So I went to get something to eat and the folks ahead of me waiting for a table were evacuees, straight from Big Bear. They were eating because they hadn't had time to get breakfast before they had to leave their house. I was eating because I was tired of being in my house. So I mostly filled up on a plate of perspective... Today's satellite image.

It's the third day in a row that I haven't been able to go to work because of freeway closures related to the fire. I want to make it very very clear: this is not like a vacation! I'm going buggy. I think I'm going to brave the air quality and leave this fortress for ... I dunno, a restaurant, a coffeehouse, something! I gotta get outta here for a while. I wish my laptop wasn't down. I've got website and writing work to do, but I don't think I can sit in my office all day today. I'm gonna stop whining now. My house isn't burning down.

For years, I've been fretting over the ultimate fate of the many cassette tapes I have of music I've recorded either solo or with bands that are now defunct. In many cases, these fragile cassettes are the only recorded history of some interesting times in my life. I fear that if they should be destroyed or deteriorate beyond repair, my own memory will edit the truth and something will be lost. So tonight, I finally started transfering them to digital. Eventually, my entire recorded musical history up to earlier this year will be on one fully-packed MP3 album that I will eventually make available for the price of postage to anyone who wants it. I want to shut the door on all the music I've made up to this year before I start writing new, and performing again. Why? Because all the music I've written to date is either so old it feels like a cover song when I perform it, or the associations I have with the songs are ones I'd rather, well, disassociate myself with! So tonight I started archiving, pretty much at random. I heard the two song demo from 1986 I did with Roger and a…

I move closer and closer to eliminating Windows -- and the influence of Microsoft -- from my working environment! I no longer code websites in Dreamweaver -- I use Screem or a plain old text editor. I no longer work with graphics in Photoshop -- I use Gimp! I am totally off MS Office and don't miss it a bit when there's OpenOffice and Evolution. And now... Thanks are due to Evan for building LogJam, the LiveJournal client for Linux I'm using to write this entry. It's going to be nice to throw entries up on the web without opening up a browser. A few wrinkles remain, like getting my digital camera to work with Linux, but man, this is great. Let's hear it for a DIY operating system stuffed with DIY software. Hurrah!

For the third night in a row, I've had to drive past hillsides where plumes of fire burn fifty, a hundred feet into a night sky made white with smoke.

This week, so far, I've had two distinct visits from people I haven't seen in years.

Okay, world, I thought I should use this forum to announce my new magazine and encourage anyone who has an appropriate submission to go ahead and, well, submit it!

Well, for the first time in my life, I voted for a Republican. Sure, a socially liberal Republican, but a Republican, all the same! Folks outside of Cal-eee-fornia can't totally understand the way outgoing! Governor Davis goaded us into this: Rolling Blackouts. Budget Battles. Unemployment. Businesses Fleeing. TRIPLING THE CAR TAX. DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS. Personally, I couldn't stand the way Davis, when he was trying to be forceful on a point, would extend his hand like he was holding a pointer... not quite a fist. He couldn't seem to make a fist... maybe someone told him a fist was too violent, too forceful, and it's better to seem gentle and agreeable. Didn't work. I've seen sock puppets with more conviction. As for Schwarzenegger's questionable behavior toward women: Can we all recall John F. Kennedy's womanizing? How about Bill Clinton's below-desk secretary? How about, for that matter, George W. Bush's cocaine use and drunk driving? How about Ronald Reagan's astrology? Let's see how the man does the job.