Fire season

Southern California is burning, again. In California that isn't really a surprise. We've got something here that's called "fire season." That means there's a time of the year when the brush on the ground is so dry that it will burn easily and when winds blowing from a certain direction will quickly turn a small fire into a huge blaze. These winds are called the Santa Ana winds.

This year, it is particularly bad though, at least so says the TV news. More than a dozen uncontained wildfires raged Monday across Southern California, threatening thousands of structures and forcing people to flee homes from San Diego in the south to Malibu (north of LA) to Lake Arrowhead (east of LA).

This photo taken from space Monday afternoon shows smoke rising

from the wildfires in Southern California. (Source: CNN.com)

According to CNN about 250,000 people have been forced to leave their homes because the fire is getting too close for them to be safe. The Qualcomm stadium in San Diego is being used as a shelter.

Every year these fires make the news and every year I get worried messages from relatives back in Holland asking me if I am ok. Yes, I am fine. These fires are all the way in Southern California. It would take me about 8 hours to drive to where the flames are, that's beyond Paris from Amsterdam.

A few years ago I was in San Diego when a major fire was raging nearby. The people I stayed with almost had to evacuate their home. I had driven down and got out of the San Diego area with a thick layer of ash on my car. Their house was ultimately not in any real danger.

Good luck to anyone who is in the danger zone and the fire fighters battling the blazes. My thoughts go out to those folks who did loose their homes.

Clouds over Mendocino

The only taxi driver in Mendocino knows how to take advantage of people who fly planes. If you jet yourself into the tiny Little River airport, the owner/operator of "Hey Taxi" charges you a $30 flat fee for a short ride into the picturesque town of Mendocino.


He gets away with it, of course. There is no other way to get from the airport into town. This is a simple matter of supply and demand.

Last week my friend Declan, his wife Milana and I used the services of "Hey Taxi" twice. We had rented a small Cessna and flew from San Carlos to Mendocino, which takes little over an hour. (If you drive, it is probably four hours.)


On the way we had fantastic views over San Francisco Airport, San Francisco Bay and the city itself. We also flew over Alcatraz, Angel Island, Sausalito and the Russian River. Mendocino itself was also nice, a town you could put on a postcard (and they have.)

Pt. Reyes Natl. Seashore

A colleague had told me Mendocino was the outside decor of Murder She Wrote. Angela Lansbury lived here, while the show pretended she was on the East Coast.


Mendocino is a pretty town with great restaurants and a gorgeous coast line. One thing we noticed was that the bulk of visitors fell into an age category above ours, geriatric.

In the afternoon the fog blew in from the ocean. A problem, since Declan doesn't have an instrument rating (yet). So we had to get back to the airport a bit earlier than originally planned to take off in clear skies. Still, a fabulously decadent day.

Late afternoon, returning over San Francisco.

Dallas Weather

Prior to joining McAfee I had never been to Texas. Now I am a regular visitor. What never ceases to amaze me here is the weather. On every visit I have seen the most amazing thunderstorms. You can be soaked in seconds and moments later the sun will be out.

On final approach last night the pilot said we'd have to be in a holding pattern for 20 minutes to avoid heavy weather at the airport. This morning a colleague reported that there was a major storm just a few blocks from downtown with flying patio furniture and tiles from a nearby roof as dangerous projectiles.

So, I am happy to be working in my hotel room this morning. I'll see how I get to where I need to be later this afternoon, probably a taxi instead of a healthy walk. Don't want to be hit by flying debri.

Rain

The drought is over. We had significant rain on Friday. This is good, because it means snow is falling in the mountains, but it is bad because it screws with the minds of California drivers. It is also bad because the infrastructure here apparently isn't build to withstand any rain beyond a few drops.

What am I talking about? Well, it rained most of the night on Thursday and it still rained on Friday morning. As a result, part of the 101 freeway near Menlo Park was flooded. About two lanes of the four-lane freeway could not be used and had to be "flared off" by the California Highway Patrol.

For those not familiar with the Bay Area, Highway 101 is Silicon Valley's main artery. I drive it every day from Burlingame to work in Santa Clara. And every day I encounter some traffic, though I wouldn't yet compare it to the constant gridlock folks in the Netherlands face.

Friday's mess, however, was worse. My 30 mile commute normally takes about 45 minutes door-to-door. It took double that on Friday, thanks to no drainage and thanks to California drivers not knowing how to drive on a wet street. People, it is not that big of a deal, just keep going :-)

Wii

People keep telling me how much fun a "Wii" is even for nongamers. So, today I decided I'd go and buy one. The same Wii evangelists also told me that Wii shortages are now history, that I should be able to walk into Fry's and get one, no problem. So, I walked into Fry's, Toys-R-Us, Target and Circuit City, looking for a Wii. I also went to big-name online stores to find one. No luck, Wii's are still in high demand. At Toys-R-Us they expect a shipment of 40 Wiis any day now, but the sales person said you have to be there when they unload to get one. "They will all sell out within an hour," he said. So, no game console for Joris anytime soon.