herb garden update

So I'm into week six of the Chia herb garden experiment. The basil sprouted quickly and is looking like the most robust of the lot (I was thinking that I should thin the sucker, but the Chia instruction booklet says that the magical growing sponge allows the plants to thrive with little, if any, thinning). The parsley doesn't seem to be doing too bad, and the cilantro is kind of jaundiced-looking but it least it grew—unlike the chives. I'm not sure what I did wrong with that one—according to the instructions, to grow chives you have to slice open the growing sponge and plant the seeds inside, rather than just sprinkle the seeds on top—so maybe I overestimated my ability to pull off a more advanced technique.

shake shake shake

5.85.4 earthquake rocks L.A. area

Initially I thought the rumbling was the result of coworkers stampeding into the break room for leftover cake. Then my mom sent me a text that said, "Did you feel the earthquake in LA?" Followed shortly by, "Are you hiding under your desk?"

The LAT is reporting that the jolt was felt in San Diego and Las Vegas. Definitely felt it here in Santa Barbara—I'd say it was a mild, rolling rumble that lasted about 10 seconds.

Thinking of songs for an earthquake mix as I type this.

Fans Ruin ESPYs

The ESPY awards are a joke because the winners are decided by the fans. Fans in general are not informed about their choices so it turns into which name they recognize or who is their favorite regardless of the category. If you need more evidence of this, compare this list with this list. Let's start with the category of Best Breakthrough Athlete. The nominees are Adrian Petersen (Minnesota Vikings), Stephen Curry (Davidson), Kyle Busch (Nascar) and Ana Ivanocic (Tennis). And the winner is Adrian Petersen! From the little known school of Oklahoma. Seriously, people couldn't stop talking about how good this guy is since he was a freshman and now he's a breakthrough athlete? I admit that I know nothing about Nascar and as a result I have no idea if Kyle Busch should be considered. Ana Ivanovic did finally break through and win a major, but she's been knocking on that door for a little while now. But Stephen Curry is the definition of a breakthrough athlete. From Davidson, single-handedly made a run in the NCAA tournament, and was really the only thing interesting in the entire tournament (just because the final went to OT doesn't make it a good or interesting game).

Next category, Best Championship Performance. Nominees, Venus Williams (2007 Wimbledon), Josh Beckett (2007 Baseball Playoffs), Rafael Nadal (2008 French Open) and Tiger Woods (2008 U.S. Open). Of course the winner is Tiger, because everyone loves Tiger. But I don't know how you can vote against Nadal, he beat Federer in straight sets and the guy has never lost a match on the clay in Paris.

Best Play: Mississippi Miracle (Trinity College's 15 lateral play), Super Bowl: Eli Manning To David Tyree, Big 10 Stunner (Minnesota's Blake Hoffarber scores on a length-of-the-court pass to upset Indiana), Columbus Blue Jackets' Rick Nash Shoots And Scores Game Winning Goal Against Phoenix. The winner is Eli, possibly the least impressive of the 4 options. I don't know how you could vote against 15 laterals to win a game, and Rick Nash's game winning goal is much more impressive than Eli avoiding a sack and completing a pass.

Then the worst of all: Best Upset. Appalachian State: Stuns Michigan In College Football, Da' Tara: Wins The Belmont Stakes As A 38-1 Longshot, New York Giants: Beat Patriots In The Super Bowl, Fresno State: Beats Georgia To Win The College World Series. The Giants won the ESPY. Obviously I'm biased here, but Fresno was the lowest seeded team to ever win a championship in any sport. Enough said, fans shouldn't give out awards.

fire it up

Well, it's day four since the Gap Fire started and it shows no signs of letting up. The Santa Barbara Independent reported earlier this evening that the fire has spread to almost 6,000 acres, and orders for mandatory evacuation has expanded to include 1,700 homes. We live across the street from a high school that's serving as an evacuation center, and the parking lot definitely looks more full than it did a couple nights ago.

Besides the power outages we've had every night since then, we've been doing okay. It was pretty scary driving up the 101 on Wednesday night and seeing an amazingly huge stretch of mountains ablaze...and I got kind of worried on Thursday night that our house was going to go up in smoke (probably didn't help that our neighbor was being slightly hysterical and packing up her stuff to leave because she heard this and that, and the power was out so I couldn't connect to any source of real information). The worst thing is the air quality, though...I looked outside last night and the blanket of ash on the rooftops made it look like it had snowed here. We've also had to leave the windows shut to keep the smell of smoke out, so it's been extra warm and stuffy inside our apartment lately. I guess it's good that that's the worst thing we've had to deal with so far, though.

And just like every other notable holiday and/or special event in our lives, we made a mix dedicated to the Gap Fire of 2008:

1. "We Didn't Start the Fire" - Billy Joel
2. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" - The Arcade Fire
3. "Volcanoes" - Islands
4. "Trimmed and Burning" - Built to Spill
5. "El Scorcho" - Weezer
6. "Keep on Breathing" - Delgados
7. "Strawberryfire" - The Apples in Stereo
8. "Fiery Affair" - Figurines
9. "Cinder and Smoke" - Iron and Wine
10. "Natural Disaster" - Headphones
11. "This Heart's on Fire" - Wolf Parade
12. "Streets of Fire" - The New Pornographers
13. "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" - Modest Mouse
14. "Smoke" - Ben Folds Five
15. "Promise" - Pedro the Lion
16. "Ashes of American Flags" - Wilco
17. "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" - R.E.M.
18. "Freakin' Out" - Graham Coxon
19. "Waitin' For a Superman" - The Flaming Lips

Let us know if we can burn (heh) you a copy.