Jul 05 2011
Had a really good photo day at the San Diego Zoo with Mary and Diana. Got some fantastically lucky shots of Funani the Hippo and her recently born son Adhama. Also had the best meal ever at the Zoo at Albert’s Restaurant, contrasting with the worst the last time I visited. Ran into an old friend as well. All around a very satisfying visit.
( p i c s )
Jul 04 2011
After a terrific earlier than expected breakfast, I started helping the Tapias finish getting ready for a 1:00 4th of July pool party with some friends’ families visiting from Ireland and New Jersey. About thirty people were there and the party didn’t stop until well after a 9pm fireworks show. We got pretty tired from what seemed like a very long day.
( p i c s )
Jul 03 2011
Went to a wedding and reception this evening at the Marina Village Conference Center across from SeaWorld for a couple I had never met before. Luckily I went with two friends and knew the bride’s two sisters. Also knew a few of the other people. The food was fairly decent and there was an open bar. Most of the guests were Irish so the liquor was flowing fast and the dancing was loud and vigorous.
( p i c s )
Jul 02 2011
This squirrel…SQUIRREL!…was perched on a dead tree overlooking the canyon just beyond the fence in our backyard. It didn’t seem to mind at all that I walked up to take some pictures while it surveyed its domain.
Jul 02 2011
And if adding a new blog to keep up with wasn’t enough, I also set up a Shutterfly Share website for my Shutterfly photo account. Somebody please stop me.
Anyone want to become a member of my site?
Jul 02 2011
Yep. As if not keeping up regularly with my other three blogs was enough, I’ve gone ahead and started a new one. Differences with this one is that 1) it will center on what my friends are doing, not what I’m doing and 2) it’s on Blogger. It won’t be updated very regularly since I don’t always know what my friends are doing and what they’re doing may not be very interesting. Hope no one minds if I borrow a picture or two.
Jul 01 2011
Probably my last full day of checking on updates since the fire is no longer an imminent threat to Los Alamos. Now I just have to keep an ear out for when my brother, nephew and my friends can return to their homes. Today I watched one news conference and some news videos, and found hi-res overhead images from LANL and some more fire maps, but mainly I watched Brian Osburn’s live streaming feed as he drove up Pipeline Road to check out the burn line firefighters placed yesterday. Even though he got permission to go off-road, he got into trouble with police when they were waiting for him as he got back to town. He was an incredible source of first-hand information that helped me pass updates along to my brother who wasn’t getting much info on his own in Santa Fe.
Fire acreage: 113,000
Jun 30 2011
Ordered a book with my hummingbird chick photos from Shutterfly using a Groupon deal I purchased a while back.
Jun 30 2011
Didn’t spend quite as much time checking updates today since most of the fire has now burned passed Los Alamos. Still kept an eye on Twitter, watched one news conference and some live streaming video. I was again in regular contact with my brother and nephew though, feeding them information they didn’t have access to. Adding a group of photos that my brother sent me today.
Fire acreage: 103,000 (Officially now the largest fire in New Mexico history)
Jun 29 2011
Bought my three-day pass today for the upcoming D23 Expo in August. If it’s anything like the one from two years ago I will have a great time. Not nearly as crowded or stressful as Comic Con, but also not nearly as many programs or panels. But this time I’m going for all three days instead of just one like I did last time. And it will be good to see Disney friends from out-of-state that I don’t see often enough. Add to it that the Expo will be down the street from Disneyland means that I’ll be making some much needed Park trips.
Jun 29 2011
Thought I wouldn’t be spending too much time checking fire updates today. Boy was I wrong. I watched two live press conferences, a live townhall meeting and live streaming video from a guy who refused to evacuate and drove around Los Alamos to show people what was happening in the city. All that and following Twitter and a handful of official fire update websites kept me more than occupied the entire day. It was all worth it though because I was able to relay messages and updates to my brother and nephew. I was getting better and more up-to-date info than they were which helped relieve some of the anxiety. The official news outlets were unfortunately fixated on the sensational instead of helping ease tension and concerns.
Fire acreage: 90,000
Jun 28 2011
Posted my very first video online and I made sure it was all over the web. Posting it here, obviously, on Facebook and on Twitter. It’s of the Cheetah Run we saw at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park Tweetup we had last Saturday. Now I just need to work on my photos.
Jun 28 2011
Day three of the Las Conchas Fire by Los Alamos, New Mexico brought some tepidly optimistic news during a news conference. While the fire has grown to over 60,000 acres with the probability of it reaching 100,000 and it is still 0% contained, the winds are not as strong as they were on the first couple of days and they are blowing back onto the burned areas and up around passed the city. Plus there is an enormous amount of resources fighting the fire as it is now the highest priority fire in all the United States because of LANL. For part of the day I was again updating my brother with new information while he was out helping at evacuation shelters. Power has not been cut to the city in hopes the residence might be able to start returning by the end of the week, as long as the winds don’t change and start blowing the fire back towards Los Alamos.
Fire acreage: 61,000
Jun 27 2011
Spent the entire day checking online updates on the Las Conchas Fire threatening to enter Los Alamos, New Mexico and tweeting, posting,commenting and relaying real time information to my brother. He later was able to go down and help out at two of the evacuation shelters.
Fire acreage: 43,000
Jun 26 2011
The quickly growing Las Conchas Fire that ignited this afternoon southwest of Los Alamos has burned into the city causing my brother and his family along with many of his friends to evacuate and seek shelter outside of Santa Fe for the night. I was giving him regular updates from Twitter and elsewhere online. It’s even made the NY Times. By tomorrow morning the fire will have either burned Los Alamos or swept passed it. Second time in about ten years he’s had to evacuate because of fire. Not sure I could live with that kind of a recurring threat.
Fire acreage: 3,500
