How the west was won...or was it?

Wild fires in the west are not uncommon. But this is a real disaster!


"A woman watched her neighbor's home burn on the Rincon Indian Reservation."
Picture Courtesy: Reuters.


"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger observed a fire burning out of control in Lake Arrowhead, California."
Picture Courtesy: Associated Press.


"The famous California sun is now obscured behind smoke and ash."
Picture Courtesy: BBC.


Like waiting for bread in the former Soviet Union.
Picture Courtesy: Sacramento Bee.


"President Bush consoles Kimber Fowler at the Rancho Bernardo Community Center resource center on Thursday as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, looks on. Fowler's home burned down in the recent fires in San Diego."
Picture Courtesy: Associated Press.


And later on at a press conference in Escondido... "President Bush speaking about the fires Thursday while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger looked on. The men had previously not made a habit of supporting each other."
Picture Courtesy: Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse-Getty Images.



And only last week, I was telling a date that it should be a sea change to live in California

Social Capital

Last night I had to literally close a door in my office as two of my coworkers were being so chatty that a customer I was with on the phone wanted to know if we were starting to have some sort of party. I think for some being chatty makes them productive at the workplace. Now that is not a problem for me at all as long as it does not get disruptive. There was a point in time when I felt that I was starting to chat a lot in the office too but decided a while ago not to socialize so much in the workplace. It wasn't that the chatting was cutting into my productivity. It wasn't. Being single, I could stay around longer and get things done. The decision really had more to do with maintaining a semblance of discipline or polite restraint in my "official capacity".

Speaking of being single, yesterday's incident did make me finally realize something this morning: that I am probably still single because I am not given to talking a lot. I am generally the quiet type but when the fit is on me, I can talk like heck (such fits, however, are rare). So...I don't know if it is good or bad that 9 out of 10 women want to talk like there is no tomorrow. Take my neighbor (who, incidentally, smokes like a chimney; I feel so bad for her dog) and her boyfriend. She is hot; he is not. She probably weighs around 130 while he is closer to 350. Then how in the...? The answer is simple. I have woken up some mornings, looked out my kitchen window and...they were still there in her kitchen a-talkin' from the previous evening!! Now that guy is clearly keeping his woman happy...but at the expense of what? A night's worth of sleep?! Or more? I think that I like my life the way it is.


Is she worth it?

I lowered my standards a bit earlier this year by talking about whatever that came to mind (when I didn't really feel like doing so) while out on dates because I was trying too see if I could appear more interesting. But I only came out feeling silly, a feeling I did not like one little bit. So now my standards are back up to where they were and I couldn't be happier.