Tuesday I saw Paris Hilton and company “driving” through the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Oxnard as I was coming home from work. If it had been Wednesday I would have been able to whip out my handy dandy new little camera…but it wasn’t…so you’ll have to trust me. I’m pretty sure it was her, after all, how many other 55 pound blonde girls with $5,000 sun glasses can swerve around in a 90 thousand dollar land rover barely missing the other cars around it. I’m sure she and her spoiled little friends were saying “shit shit shit! We’re lost! We’re in the ghetto! Paris get us out of here!”

So anyway, you may have heard about the huge fire consuming the northern San Fernando Valley. The irony is that all the news media out here spend most of their time talking about how the fire is threatening poor millionaires and celebrity’s homes. The fire started Wednesday morning near the exit I usually take off of the highway to go to work. I took my camera with me today and took pictures in the morning (approx 7am), again right after work (approx. 4pm), and then up on Mullholland Drive (approx 7pm) to show how the smoke is now covering the entire valley. To see what I’m talking about check out this zip folder. The drive home was really weird, like a Martian landing or something. The smoke and heat from the fire were blowing over all of Chatsworth, but the smoke hadn’t really come down into the lower air. Everything was cast in this eerie red light that reminded me of the mars lander photos and little white pieces of ash were coming down everywhere like snow. I turned on the AC and made believe I was in Ohio in December. By the time I left for Mullholland Drive at 6pm the smoke had blown down into the whole San Fernando Valley making it hard to breathe. I didn’t care much though as Selwyn is out of town and a current guest apparently smoked a whole box of cigarettes in the house today. So, the only place I could breathe today (other than at work) was in my car!

Saturday Amy and I are planning a trip Santa Barbara where Andrew (here brother that goes to UCSB) will give us a tour. Also, we are celebrating Iyves’ 23rd birthday.