We had our first winter rain storm blow through today, the first serious rain we've had since April or something! Nothing that would be extraordinary in many other parts of the world, just some occasionally hard rain that lasted for about 12 hours. With the rain, however, came some unusually cold temperatures. There was snow in the mountains today although we didn't get to see it. Overnight tonight they're expecting a low of just one degree above freezing, and it might actually freeze tomorrow night!
On the garden front, most all of our summer crops have died off. We still have some chili peppers producing, a couple cooking pumpkins ripening, and our perennial herbs are going strong. The leaf lettuce Danielle has been so excited about (and trying to give away!) is still going strong, though if it's going to freeze tonight I should probably go pick some!
Monday, 7 December 2009
Friday, 30 October 2009
Halloween Invasion
Halloween at UCSB is a special time ... a time when thousands of party people descend on Isla Vista (IV) to join the 20,000 UCSB students for massive Halloween chaos. When Halloween falls on a week day it is still an unbelievable scene of drunken debauchery and general lawless insanity. This year it's on a Saturday. In previous years we have lived safely 10 miles away in downtown Santa Barbara, so this is our first experience of being near IV as the madness begins.
Every year the university sends out threatening emails and launches a PR campaign to "Keep Halloween safe, keep it local" to discourage people from hosting friends and try to contain how many people show up. There are special rules about parking permits for Halloween and the county sets up check points to control the flow of vehicles into IV (Isla Vista is in unincorporated county land since no city would willingly take on the cost of policing it). The university administrators want to think that its the outsiders which could make Halloween unsafe, but frankly Halloween is just a scaled up version of the inebriated mayhem which happens every Thursday through Sunday night in portions of IV.
Maybe it's just because I haven't seen the preparations before, but it's intense. The authorities have erected miles of temporary fencing around IV and surrounding campus buildings over the last week. The new graduate student housing is encased in fence, and all entrances were controlled starting yesterday. There's fencing down the middle of El Collegio road which denotes the start of IV, forcing people to cross into IV only at designated, controlled points. Here in family student housing we've been advised we may need to show both our parking permit and a piece of mail with our address on it just to enter the parking lot.
So, what are we going to do? Three words: Shelter. In. Place. We'll watch some movies, hand out candy to neighborhood kids, and enjoy some time together.
Every year the university sends out threatening emails and launches a PR campaign to "Keep Halloween safe, keep it local" to discourage people from hosting friends and try to contain how many people show up. There are special rules about parking permits for Halloween and the county sets up check points to control the flow of vehicles into IV (Isla Vista is in unincorporated county land since no city would willingly take on the cost of policing it). The university administrators want to think that its the outsiders which could make Halloween unsafe, but frankly Halloween is just a scaled up version of the inebriated mayhem which happens every Thursday through Sunday night in portions of IV.
Maybe it's just because I haven't seen the preparations before, but it's intense. The authorities have erected miles of temporary fencing around IV and surrounding campus buildings over the last week. The new graduate student housing is encased in fence, and all entrances were controlled starting yesterday. There's fencing down the middle of El Collegio road which denotes the start of IV, forcing people to cross into IV only at designated, controlled points. Here in family student housing we've been advised we may need to show both our parking permit and a piece of mail with our address on it just to enter the parking lot.
So, what are we going to do? Three words: Shelter. In. Place. We'll watch some movies, hand out candy to neighborhood kids, and enjoy some time together.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Start of school
Well, it's that time of year ... tomorrow is the first day of classes this fall at UCSB, so it's the season of roving bands of freshmen wandering campus. There are never as many people on campus and crowding the bike paths as there are the first week of fall. When school is new freshmen are all over the place, doing things and meeting new people, then over the quarter undergrads of all years start showing up for class less and less. Each new quarter refreshes their interest in classes a little, but nothing like the first couple weeks after summer.
It's going to be a tough ride for those showing up this fall. California is in the midst of a serious budget crisis, which doesn't seem to have any near-term solution. The tax system in this state is set up to draw heavily from the wealthiest earners, but as a consequence the state's tax income is tied heavily to the fortunes of the stock market ... so there wasn't much money in the budget last year.
The effects of the state budget crisis on the UC system have been intense and are starting to compound. Tuition jumped 9% this fall, faculty have been asked to take cuts and furloughs, 10% of classes may be canceled, and the maintenance staff has been dramatically down-sized. There are new and higher fees on campus for all kinds of things, but the most intense effect is still looming on the horizon. The board of regents is proposing at 32% tuition increase to take effect possibly this winter. Yeah, 32%. As a researcher I'm not directly affect as my tuition is covered, but I don't know where they expect some students and their families to come up with thousands of extra dollars every quarter.
Strikes by the hardest hit staff positions started today and the grad student union is planning walk-outs and teach-ins for the fall. Hard to see any good solution coming together until the state legislature gets its act together.
It's going to be a tough ride for those showing up this fall. California is in the midst of a serious budget crisis, which doesn't seem to have any near-term solution. The tax system in this state is set up to draw heavily from the wealthiest earners, but as a consequence the state's tax income is tied heavily to the fortunes of the stock market ... so there wasn't much money in the budget last year.
