Some Fire Imagery - It seems that I've confused some friends and family. When I said I saw a quarter-inch or a half-inch of ash the other day, I was not intending this as in "a quarter-inch of snow fell," or "a half-inch of rain fell." Think of the ash like snow drifts -- there was a half-inch of ash (in a little pile or drift) on my windshield, next to my windshield wipers. There was a quarter-inch of ash on the window of my driver-side door. But then the winds kicked up, and today there was just about an eighth-inch ash-drift collecting on my car windows. But the larger ash is starting to fall now, and I took some photos of the ash in the spider webs on the bushes outside my apartment.

Also, distances are different around here. I've marked up some satellite photos, to give you a zoom out / zoom in perspective about the fires. First, here's the site the photos are from:

See the satellite images on http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/

And now, here's some perspective on where I live, versus where the main fires are located.





(whoops, Irvine is mismarked on this one...)



I hope these approximated distances help you see where the fires are, and where I drive all the time. On the closest zoom, right about this paragraph, I can no longer show you the larger fires in San Diego. But you can see why I can smell smoke in my apartment. Fortunately, it's cooled off this evening and the winds seem to be clearing the air a tiny bit more than this afternoon. It's not as bad today as yesterday's smoky air.

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Some Job Hunt News - Good news on the job hunt so far: I have a two-part phone interview set up with one company, and a second possible job offer that the same recruiter is pushing for me. The 2-part interview would be for a tech writer for a tv company. The 2nd job possibility is a tech writer for a law firm downtown. We'll see what pans out. The phone interviews are for Wednesday and Friday, and we'll see if the 2nd company wants an interview or not.

I spent my afternoon at Tonwen's house, working on my laptop and just visiting with her. I finally got to sing "Mara's Song" for her, and it's still a song that makes people cry. [When I say "people," I do mean the plural: when my audience cries, it's hard for me not to tear up too!] I need to find some time to work on the recording so I can load that online, too.

And last night, I got a few more photos loaded on my photo site -- wow, I'm having fun with that!
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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: A friend from jr.high/high school came to mind today, and I had one of those moments where I missed those years being friends with him. Chris, you were a great friend, I miss you.