Long time no blog…

Well here are some photos from Burning Man 2008.

A key power transmission line has been repaired reducing the threat of black outs and the ocean breezes seem to have prevented any further movement of the fire towards my house, so I think I am going to have dinner here in LA and then head back to San Diego, hopefully that is the right call.

KPBS Reports:

• The Witch [the one that was the threat to Solana Beach] Fire is still 196,420 acres, but now 10% contained.
• Suppression costs are at $2.3 million.
• There have been 12 injuries to firefighters. There are 1,841 firefighters assigned to this fire.
• The fire will continue to move east threatening the communities of Julian and Pine Hills.
• Fire has potential to move north and join with the Poomacha Fire. Fire spread to west and southwest is still a potential.
• There have been 645 structures destroyed – 250 damaged. 100 commercial properties destroyed – 75 damaged. 50 outbuildings destroyed – 50 damaged.

Excellent maps and info on the San Deigo fires are available here:
KPBS map
Still I persist San Diego Fire Blog
Barboni San Diego Fire Blog

We are still in LA waiting to make sure San Diego doesn’t lose power. I am anxious to go home and get “back to normal”, but I suspect that may take a while before things become normal again, however unless there is a very substantial change it seems that my neighborhood is unlikely to be a fire zone.

One tiny perk of the fires was that the road is that I saw tons of great classic cars on the road as people moved them to fire safe areas.

From: http://www.ci.solana-beach.ca.us/newsdetail.asp?ID=148

VOLUNTARY EVACUATIONS HAVE BEEN LIFTED FOR ALL AREAS OF SOLANA BEACH BY FIRE CHIEF DAVID OTT

Emergency Operations Center Phone Number (858) 720-4403

• While the fire threat has diminished residents are still being asked to be aware of current conditions by watching the news and staying alert.
• You should also stay tuned to the radio and TV in order to stay apprised of the situation. The Radio Stations are AM 600 and AM 760.
• Please refrain from using cell phones unless you have an actual emergency.
• The City is requesting that you conserve water at this time due to the increase water supply needs created by the San Diego County fires.
• Air Quality - Due to the current fire situation in San Diego County, it is advisable that all residents, especially sensitive populations such as young children, the elderly and those with lung or heart conditions, eliminate or reduce outdoor activities and exposure to smoky conditions. These individuals should monitor changing smoke levels and air quality conditions on a regular basis. Patients on medications relating to asthma, bronchitis, emphysema or other lung or heart diseases are advised to use their medication as prescribed, and try to have at least a five day supply of medication on hand.
• For more information about strategies to reduce exposure to smoke, please visit the following website: http://www.airquality.org/smokeimpact/
• Current Air Quality Information - The Air Pollution Control District (APCD) in San Diego County monitors air quality conditions on a regular basis. For up-to-date information, please visit the following website: http://www.sdapcd.org/index.html

We went to LA to avoid the mess. Here is the newest map as of 3:45 today.

Normally that would be the lead sentence of a nightlife review, but I am afraid it is literal at the moment.

I have some photos showing the smoke in Solana Beach from yesterday and some sunset photos from here in La Jolla, but I seem to have misplaced my card reader in my haste, so I can’t get anything off my camera just yet.

I spoke to a friend in Solana Beach last night about 8 pm, he said it was no worse than when I had left about noon, so Soyan and I went back up a bit before 10 PM to get some pillows some and some art we had left the first time around (mostly African masks and baskets from our trip).

We ran the sprinklers again to get the soil nice and wet and looked how many houses still had lights on. It seemed like many of our neighbors were staying and we wondered if we were being a little silly, but decided better not to chance it.

I took a shower and we headed out.

I went to the San Elijo Lagoon (the end of the canyon that goes 25 miles inland and along which the fire is burning) to see if I could see any glow and saw nothing.

We drove south to Del Mar heights along some ridge neighborhoods looking to see if there was anything to see and there wasn’t.

We came back to La Jolla and went to sleep.

Now I am up and I see the updated map from last night. It is not good.

I don’t have a newer map from the San Diego county emergency site than 11:30 PM last night, but looking at a news map, I estimate the fire as 7-8 miles due east of my house.