The effects of the state budget crisis on the UC system have been intense and are starting to compound. Tuition jumped 9% this fall, faculty have been asked to take cuts and furloughs, 10% of classes may be canceled, and the maintenance staff has been dramatically down-sized. There are new and higher fees on campus for all kinds of things, but the most intense effect is still looming on the horizon. The board of regents is proposing at 32% tuition increase to take effect possibly this winter. Yeah, 32%. As a researcher I'm not directly affect as my tuition is covered, but I don't know where they expect some students and their families to come up with thousands of extra dollars every quarter.
Strikes by the hardest hit staff positions started today and the grad student union is planning walk-outs and teach-ins for the fall. Hard to see any good solution coming together until the state legislature gets its act together.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
harvest time!
Today we had our first harvest from our garden. Our little lettuces sprang up over the last week, so we did them (and ourselves) a favor and trimmed away the bigger leaves, which we ate in a salad. There were also a few ripe cherry tomatoes, some basil, some more of our very hot little peppers and the very first of our pole beans.
Here is the bounty:
And each of the delicious things in close up, starting with peppers:
The beans:
The tomatoes:
The basil:
The lettuce!!
And finally, our salad:
..and we're looking forward to more!
Here is the bounty:
And each of the delicious things in close up, starting with peppers:
The beans:
The tomatoes:
The basil:
The lettuce!!
And finally, our salad:
..and we're looking forward to more!
Monday, 7 September 2009
and the garden grows
Our garden has been carrying on for about a month, and the progress has been very exciting! Joey knocked together a box for our compost, which lives at the edge of the patch of mint that I'm trying valiantly to manage.
The tomatoes are large and in charge in the back of the cage, and everything else is quite tall. Here's a shot from this week:
The tomatoes are large and in charge in the back of the cage, and everything else is quite tall. Here's a shot from this week:
The before-after is very encouraging, particularly from the when-can-we-eat-it perspective. Here are the tomatoes after:
...and before:
We're very much looking forward to seeing what else happens, while the weather is warm. For more pics of the garden inception and progress, check out this slideshow:
-0-
In other news, for the time being Santa Barbara has escaped the recent wave of fire misfortune that's engulfed southern california. That's a relief, up to a point. Last week we took advantage of the delightful weather, and ran Nite Moves, a weekly 5k run that happens in the summer here. My goal was to finish the run (my first ever!), which I did pretty comfortably. Joey ran a fantastic race, finishing in about 26 minutes. It was fun stuff, with lots of people our age, and music, food and prizes at the end.
:)
:)
Friday, 28 August 2009
Finally, the first days of summer
The thermometer finally broke 80 degrees F (27 C) yesterday ... to say we've had a mild summer would be an understatement. June is typically a foggy and unseasonally cool month here, but the fog hung around for most of July and into August this year. In July the daytime high never broke 80 and weather.com claimed we had one day of 82 earlier this month, but it didn't feel like it. There's a heat wave around Southern California right now, it was probably 85 on campus and around our house today because we're right on the ocean. Down in LA they had triple digits to go with their wild fires, not a good combination.
I'm not complaining at all though, most days it would get to right about 75 which is wonderful. But with summer winding down it was starting to feel like we'd missed something, like the whole season had passed without anything changing. Plus, the plants in our garden should grow more with steady sun and warmer temperatures! Our tomatoes look really good right now, setting up nicely for a September crop and perhaps on into the fall. We also need some warm temperatures if our pumpkins are to set in time for Halloween =)
I'm not complaining at all though, most days it would get to right about 75 which is wonderful. But with summer winding down it was starting to feel like we'd missed something, like the whole season had passed without anything changing. Plus, the plants in our garden should grow more with steady sun and warmer temperatures! Our tomatoes look really good right now, setting up nicely for a September crop and perhaps on into the fall. We also need some warm temperatures if our pumpkins are to set in time for Halloween =)
Friday, 14 August 2009
Smoke but no fire
It seems like every other time we post it's about wildfire ...
This time the fire is about 75 miles away near Santa Maria, so there's no excitement from evacuation watches or burning hillsides here. Instead, we just get a big plume of smoke and ash falling lightly everywhere. At this point we've had smoke and ash so many times that no one in my lab was really put out by it. The conversations went something like:
"Hey, do you know if there's a fire?"
"No, there must be though. The sun had that ominous orange glow yesterday evening."
"Yeah, and there was ash all over this morning."
"Well, I'm sure we'll hear something."
It was especially weird because the weather here had been quite cool and foggy with little wind, not exactly prime fire weather. From what I've heard since, the fire is raging out of control in mountainous wilderness to the North, with no expected time to containment. The weather on the other side of the Los Padres mountains is always much hotter because it's far from the ocean. There's also another, smaller fire about 80 miles away to the North, plus a third inferno in the Santa Cruz mountains near the SF bay area which is the one most likely to be in the news over the next day or two for burning buildings.
This time the fire is about 75 miles away near Santa Maria, so there's no excitement from evacuation watches or burning hillsides here. Instead, we just get a big plume of smoke and ash falling lightly everywhere. At this point we've had smoke and ash so many times that no one in my lab was really put out by it. The conversations went something like:
"Hey, do you know if there's a fire?"
"No, there must be though. The sun had that ominous orange glow yesterday evening."
"Yeah, and there was ash all over this morning."
"Well, I'm sure we'll hear something."
