The fires slow

The advancing flames are being held south of a reservoir, the winds have shifted, and there is more moisture in the air. All adding up to a less critical condition than previously reported. I am at work, after sending the women-folk up north to Disneyland for a much needed break.

The girls are on edge, being unable to attend school and on high-alert for the past two days are understandably tense. I would not be able to get any work done, being constantly concerned of their well-being, we concocted a plan to send them to Disneyland. Now that I am thinking about it, what a dumb plan! They get to go to Disneyland and I get to stay home? What the hell was I thinking?!

An interesting side note, when the girls were faced with filling their tubs with stuff they could take with them, the seven year old wanting to take her new, bright green, floor rug which reminds her of Tinkerbell. The three year old was fitfully trying to cram in every stuffed animal she owns. What kind of statement does it make when we cannot fit more than half her stuffed menagerie into a fifteen gallon tub? While the adults were concerned with computers, electronics, and pictures, the children were focused on the importance of their comfort items.

Lesson to be learned here.

-nn

Fire, fire everywhere

My "problem" of topic location has magically resolved itself. I find myself in the midst of the worst fire recorded in Southern California history. The work site is in an evacuation zone, so reporting is out of the question. Not that I would be able to, as the fire's front is a scant four miles away.
We spent a good part of the night preparing the girls for travel, each getting to pack a massive fifteen gallon tub with whatever they wanted, gassing the vehicles, assembling animal carriers, performing ad hoc backups to the file server (yes, we have a one, don't you?), and general "let-s-get-the-hell-out-of-here" activities. Checked out the flashlights, sorted out some "traveling" tools into a bag, gathered food for humans and animals, made sure the gas wrench was to be found, rounded up the extra electronic chargers, and threw in a power strip for good measure. We consider ourselves pretty self-contained, but like all plans, we will not know until we actually enact the plan.
Hopefully, we will not need to do that. But, as life is so wont to do, it is the unexpected that tests one's mettle.

kack! gag. urgle...

This is me on my inability to post with any regularity. May I be damned into the lowest bowels of Hell (somewhere on the ninth circle). On the other hand, my bowel movements are like clockwork, displaying to the attentive, there are aspects of my life that can be regulated.
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Excuses:

• just cleared three weeks of back-to-back releases across three platforms
• caught a cold
• went on a five day high-speed vacation through Arizona (with the cold)
  
• intense class requirements for a psych course (two papers for about 4500 words total)

I offer this recently uncovered nugget in exchange for absolution.

I found myself squirming in perfect embarrassment for this poor girl The clothes, the music, the hackneyed dance routine. Who would trick this poor soul into using a b flat trumpet for an impromptu blaster? How could she believe them?
How about the blending of Star Wars, Dance, and Charlie Chaplin? In whose mind (or planet) do these three things find a commonality? No where near mine I hope...

-nn