Here are 3 time lapse maps from 4:30 pm, 7:30 pm and 11:30 pm yesterday:

(I wanted to make an animated gif from these but I couldn’t figure it out in photoshop and wanted to get this up. If you want to make an animation and send it to me that would be appreciated)

11:30 map:

7:30 map:

4:30 map:

Current as of 7pm PT: Bright red is the fire, light red is the evacuation.

I have not really been writing much here since I settled down in San Diego, but there are huge fires burning all over San Diego and I thought I’d share some of the madness.

About 6:30 AM I woke up there was soot all over my house and the sky was very smoky.

I went to Starbucks to get some coffee and shoot some photos of the sun… Except I keep losing the sun in all the smoke.

I wasn’t really worried, but I did stop by the hardware store about 7:40 and find that had already sold out of breathing masks. People all seemed very edgy.

I listen to the radio and they confirmed that things had gotten much worse over night.

I went home turned on the TV and everything seemed sufficiently far away.

I tried to do some work but as friends started IM’ing me I got a bit more nervous.

We started to think if we ever did need to evacuate what would we take…

We put together some papers (insurance, deed, etc) just in cases.

Did some more work.

The evacuation area got bigger but we were still 1-1.5 miles east of the edge of the evac area.

Then they called for the voluntary evacuation of “some areas” of Solana Beach.

Then the called my streets…

Right now, Solana Beach fire officials are going door to door on those 12 streets to advice residents to leave. Those streets are: 700 Seabright Lane; 200 Patty Hill Drive; 600 Barbara Ave.; 700 Rios Ave.; 700 Granados Ave.; 600 Holmwood Lane; 700 Rawl Place; 600 Canyon Place; 400-600 Canyon Drive; 600 Ridgeline Place; 600 Glencrest Place; and 400-500 Glencrest Drive.

Traylor said the canyon rim is the city’s highest fire danger zone because of an abundance of vegetation. “We are trying to be ahead of the curve,” he said.

We packed up and head south to La Jolla on the 101. Most of the traffic was headed north and we got a little nervous, but as soon as we got past del mar the air was much clearer.

For now are ok and in LJ, hopefully the house will be ok too.

Photos coming soon.

Last night my friends Gary, Lida and Dima came over to show us some movies they brought back from the Rhode Island Film Festival (where their film Happily Ever After won first place in the experimental category).

One of the movies they brought was Asiemut, a film by and about a Canadian couple riding their bikes 8,000 Kilometers from Mongolia to India. It was a great job for a first film and I enjoyed it enormously. It brought back many memories from our own trip and made me want to travel again. It also made me want to make a film. If you get a chance to see it an upcoming film festival, try and make it. Or you can buy their DVD online.

Andy sent me a link to this shirt, knowing I’d like it. He was right. :)

I had a similar idea for a visual phrase book, but it never moved past the conceptual stage. I always found it easier to pantomime when I was unable to communicate verbally. I’d place the palms of my hands together, bring them to the side of my head and tilt slightly to the right, in what seems to be a universal symbol of sleep. Then I put my arms to my side with my palms up, lift my shoulders, open my eyes wide and perhaps and shake my head gently. This is seems to be a pretty universal look for bewilderment that conveys the “where?” effectively. The result usually involved pointing or a follow me gesture and worked as often as needed. While figuring out food and bathroom pantomime should be an easy exercise for the reader, what I found hard to convey (on more than one occasion, but most memorably in a small town in Tibet) was my effort to pantomime “where can I buy additional credit for my prepaid local sim card for my cell phone”. This precise message was pretty hard to convey even when I had the cell phone in hand and could point at the sim card, but I hadn’t remembered to bring the phone with me that day. Before giving up, I followed a nice man 2 blocks to his shop where he offered the use of his land line, I was directed to an electronics store (that didn’t even sell phones), offered the use of a passerby’s mobile phone, and sent to a store that looked very promising, but in in the end only sold calling cards not mobile phone recharge cards.

But back to the shirt. Besides the difficulty in asking where to do your laundry when the shirt is dirty, I think it has one additional problem. The envelope icon could get you either a post office or an internet cafe depending on the country, and perhaps the age of the person being asked. If it is an internet cafe you want, I’d suggest a keyboard or perhaps a mouse as an icon.