It was especially weird because the weather here had been quite cool and foggy with little wind, not exactly prime fire weather. From what I've heard since, the fire is raging out of control in mountainous wilderness to the North, with no expected time to containment. The weather on the other side of the Los Padres mountains is always much hotter because it's far from the ocean. There's also another, smaller fire about 80 miles away to the North, plus a third inferno in the Santa Cruz mountains near the SF bay area which is the one most likely to be in the news over the next day or two for burning buildings.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Bike trip
We just got back from a wonderful and relaxing trip to Sonoma with my family. Our first stop was the Russian river valley and wine country, which was extremely hot a couple days we were there but still a lot of fun. After three days staying in the redwoods and venturing out into the heat during the day for biking and wine tasting, we moved down to Point Reyes where we were joined by my aunt, uncle, and their daughter. Point Reyes National Seashore is one of my favorite places in the world. It is simply beautiful and peaceful, partly because it is so often foggy along the coast here. The fog and the trees combine to produce a very personal experience while walking the trails there, quiet, reflective, and serene. The park also has an amazing variety of habitats, from mossy fern-covered deciduous forests to dry and parched coastal scrub, from dense and dark stands of fir trees to sprawling green or golden meadows.
Enjoy the pictures!
Enjoy the pictures!
Friday, 19 June 2009
Consolidate Airline Inc.
So D and I flew out to Carleton for our 5th reunion this week (really fun!) and had some odd flying experiences … we booked on Northwest from Santa Barbara, through LA, to Minneapolis. When we got to the tiny airport in SB, there was no Northwest counter, so we checked in with American which was listed as operating the first leg of the journey anyway.
When our American flight landed in LA, we of course had to get to the Northwest terminal. Nothing in LA is very well planned … this involved getting on a bus for a quick tour of the runways before we pulled up to these random closed, unlabeled doors. After a few seconds, the bus driver let us off when the guard came out. The guard was this tiny old LA blonde woman who informed the 25 of us that she needed us “up on the curb.” Then, she explained “When I open the door, you all have 15 seconds to get through or the alarm will sound. 15 seconds. So I need you all to work with me, okay? Are you ready?”
Seriously.
We performed admirably, despite the fact that Danielle was completely cracking up laughing. It was really funny, but I’m pretty sure the lady was serious.
Anyway, after that “behind the scenes” tour of LAX, our second and final flight from LA to Minnesota was on a Delta plane. We booked on Northwest, but flew American and Delta. Now, Delta and Northwest merged or are merging or something, but it was still an odd feeling. It’s like Forest Gump would say, “Life is like booking an plane trip, you never know which airline you’re gonna get.”
When our American flight landed in LA, we of course had to get to the Northwest terminal. Nothing in LA is very well planned … this involved getting on a bus for a quick tour of the runways before we pulled up to these random closed, unlabeled doors. After a few seconds, the bus driver let us off when the guard came out. The guard was this tiny old LA blonde woman who informed the 25 of us that she needed us “up on the curb.” Then, she explained “When I open the door, you all have 15 seconds to get through or the alarm will sound. 15 seconds. So I need you all to work with me, okay? Are you ready?”
Seriously.
We performed admirably, despite the fact that Danielle was completely cracking up laughing. It was really funny, but I’m pretty sure the lady was serious.
Anyway, after that “behind the scenes” tour of LAX, our second and final flight from LA to Minnesota was on a Delta plane. We booked on Northwest, but flew American and Delta. Now, Delta and Northwest merged or are merging or something, but it was still an odd feeling. It’s like Forest Gump would say, “Life is like booking an plane trip, you never know which airline you’re gonna get.”
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Jesusita Finally Contained
The Jesusita Fire was just declared fully contained. There haven't been any flames for a week, but it takes a long time to get containment lines dug all the way around the scar from a 9,000 acre blaze in rugged terrain ...
The weather here continues to be foggy and cool, the "June Gloom" which I personally enjoy (it's the closest thing to real weather we get down here until November ...) has set in. Just a few weeks too late!
The weather here continues to be foggy and cool, the "June Gloom" which I personally enjoy (it's the closest thing to real weather we get down here until November ...) has set in. Just a few weeks too late!
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Wildflowers
So the fire is long out, though there are still a lot of fire crews around, mostly clearing burned brush and things like that I believe. There's a big black/gray scar on the mountains over town, it's much more visible from a distance than the previous fire. I'm going to take a bike ride up into the burned zone someday soon when it's foggy (otherwise it'd be really hot up there!).
In late April Danielle and I went up to see the last of the wildflowers at Figueroa Mountain, which is about an hour North of Santa Barbara ... we passed the entrance to Michael Jackson's now infamous Neverland ranch just before getting to the park.
As I mentioned before, Spring and flowers happen very differently in California then say the Northeast, Europe or Minnesota ... the first flowers start showing up at the end of January really, and February and March are really the Spring months. It was always an incredible contrast coming back to California from Minnesota for Spring break in late March. By that point here, some of the flowers have already done their thing, all the trees are fully green, etc ... while in Minnesota, the snow is starting to melt and everything is still dead an getting really muddy.
So, since we were a little late to the flower party, we had to go to the very top (~4k feet) of this mountain where the air is cooler to see the end of the wildflower display. The state budget cuts were fully apparent, as there didn't seem to be any rangers or anything in the state park and there sure weren't many signs either. We eventually found the flowers and they sure didn't disappoint!
Click to see the slideshow.
