters said they lacked the resources to save all the threatened homes.
More than 250,000 people were forced to flee in San Diego County alone, where hundreds of patients were moved by school bus and ambulance from a hospital and nursing homes.
“It was nuclear winter. It was like Armageddon. It looked like the end of the world,” Mitch Mendler, a San Diego firefighter, said as he and his crew stopped at a shopping center parking lot to refill their water truck from a hydrant near a restaurant.
“I lost count,” he said when asked how many homes had burned.
The blazes in San Diego County and elsewhere erupted one after another over the weekend, each pushed across dry, drought-starved terrain by hellish winds that gusted over 100 mph.
Things got worse Monday, when several new fires sprouted and other fires merged, burning nearly 200,000 acres - or more than 310 square miles. Full Story

I woke up for a normal Monday that turned out to be not so normal. Of course I didn’t realize till I got on the road. You see, I had missed most of the news last night. I don’t do TV or radio when I get ready for work. So when I got into the car and my normal morning radio program was 100 percent news I was a bit surprised. Then when there were next to no people on the road I was kinda freaked out. Once I got to work I could smell the smoke in the air. In fact after about an hour we had to shut down the AC because it was sucking the smoke into the building. I caught the news on and off all day in the break room. I was mildly stressed and had a pit in my stomach for most of the day. One of our stores was in an evacuation area. Many associates lived in areas that were affected and couldn’t come to work. No one was out shopping. I can’t believe we were open for business… Near the end of my shift the actual town my store is in caught fire. It was the other side of town, but still. When I left the building to go home the sky was dark towards the east. Ash was falling all around. The drive home with no traffic was surreal. I called my family to let them know I was okay. I should have earlier. I feel bad about that. One of my friends from up north tracked down my work location after a few calls to see if I was okay.

I really need to put out a memo. Sorry folks. Been kinda weird here, so my head isn’t right.

I think tomorrow I want to bring some supplies to the shelter. It’s close, so should be easy to do…

tagged: san diego firestorm 2007 fire witch fire

daniel · late afternoon · 2 comments · ping it

NORTH COUNTY—North County firefighters will ride with lights flashing and sirens blaring Saturday morning as they parade to Qualcomm Stadium for the 17th annual FlameOut Fire Expo, the state’s largest firefighting event.

The procession—which includes fire trucks and engines accompanied by a highway patrol presidential escort—begins at 7:15 a.m. in Poway and continues to Rancho Santa Fe, Escondido, San Marcos, Oceanside and Del Mar before reaching San Diego.
Full Story

This happens every year, but apparently I was working last year and didn’t hear it. Bummer! It took me a few minutes to realize what it was this time, but I remembered how freaked out I was when we first moved here in ‘05 and had a solid 30 minutes of nearby sirens! 

tagged: san diego fire sirens fire trucks burn run

daniel · lunch time · 1 comment · ping it