Ryan Adam's "Fix It" (my new favorite song)

When It Absolutely, Positively Must Get There Overnight

So get this:

Some lady apparently has been boxing up toddlers and shipping 'em out to random, unsuspecting recipients.

The tots seem to enjoy it, but I hear it's freaking out folks when they open up the box.

Strange...

Sylmar Fire Oakridge Mobile Home Park

On Wednesday, our engine toured the burned-out Oakridge Mobile Home Park, which lost about 477 homes on the night of the Sylmar fire last weekend. These were not small single-wides, but rather, large modular homes complete with brick foundations and manicured front lawns.


With us was Captain David Yonan, who has been credited with helping save the remaining 131 homes there. LA County units returned to make an incredible stand that morning. You can read his story here.

I know that after firestorms, phrases like "war zone" get thrown around a lot, but I really can't think of any other force on earth that could cause such vast destruction. Acres and acres of rubble and burned out cars sitting in driveways of now-nonexistent homes. I could only shake my head.

As we walked around, I tried to draw our boot fireman into an existential discussion of theodicy, God, and the notions of fate and luck.

But as I've said before, in the end, everything must go...

Structure Protection Sylmar Fire 2008

Guy on the left? Three months on the department...

Guy on the right? A year or two left until retirement...

What do they have in common?

Sharing a few minutes of sleep on a citizen's backyard swing before the fire front reaches our position...

Lessons learned? Sleep with one eye open, so the snarky engineer doesn't pull out his camera and blackmail you...

The Next 48

Oh man, I am so not looking forward to this weekend. High winds, high temps, and low humidity all predicted...

And after my usual 24 hour engine shift, they're making me drive this piece of junk on Saturday:

Great...

Hope & Change 2008

The End of Happiness

So…what ever happened to “Get Happy” month over at Switch 2 Plan B?

Fair enough question.

I mean, let’s face it—after promising 30 days of giddy postings, did I follow up with even a single “happy” essay?

I started the month out by explaining why I didn’t walk around with a smile on my face all day long (like some creepy people I know!). Then I publicly sorted through my various anxiety disorders for your personal entertainment...

Then I left town...

Sorry. Lost interest. Come on! Who are we kidding? That proposition was a loser from the start, and you knew it!

The truth is I write whatever the hell I want.

I’m a rebel, baby! No good!

And that’s why you keep coming back!

Everything must go…