Chasing flames

I'm on my 15th hour of covering a fire near Escondido, one of the 16 fires burning in San Diego. Somehow, that doesn't seem like enough time for what I'm trying to do. Right now I'm waiting for a snail-slow Internet connection to attach photos I'm sending to the paper I work for.

The really sad thing is, after driving a total of about 10 hours to get here, none of those photos contain a bit of fire. I drove around with a public information officer for five hours today from one group of firefighters to the next and we never found any.

I'm off to go look for more.

Lesson Learned: Just because 400,000 acres is burning, doesn't mean you can find it.

New arrival

I am an aunt!

My little sister, Tesla, had a baby girl, 5 pounds, 13 ounces. She named her Amber Lynn.

I'm actually a little late on this. She had the baby two weeks ago. But she was early, so I wouldn't be that behind if she had arrived on time, right?

I talked to Tes today, who sounded so grown up taking about breast feeding, playpens and how the special the baby is to her. Then she compared giving birth to "taking a million-dollar dump." Crude, yes, but Tes says it like it is. I laughed for like five minutes.

My mom was picking Tes and Amber up so they could go to my parent's house to make applesauce. Those of you who know my family might see a little irony in that.

Mom was trying to get her baby holding time in before they got home, since apparently my dad hogs her. I think that is the sweetest thing I have ever heard. It's a little surreal to think of my parents as grandparents.

I'm going home for Christmas, so I'll get so see my little niece then. I can't wait.

Lesson learned: Having a baby changes everything.

Still breathing

Every Thursday night I have Bible study with a few friends of mine. There are technically five of us, but usually four make it.

Those girls are lifesavers.

The Bible study part of our Bible study is amazing. We learn a lot, and the author of the study, Beth Moore, never fails to amaze me with her insight. But that's not the only thing it is about. Tonight we had decided to make potatoes out of the blue, then sat and talked before we watched our video. I think I laughed more in that hour than I have in the past week.

It was a tough one, but these girls are a breath of fresh air when it feels like I'm suffocating in a room full of smoke. We listen to each other's dramas, tell each other honestly what we think, then somewhere we find the humor in it.

Lesson learned: Potatoes make great therapy.

Sway back

Each year our county holds a health fair so all the older people can go and get free medical screenings for things such as bone density, hearing and oral health. The older people and me. Because I am a hypochondriac.

This year I stopped by to get a second opinion from a dentist. While I was waiting, I noticed one of the booths was a chiropractor with some sort of spine scanner thingy. He would point the gun-like device at places on along your spine. Different bars of color appeared on a screen on either side of an image of a spine, indicating if yours is in alignment. Green short bars are good. Red bars are bad. The longer they are, the worse it is.

I decided to try it out of curiosity, since I've had both back and neck injuries. I watched as he did it to an tiny hunched over older lady in front of me. She had some short red bars, and he told her she might want to get her spine checked out. I figured that my reading would be about the same, because though I am young I was injured. It wasn't.

The bars near my neck were nearly off the charts red. My lower back didn't look to healthy either, with red bars extending from the lower right and upper left. The chiropractor was speechless, till he finally said, "Wow you really need to figure out what the source of the stress in your life is."

Some guy in the line said, "You'd better give her your card."

I took it as an excuse to book a massage, and skipped my workout today to go. It was great stress relief.

Lesson learned: Maybe I should take up yoga. Or maybe I should retire to a convent in Italy.

New moves

I think everyone has heard the old pick up line about the quarter, the one about space pants, and even the overplayed, but somewhat endearing one, "You must be tired because you've been running through my head all night long."

My friend, Ben, has come up with his very own, and I have to say, it made me laugh. Which is a good sign, for those of you on the line-doling end.

He just gets really close to the girl, say about three inches, and says, "Let me know when this gets uncomfortable." He tried it on a girl he was hanging out with last weekend, and he got a smile and a kiss on the cheek out of it.

Lesson learned: Quirky works.

Climb on

On it's face, rock climbing is kind of a strange sport. You rig up a some complicated system of robes and metal devices so that you can scale a vertical wall. And once you get to the top, you just come right back down again. How anyone came up with all this is beyond me. But such is many kinds of sports.

And it's so much fun.

Some friends and I went to Yosemite on Saturday to give it a go. I have climbed on and off throughout the years, mostly pretty beginner stuff, so I was definitely the novice of the group. But I did manage — with a little more help than is customary from my friend who belayed me — to get up a two-pitch climb. (Belaying is what the other person at the top or the bottom does. It's basically feeding a rope through a device that they can use to stop the rope if you fall). (Oh and pitches are stretch of rock that you climb before tying off and starting over with the end of the rope). LIkely, if you don't know what I'm talking about, none of that made any sense.

There is something about getting to the top after working so hard to make it, with your muscles screaming and sweat steaming up your sun glasses. Anyway, it was a learning experience, and I'm sore today.

Lesson learned: The side of a rock wall is a great vantage point to see Yosemite Valley from.

Awestruck

I've heard many people say that Dave Matthew's is better live than he is on his CDs. I had to see it to believe it, but it's true.

I think that might have been the best concert I've ever been to. From the guy on the fiddle to the drum player to Dave's own brilliance, they held my attention for the full two hours.

If you haven't seen him, get your ticket.

Lesson learned: I've been missing out.