Christmastime busy-ness

So much has been happening lately, between picking out a tree and hanging ornaments, that I haven't had time to write blog posts, let alone take pictures. My family had a Christmas photo session at Buddy Todd Park in Oceanside last weekend, though, so here is one shot of the wife and I...

What's been happening: 9009 words

It's been so long since my last post, I figured I'd update my readers with nine photographs accompanied by one word apiece. Since a picture's worth a thousand words, that equals 9009 words, although I sometimes feel my pictures are worth more like one or two hundred words than a thousand. Here goes...

Desert

Arnold

Slides

Guardian

Carefree

Thanksgiving

Karaoke

Limousine

Downtown

Ghost downtown, wasteland outskirts

The two descriptions in the headline basically sum up what it feels like to be in Fallbrook tonight, before the evacuation order has been lifted. In the downtown area, you're more likely to see a National Guard humvee or a law enforcement cruiser than a normal, civilian car. And all along the eastern and northern borders of town, the scenes are going to be eerie and foreign for weeks to come. Here are a few more pictures from the last few days.

Yesterday, I cruised around with Kenny, collecting addresses of homes that were burned down to put on the North County Times Web site. We visited Valley Oaks and made a list of all the coaches still standing, which is also viewable at nctimes.com.

Here, Kenny inspects a dead cat at Valley Oaks.

This is what fire retardant looks like up close. This photo was taken Wednesday afternoon at the Pala Mesa Villas, right next to the golf course, and the streak of pink from an air tanker is visible from I-15.

This is a photo I took off North Stage Coach Lane, as Kenny and Paige and I watched the fire burn in De Luz. Please note: This photo was taken Tuesday night; there is nothing that looks like this burning anywhere near Fallbrook at this point. Not that I know of, anyway.

This is a view of downtown Fallbrook, looking north on Main Street from in front of McDonald's around 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

And, finally, the sun as of 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. This ordeal is almost over; folks will start coming home soon. I can't wait.

Don't trust the Web!

There is a ton of misinformation floating around the Internet right now about the Fallbrook fire. Don't believe it, and please don't spread it. Potter Jr. High has not burned down. Nothing west of Gird Road and Live Oak Park Road burned down, from what I've seen. The fire is pretty much dead south of East Mission Road in Fallbrook, although there are a few hot spots--I just confirmed that with the fire department.

For the most part, you can believe anything you read on nctimes.com. Independent bloggers and sensationalist rumor-spreaders on the Web do not have to be accountable to anyone; a newspaper does, even with the information on its Web site. So, please, don't worry about your house unless it is east of Gird or Live Oak Park Road, or north of East Mission near Red Mountain, and don't let those who say the fire's still raging in Fallbrook concern you. It's not.

My clips

If anyone is interested in reading a first-person column about my parents' mobile home park that I wrote for the North County Times, you can read it here.

There is also a video clip with me narrating that you can watch.

Update

I have no idea what I will end up reporting on today. Last night, I slept at Kenny and Paige's house on the western border of Fallbrook, and when I woke up, the smoke was very thick overhead. My car was covered in ashes.

The fire has moved north, into De Luz. Right now, it's heading for the Riverside County line, and officials are also worried about it turning around and heading east toward Rainbow. Residents of Fallbrook may be let back in beginning tomorrow, and there will be a state emergency resource hub set up at the Fallbrook Community Center on Thursday morning. For those of you who are displaced, sit tight. If your home is in or near downtown Fallbrook, chances are it is fine. Keep praying for the firefighters and decision-makers, and please pray for me, that I would be able to do some good, useful reporting today.

Fire update

Since quite a few folks seem to be reading this blog for info, I'll post what I know right now. These are official numbers, as of 7 p.m.

-7,500 acres burned
-10% contained
-206 homes destroyed
-21,000 avocado trees destroyed

Additionally, I was told at the command post an hour ago that tomorrow morning could prove to be the turning point in the fire. If the wind doesn't pick up, the chiefs seem to think they can contain a good bit more of the blaze--probably the portion that was threatening to move closer to downtown Fallbrook.

The area of most concern tonight is Rainbow Glen, where the fire is making headway. It remains to be seen how far it will burn toward De Luz, but the northeast part of De Luz has been evacuated. Rainbow Glen appears to be the only area where the fire is growing, though, so that's good news for folks in Fallbrook.