In late April Danielle and I went up to see the last of the wildflowers at Figueroa Mountain, which is about an hour North of Santa Barbara ... we passed the entrance to Michael Jackson's now infamous Neverland ranch just before getting to the park.
As I mentioned before, Spring and flowers happen very differently in California then say the Northeast, Europe or Minnesota ... the first flowers start showing up at the end of January really, and February and March are really the Spring months. It was always an incredible contrast coming back to California from Minnesota for Spring break in late March. By that point here, some of the flowers have already done their thing, all the trees are fully green, etc ... while in Minnesota, the snow is starting to melt and everything is still dead an getting really muddy.
So, since we were a little late to the flower party, we had to go to the very top (~4k feet) of this mountain where the air is cooler to see the end of the wildflower display. The state budget cuts were fully apparent, as there didn't seem to be any rangers or anything in the state park and there sure weren't many signs either. We eventually found the flowers and they sure didn't disappoint!
Click to see the slideshow.
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| Wildflowers |
Monday, 11 May 2009
All over but the mopping up
Just a quick final update on the Jesusita fire, it is effectively over. The weekend was cool and damp and there was very little wind, so the firefighters switched from defense to offense and have basically put the blaze out. Everyone in town was allowed to return to their homes yesterday. Reports on the ground indicate that around 100 homes were lost, but hundreds were saved by the intense efforts of firefighters protecting them while burning embers rained down on the neighborhoods near the fire.
I imagine there are still smoldering roots or other hotpots up on the mountain which the firefighters are still making sure are out cold, but for all intents and purposes the fire is over. The other bit of good news going forward is that the three fires we've had in the last 10 months now form a protective band around the city, so we should be okay for a little while ...
I imagine there are still smoldering roots or other hotpots up on the mountain which the firefighters are still making sure are out cold, but for all intents and purposes the fire is over. The other bit of good news going forward is that the three fires we've had in the last 10 months now form a protective band around the city, so we should be okay for a little while ...
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Cool and (partly) contained
Today is cool and cloudy, with only light breezes. Much progress was made on containing the fire over night, they're now claiming 30% containment but more importantly the areas which remain threatened by fire are far up the mountainside and away from populated areas. The word is they are about to start relaxing the evacuation areas, but they're still playing it cautious. So, Jesusita is still burning and the firefighters have a lot of work ahead of them to put everything out cold, but for now it looks like the worst is behind us.
The most reliable local news source is the Santa Barbara Independent, which has some really great stories from the field and posts updates from the ground every couple hours. Lots of intense pictures as well.
The most reliable local news source is the Santa Barbara Independent, which has some really great stories from the field and posts updates from the ground every couple hours. Lots of intense pictures as well.
Friday, 8 May 2009
Quiet on the fire front
The air is cool and finally still this evening, with the sweet smell of moisture coming off the ocean replacing the smell of fire carried by the "sundowner" winds. It feels like the 100 degree temperatures have broken and the forecast looks much tamer for the days ahead. The slopes North of town are still smoldering, but we can no longer see towers of flames so if the wind stays down hopefully the over two thousand fire fighters on hand can switch from defense to containment.
Looking good for the time being.
Looking good for the time being.
The winds they keep a changin' ...
Late last night, the winds shifted and the smoke from the Jesusita fire started blowing West towards us. It turned the moon an ominous red and the air smelled of fire. Overnight we got sprinkled with a light layer of ash. While the fire is still many miles from us, those winds drove it further west, greatly expanding the open front above the many houses on the Northern side of Eastern Goleta and Western Santa Barbara. The fire jumped over 154, the snaky highway over the mountains which leads to wine country.
Today, the winds are back to blowing straight South and maybe even a little East. Westmont College, which is in Montecito by the Eastern edge of the fire, was given a noon deadline to evacuate all students and staff. This weekend is Westmont graduation, they have had to shift their ceremonies off campus to Santa Barbara City College. For the students who are graduating, this is their second major fire as last year they "sheltered in place" in the fire proof gym as the Tea Fire destroyed parts of their campus.
There's a satellite heat map which shows where fires have been spotted, you can see how the fire exploded westward last night across the slopes.
Today, the winds are back to blowing straight South and maybe even a little East. Westmont College, which is in Montecito by the Eastern edge of the fire, was given a noon deadline to evacuate all students and staff. This weekend is Westmont graduation, they have had to shift their ceremonies off campus to Santa Barbara City College. For the students who are graduating, this is their second major fire as last year they "sheltered in place" in the fire proof gym as the Tea Fire destroyed parts of their campus.
There's a satellite heat map which shows where fires have been spotted, you can see how the fire exploded westward last night across the slopes.
putting the 'wild' back in 'wildfire'
Well, since our little viewing foray and renaming proposition last night, the jesucristo fire has not failed to disappoint. Or else it's a big mire of disappointment, depending on which way you look at it. It's extended to the west (ie closer to us) and east, and mandatory evacuation orders are now in effect for the far northeast side of Goleta. Fortunately for us we're on the far southwest side of Goleta and are still in the clear, and still in awe and a little horror at how this thing has consumed the mountains over town. We can't see it any more, because the smoke has come down to the west and over the ocean. If there are more developments, we'll post them here.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
more like the 'jesucristo' fire...
After spending some time watching it rage across mountain canyons, Joey and I decided the fire should be upgraded. "Jesusita" doesn't really capture what's going on up there. We also have full and awesome respect for firefighters. For the most up-to-date information on the fire and brimstone of Santa Barbara's mountain ranges, see the county website, and jesusitafire.org.
