Closing up October

We have had a pretty nice weekend here in Riverside, CA. Yesterday (Saturday), I went out to do some errands in the morning and came back to see Nick had transformed our living room into a campsite (see photo). I'm not sure what made him decide to do this, but he said he wanted to vacuum it out for when we decided to use it. Well, we definitely accomplished getting it clean, but I'm not sure when we'll be using it. We'll see! We also took in the exciting Iowa game, which ended up being a win for the Hawks, which was exciting for us out here in CA. We got about 10 seconds of rain yesterday, which was exciting, but unfortunately, didn't last. We ate dinner at Qdoba, my second favorite high end fast food (Chipotle is still my first, but Qdoba is closer to our place) and went to Cost Plus World Market to buy a basket for the living room. We then watched the end of Game 3 of the World Series.

Today, we have just completed the usual: Wal-Mart, WinCo (groceries), and Starbucks (iced frappucinos). Nick has also completed our laundry, so I suppose I will have to get folding! I also need to clean the toilets (so fun). Today we actually can see blue sky, which is a nice change. It is really warm out-probably a high of 90 degrees. We still can see the smoke from the north especially, but it sounds like things are getting under control. That's about it from CA for this weekend...thanks for checking in!

Unexpected Holiday!

Today was Friday, which is my early early day at work. I woke up at 5:30 as always and got ready and was watching TV before I headed out the door. Just as I was preparing to leave at 6:45, the lights flickered and then completely went out. I live about a mile away from my work, so I was thinking-I bet this is off at work. I went into work, and sure enough, no electricity. It was really dark inside, so we had some candles burning, flashlights, and someone had glow sticks in their car. The phones were, of course, not working, so we had to use our cell phones to call our patients and try to cancel. But before any of that happened, I had a 7 AM eval and he was already there-so we completed most of the eval out on the picnic table in front of the building. It was sort of nice. Anyway, I did have a couple patients show up due to not getting the message, but we were able to treat, as we had enough light for a couple tables in the gym. Our boss came in and announced that everyone was to cancel the rest of the day and go home at 11. Of course, after all this happened, the lights came on about 9:30. But, we were still allowed to go home early, which was a nice early start to the weekend. Of course, we won't get paid for that time, but that's alright-I will try to make it up next week. Apparently, a transformer exploded on one of the freeways and actual electrical lines were on the road, and of course, it started a small brush fire. It sounds like they have everything under control.
Our air continues to be smoky and disgusting. Our air filter has to be running while we're inside, because we really notice the difference when it's not. The mountain has become really hazy from our place-especially on the north side, which is closer to the mountain fires. Anyway, we're still hiding inside for the most part.
No big plans for the weekend. Just the usual. We will probably get a pizza from Domino's' tonight. It's only $8 for a large, which is a steal. That's all for now!

Wind reversal....

Today, we had our first true effects of the fire. All day, it was supposedly sunny, but we never really saw much sun (it was light out, but the light was of a green/yellow color) due to the smoke from the fires near LA. Yes, the winds are back to normal-sending all that horrid smoke out to us in the in Inland Empire. All day the sun was orange-ish and the moon was also that color tonight (see photo). The particulate matter was high (I'm not sure the number), and it felt like really dirty air when you were breathing it in. And just to put this in perspective: I've been in Mexico City, which I thought was the worst air I'd ever experience-until this week's air arrived. Most schools have cancelled classes for the remainder of the week and parents are being advised not to let children play outside due to the air quality.

Another thing that has been on my mind since this all happened is how a lot of the media are saying how this response is so much better than Katrina. For example, evacuees at the stadium in San Diego have been served sodas and Cesar salads, had entertainment, and opportunities for massage and acupuncture. What a change from the absolute nothingness that was done in 2005 during the aftermath of Katrina. I can't help but think of the socioeconomic differences between the two groups. In San Diego and surrounding areas, most of the evacuees are white, upper middle class (at least) residents. (For those of you who aren't familiar, San Diego is a very expensive place to live.) Most of the folks that lived in these areas around the fire had upscale homes, for the most part, due to the sheer fact that they lived close to wilderness and not concrete. I just wonder if the response would have been as welcoming this time around if the group we are dealing with was similar to that from Katrina. I am not sure if so many amenities would be offered, as we are seeing in San Diego. Now, I am not saying that the people that have lost their homes are lucky or fortunate, but I don't' foresee any of these people living in a FEMA trailer for 2 years while their home is rebuilt, if you know what I mean. Too many campaign contributions for that (to both sides of the aisle). Just some food for thought.....let me know what you think.