I've returned at least 30 e-mails from various people about the status of their homes. The town is pretty much deserted, and everyone who lives here is cooped up somewhere along the coast. They all are concerned about their houses, and some of them will return to find only ashes. They need our prayers.

That's all for now.

Reporting on Fallbrook fire

I'm not sure if anybody will be checking this blog during the next day or two, but if you have come here looking for information about the Rice fire in Fallbrook, our family, my role in covering the fire, etc., I want to fill you in.

I worked 13 hours yesterday and I'm going on nine hours today. This is the worst fire in the history of this town, and I must say on the front end, the blaze claimed my parents' house at Valley Oaks yesterday. So if I get emotional at all during this post, please forgive me.

I've just returned to downtown Fallbrook from Valley Oaks, and the place is desolate. The northern half of the park is totally destroyed. I broke down when I finally walked around my parents' lot and saw things I recognized in the ashes. It was also eerie to walk around the streets I've walked so often, either in deep conversation with my mom or when courting Dorinda. I have so many good memories in that park, to see it torn apart is hard.

Taking a wider view of the crisis, the fire is far from going out. It's still threatening to move closer to downtown Fallbrook--and, by extension, our little guest house behind my sister's home. Plus, it's spreading into De Luz and south toward Highway 76. It's going to be a long couple of days before it's finally put out, and I don't even know when Dori can come back from her parents' house in Oceanside.

I must say, thank you all so much for your prayers. All the fire authorities were worried when I awoke this morning, fearing that the anticipated 50 MPH winds would drive the fire to our doorstep, but by 10 a.m., there was really no wind stirring. 11 a.m., nothing. Noon, I looked out the window in the North County Times office in Fallbrook, and there was still no wind. It is now 3 p.m. and the trees aren't moving outside. That means the fire isn't spreading, and it's exactly the news we've all been hoping to hear. So keep praying for calm, humid weather with a coastal breeze.

If you would like to stay up on my Fallbrook fire coverage, please visit www.nctimes.com. I will be posting updates throughout the week, and may even be able to provide a first-person piece about my experience today at Valley Oaks.

Again, this community--along with many others in Southern California--needs your prayers.

Here are a few pictures I took today.

New lens

I picked up a new "glass" for my Nikon this morning from a good friend of mine, Michael Chan. I've already taken some pictures with it, and although it's going to take me a while to figure out how to get the most out of it, I love this lens. See for yourself. (Click on a picture to enlarge it.)

Sunday baseball

While the Chargers were punishing the Raiders yesterday, I joined up with a crew of friends that plays baseball every Sunday afternoon at a park in Oceanside. I was reminded of how much I love playing baseball. I was also reminded of how out of shape I am at the present time--several muscles and joints hurt, and yesterday's pick-up game wouldn't even have passed as a light practice when I was in high school. I guess writing and taking pictures don't quite keep one in tip-top physical form. Here are a few shots from yesterday.

I love cold weather

Yesterday was cold and rainy, and I loved it. Who's with me?

I started out the day at Starbucks, reading a book and drinking strong coffee. Just knowing it was cold outside was enough--it felt like we were actually experiencing a season other than summer! What a novelty!

Outside Costco later in the day, Dori and I saw a small deciduous tree with leaves that were in various stages of turning dark red. When I lived in Portland, the trees would all look like fire at this time of year, and I miss that. I miss [some of] the rain. I miss snowboarding on Mount Hood, watching the billow of my breath disappear, and cold days that were genuinely cold, but not so much so that a brisk walk down a street lined with fire-headed maples was unpleasant.

As you can tell, I am having some fond memories of the climate of my old home, but what is kind of funny is that, come February or March, I will be gloating about the blessed sameness of Fallbrook's 12 months of summer to my friends in Portland, who in turn will be ready to thaw, yet still months away from relief. When it comes, they might value summer more than I, but I value what little measure of fall and winter we are allowed at this time of year more than they might understand.

The Wednesday evening commute

Tonight was my seventh trip to Chula Vista for a poetry workshop with Steve Kowit, who, it turns out, is a brilliant and inspiring teacher, and worth the two-hour round trip every Wednesday. Today, as I sat on the 805 approaching my exit to Southwestern Junior College, I saw an amazing sight. Truly amazing. To describe it, let me just say this:

See what I mean? I am almost positive I know what this laden truck was doing on the southbound 805: It was heading for Mexico. I know this because, at a garage sale to raise money for my nephew last year, a Mexican man came at the end of the day and bought all the furniture that was left over--furnishings, he explained, for a home across the border. Another woman bought bags and bags of clothes for the same purpose.

