And we’re back… This time we had a short trip to Lake Sonoma. Just one night of camping but it was worth it. You might already found the new pictures gallery. If not go the photography page and click on the 4th of july weekend gallery. Shouldn’t be too hard.

Wind are coming from the East again and the sky is clouding up with smoke once again in Santa Rosa. I guess this will last all summer. Cali is still on fire…On top of this we are expecting a heat wave starting tomorrow. Temperatures are expected to rise as much as 107F (42C) on Thursday. Ouch… Thankfully we’re having AC at our place. A blessing!

Just a quick update on the latest California Wildfires.

View Larger Map
More Wildfire Maps:
2008 California Wildfires Map
Map Of Basin Complex Fire
Map Of Trabing Fire
Map Of Indians Fire
Map Of Martin Fire
Map Of Summit Fire

Wildfire Information:

Current Fires - CAL FIRE Web Site
Preparing For Possible Evacuation
Red Cross Wildfire Homeowner Tips
Importance Of Safe Wildfire Ash Cleanup

If you ever watched an episode of So You Think You Can Dance? you know what I’m talking about. Apperantly a lot of people like her. She was even profiled by the LA Times but she annoys the hell out of me! Woman, just SHUT UP! I can’t stand her voice, her smile, her looks or her laugh and let me get this straight: if I ever see the hot tamale train, I’m the one throwing Mary Murphy in front of it. Seriously…

But in the blue corner we have Mia Michaels. I think she’s the only reason I watch the show. Her choreography is simply amazing. The contemporary pieces always get my attention and even back in the Netherlands the choreography of NDT I and NDT II always caught my eye.

The Mia Michaels 2008 Reel:

More Mia Michaels videos on youtube.

One of my goals this year is to have one consecutive week with 100 or more unique visitors per day. After lingering around the 80-90 unique visitors for the last past three months I reached my first 100+ two days ago and yesterday had the same numbers. Will this be my week? I doubt it with the 4th. of July coming up but maybe after the holiday weekend I’ll have a shot.

It reminds me of the goal Edward Mills once set for his blog: One million unique visitors by June 2007. Im trying not to ‘keep score’ after reading his post about setting your intention. It’s hard not too though…

One thing that keeps me focused on my intentions is my vision board and I’m still amazed how well this works!

Two of Northern California’s more than 1,400 wildfires choked parts of the Sierra Nevada foothills, darkening parts of a 100-mile stretch between Sacramento and Reno with clouds of black smoke.

The fires in the Tahoe National Forest blanketed portions of the Interstate 80 corridor linking the two cities and the foothill communities in between where tens of thousands of people live.

Along the Pacific, firefighters hoped coastal fog would help them gain ground against a blaze that was just 3 percent contained in the storied town of Big Sur. John Heil, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said it had blackened nearly 62 square miles, or about 39,600 acres.

Firefighters made headway against a blaze of comparable size in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, increasing their containment to 23 percent. But the location hampered their efforts.

“It is extremely steep, very rugged territory, and there are a lot of injuries, twisting ankles, slipping on hills,” said Jason Kirchner, another Forest Service spokesman. Burning debris is “rolling downhill right past your containment line. It’s very complicated, difficult, dirty firefighting work.”

Fire crews inched closer to getting some of the largest of 1,420 blazes surrounded, according to the state Office of Emergency Services. Some 364,600 acres - or almost 570 square miles - of forest, grass and brush had burned.

A “red flag warning” - representing the most extreme fire danger was still in effect for extreme northeastern California, northwest Nevada and eastern Oregon, the National Weather Service said.

Lower-than-average rainfall and record levels of parched vegetation likely mean a long, fiery summer throughout northern California, according to the Forest Service’s state fire outlook, released last week.

The fires were mostly started by lightning storms that were unusually intense for so early in the season. But summer storms will probably be even fiercer, according to the Forest Service.

“Our most widespread and/or critical lightning events often occur in late July or August, and we have no reason to deviate from that,” the agency’s report said.

The blazes have destroyed more than 50 buildings, said Gregory Renick, state emergency services spokesman.

In Arizona, strong wind turned a wildfire that had burned nearly 4 square miles of wilderness away from the remote mountain community of Crown King north of Phoenix, officials said today. However, there was still no containment and the community was still considered threatened, said Prescott National Forest spokeswoman Debbie Maneely. About 120 residents voluntarily evacuated Sunday as flames got to within a mile of the former mining town.

Crews in central New Mexico’s Manzano Mountains were doing mop-up operations today on an almost 9-square-mile fire that destroyed six homes and 10 outbuildings. Residents who left last week were allowed to return home Sunday. The fire, started by lightning June 23, was 85 percent contained.

In Guffey, Colo., about 40 miles west of Colorado Springs, most of the 100 residents who fled a 1,115-acre lightning-started wildfire were allowed back home Sunday. Final evacuation orders were expected to be lifted this morning.

source: San Jose Mercury

Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win. A famous quote by Gary Lineker and I hope Spain will prove him wrong this evening. My advise for Spain is to play aggressive forward football. Don’t try to play the counter and wait for Germany to make a mistake. Germany doesn’t make mistakes in a final. With this strategy Spain should win with 1-3. If they are playing the waiting game they will loose with 4-1…