Photos of the inferno
We went out for a walk today and got a shocking view of the Jesusita inferno raging in the hills above town. The winds and thus the fire were not as intense during the day today as compared to yesterday, but as we watched the fire exploded across a couple of canyons. A wall of flames marched across the slopes and down towards town, with spot fires flaring up hundreds of yards in front of the wall, bursting quickly into enormous fire balls.
There were tons of people out watching and taking pictures. Many of the drivers passing us on the Los Carneros overpass had their camera phones going or simply stopped in the middle of the road to look. Not a good time to be out driving!
There were tons of people out watching and taking pictures. Many of the drivers passing us on the Los Carneros overpass had their camera phones going or simply stopped in the middle of the road to look. Not a good time to be out driving!
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
fire map
Here is a map of the fire that should be updated fairly regularly. Our old haunts are largely on evacuation watch, with a couple on mandatory evacuation. We're very glad to be far from this blaze! Zoom in for details. Our new place is in Goleta near the ocean, several miles to the west.
View Jesusita Fire map in a larger map
View Jesusita Fire map in a larger map
Seriously on fire
While I was writing the last post, they expanded the evacuation orders again ... our first place here in SB is now just two blocks outside the mandatory zone. Smoke has been reported rising right behind the mission!
The Botanic Gardens is toast barring some kind of major miracle.
For regular updates, check out: http://www.independent.com/news/jesusita-fire/
The Botanic Gardens is toast barring some kind of major miracle.
For regular updates, check out: http://www.independent.com/news/jesusita-fire/
On fire again ...
Looks like we moved away from downtown just in time! In case you hadn't heard, we moved to Goleta to family student housing ... it's way cheaper, and so far we're really happy we've moved. We're mostly settled in, got a new couch and most things set up. Still have a few left over boxes and other remnants of the move to sort through ...
But back to the pressing news of the day: FIRE!
The first fire of '09 and the 4th since we've been in Santa Barbara started yesterday afternoon in the hills above downtown, just a little bit uphill from the SB Botanic Gardens for those of you who have been there. For those of you who haven't, well you might have missed your chance! Anyway, here are a couple photos from day 1, just an hour or so after it started:
Not too bad, eh? Just a little spot on the mountain sending up a plume. This morning as I biked in to work, it was even smaller. I figured they had it contained and that it'd be out cold in a day or two. Certainly nothing to worry about.
Well, all that changed around 2 or 3 ... it was a pretty hot day (~95), and the "sundowner" winds started to pick up, blowing down towards the city at up to 50 mph. Yeah, it's a bad scene right now ... these pictures were taken less than an hour ago from our new place in Goleta (10 miles west of downtown).
The "Jesusita" fire is burning basically two canyons west from the previous "Tea" fire area. The very first place we lived is now under evacuation watch ... a huge swath of town North of the mission is under mandatory evacuation orders as the fire is now completely out of control. Our last place is just outside the latest evacuation watch. It's so hot and windy that the fire is jumping long distances and creating spot fires all over, so it's certainly a dangerous situation for a lot of peoples homes right now.
The winds aren't expected to break until midnight or so ... it's gonna be a long night for the huge number of fire crews that have been called in.
It seems really early in the year for a wild fire, but we had no rain in April and the grass turned brown on the hills weeks ago. The seasons here are quite different than 'normal' ... the old saying has to be switched to: January showers bring February flowers. And, apparently, lack of April showers bring May fires!
But back to the pressing news of the day: FIRE!
The first fire of '09 and the 4th since we've been in Santa Barbara started yesterday afternoon in the hills above downtown, just a little bit uphill from the SB Botanic Gardens for those of you who have been there. For those of you who haven't, well you might have missed your chance! Anyway, here are a couple photos from day 1, just an hour or so after it started:
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| From 05.06.09 Jesusita Fire |
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| From 05.06.09 Jesusita Fire |
Not too bad, eh? Just a little spot on the mountain sending up a plume. This morning as I biked in to work, it was even smaller. I figured they had it contained and that it'd be out cold in a day or two. Certainly nothing to worry about.
Well, all that changed around 2 or 3 ... it was a pretty hot day (~95), and the "sundowner" winds started to pick up, blowing down towards the city at up to 50 mph. Yeah, it's a bad scene right now ... these pictures were taken less than an hour ago from our new place in Goleta (10 miles west of downtown).
 |
| From 05.06.09 Jesusita Fire |
 |
| From 05.06.09 Jesusita Fire |
 |
| From 05.06.09 Jesusita Fire |
The "Jesusita" fire is burning basically two canyons west from the previous "Tea" fire area. The very first place we lived is now under evacuation watch ... a huge swath of town North of the mission is under mandatory evacuation orders as the fire is now completely out of control. Our last place is just outside the latest evacuation watch. It's so hot and windy that the fire is jumping long distances and creating spot fires all over, so it's certainly a dangerous situation for a lot of peoples homes right now.
The winds aren't expected to break until midnight or so ... it's gonna be a long night for the huge number of fire crews that have been called in.
It seems really early in the year for a wild fire, but we had no rain in April and the grass turned brown on the hills weeks ago. The seasons here are quite different than 'normal' ... the old saying has to be switched to: January showers bring February flowers. And, apparently, lack of April showers bring May fires!