Kind of sad...

Well, today we have had the last of the "evil" winds and we have had warm temperatures. It was actually hot when I was out at lunch and when I left work at 7, it felt like a warm summer evening. Very bizarre. I heard this morning that the number of people who have had to evacuate their homes is 900,000-that's a huge number. Nick was telling that two of the fires were started by arsonists. He also told me that the cops up in San Bernadino arrested a man who was trying to start another fire up there. Pretty sick. Anyway, we continue to be safe here, but the fires up toward the mountains continue to rage. I'm happy that we were just up there for our anniversary, because, now, the roads are closed to get up to Big Bear.
Only 2 days left in the work week! I feel like I have a decent chance of being caught up by the end of the week! That's always a great feeling. =)

More of the same...

We had another gusty day here today. This morning when I left for work, you could actually smell the fires. I was waiting for some ash to fall on our porch, but just tons of dust. I have been suffering with my allergies, which is a new thing for me here in California. I only was bothered with corn dust and fresh cut grass back in the Midwest. Hopefully, things will go better after the winds die down. My co-worker wasn't in today-they stayed up all last night trying to pack up what they could. What a nightmare. I can't imagine having to do that. Hopefully, her home will be safe. Nothing new, except the winds are supposed to die down. We then will get some normal weather-let's hope!

The winds continue....

Today we had our second day of the Santa Anas. We have even more wildfires around the area-some fairly close to us. One of my colleagues lives north of here toward the mountains (north of San Bernadino) and was alerted to a voluntary evacuation. She said that the mountain behind her house was engulfed in flames. Needless to say, she left early. I think they wanted to save as many valuables as they could (photos and such that cannot be replaced). A patient of mine has a sister down by the San Diego fires and she was evacuated and was sitting in a parking lot trying to figure out what to do. I guess the 1 1/2 hour drive up to Riverside to be with her sister was too difficult to ponder?
The air continued to be really crappy today. My allergies were really kicking up this morning after I came back from my workout at the gym. Nick and his crew drove an hour out to a site where they were going to be working, only to be called back to the office because the air was considered hazardous. One of my patient cancelled because of the wind-a pathetic being or a really bad excuse-not sure which. School sports practices were cancelled and, apparentely, some schools were closed.
We should be okay where we are at-we're not close to much brush or wilderness, but the conditions are more than dangerous. This morning it was 4% humidity and a negative dewpoint number (not sure how that works), so the conditions are prime for the tiniest spark to make something huge. We have one more day for sure of these winds and warm temperatures. Tomorrow it is forcasted to be 100, but we'll see if it makes it. At least it is cooling down at night, which is nice. Then again, we can't really have our windows open (due to both the air and the safety issues). I will keep you updated on the chaos as it progresses!

Santa Ana Weekend

We have had a crazy weekend here in southern California. Yesterday, we had a beautiful day-great air, nice clear blue skies, and warm temperatures (around 80º). Last night, the Santa Ana winds kicked up, causing all hell to break loose. For those of you who aren’t familiar with how our air works here in Riverside, here is a quick 101. We are almost due east of LA and surrounding urbanity that causes massive air pollution. The wind usually comes from the sea, which is west of LA, blowing all that mess east, toward us in Riverside. That’s why I am always commenting on the air. Well, now that the Santa Anas have started, we are getting an east wind from the dessert, causing very warm temperatures (to be in the 90s) and all the smog to be blown back out to the sea-right? Guess again! Since the wind is so strong (gusts up to 60 and 70 mph), it’s kicked up just about everything that flies (doesn’t help that we’re in one of the worst droughts in 100 years) and is blowing all that out to the ocean. The particulate air count is currently at 475-that’s a scale out of 500. It usually is about 40 or 50. Right now, I can’t even sea the blue sky or the huge mountain that is 5 miles away. It’s that bad. Oh yearh, and we woke up to fires in Malibu, which they're having trouble containing because of the crazy winds! At least that smoke is blowing out to the ocean and not in my face! Anyway-enough of my ranting, here are some links to check out if you’re interested.

