Fire

There was a mountain fire right where I live. I was at work when it began. The mountain is so close. I went outside and saw the entire sky was orange/black with smoke. I went to the top of the parking ramp where my car was and could see the flames scaling the mountain from the bottom all the way to the top. Directly on the other side of this mountain is the Hollywood sign. The firefighters were worried that it would quickly spread and possibly ruin the sign. Good thing there was no wind yesterday. If there was any wind, the fire definately would have went over the top and got the Hollywood sign. It was pretty neat seeing the helicopters dropping water from the sky. They were able to put the fire out successfully with no damage to anything or surrounding buildings. It all began at an apartment complex where kids were playing with lighters. I took a couple pictures with my cell phone but they didn't turn out so good so here's some I found on a website.

Warner Brothers Studios was threatened by it.

I work on the other side of that tall building.

Smoking Update

The smoking ban was passed and will take effect in May. It has been watered down a little bit so that it isn't quite as strict. On the news, they were interviewing people on the streets about what they thought. Non-smokers thought it was great. And smokers said that Burbank is being a dictatorship taking away yet another one of their rights. But why don't smokers realize that when their rights infringe on other people's rights, then it's no longer just about them anymore.

Smoking

Burbank may pass a new smoking ban which would be one of the toughest bans in the country. No public smoking anywhere. I like it, however some argue that it is too strict and will make people take their business to other cities. I hope they do pass it. I hate walking outside a building or waiting to cross a street and having someone blow smelly smoke in everyone's faces. They've already passed smoking ban laws in Santa Monica and Calabasas. Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if smokers were a little more considerate about where they smoke and who's around them.

Theft attempt

A couple days ago, Rob was doing a recording session at work. Then they took a break. After break, Rob noticed the microphone (worth $2000) was taken from the room. He called the machine room to ask them why they took his microphone when they weren't done with the session yet. The machine room didn't take it. Then they saw a guy walking outside. One guy from the machine room went out and yelled at him to give the microphone back. The guy claimed he didn't have any microphone. After being threatened, he gave the microphone back. This guy just walked into the building and took the microphone and walked out. He had been there before as a hired worker to wash the boss' car and to deliver some tapes to them. So the cops had to come and ask questions to all the employees. Very weird.

Work blues

There have been so many changes at work. I just learned this morning that they let a therapist and her aide go. They gave them 2 days notice and they're gone after Friday. They were really good workers and had many patients that only wanted to work exclusively with them. So now I have to try to clear their schedule of patients that are already scheduled for the next few weeks. That won't make the patients happy. I heard that they don't want to get rid of anyone at the front desk (me or pam) but of course that doesn't really mean too much does it? It is going to be hard doing scheduling now and when the one therapist leaves in a couple months, that'll leave us with one PT and one PTA? That makes me fear that he really isn't going to be leaving afterall. I guess I'll just wait all this out and see what unfolds.

Rain

We rang in the first day of spring with a cool and rainy-ish day. This morning it rained too, finally. But with rain brings worried Californians and more vehicle accidents on the freeways. That's it for now.

Work rant and some flowers

Time for a little work rant: Work has been a major pain lately. We got this new therapist and he has this god complex where he thinks he knows everything and everything he says is what goes. He is the biggest pain in the butt. And when he wants you to do something, he doesn't ask for it to be done, he demands it be done in this calm yet stern tone. "You WILL do this" "This WILL be done like that" He came in and changed around the way everything is done for us at the front desk. And when I would try to explain why we are doing something a certain way, he doesn't even listen. He's created so much tension with the people. And he's not even the head guy there. We have another new therapist who is supposed to have more power than him but the problem is that he hasn't been around as long as the other guy so he sort of lets him walk all over him. Its quite stressful at work right now. I'm hoping that his craziness will calm down once he's been here a couple weeks. I doubt it. Happily, he should only be here for 6 weeks because then the new facility will be built in Sherman Oaks and he'll be somewhat out of our hair. But oh that'll be a long 6 weeks. Ok rant over.

On a lighter note, here are a couple pictures of the flowers that we planted on our balconies.

The last one was taken before we swept the balcony.

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Do all the people out there "celebrating" even know any of the history or what this day is about? Or should the day be renamed "national get drunk day"? Rob and I are avoiding the crowds and pubs and stuff. However, we did both wear green today. When at the store, there were many people wearing green. That's fun.
Today we worked a huge majority of the day cleaning off the balconies. They were really dusty and dirty from the winter when we didn't use them. Then we bought a bunch of flowers and planters and decorated. The balconies look really neat now. Its as close as we can get to having a yard. How I would LOVE to have a yard. I'll show you some pictures after I take some.

Weather

We had 90 degree weather the last couple days. But the big thing right now is the dry air. Some field fires have broke out on the mountains because of it. We have only had 2 inches of rain since last July! I'd love to see rain again.

Hello

Yesterday DJ called and suggested a movie. I said sure not knowing what movie it was that we were seeing. Turns out we were going to see 300 at the Chinese Theater. Upon watching the trailer, I figured I probably won't like this movie since I do not like battle movies. The movie was good. However, only go see it if you don't mind lots of blood and gore and extreme extreme violence. I stared at my lap for a nice portion of the movie. Ha. On another topic, Rob and I redecorated our bathroom yesterday. We've got a blue theme going. Its neat. Bye!

Gas prices

Another update on the gas prices. They said on the news that the prices are going to continue to go up through summer. It is already juuuuuuust under $3.00. And CA is the highest in the country too. Yuck. Anyway, have a good weekend!

I miss Molly

Can't believe its already been over a year that she's been gone.Good dog.

Working man

Rob has been working a ton of hours these last couple weeks. Most of his days began at 7am-ish and he'd get home around 2:30am or so the next morning, sleep for maybe four hours and do it all over. Its like I'm living here alone. Thats the business though. Keeps ya busy. I kept him company shortly today and brought him dinner at work. (Well, if you consider Quiznos to be dinner that is.) On another topic, what are gas prices by you? Yesterday I filled up for $2.85. Today its up to $2.91! By the end of the week it'll hit 3.00. I'm glad I don't have to drive far to work. A tank of gas lasts me a while.

Cross stitch

Here is my very first attempt at cross stitching.





And here's my second


I'm not too good yet. But maybe I will improve with more practice.