San Diego Fires 2

Over the night the fire progressed closer but we're still okay. There are some areas further south in Jamul that have flared up a little but most of that is very rural. Technically we are still under mandatory evacuation but much of the area has reduced to a voluntary evacuation alert.

Here is a link to the progression so far that is current as of 7am 10/24:

http://sdfires.pbwiki.com/f/10232007_2230hrs_Evac_FirePerem.pdf

Tracy and I live in the bottom right quarter of grid square 1271.




The Santa Ana (hot, dry winds moving west out of the desert) winds that encouraged the fires is now dying down, the air temperature is dropping and humidity is increasing. The predicted date of 100% containment for the fire near us (The Harris Fire) is 10/31. It is currently 10% contained

The fires

Here are some pictures of the fires. All these pictures were taken within literal blocks of our place. Right now we are under mandatory evacuation. I'm not sure what "mandatory" means because we decided to sleep in our own beds tonight and no one is keeping us from doing that.

As I type this the fire just made it over another hill. I'm still pretty sure we're fine though, as the parking lot across the street (in between us and the fire) is an unofficial evacuation point for RVs and they're not leaving yet.

A car salesman

Brett has harassed me a number of ways (personal emails, polls on his blog, hatemail). I will try to give a little update.

I work at a Kearny Mesa Jimmy Johnson's Chevrolet (first part of the name is the area in San Diego County the second part refers to the race car driver who is part of the ownership). A car dealership. I am a car salesman, err consultant rather. I surprisingly really enjoy my job. Never thought I would say that about being a car salesman.

I work for a great organization. Hendrick Automotive Group. Owned by Rick Hendrick who also is the owner of Hendrick Motorsports, the organization that owns several successful NASCAR drivers (Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, Kyle Busch, and, next year, Dale Earnhardt Jr.). I'm am rather certain that Mr. Hendrick is a Christian and he conducts his business that way. My dealership is 100% honest and never cheats a customer, something that is illegal but still surprisingly prevalent. His top goals are happy customers and happy employees. Profits are secondary to that.

The Lord has clearly guided me here. I never thought I would be working for a domestic carmaker, especially not Chevrolet. But it was the only job offer I received and it has been confirmed in several ways that I am supposed to be here working. GM is making some really good product these days and I have met multiple Christian families (I'm even on the prayer list of one of them) who encourage me and bless me. It is a good way to have significant cash inflows and allows me to meet people from every profession, background, belief that I would have had no contact with otherwise. It is a witnessing opportunity. I shared parts of the gospel and my own spiritual journey multiple times in my first several days on the job.

God has blessed Tracy and I. I'm still discontent and have a tough time realizing that this is where I'm supposed to be. It's my ego, I'm sure. It's hard to say that I'm a car salesman. But, gee wiz... I enjoy what I'm doing. I just can't see two feet in front of me on my career path and that is hard. The normal path is car salesman, finance, sales manager, general sales manager, then general manager (he runs everything, the owner is his boss but isn't necessarily involved in the operations). That aforementioned path is a 20 year plus journey and i am not going to take 20 years to be somewhere i don' t want to be. General manager, maybe; ownership, most definitely; 20 years, forget it. God is teaching me a lot and it will be humiliatingly evident in the years to come.

Thanks for making me update Brett (are personal "shout outs" a no-no in blogging?)

Happy Bday Adam Thada


Other news:
-we're trying to buy a condo right now
-my younger brother Jon is living with my wife and I

Must stay connected

I have to keep posting or otherwise I'll never do it.

Tracy's parents have been in town all week staying with us and it has been great to see family.

Getting ready to head to La Jolla.

Just starting. The first post.

I have been putting it off for a while. I am now going to begin blogging.

I plan on using it to kind of chronicle the events in my life right now and keep people updated, but hopefully, soon, it will turn in to something where I'm able to express my ideas and opinions on all kinds of things that I find relevant (relevant to: faith, business, relationships, quantum physics, whatever).

Those were not in order of importance.