The temperature outside broke 100 today, and is supposed to break 100 again tomorrow. Diego and I are hiding inside, moving very slow, and even with the A/C maxed out, wearing as little as possible. That’s a stylish tropical-print collar for him and gym shorts for me.

I’m as prepped as I’m gonna be for a hearing tomorrow, and the Business of Law is just slow in general right now, so most of the day (at least when I’m not napping) is going into website work. I’d love to show it off to you. Really I would, but it’s not going to happen. The biggest web project of mine for the last couple of years (and probably for many to come) is a homework and class project site for a bunch of local fifth graders and their most-wonderful teacher.

Unlike when I was a kid (paper, books, trudging 100s of yards in SoCal weather, blah blah blah), these 10-year-old learners get their homework assignments served online and do group projects on a restricted-access wiki space.  Their parents see their completed homework assignments as e-mail, and teacher comments and in-class test grades are posted online.  It’s simple to avoid browser compatibility problems (the school itself uses some pretty archaic hardware), but after over a year of watching 10-year-olds bash my code with everything they’ve got, it seems pretty resilient.  From looking at the server history we know some kids are even using iPhones and Wiis to complete their assignments.

More importantly, the teacher is not hauling paper back and forth to be graded, and not getting dinged for going over the school’s ridiculously low photocopying allotments.

So I code and nap and try and avoid the heat, but really have nothing to show you.

Yes, I’m well aware the world is ending. At least that’s the case according to the professional media feed on the TV at the gym. The gym I finally got to after a detour down the coast highway this morning. With the window down. And a stop at the Oceanside Pier to watch this for a while.

Cuz ya know, the world stops and ends when it falls below the horizon visible from a network anchor’s chair.

So with all due respect to our friends on the East Coast, we thought you’d appreciate some photos of Snowpocalypse (Not).

Refugee Centers are standing by.

Hiding in a dark but air-conditioned home office right now. The outside temp was 92 at 11:00 am, and we’ll probably hit triple digits today.

We went out Friday night and held our own little North County Pride dinner at a table overlooking the koi pond at the Karl Strauss in Sorrento Valley, then skipped the official parade on Saturday to join the Cal alums at a picnic and BBQ near Solana Beach. Great food and great fun, with no drama and no crowds. No photos though, due to some bad batteries.

I’m just trying to keep my head down around here right now; this is Spinner’s weekend.  He’s singing two shows Sunday with the San Diego Men’s Chorus at their Pride concert at the Qualcomm Campus (NOT the Stadium, but the Jacobs Concert Hall in Sorrento Valley), and coordinating a poetry exhibit as part of his Master’s program.

[Just had a little earthquake.  Back now.]

Me, with temperatures that might hit triple digits here in Escondido, I just want to stay cool.  If I end up venturing out, there better be plenty of water or air conditioning.

[Just got the numbers.  Looks like a 4.0 20 miles off the coast.]

With the outside temp at 95 at 11:15, I’m beginning to think it will break 100 here today.  In April.  I was trying to avoid turning on the A/C this early in the season, but I don’t think I can hold out for long.  Going to evacuate the staff to the pool for now though in an effort to at least stave off the inevitable.

The mood swing is back on the other side of it’s arc this morning, and I am most definitely not upset with another day in the mid 80s during this brutal winter.  Just need to manipulate my schedule a bit so I get to swim at one of the outdoor pools this afternoon.  Can’t let a gift like this go to waste.

Happily back in San Diego after a couple of days up the coast in Ventura.  The little roadtrip was planned back in September as a pre-Christmas shopping trip scheduled around a billable court appearance but ended up just being a rain-drenched driving nightmare sandwiching an otherwise successful little hearing.  

There was some anxiety about the scheduled trial, because the judge at our September settlement conference seemed skeptical of some of our legal arguments.  Even more anxiety when I showed up at the courthouse and found there were fifteen cases on our particular judge’s calendar for that afternoon, and began to worry if I had enough clean socks and undies to deal with a continuance.  Then when checking in the clerk let me know that because of the scheduling crunch we were being transferred to a different department down the hall.  The new judge, my new most favorite judge, loved our legal arguments, and the hearing was a breeze.  And easily the best part of the trip.

The rest of the trip was simply a rain-soaked disaster.  Most Californians simply can’t drive safely in the rain, and despite a major storm with high winds most Angelenos still seemed to be trying to navigate the highways with a cell phone in one hand and a latte in the other.  The 170 mile trip took 4 1/2 hours to make.  I lost count of the number of totalled cars on the sides of the highways, but loved the semi on the 5 in Los Angeles that managed to block all four southbound lanes after it hit the center divider.  Too bad the camera was in the trunk.  Fortunately his debris only blocked one of the northbound lanes I was using.  

Even walking around Ventura this morning there was snow visible on the nearby hillsides and I almost killed myself sliding on the frozen timbers of the Ventura Pier.  

This isn’t the way a trip up the California coast is supposed to go, even in December.  This wasn’t even Central California.  This is the weather I abandoned in DC and Idaho, and now it’s followed me here.  Maybe I should have tried for a restraining order while I was at the courthouse.

Bit of a funk here. Unseasonably warm here – 84 as I type this. Dry air, probably with a touch of smoke from Los Angeles and random other sites, is doing a number on my sinuses. Making no progress on a writing project despite a deadline. My new wetsuit is back for warranty repair or replacement and my old is still suffering from shrinkage. I keep drawing unhelpful tiles in Facebook Scrabble. Bored with swimming laps lap after lap. So I’m here. Entertain me internet people. Please help me forget my frustrations. Anyone?

The Santa Ana winds blowing through southern California today are wreaking havoc with my work as Mother Nature sends every scrap of carefully piled paper to another part of the office. On the other hand, Diego’s on the deck playing with the blowing leaves and having the most fun I’ve seen since the Great Packing Peanuts Day.

Very dry with heavy, gusty winds here today. Just the kind of stuff that spread last year’s firestorm so fast.

So I’m sitting on the deck this morning, “working,” and I see some ash and burned bits of paper blowing around, with little bits landing on my “work.” Quickly get up and look around for smoke. None. Zip.

Maybe I should cover the grill when we aren’t using it.