Hooray for fog and drizzle

What a crazy week it has been! As if the anticipated May madness wasn't enough, we had a harrowing week keeping a watchful eye on the Jesusita Fire (do a Google search, you'll find numerous articles) that burned the mountains of Santa Barbara, basically burning out the untouched brush between the east end of the Gap Fire (last July) and the west end of the Tea Fire (last November).

It started Tuesday afternoon. As I drove Todd to after-school care, I noticed a small plume of smoke emanating from the mountains. Didn't think much of it, but that changed quickly as the winds fanned the flames and spread it. That night, we were scheduled to hold a joint celebration at the home of one of our friends from church-- to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, my birthday and her birthday, as well as hold our usual Tuesday small group study after the festivities. By evening, their house, near downtown SB, was inside the evacuation warning zone. Despite the hot temps, we had to keep the windows closed and bake in the house because of the smoky air outside. I was glad to return home farther away from the fire and bask in the fresh air.

The next couple days proved worse as the fire spread and more and more people were evacuated from their homes. Wednesday evening brought the long-awaited party celebrating the February release of the product whose team I've been working on. It, too, was held downtown, and by the time I drove onto State Street, the main drag of downtown SB, I was a bit creeped out not only by the ghost town nature of the normally-bustling street, but by the red haze enveloping the streets. I made a mad dash from the parking lot to the restaurant, to minimize my exposure to the ash and smoke.

Thursday I tried to go swimming with Todd, but we quickly abandoned the pool in favor of the jacuzzi, because the pool had too much debris (ash, probably) on the bottom and too many dead bugs floating on the surface. That night was probably the most worrisome as the fire took a mean turn and, within the span of a few hours, spread quite a ways westward-- I could see the ridges of the hills glowing from afar, every time I looked out my window the flames seemed higher and stronger, and the smoke was finally wafting our way. A quick check of the map showed that the evac warning zone had spread to just one freeway exit away from our place! Needless to say, it took me a while to get to sleep that night.

Friday was an eerily quiet day. Now it was the office's turn to look like a ghost town-- maybe half the people there were out, either taking time off to tend to evacuations, or working from home in case their homes were upgraded from warning to mandatory evacuation orders. We went out to Elephant Bar for a belated birthday dinner, and were surprised at how crowded the restaurant was when we got there. Not too surprising, I supposed, since people still have to eat, right?

Things improved over the weekend as temps cooled, winds died down, and the marine layer came in from the shore. People started being allowed to return to their homes. Our church had been in the now-lifted evacuation zone, but with the fires still burning (albeit more contained nearby) the environment still wasn't very hospitable, with all the smoke and ash, so we held services at a movie theater near our home.

One of the most striking things through all this was the emergence of Twitter as a means for getting information out to the concerned masses as quickly as possible-- in many cases, providing updates even before the news media updated their websites. It quickly became an invaluable resource for residents to stay abreast of the current news, and was especially useful for those who didn't have access to televisions. This was the feed I was glued to for much of the week: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23jesusitafire When the fire raged on at its worst, the feed came alive with updates from all sources!

There's also an interesting article on the LA Times about CJamz, one of the more reliable and frequent updater:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-onthemedia11-2009may11,0,4582973.column

Take THAT, Twitter nay-sayers! ;-)

Today, the fog and drizzle continues. I think this Tweet summed it up nicely: This is the first time I've ever been thankful for heavy fog in May.

Amen to that!

March madness? Try May madness!

... aka, why I haven't had more time to blog other than random bits and pieces on my Tumblr blog, which is still pretty up-to-date: http://hellykwee.tumblr.com

I thought April was busy. And it was. But we're barely into May and I just know I'm going to be in non-stop mode till the end of it, especially THIS year!

We kicked things off with my birthday today (a day I share with FOUR other people that I know of. One of them on the same year, even!). Nothing eventful-- I actually spent 9 hours shopping with my son in a town 40 miles north of here (it has a Wal-Mart, FoodsCo and Dollar Tree, so the savings is well worth the trip up there)-- well, 7 hours shopping and 2 hours driving back and forth. Still, it was nice to let Allan have some peace and quiet in which to work, and fun to hang out with my little man all day.

Since we didn't get a chance to clean up today, tomorrow shall be cleaning day after church, and then I have to head to Todd's school to finish inventorying uniforms. Also planning a trip to the library to get some more books and videos for the little man.

The birthdays continue-- tomorrow belongs to a friend from church. Since Tuesday brings Cinco de Mayo, we're all getting together at her place for a tri-fold celebration.

Then comes Mother's Day next weekend. Weekend after that is the California Strawberry Festival. I've been meaning to go for the past 6 years, but each and every year, SOMETHING has come up that prevented me from going. This year, by golly, I'm bound and determined to go ;-) That weekend is also the wedding of some college friends of mine, so it will be good to catch up with the old geek crowd again.

Then comes Todd's birthday. Little man turns 5! FIVE!! Where does the time go!? He's not so little any more! The weekend following Todd's birthday (if it doesn't already fall on a weekend) is always Memorial Day weekend, so hopefully that 3-day weekend will provide a little breather (not likely, if we're holding the family celebration in LA that weekend).

The last Saturday of May will be Todd's karate tournament, followed by the kiddie celebration (all his school friends) at the playground in our apartment complex, for his birthday.

Whew! Busy busy busy month. It's kinda sad when I look forward to Mondays solely because the routine of work provides a respite from the hectic busyness of these crazy weekends!