Still, this truck was stacked frighteningly high--higher, thought I, than most semi rigs that you see on the interstate. I could not stop looking at it, and managed to snap a few photos.

And that was all in the first half of the commute. When I reached Starbucks, for my pre-class kick, I was pleasantly rewarded with free coffee (it was brewing for four minutes before they handed me a cup), vouchers for two free songs ('Bucks is giving out a free song a day through iTunes--all you gotta do is ask for one), and a free day-old copy of the New York Times. Coffee, music, a paper, and not a dime spent. Not bad.

The drive home is typically relaxing. I found from the very first night drive back to Fallbrook that the trip affords me the opportunity to think, mull over what was discussed in class, and listen to music on my iPod. (I'm pretty sure activities such as listening to music via headphones and, say, taking pictures are illegal while driving. Don't tell.)

So that's my weekly Wednesday routine after I get off work in Escondido. Although, it's not every week that I see three houses' worth of used furniture commuting next to me toward Mexico. That, it seems, is a rare privilege.

First shot at photo editing

Yesterday, I tried my hand at creative photo editing for the first time, thanks to a new program (new to me, anyways) that is extremely powerful and fun to use--not to mention the industry standard for photographers. Here are the first few photos I edited. I hope to get a lot better as time goes on...

New toy

In July, we were cleaning out my grandpa's house in La Mirada when I found a beat-up old guitar case in a closet. My heart started racing, and I took it in the living room and opened it up. Two months and $350 later, here is the new 12-string Takamine I have added to my lineup of instruments...

I had it cleaned up at Buffalo Brothers (great guitar store in Carlsbad--if you can make it there before they close at 6 p.m.), and had them install the same pickup that I have in my six-string Larivee. I have yet to plug it in and hear how it sounds amplified, but organic, it sounds great. Very rich and loud, with a hint of the signature tin sound that 12-string guitars have from all the high-pitched steel strings.

I hope to learn how to tastefully integrate this guitar into my music leading at church and Bible study. Any tips on playing 12-strings would be appreciated.

It's silly I'm so worked up about this, but...

... may I just say, the Padres completely lived up to my expectations last night. I am a bitter, jaded, cynical fan, and they did exactly what I would expect a San Diego sports team to do in a pivotal situation. The Rockies deserve to be in the playoffs. The Padres do not. Go Rockies.

Don't even get me started on the Chargers...

Wouldn't that be today?

I recorded this gem in July, after a conversation with my then-6-year-old nephew:

I almost always love children. I especially love the things they say, because when they're young, their speech is an unfiltered glimpse into the way they think. Jonny, my oldest nephew at 6 years old, came into our yard just now sporting a fresh buzz-cut.

"When did you get your hair cut?" I asked.

"The day after yesterday," he replied.

Long weekend

I spent Friday night and Saturday morning at a writer's conference in Rancho Bernardo, where I met two literary agents and an acquisitions editor for a publisher in Ventura. I also met Lynn Vincent, features editor for WORLD Magazine, who gave me some good tips on reporting and writing. I had never been to a writer's conference before, and I honestly wasn't expecting much. But the experience turned out to be great, both for learning how agents and publishers think, and for picking up some tips and inspiration. I will post updates on what happens with the three book proposals that I will be sending out to follow up on the conference.

Then, Saturday night, I had the privilege of shooting a 60th anniversary party in Vista. I will try to post some pictures from this weekend in the next few days.

Word of the day: 'Heimlich'

First of all, why are they called "maneuvers"? Wouldn't "Heimlich hugs" be more accurate? Wikipedia, in its page on choking, calls them "abdominal thrusts," but notes that the venerable Heimlich himself rejected that term on the grounds that it sounded disgusting.

Not really. In fact, Mr. Henry J. Heimlich objected because he felt the word "abdomen" was too vague, and might lead the thruster to apply his thrusts in the incorrect spot on the choker's torso.

I also like the word because of how it's spelled. It's obviously German, just like my name, and that makes me feel good. I wonder how many people tried to put a "k" on the end of his name, instead of the "h." Not to worry, Henry, very few get my "Pf" right. I feel your pain.

The pain of no one spelling your name correctly, that is--nothing that would require an abdominal thrust...

Blogger's note: Books, and especially dictionaries, are full of good words. Feel free to leave a comment sharing one of your favorites, and keep watching for more of mine.