Sunday, 29 March 2009
fana in california, part 2
Thanks to the scheduling possibilities of a junior dance company, Fana unexpectedly had a few days in L.A. at the end of the tour. So to complete the California experience, I met up with her down there for some sightseeing as well. This was a little more tricky since I've never actually lived in L.A., but I think we pulled it off. I'd selected four or five possible stops for our day, since I was meeting her in the afternoon after her demonstration performance and wasn't sure which of the various landmarks Fana would want to see. A real trooper, she decided we could do them all! So that's what we did. Our first stop was for food (Trini priorities), at the Los Angeles Farmer's Market, which has a number of permanent shops. One we particularly enjoyed is called 'light my fire', and it has every major pepper sauce you can think of. We saw lots of West Indian brands, including Matouk's, Grace, and others. Didn't buy any, though. For lunch we had delicious Mexican food from a stand that's apparently won lots of city-wide awards. It was fantastic. Here are some pictures of that stop:
The next two stops were Hollywood, where we walked down the Avenue of the Stars, saw famous hand and footprints and the Hollywood sign; and Rodeo Drive, where all the fancy shops are. In Hollywood we also walked through the front of the Kodak Theatre, where the Academy Awards show is held every year. By the time we were leaving Rodeo it was rush hour, and we found ourselves stuck in some of L.A.'s legendary traffic... Eww... Cars in every direction on the road as far as the eye can see - Churchill Roosevelt style. Through some miracle of impatience and dumb luck I eventually got us out of the mire that our planned route had become, and onto a much less crowded street that took us to the coast. Here's Fana investigating the cement signatures at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
We ended at Santa Monica, at sunset. We contemplated going to the beach so Fana could wet her feet in the (cold) Pacific for the first time, but the beach as you can see is quite large, and we were - well - tired. We settled for pictures. In this picture you can see the Santa Monica Pier in the background, with Highway 1 (which runs along the coast for the entire length of California) in the foreground.
Fana and me, facing west
And finally, appropriately for the land of show business and the beach lifestyle, here's Fana, looking off into the sunset.
fana in california, part 1
Under pressure, I am following hot on the heels of Joey's carnival post with an update of my own :) Over the last couple weeks, we were able to rendezvous with Fana as Ailey II made its way around California. This was exciting first because we got to spend time with her but also because we got to see her/Ailey II dance, which neither of us has done yet. Hooray! Soon after we got back to the US from carnival, the group was in Northern California. We'd flown back in to San Francisco airport, and stayed at Joey's parents' for a few days until the show. It was great - not least because our seats were right in front and on the side, where Fana spent a lot of time for the dance she featured in. She (probably fortunately) hadn't figured out where we were sitting at that point! We especially liked the Ailey-choreographed pieces at the end. The last group piece was so popular, the audience clapped until the dancers did it again! Fun times. Here's a shot of me, Fana and her friend Ghrai in the lobby.
That weekend, the troupe got time off in San Francisco, so I met up with Fana and some of the ladies for a spot of sightseeing. We started in Union Square, where we got to see one of many of the city's quirky and fascinating events/groups, the Brides of March. Some highlights:
We walked all over downtown San Francisco (which isn't actually that big, and if you plan it right can be mostly downhill) from there, through Chinatown, the top of the mark, North Beach, and ending on Fisherman's Wharf, where the ladies had clam chowder, and Ghirardelli Square, where much delicious chocolate was consumed. Here is a photo taken by a trustworthy-looking passerby.
:)
The end.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Carnival!
On Friday, I finished two papers ... one for a controls/robotics conference and the other a revision to a paper on a new voting method. I'll post some pictures or links someday for those of you who might wonder what exactly it is that I do. So, with the great relief of having both of those submitted, it's time to do a little catch up.
Carnival in T&T was great fun! It was my first time being there for Carnival and it was a fantastic experience, plus I somehow didn't get sunburned. Things didn't start off so hot though, we were flying from SF to Trinidad by way of Miami on American. We got to the airport nice and early for our 6am flight, and as we settled in to some empty seats to wait the last few minutes for the airline counter to open at 4am Danielle gets a phone call. Yes, at 3:50am after we were already at the airport, they called to let us know our flight had been canceled. We had checked the display just a few minutes before, but apparently during those 10 minutes they determined the plane "had a mechanical problem." To make matters even more awesome, some computer inside American somewhere had decided that we should be immediately rebooked for the 6am flight the next day. It sounds logical at first, if one flight is canceled, then the passengers should be rebooked quickly ... but there are only so many flights from Miami to Trinidad, and around Carnival they are full. Since we had been rebooked, we lost our seats on that evenings flight to Port-of-Spain. Even if we had figured out a way to get to Miami in time for the flight, it wouldn't have mattered as we no longer had seats on the final leg.
After an hour and a half of wrangling with phone agents and the ticket counter, we managed to get an itinerary taking off at midnight and getting to Trinidad in time for the evening entertainment we had tickets for. And for our troubles, they gave us $30 in food vouchers. We took a 6am train back to my parents house, but man it would have sucked to spend ~18 extra hours in an airport when you'd already gotten up before 3am! With all of that, it really seemed like they had canceled the flight because there weren't enough passengers ... the mob of highly annoyed tired people was not enough to fill half the plane. That being said, the only thing worse than being at an airport at 4am to find out your flight had been canceled and you were going to be there for a while is probably being a mostly powerless ticket agent at work at 4am trying to deal with some extremely unhappy people whose vacations your company had just ruined ... man there were some angry folks. And one poor lady who was there at 4am opening the counters was still there at 9:30pm when we came back to check in!
