Chris G.

Very nice! Love an Islay.

Our late great Daisy did this shortly after we adopted her with a package of pecan pralines I’d brought home from a business trip.

Now this is a story! And I can appreciate it all the more having had my own intimidating interview with Fran.

My memory of Ed will always be driving by the school over Thanksgiving to show my uncle, pointing out things, & saying “and there’s my headmaster in his boxer shorts taking out his trash.”

We’ve had SO many in our yard.

I’m a full-time emergency manager today largely because of my experiences in Biloxi, MS during Hurricane Katrina. Going to raise a glass tonight to the memories, including those who deployed with us who are no longer with us.

20 years ago today, I was on a plane with my DMAT CA-1 teammates flying east for my first disaster deployment. Didn’t fully appreciate what the next 2 weeks would involve at that time, but I came home changed.

That whole notification process is such a mess. You’re not the first I’ve heard with this issue.

Reminds me of seeing a similar production of Romeo & Juliet some decades ago at the Ahmanson. James Avery was Montague.

Oh, I would love to see that!

Submitted my report, felt it mildly here at JPL.

I am totally calling mine a whipper snipper from now on!

So worth it. 😋

Assume I’ll be making it next week, but haven’t gotten to menu planning yet & what night we’ll actually do the annual Irish diaspora feast (Monday is inconvenient).

Soooo many dishes.

I absolutely love colcannon. I started making it as part of our St. Patrick’s Day meal 13 years ago & it fast became a family favorite. My sister asked me to make it for Easter last year - made 10lbs & there were no leftovers.

My belief is that he’s trying to set himself up as a “centrist” who can appeal to both parties for a future presidential campaign. Only problem is that the right will never accept him regardless & now he’s alienating* the left too.

* not that he’s really that well liked to begin with

Age yourself with a movie you saw in the theater

We often share that sentiment with you down here in SoCal.

LA Times does report she was assigned to the Eaton Fire - from linked Instagram post appears she was one of the 5 captains on a Riverside County strike team of 5 fire engines. So that’s pretty far down the command structure on a major fire to be in any position for blame.

As a CAL FIRE member she may have been involved in the response but don’t know any specific role where she’d be in a position to be blamed. Chief Crowley on the other hand has received a lot of unwarranted criticism with “DEI” accusations, despite her exceptional experience.

I suspect this may be the case. Capt. Marodi worked in Riverside County, well away from either the Palisades or Eaton Fires. I have not heard her name come up until the news of her death…and I was seeing that from fire service social with no specifics before the news coverage started.

LAFD does like its tillers.

In Santa Cruz we had 3 in the entire county. 🤣

Firefighters save NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory CBS' Dave Malkoff explains how firefighters were able to save NASA's JPL from the Eaton Fire. However, many people who work there lost their homes during the disaster.

More on the Eaton Fire and JPL through interviews with Lab Director Dr. Laurie Leshin, Deputy Director Leslie Livesay, and my boss Ian Pinkham.

The impacts of the Eaton Fire will be with us for a long time. And the toll is still being measured. But for now, we catch our breath & move into recovery.

Because we Dare Mighty Things.

Photo of a stack of bottled water under a sign reading “PROTECTIVE SERVICES” and an American flag plaque.

I couldn’t be more proud of all of those who got us through this past week. Our law enforcement officers, firefighters, and Facilities & Logistics team. Our EOC staff. Our executive leadership…many of whom were evacuated themselves. And all of the mutual aid agencies who have been there to assist.

Photo of the Eaton Fire from JPL at 3:30 AM on 1/7/25.

Today we deactivated the EOC after Operational Period 18. I worked 6 of the nights & 2 of the days. Thankfully the last few were boring. The first definitely was not.

Over 1000 of our colleagues were evacuated & over 200 lost their homes, along with thousands of others. My heart aches for them.

Photo of a coyote tan backpack in a chair with a blue helmet reading “NASA-JPL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT” on top and a yellow wildland fire jacket sticking out from behind.

Last Tuesday night I got in at 6PM for night shift in our EOC for the high winds we were experiencing that day.

17 minutes later the Eaton Fire was toned out. We spent the night watching the flames march towards us from the front door of our building as we prepared the best we could.

Your mom sounds like quite the woman, and an amazing school administrator. To her memory. 🥂

TPM was always my favorite of the prequels. A few glaring plot holes, but that’s Star Wars (and not nearly as bad as AOTC).

ROTS became a lot better after the Clone Wars animated series & getting a sense for what happened between it and AOTC. Especially Anakin’s arc.