Three little bandits

Triplet raccoons visited us tonight. There's not much to say about them, except that they were cute, and two of them were very outgoing. The third had better sense. Dori and our neighbor were feeding them, which I wasn't thrilled about, but it allowed me to get some good, close photos of them.

'Ghost blogs': breaking the silence

So, apparently, it's been more than two weeks since I posted here... and it was about gun control. Really, I'm not that into guns. It just happened to be where I ran out of steam.

I have seen several blogs previously updated by friends of mine that have fallen silent, sometimes for as long as two years. The sites are still out there, drifting on the Internet, but the last writing on them was done in 2005 or 2006. It feels kind of eerie to read them; they feel like ghost towns -- ghost blogs, really.

I do not want mine to become a ghost blog, so I am asking that anyone who feels so led would post a comment suggesting topics that I could discuss in this space.

I will post more pictures soon, more links, more thoughts on my own interests, but it would help me to know what anyone who reads this blog would like to read more of. Thank you for your kind assistance in breaking the silence.

Gun control, part 2

Following up on my previous post--which I intended as an analysis of human nature, not gun control laws--I would like to direct your attention to an article published today about the ratio of guns per citizens in various countries around the world. Turns out the U.S. is the most heavily-armed nation, with 90 guns per 100 people, according to this article.

The numbers from other countries around the world are very interesting.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this topic, nor the numbers presented in the article. If you have any thoughts, please share them.

Denying God = death

I recently read an article on the state government's attempts to curb gun violence in the Aug. 15 edition of the L.A. Times. Here is the first paragraph:

"A proposed state bill requiring all new handguns to be stamped with microscopic identification tags could significantly decrease violence and shut down the illegal gun market if passed, proponents said in a news conference Tuesday."

Laughing yet? I was, by this point in the article. Those who refuse to acknowledge that people are basically depraved and sinful--not basically good--never give up on this idea that making guns more difficult to obtain or risky to use in crimes will not change the hearts of criminals. People will always kill other people, no matter what kind of technology tries to deter them, and whether or not guns are available to do the job.

Read the entire article here.

To me, this isn't a gun-rights issue, even though I feel passionate about the right to own and use firearms. It is, first and foremost, an issue of the gross misgivings that stem from denying that everyone is fallen and needs a Savior. That denial is dangerous--in this case, it means that a bunch of misguided politicians are trying to attack a spiritual problem with a physical solution, while folks continue to kill each other. It's a Band-Aid on a broken heart.

I am all about reducing gun violence. And war. But while the true solution escapes these decision-makers--or, more accurately, while they avoid it--people keep dying. We should be angry about the consequences of their denying God, not about guns and bullets.

Word of the day: 'Classicist'

"n. An advocate or the principles of classicism ... one who advocates the teaching of Greek and Latin in the schools."

I have a friend (you know who you are) who has recently converted to classicism, which is basically a different and more logical way to approach education than what is currently in place today. This friend sent me a link to an article written by Dorothy Sayers, whose name I recognized, but whose writing I had never read. Sayers was a contemporary of Lewis and Tolkien, and she argued--convincingly--in a 1947 essay, "The Lost Tools of Learning," that classical education should be revived, updated and implemented instead of the modern system of education. After 60 years, her words ring truer than ever. In this post, I will include a few snippets from her essay, which can be read in its entirety here.

"Have you ever, in listening to a debate among adult and presumably responsible people, been fretted by the extraordinary inability of the average debater to speak to the question, or to meet and refute the arguments of speakers on the other side? Or have you ever pondered upon the extremely high incidence of irrelevant matter which crops up at committee meetings, and upon the very great rarity of persons capable of acting as chairmen of committees? And when you think of this, and think that most of our public affairs are settled by debates and committees, have you ever felt a certain sinking of the heart?"

(This happened to me on Sunday, as I was watching part of a debate among Democratic presidential candidates on C-SPAN.)

"Do you ever find that young people, when they have left school, not only forget most of what they have learnt (that is only to be expected), but forget also, or betray that they have never really known, how to tackle a new subject for themselves? ... Do you often come across people for whom, all their lives, a 'subject' remains a 'subject,' divided by watertight bulkheads from all other 'subjects,' so that they experience very great difficulty in making an immediate mental connection between let us say, algebra and detective fiction, sewage disposal and the price of salmon--or, more generally, between such spheres of knowledge as philosophy and economics, or chemistry and art?"

