Allerca is Now Lifestyle Pets

Remember the sham company Allerca? Well now they're called Lifestyle Pets. I guess word got around that their CEO, Simon Brodie, is a con man so they re-invented their name and image. The new "image" of Lifestyle Pets sounds and makes it look like the cats will accessorize your modern furniture nicely. How thoughtful of them. Now when my cat expels hairballs and sheds on my furniture it can match in an elegant and classy way!

Still pushing their supposed hypoallergenic cats (that, still, no one has seen) at an elevated price of $5k (and upwards of $130k), you can now supposedly buy exotic mini-leopard looking 25 lb. cats (called the ASHERA) that are also hypoallergenic. I'm sure they'll be coming out soon with another genetically modified cat that doesn't even poop!

They've also shed that "San Diego-based company" area code, which either means that Simon Brodie moved Delaware (the new area code location) or someone got a cell phone plan there and brought it back to SD.

I've e-mailed them again to see if Simon Brodie is still affiliated. Updates forthcoming when I receive a response.

Separated at Birth

Left: Hunter S. Thompson
Right: Evel Knievel

Dare I say Evel does Hunter S. Thompson better than Hunter S. Thompson?

This is NOT an Onion Headline

Eco-friendly kangaroo farts could help global warming: scientists

"Winter" Storm's a-comin!

I went over to Ocean Beach to get some shots of the swell happening from the approaching storm (thanks for the tip, Lauri). This wins cutest picture of the day, but this gives you a better idea of the size of the waves coming in. Totally tubular.

Update: Hey! Hey! Look whose photo made it into Yahoo's You Witness News Photos! Odd that they didn't tell me that they accepted my submission, but go on over and click on that "recommend" button!

Marathon Season

When I ran my first and only marathon in 2002, I remember being exhilarated at having finished--7 months of training paid off, and I was able to get through it all injury free. Finishing is undoubtedly a big accomplishment. But there's also a part of you that can't help paying attention to your time. During the course of training, you get to know your body so well, that it's relatively easy to predict how you're going to perform. Based on my unshakable and steady pace, I had an ETA of about 4hrs. 30mins., but didn't actually get in until 5hrs. 11mins. This is where people get hooked on marathons because there's still a part of me that wants to beat that...just getting to the time that I expected to finish. That said, I like to keep up with marathon stories, and of late there have been no shortage:

• Stories like this and this remind me that a marathon is a grueling activity and remind me to just be glad I finished. I mean, if Lance Armstrong was like, Whoah. That was really hard, I feel a little validated.
  
• Stories like Katie Holmes' finish are a great read because heh. I beat her.

Interactive San Diego Fire Map

View Larger Map
Isn't this map relaxing? Per a friend's request, I'm posting the map I'm checking in on every 2 hours or so for what seems to be the most up to date happenings in the region. If you zoom in and find "Evacuation Center: Qualcomm Stadium," we live just south of that so we're okay. I might start getting nervous if that southern fire reaches the community of La Mesa, but even then, there'd be a whole lot of concrete jungles to jump through, and the Santa Anas don't seem to be blowing west anymore. Nonetheless, it's a (very sad) view of the extensive destruction that's happened in what were some beautiful areas.

Bush's Visit To San Diego's Firestorm

Why is Bush coming tomorrow? We could have used his brush-clearing skills days ago...

San Diego Firestorm 2007 pt. 2

We've been taking walks down to the end of the street to watch the crowd at Qualcomm grow. This is the view from about 4pm today...almost looks like a black and white photo as a thumbnail through the smoke. The comparisons between Qualcomm and the Superdome have already started, which is annoying just because they're very different catastrophes with a very different demographic.

So far my favorite caller on the NPR station was a lady who said, "I just couldn't leave my house without doing the dishes first."

Firestorm San Diego 2007!

Thanks to all the distant friends and family who have called/emailed to check up on us. Luckily our area isn't in danger of burning, but in the event we die of smoke inhalation, we love you all...life was beautiful and nothing hurt.

Things are actually much better in our neighborhood for now than it was earlier (as seen in the photo taken yesterday), though I wish I could say the same for the areas where it's actually burning.

It's been an eerie feeling all day as the radio waves and TV stations announce evacuations of one city after another, schools shut down (including my class at SDSU tomorrow), the city shuts down, the normal air traffic overhead has changed its flight pattern, and Qualcomm Stadium lights up the end of our street with evacuees creating a traffic jam in the parking lot as opposed to the normal crowd on the surrounding highways. Needless to say it's made our third anniversary probably one of the most memorable that we'll have.

First we feel our first earthquake, then a couple of weeks ago there was a big landslide, now the fires...when's the tsunami coming?

San Diego Weather Forecast

As San Diego braces for a rare "winter-like" storm that is sure to "pack a punch"--so much so that the fire department is providing free sandbags to residents for the possible 3/4 inch of rain--I'm reminded of this video. Enjoy.

My First Earthquake

A little more than a week ago I woke up in the very early morning to the bed shaking...not quite shaking but shivering. In my sleepiness I wondered why Ryan was not only shivering, but shivering so slowly. Being the compassionate one, I pushed him to wake him up and asked if he was shivering because I believe this was also in the midst of our California heatwave--boo hoo, I know. Point is, shivering would have been ridiculous. I wouldn't have allowed it. No shivering in the heat. Not unless you've been sweating in the heatwave and then walked into an overly air-conditioned store or restaurant OR have a thyroid problem.