So, the beginning of the trip was not so hot, and I didn't really manage to catch up on all the lost sleep and completely screwed up internal clock until after Carnival ...
We were supposed to meet our friend Dinah in Miami and travel down together, but instead she landed in Trinidad without us and was picked up by Danielle's mom. While we were still in the air, Dinah got to check out "Kiddie's Carnival" on Saturday. Here are some pictures Dinah took of what we missed out on ... the costumes for Kiddie's Carnival are more like what the costumes for Carnival would have been like years ago. Now the main carnival costumes are swimsuits augmented with feathers and sequins ...
We arrived Saturday afternoon (instead of Friday evening), just in time for some of Sandra's (Danielle's mom) delicious food before a Calypso show. D had shared lots of Trinidadian music with me over the years, but this was my first chance to see it performed. The show we went to had 5 past winners of the annual Calypso competition, it was great.
Calypso Rose, a 70+ year old cancer survivor stole the show ... she was belting out her songs, shaking it around the stage, dancing down into the audience. It was kind of unbelievable how she was moving, and she was really good too!
The last performer was David Rudder, who's written many of the more famous recent Calypsos, including my favorite "Dus' in your face" ...
Alright, more later on the other days of Carnival.
Carnival in T&T was great fun! It was my first time being there for Carnival and it was a fantastic experience, plus I somehow didn't get sunburned. Things didn't start off so hot though, we were flying from SF to Trinidad by way of Miami on American. We got to the airport nice and early for our 6am flight, and as we settled in to some empty seats to wait the last few minutes for the airline counter to open at 4am Danielle gets a phone call. Yes, at 3:50am after we were already at the airport, they called to let us know our flight had been canceled. We had checked the display just a few minutes before, but apparently during those 10 minutes they determined the plane "had a mechanical problem." To make matters even more awesome, some computer inside American somewhere had decided that we should be immediately rebooked for the 6am flight the next day. It sounds logical at first, if one flight is canceled, then the passengers should be rebooked quickly ... but there are only so many flights from Miami to Trinidad, and around Carnival they are full. Since we had been rebooked, we lost our seats on that evenings flight to Port-of-Spain. Even if we had figured out a way to get to Miami in time for the flight, it wouldn't have mattered as we no longer had seats on the final leg.
After an hour and a half of wrangling with phone agents and the ticket counter, we managed to get an itinerary taking off at midnight and getting to Trinidad in time for the evening entertainment we had tickets for. And for our troubles, they gave us $30 in food vouchers. We took a 6am train back to my parents house, but man it would have sucked to spend ~18 extra hours in an airport when you'd already gotten up before 3am! With all of that, it really seemed like they had canceled the flight because there weren't enough passengers ... the mob of highly annoyed tired people was not enough to fill half the plane. That being said, the only thing worse than being at an airport at 4am to find out your flight had been canceled and you were going to be there for a while is probably being a mostly powerless ticket agent at work at 4am trying to deal with some extremely unhappy people whose vacations your company had just ruined ... man there were some angry folks. And one poor lady who was there at 4am opening the counters was still there at 9:30pm when we came back to check in!
So, the beginning of the trip was not so hot, and I didn't really manage to catch up on all the lost sleep and completely screwed up internal clock until after Carnival ...
We were supposed to meet our friend Dinah in Miami and travel down together, but instead she landed in Trinidad without us and was picked up by Danielle's mom. While we were still in the air, Dinah got to check out "Kiddie's Carnival" on Saturday. Here are some pictures Dinah took of what we missed out on ... the costumes for Kiddie's Carnival are more like what the costumes for Carnival would have been like years ago. Now the main carnival costumes are swimsuits augmented with feathers and sequins ...
We arrived Saturday afternoon (instead of Friday evening), just in time for some of Sandra's (Danielle's mom) delicious food before a Calypso show. D had shared lots of Trinidadian music with me over the years, but this was my first chance to see it performed. The show we went to had 5 past winners of the annual Calypso competition, it was great.
 |
| From Pre-Carnival |
Calypso Rose, a 70+ year old cancer survivor stole the show ... she was belting out her songs, shaking it around the stage, dancing down into the audience. It was kind of unbelievable how she was moving, and she was really good too!
 |
| From Pre-Carnival |
The last performer was David Rudder, who's written many of the more famous recent Calypsos, including my favorite "Dus' in your face" ...
 |
| From Pre-Carnival |
Alright, more later on the other days of Carnival.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
monarchs of the glen
Every day since January 5th, I keep saying 'I will write'. 'I will write', 'I will write', 'I will write'... Finally, here I am, thesis-free and writing. It only took about 20 days after handing in the longest thing I've ever written before I could bring myself to sit and write again :) That's the big news - the thesis is finished! It has been turned in ! And in theory, in a month or two my degree will arrive in the mail, at last. And that's about it, really.