Sayers' argument goes on and on, with ample evidence of the failure of modern education to do its job. She then proposes a return to classical education, under which we would teach kids the tools of learning before we start throwing information at them by the bucketful. I encourage you to read the entire essay. This last quote sums up what I have felt for a long time about public education in the U.S.

"Is not the great defect of our education today--a defect traceable through all the disquieting symptoms of trouble that I have mentioned--that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils 'subjects,' we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning."

Please share your thoughts on this subject. I would love to explore educational philosophy in further depth, if my readers would be interested in participating.

Blogger's note: Books, and especially dictionaries, are full of good words. Feel free to leave a comment sharing one of your favorites, and keep watching for more of mine.

Flying is... fun?

Two articles I recently found illustrate what a joy modern air travel is, from packing two weeks' worth of contact solution and shampoo into three-ounce bottles to sitting on the tarmac for five hours.

The first is about the fiasco that happened the day we came back from China, forcing everyone on our flight to sit in our seats for five hours because of a faulty network card in one computer in U.S. Customs. At least, that's what this article says. The ordeal pushed our arrival back from 6 p.m. until after midnight, and caused my parents' parking bill to run up to $27. It was the single worst experience I have ever had while traveling via airplane. Good ol' government technology.

The second article made me shudder a little bit inside. A China Air flight burst into flames on a runway in Japan after landing. No one was hurt, according to the article, but it was China Air, so, yeah...

I love flying.

Reflections: What I didn't show, nor tell

I have been uploading photos to the safety of my hard drive for several hours now, thinking about all of the pictures and details that were missed as I tried to capture the most relevant images and thoughts during our trip. Many observations went unpublished on this blog because there was so much rich subject matter from which to choose. In this post, I will try to complete the experience a little, both with photos and with memories that are still fresh in my mind.

The first thing that comes to mind is the city. Beijing. Where smog presses in on otherwise clear days and cranes fill the horizon. There was construction happening everywhere we turned in Beijing, from the huge Olympic stadium that looked like massive scraps of metal folded one over the other to the downtown renovations that I assume are underway to make the city more palatable to wealthy Westerners for the 2008 Games next summer.

Although frequent rainfall cleansed the air while we were there, smog crept in any time it wasn't raining, and atmospheric moisture combined with the smog for a confusing, unsettling canopy over the city during our ventures into downtown Beijing. We stayed in a school about half an hour away, but visited the city often, attending church there and taking the children to Tienanmen Square during week 2.

The city felt like so many others I have visited, noisy with traffic and full of tree-lined sidewalks. But it was also different, of course. A little more subdued than the major U.S. cities I have visited.

So much of our time was spent riding through the countryside on buses that I cannot go without describing that experience. First of all, it was usually so hot outside that we looked forward to the air conditioning the vans provided, even if it meant cramming our long, American legs into seats made for smaller people. Second, I am one who thoroughly enjoys just looking out the window as I ride, especially in a foreign country. Fascinating to see the people commuting, working, selling, trying to avoid being hit by vehicles that don't stop at crosswalks.

Most times, the kids would fall asleep when we rode somewhere in the vans, but on the way to the Great Wall during week 1, Dori's girls started peeking around the seat at me, poking my leg when they thought I wasn't watching, then retreating to their seats. It was especially sweet because it was the first time that Sarah (on the right in the picture below) had shown such outgoing playfulness. Until then she had been very reserved.

The campus where we stayed often felt deserted. With empty rooms full of discarded furniture and whole buildings I never saw anyone going in or out of, it was especially lonely on the weekends, when the other camps, ones where Chinese teenagers arrived to practice basketball or music, had left.

One thing I mentioned but did not have time to describe was a beautiful garden attached to the famous "Forbidden City" where emperors supposedly spent their entire lives. We only had about an hour inside, after purchasing tickets for something like 80 cents, but it was enough to take in the immaculately-maintained paths and plazas.

What else can I say? Plenty, I imagine, if I completely combed my memory. But I think I have exhausted that which you would find even remotely interesting. I will leave you with a couple of random photos.

OK, there is one more thing I just have to post. While we were at the gorge on Saturday, Aug. 4, there was a man on a motorcycle going across a tightrope. With a man in a seat hanging ten feet below him. These two guys were at least 300 or 400 feet above the lake. I have no idea what kind of wire-gripping equipment they were using, but I hope in these photos you can get a feel for their insanity.