AZDonna

Smoke, that is. It’s thick enough to cut. As soon as we came over the hill at Corona, we started smelling it. We could see it from as far away as Beaumont. We haven’t seen any flames, but there is evidence across the sky.

Mark and Heather were evacuated from their resort this morning. They were just five miles from the Witch Fire. They have driven up north to stay with some friends in the L.A. area. They will join us at Disneyland tomorrow. We’re not sure if we’ll stick around Anaheim for another day, or head south on Thursday as we had planned. Legoland has been closed all week, but if it’s open by then, we already have our tickets, so would like to be able to use them.

It would be awfully selfish to be disappointed about our vacation plans when half a million people have been removed from their homes, with 1600 destroyed. We feel very blessed to be safe and sound, and looking forward to spending a day at the happiest place on earth. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the residents of the burned areas.

I’m leaving on Tuesday for a six day vacation with Brian, Carrie and Nathan. On Wednesday, we’re going to Disneyland. It’s been about 14 years since I’ve been to there. I’ve been to Walt Disney World three times in the last 6 years, but haven’t been to Disneyland in a looong time.

On Thursday, we’re meeting up with Heather, Mark and the boys, and Don and Betty at Legoland; actually, I’m not sure if Don is going to Legoland; he wasn’t keen on the idea of all the kiddie rides. I can’t say I’m looking forward to Legoland so much as looking forward to seeing those three little boys’ delight on that day.

On Friday, we’ll hit Sea World. It’s supposed to be a nice day, in the low to mid 70s. That’ll be a nice break from our hot summer and warm fall.

Lauren is staying with her Mia and Poppa (Carrie’s parents). She does not do well at theme parks. She’s intimidated with all the confusion, and she’d rather people-watch than ride the rides. They are taking her to a hotel on the weekend where she can climb the stairs and walk the grounds. It’ll be a happy time for her.

Nathan told his mom this morning that he had to fly. He doesn’t think six hours on the freeway sounds like fun. But their car has a DVD player, and Nonna is bringing along plenty of snacks and books, so we’ll be just fine!

This will be my debut trip with my Macbook. I’ll try to blog while I’m gone. Richard sure set a high standard for trip blogging. I’m not sure if I can match that but I’ll try to check in occasionally.

Not so sweet. 🙁

Congrats to the Rockies. What a streak they are on. Wow. They are the team to beat.

Long live the Diamondbacks. Wait’ll next year!

I didn’t throw any bottles on the ball field last night. In fact, I wasn’t even there. But if I had been there, I wouldn’t have done such a thing. It a real shame that now the whole country is talking about Diamondback’s fans, suggesting they all act that way. I remember a couple years ago when some UA basketball fans made fools of themselves, and the local media had a field day. I was convinced it was a conspiracy of ASU fans trying to bring shame on their rivals.

Speaking of, I haven’t heard or read anything yet about this year’s Wildcat team. I wonder how much excitement they will give us?

Sweet!

That’s what I’m feeling about my new laptop. My main complaint is the screen. I can’t see it. I have to have it at just the perfect angle or it works like a privacy screen. And it’s too small. Unless I enlarge the font, I have trouble reading it. (Yes, my eyesight is going where all middle aged folks’ eyesight goes.)

What I do with it I could have done just as well with a pc, and I could have gotten a much larger screen for much less money. I’m sure it will be nice for traveling because it is thin and light. I have a trip planned in October so I’ll get to try it out then.

I got some extra memory, and installed Parallels so I can run a Windows interface. One of my co-workers showed me how to run “coherence” where my Mac desktop has the Windows toolbar at the bottom to quickly and seamlessly switch to Windows apps. I haven’t done much of that yet, because I’m mostly surfing Firefox. (See what I mean by what I do I could have done on a pc?)

One thing I want to try is putting videos on my blog and in my gallery, and I think the Mac can do that easier than Windows. I’ve seen several Mac bloggers who have done it. I just have to find out how.

But it sure is pretty. Clean white, thin, light, with that nifty bitten apple on the top!