Anyway Ryan had NOT been shivering and while I felt the bed slowly shiver a few more times, he did not. I even swore there was a slight rumbling sound at which point I thought, oh my god...an earthquake...an earthquake? crap. AN EARTHQUAKE...HOORAY! AN EARTHQUAKE!

I hopped out of bed that morning and went straight to the internet to read all the reports and accounts about the earthquake. I thought all the neighbors would be standing at the end of their sidewalks ready to talk about where they were and what they did when the earthquake hit. I was ready to chat it up with everyone but nothing. Nothing was reported. No one was hanging out outside. Just nothing. So then I was like, maybe it wasn't an earthquake...yeah...I guess car alarms would have gone off.

So later, I won't say where Ryan was sitting when he yells DID YOU FEEL THAT? I didn't feel it, but thought that if there was one place to feel an earthquake, it was probably Ryan's "chair," which happens to be very firmly attached to the ground. I didn't take it too seriously (because there would be reason for rumbling to happen in that chair. har), but still kept checking in on any reports. Nothing.

I wish I could remember specifically what date that was, but finally, FINALLY, I found some validation with a series of reports that have been posted about a series of earthquakes that have been happening around here. So I'm not crazy. And duh, this is old hat for SoCal residents. Kind of like this past Christmas when we were on a plane back to Cincinnati and while we were descending into Minnesota for our layover all the San Diegans were like, Ohhhh! Is that snow?! Wow! Snow! I just want to play in it! And I was like psshh. Idiots. And rolling my eyes at them.

Update: So my intention was NOT to post this on the same day as the Indonesian earthquakes. Total coincidence--no disrespect meant.

Sting Rays Declare War

Dude. When Steve Irwin was killed last month by the sting ray, marine biologists assured us that it was a freak accident and that events like these are "extraordinarily rare." But when a sting ray jumps up out of the water onto your boat, walks over, and stabs you in the chest? That is some hos-til-i-ty! (sing song voice)

Now all we need to do is figure out what religion to use against them and hope they don't start using the "ray" part of their name.

Media Monday! Allerca Cats

ALLERCA Hypoallergenic Cat - CBS Early Show


Woe is me. I remember reading about this company two years ago, and now more and more interviews keep popping up with them so I guess they're legit. This place is the answer to me getting a cat while co-habitating with an allergic lover and damn! do I want one! If you got far enough in the video or on the Web site to hear that they're roughly $4000, you'll understand why I'm undertaking "Campaign Kitty: Get Kell a Cat." Donations can be made through PayPal at right.

Sniffle.

Update: Allerca is a scam! See comments for further info.
Update #2: Allerca is now Lifestyle Pets. Same sham. Different name.

Bombs and Boobs

Weird day (and it's only 1:32 p.m.):

• This explains what had happened when I drove past a fleet of fire trucks, police cars, and a mob of people fleeing the office building five minutes away from where we live. I didn't hear anything, though.
• Walking to the beach, an oncoming man says to his kid, "Put your oar down, son, before you hit this lady's boobs." And you, sir, can wipe your slimey grin off your face before my knee meets your nuts.

The Onion's Hurricane Katrina Matching Fund

Let us not fight, The Onion. After perusing your site a little further, I noticed your Hurricane Katrina Matching Fund where you match the Red Cross donations of your readers up to $100,000 and that's, like, great (though I think you should go ahead and donate the full $100,000 anyway). I'll think of it as me donating my idea to an organization willing to donate to the Red Cross and the Big Easy. And those other affected/ignored Southern states. And then donating all 2 of my readers to your Matching Fund, assuming they visit my site before this whole deal between you and the Red Cross expires.

Related Posts: Ripped Off!

Ripped Off!

Blast! I can't help but feel that I've been semi-ripped off by The Onion! See the dates on both, to be sure! Whose comes earlier?! Tricky move there, cheeseheads, replacing "machine" with "factory" and personifying the whole thing. I will kill them with my cats who shoot lasers.

Related Posts: The Onion's Matching Fund

New Orleans, Katrina, and the Race Issue

Having been back in the States from Aug. 31-Sept. 7, I watched as Katrina went from bad to worse to worst, surrounded by a sizable dose of people with whom I could communicate, or at least thought I could. You know that whole race debate going on in relation to the rescue provided to the South? I, for one, believe there *is* a race/class issue going on there (race and class are practically inseparable...last I checked, no African Americans had moved into my old middle-class neighborhood), but couldn't vomit up the theory from grad school in any accessible way that my white friends could or would try to understand. So I've decided to break out a little Peggy McIntosh. Especially if you're a white reader (because we're all too lazy to think that race is an issue that pertains to us), give her article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," a read. Especially poignant is her list of "Daily Effects of White Privilege."

pope john paul II's death

A little late for the blog, I know, but I lost sleep over him the night before he died. Part of it over "Wow...the guy whose portrait I saw everyday for 12 years of my Catholic education is about to come off the wall," and most of it over "Holy crap...here's a guy who's chosen religion and God as a way of life in preparation for this exact moment AND became the freakin' 'king' of it all...he's about to find out if it was all worth it..." I was scared for him.