San Diego Wildfires 2

Apparently over 300,000 people have been evacuated so far, but fortunately I'm not one of them. According to my company hotline, work is open on a limited capacity, but I'm not going in. I don't want to be too far from home in case anything takes a turn for the worse. I'm also really tired and stiff--that stress really makes you tight. I'll probably head out shortly for a coffee, presuming it's open. It's weird what your body gets used to. I had my air purifier on in my room last night, and immediately noticed the smoky smell of the air once I went downstairs to the rest of the house, but now I don't smell it. I suppose it's no different for people who smoke.

It was odd watching the national news last night, and kind of annoying, because they focused on L.A. and the Malibu fire, which just isn't nearly as big a deal as the San Diego fires. It's probably because they already had facilities in L.A. or something. I was impressed that Matt Lauer came here this morning, though, for the Today Show. He seemed pretty genuine. One thing I've noticed is quite a few reporters wearing white shirts, and I'm wondering if it's just clueless or very calculated, because of course it doesn't take long when reporting near fires for those white shirts to get all sooty and stained. Anyway, overall I'm not cynical about any of it--things seem to be a lot better coordinated than for the 2003 fires as far as the cooperation between the various emergency services and government agencies, and it's always heartening to hear about the different businesses offering support, such as a dog camp offering free board for dogs of evacuated families, the San Diego Fairgrounds at Del Mar (you may have seen the racetrack on Entourage) offering stables for evacuated horses, that kind of thing. It was surreal to see footage this morning of the many people sleeping in Qualcomm Stadium in sleeping bags.