http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~fovell/ASother/mm5/SantaAna/winds.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ana_wind


As for the rest of the weekend…

On Saturday, I went to the salon and got some highlights freshened up in my hair and also had a tiny trim, as my last haircut was a nightmare. After lunch, we headed up to Redlands (about 25 minutes when the traffic is good on the freeway, which is never) to buy some shoes for Nick at DSW. For those of you who aren’t familiar, this is THE BEST place to buy shoes of any kind-great selection and great brands. While there, we visited BevMo-another of my favorite stores-and I stocked up on some wine, as they were having their 5¢ sale. Coincidently, none of the varietals we bought were that price, but oh well. We then capped off with an iced mocha raspberry frappucino from Starbucks and sat on the freeway to get home-definitely one of the top disadvantages of living in southern California. In the evening, we headed to Jose’s, a Mexican restaurant, for dinner and then returned home and watched “Thank you for Smoking.” A very nice satire if you like things like that.

Today, I’m staying close to home doing some cleaning (badly needed) and baking (pumpkin bars). I brought home some paperwork from work, which I probably will take a couple hours and do so I am caught up for the start of the week. We completed our grocery shopping this morning at WinCo (should be called GhettoCo, but hey-the prices are really cheap) and made our weekly Wal-Mart run. Our U-Verse (cable service) is out, so I imagine we’ll be dealing with that at some point. The week ahead looks uneventful and fairly calm-but we shall see. You never know with those Santa Anas!

Some photos from our porch-so maybe in the first one you can see a tiny bit of blue sky......but still this is pretty bad-even for Riverside! We're supposed to be used to this stuff!

A photo of Box Springs mountain from the parking lot. This moutain is not far away-like I said, maybe 5 miles. We can usually see it very clearly-unlike this photo.

Anniversary weekend in the mountains

This past weekend, we headed up to the moutains to celebrate our one year anniversary. It's hard to believe that we've already been married a year, but there it is. Anyway, we went to Big Bear Lake, which is in a valley high in the San Bernadino National Forest, about 7,000 ft above sea level. They have also established a large man-made lake that is fed from mountain streams and melted snow and ice. The lake is beautiful and is a big attraction to folks around these parts. There are also several ski resorts that look really fun too. We hit the shoulder season, being neither summer lake season or winter ski season, so there weren't many tourists up there. We also were around actual trees, that were truly in the peak of turning colors. We enjoyed the crisp tempeatures, clean air, and fall atmosphere.

We took advantage of the Alpine slide, which neither of us had done since we were kids. It was a blast, as we both took the fast lane and wizzed by some 10 year girls in the slow lane moving slower than turtles. It was truly exhilirating, and really made me feel like a kid again.

Next, we roamed around the little downtown/tourist spot of Bear Bear Lake (city) and drank a Starbucks (my first warm drink of the season).

We then checked into our neat Alps-like hotel, which was so beautiful situated in the forest. Our room had beautiful antique furnishings with a wonderful view of the forrest (and some cabins) from the balcony. The hotel also had a great restaurant, where we had a beautiful dinner. It was really nice.

Sunday, we made our way back down the moutain to complete a day of shopping and errands (aka back to reality). Still, it was a nice weekend to get away from the city and decompress.

Today it was back to the stress machine-a typical Monday. We have tranferred one of the assistants that I use to a smaller satellite clinic, so we were super busy. I was even happier we had a relaxing weekend! Now I'm ready to take on 10 patients at once if I need to!!!

Welcome to my blog!

So I have finally caught up to the times and started my own blog! It's hard to keep up with everybody living so far away, so this should help. I'm also on Facebook, which will also have pretty much the same info on it. Anyway, welcome and I will write a real posting later!