December Highlights:
- Luke begins second season of Big Bear snowboarding team
- Celebrate mom’s birthday
- We see Chris Rock at Dolby Theater – a no-phone event
- Ventura Thomas fire wreaks havoc on Ventura and Santa Barbara counties
- Celebrate Christmas at my sister’s house
- Meet up with Benny and grandma Carol and visit San Diego Wild Animal Park for the first time
- Luke and Cat go to the LA car show
A Month of Gratitude
This month started out great – we celebrated my mom’s birthday, laughed at the Chris Rock concert, and I got a chance to meet up with an old friend in Ventura for lunch on the 4th while at the government center for jury duty — all positive ways to begin the month. But the morning of the 5th, that all changed as I awoke to learn about the Ventura Thomas fire and all the destruction it had caused overnight. For the next 2-3 weeks nothing would be the same.
Several people I knew were directly affected by the fire, including my manager, who lost her home in the blaze. The Santa Ana winds and extremely dry conditions helped fan the flames from Ventura to Santa Barbara county. Although Ventura got the brunt of it, it was also touch and go for the the communities of Ojai, Carpinteria and Montecito, all of which had situations where the fire threatened to annihilate large sections of these towns. If it wasn’t for the bravery and hard work of our firefighters and first responders, the devastation could have been even worse than it was. As it stands now, at 281,000+ acres burned, the fire is the largest one in our state since records began being kept. Here’s an article from the LA times which provides some of the details.
What I found difficult to do this month was resume working and carrying on like everything was okay. I found my attention was constantly being drawn back to the fire. During this time, I also worked primarily from home as the air quality was so horrible our CEO shut down the office for nearly two weeks. I’m usually okay working from home, but this prolonged seclusion was a little tough. That’s why right before I took a week off for the break, I drove into the office where I finally got to talk to people other than my family. What a nice feeling that was after such a prolonged absence.
Obviously, the fire took everyone out of their normal routines. The positive in all this is that I think it made us much more appreciative of each other. The news even highlighted positive stories for a change — neighbors helping neighbors, people saving animals, strangers becoming friends, and, of course, fire fighters protecting communities. I think it also left us with a spirit of gratitude that will linger for some time to come. And that is definitely a good sentiment with which to start the new year.
Happy new year everyone! Hope that 2017 treated you well and that 2018 is a repeat performance, but with enough variation thrown in it to make it interesting and fun 😉
2017 Highlights
- Started new job at HG Data
- Lilah competes in her first varsity swim meet and wins 100 yard breaststroke
- Luke and I experience the biggest powder day in Mammoth (resort set record for snowfall in January with 246?)
- Luke works with his grandpy to add color coordinated LED lighting to his gaming computer
- Lilah and I take a tour of UCSB
- Luke builds his own practice board
- Luke takes up volleyball
- Lilah joins science march with her friend Sabrina
- Lilah destroys her personal best at season end championships – girls team takes first place in league
- I compete in my first Half Ironman triathlon in Sonoma
- We celebrate cousin Trevor’s graduation from USC and birthday
- My Tia Pamela and Tio Raul come to visit
- Cathy achieves certification in Les Mills Body Combat – her hardest cert yet
- We visit the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the first time
- Luke gets promoted to high school
- Lilah performs “Fandango” and “Turkish March” in her summer piano recital
- Lilah wins most improved swimmer award
- Luke wins coach’s choice award for volleyball
- We go summer snowboarding for the first time in Mammoth and take grandpy with us
- Visit our friends Randy, Janae, and their girls in San Diego whom we hadn’t seen since 2013
- We take a trip to the big island of Hawaii
- Kids visit their aunt and tour Washington DC
- Luke and I surf/boogie board at Moñtana De Oro state park with Ryan for the first time
- Lilah and I visit Mrs. T for her birthday
- A quick visit from my Australian friend Sophia and her daughter Maddie
- Cat does two laps in a Ferrari in Vegas as part of her solo getaway
- Luke starts working out, becoming my new gym buddy in the process
- Lilah receives college acceptance letters from UNLV and Cal Lutheran
- Visit San Diego Wild Animal Park for the first time
- Luke and Cat go to the LA car show
- We see Chris Rock at the Dolby Theater