On a much more satisfying level (and I mean that in the reflective, communing-with-nature sense, not the 'it's finally done and out of my life!' sense), today Joey and I went to see monarchs in the glen. Monarch butteflies, that is. Before I get into that, I should preface it by saying that Joey has been pushing me to blog about my thesis being done, and now that it's over, I find that I don't have very much else to say. So I'll attempt to cop out on that assignment by pointing out that while I was in thesis limbo, I never could take the time to do something as simple and enjoyable - but time-consuming - as going to spend hours hiking over a nature preserve and staring at butterflies. The butterfly preserve, if I may be allowed the hyperbole, is emblematic of a great many things in Santa Barbara that I/we know about and want to do, but haven't managed to experience because we also have to spend time doing other things. But enough about that.
The Coronado butterfly preserve is actually a fairly small area, where a population of monarch butterflies spends the winter months (their summer habitat is much further to the northeast). They cluster on and around the eucalyptus trees in a little glen, so thick on the braches that they almost look like termites' nests. To visit, you park your car at the edge of the adjacent neighbourhood, and walk about five minutes following little butterfly graphic signs until the trail forks to circle their nesting area. All of a sudden, as you go up the incline, you notice one or two butterflies fluttering about. Then you notice the flurry of activity around the heavily laden branches, and finally that most of the branches are laden with butterflies, not lots of light brown leaves. It's extraordinary. You stare at them for a little while, move a bit, stare at them from another angle, and so on. Then, you get to the edge of the grove, step out into the sunshine, and the butterflies are completely behind you. We continued along the way, hiking on the Ellwood bluffs (Ellwood is the name of the area on that part of the Santa Barbara coast), then on the beach for a while since the tide was out and there were lots of tide pools. It was a glorious day for being outside, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Now, on to the pictures.
Tree branches laden with butterflies:
Butterfly clusters, looking a lot like termite nests on the sides of the trees:
Some typical Santa Barbara beach scenery, on a windy January day:
Joey amid the tide pools:
On a much more satisfying level (and I mean that in the reflective, communing-with-nature sense, not the 'it's finally done and out of my life!' sense), today Joey and I went to see monarchs in the glen. Monarch butteflies, that is. Before I get into that, I should preface it by saying that Joey has been pushing me to blog about my thesis being done, and now that it's over, I find that I don't have very much else to say. So I'll attempt to cop out on that assignment by pointing out that while I was in thesis limbo, I never could take the time to do something as simple and enjoyable - but time-consuming - as going to spend hours hiking over a nature preserve and staring at butterflies. The butterfly preserve, if I may be allowed the hyperbole, is emblematic of a great many things in Santa Barbara that I/we know about and want to do, but haven't managed to experience because we also have to spend time doing other things. But enough about that.
The Coronado butterfly preserve is actually a fairly small area, where a population of monarch butterflies spends the winter months (their summer habitat is much further to the northeast). They cluster on and around the eucalyptus trees in a little glen, so thick on the braches that they almost look like termites' nests. To visit, you park your car at the edge of the adjacent neighbourhood, and walk about five minutes following little butterfly graphic signs until the trail forks to circle their nesting area. All of a sudden, as you go up the incline, you notice one or two butterflies fluttering about. Then you notice the flurry of activity around the heavily laden branches, and finally that most of the branches are laden with butterflies, not lots of light brown leaves. It's extraordinary. You stare at them for a little while, move a bit, stare at them from another angle, and so on. Then, you get to the edge of the grove, step out into the sunshine, and the butterflies are completely behind you. We continued along the way, hiking on the Ellwood bluffs (Ellwood is the name of the area on that part of the Santa Barbara coast), then on the beach for a while since the tide was out and there were lots of tide pools. It was a glorious day for being outside, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Now, on to the pictures.
Tree branches laden with butterflies:
Butterfly clusters, looking a lot like termite nests on the sides of the trees:
Some typical Santa Barbara beach scenery, on a windy January day:
Joey amid the tide pools:
Danielle on the bluff:
And finally, your moment of zen:
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Where were you?
What an incredible moment in history. We were visiting my brother today and watched the proceedings from my parent's house.
The crowds gathered in DC were incredible, an endless sea of people. Danielle exclaimed multiple times how she wished we could be there and be a part of it.
Obama's inaugural address was quite powerful, what really stood out for me was the direct and candid discussion of the difficult times the country is in. Sitting just a few feet away was the man who when faced with the greatest challenge to the country in a generation called for everyone to "go shopping." It would have been quite revealing to be a fly in Bush's head, hearing his internal thoughts. The whole ceremony, and particularly Obama's speech, had a feeling like the grown-ups coming in to pick up the pieces created by some irresponsible children. The power and authority of Obama was frankly refreshing, filling a real void that I hadn't even realized has been lacking in American politics for as long as I can remember.
The sky is certainly bluer and the day brighter than it has been in a while.
The crowds gathered in DC were incredible, an endless sea of people. Danielle exclaimed multiple times how she wished we could be there and be a part of it.
Obama's inaugural address was quite powerful, what really stood out for me was the direct and candid discussion of the difficult times the country is in. Sitting just a few feet away was the man who when faced with the greatest challenge to the country in a generation called for everyone to "go shopping." It would have been quite revealing to be a fly in Bush's head, hearing his internal thoughts. The whole ceremony, and particularly Obama's speech, had a feeling like the grown-ups coming in to pick up the pieces created by some irresponsible children. The power and authority of Obama was frankly refreshing, filling a real void that I hadn't even realized has been lacking in American politics for as long as I can remember.
The sky is certainly bluer and the day brighter than it has been in a while.
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