Following the Auburn Fire
Yesterday afternoon, my dad called me. “I just rolled into Colfax and see a big fire out past your house. Looks far away, but you might want to check.” My brother-in-law, who had just arrived from Los Angeles, jumped into the car with me and we went to scout it out.
While driving there, I hadn’t found any info on the web about it, so I tweeted this: “Anybody know about the fire near Weimar/Colfax?”
Driving a bit further, we quickly saw that the fire was centered somewhere in the Christian Valley area, and returned back home to get more information. Thanks to some friends tweeting back and commenting on Facebook, we learned that the fire was actually on the Auburn end of Christian Valley, along Highway 49.
I set up a Twitter search for “Auburn fire” on TweetDeck, and between that and KCRA Channel 3′s excellent helicopter coverage, we were able to get a pretty accurate picture of what was happening. I was working the phones to talk with friends and family who were in the evacuation zone, and tried to share what I was finding out on Twitter. I’m still not positive, but as of right now, I haven’t heard of any of them losing homes or businesses. We’re thankful for that.
At one point, I tweeted KCRA’s map of the fire zone, by taking a quick picture of it with my BlackBerry. You can see it above.
I tried not to pass on information that wasn’t confirmed unless that fact was clear. At one point, a CalFire tweet was retweeted saying two firefighters had been lost, and the missing context was that this news was from the LA fire. I corrected it as quickly as I could, but it’s a good illustration of both the power and the limits of Twitter as a news source. I know that’s how I approach news on the Internet — you have to take everything you read with a grain of salt and consider the credibility of the source.
I was very glad to hear this morning that Calvary Chapel offered overnight shelter to fire victims. Apparently the two evac centers at Rock Creek and Auburn elementary schools were unavailable for this. Good to see our churches stepping up. I’ll be asking what role Sierra College has played in offering our facilities for emergency planning. (People with means can go to hotels, but those who live paycheck-to-paycheck and don’t have family in the area often have no options when they lose their homes.)
As it stands now, there are somewhere between 30 and 50 homes and businesses lost in this fire. I haven’t seen any confirmed reports of fatalities, but those take time to report. Early reports are strongly indicating arson, and there was word of a manhunt under way last night in the area between Meadow Vista and Christian Valley. I’m sure the full story will not be boring.
We can all be very thankful for the work of our firefighters, police officers and paramedics/EMTs for their heroic work yesterday. We’re proud of their service to our community.
Here’s a recap of some of the news coverage this morning:
- KCRA Channel 3 (they get my award for best coverage yesterday)
- Auburn Journal
- The Union
- Sacramento Bee
Tight college budget put to the test
The Union has another great piece about the budget cuts the state legislature has passed, and how they will affect educational opportunity in our community.
About 5,300 students are expected to take at least one class this semester at the growing Nevada County campus, which is in the midst of a $13 million expansion and renovation project. Final attendance numbers are not in yet, but college officials said they expect a slight increase over the previous year.
The spring should be a different story, with fewer classes and instructors for a growing number of students. Sierra College President Leo Chavez has said that the effect on the Nevada County and Truckee campuses could be less than at the Rocklin campus, simply because the newer campuses are still growing…
The students who will gain an education at Sierra are the ones who will act quickly under tight budgets, Klein said.
“There will be challenges,” he said. “My advice to students is to watch carefully and register early. There will be more demand for a Sierra College education than we have the resources to deliver.”
Photo Credit: The Union
Too Funny
Just leaving Sierra College Convocation (prior obligations didn’t allow me to be there the entire morning). The full time faculty member of the year was announced as Stan Spencer, who is the chief negotiator for the faculty union.
I’m paraphrasing, but here was the beginning of his acceptance speech: “I knew today was going to be special, because on my way here in my smart car, a black SUV passes me. That was my brush with celebrity, because guess who, it’s Trustee Aaron Klein!” (laughter)
“I don’t think he saw me though…I think he was tweeting.” (raucous laughter)
(Just so you know, I was doing phone calls the whole way down the hill, so he must have seen me dialing. Twittering while driving can be hazardous for your health!)
Stan got a handshake from me for a good one. Congratulations to him on his well-deserved recognition.
PS: I’m definitely not a celebrity and sitting in the waiting room later for an hour and a half during an oil change should prove that.
At Sierra College? Double Check Your Parking Permit!
Apparently there were some system problems, created by the State Legislature’s last minute decision to raise tuition retroactively, that have caused issues with student parking permits. The following e-mail went out to all students, but if you’re one of them, make sure you double check your parking status!
Dear Student,
We have experienced challenges with student parking permits and ASSC stickers for fall 2009. On July 29th the State of California imposed a $6 per unit fee increase which was added on to your student account for the classes you have registered in for the fall semester. At that time our system automatically redistributed the payments that you had made for a parking permit and/or ASSC sticker to the new balance owed for the enrollment fee increase.
As a result, if you still wish to reorder your parking permit and/or ASSC sticker in time for the fall semester you will need to log into your mySierra account immediately and click on the “Pay Fees” link in the Registration channel. Please note; parking permits and/or ASSC stickers can only be purchased online and will be mailed directly to your home. In order to give you more time to order and receive your permit and/or sticker, the district will not issue parking citations until September 14.
Also, we highly recommend that you continue to log into your mySierra Account on a regular basis as we will be using that and your sierracollege.edu email address to communicate changes that will be important to your student status.
If you have questions, you can reach the Sierra College Public Information Office by calling 916-660-7271.
Maria’s Big House of Hope
I’ve been a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman’s music since I was 13 years old and he was just starting out. In the years since, his family became incredible advocates for adoption, bringing three little girls home from China to become a part of their family.
In fact, their adoption foundation, Show Hope, helped make it possible for us to bring Spencer home from South Korea. We are eternally grateful for their support.
Sadly, in 2008, tragedy struck the Chapmans when their daughter Maria was killed in a car accident outside of their home. She was just five years old.
But instead of pulling back in their grief, the Chapmans have redoubled their efforts in the cause of the 143 million children around the world who have lost their parents. They just opened Maria’s Big House of Hope, a home and surgery center to house some of the “least of these” children who need serious medical attention.
Check out the video above, which was put together by Caleb Chapman (their son, and an incredible musical talent himself).
Colfax
Today, I was teaching Spencer where he lives. It still sort of comes out as “Coal Fat” once in a while but it’s getting there. 
Stealing from the Future
This is news?
Now comes the hard part for the auto industry — luring customers without big Cash for Clunkers discounts.
The popular government rebates gave auto sales a jolt, but it was only temporary. Now car makers and dealerships are forced once again to confront the worst market in a quarter-century.
While Cash for Clunkers may have proved there are still car buyers out there, it is unlikely the heavy demand will last. In fact, the big rush to car lots this month may have had the unintended effect of stealing sales from this fall and next year.
I’ve been involved with companies that have done this to themselves. They have to make their numbers during a certain quarter, so they discount heavily and steal revenue out of the next quarter. Only to discover that the next quarter, they have an equally intense need to make their numbers, but they’re starting in the hole.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the US government probably just spent $3 billion dollars of our money to steal sales out of the next quarter.
On the other hand, the United States government has perfected the art of stealing from the future. They will do so to the tune of $9 trillion dollars over the next 10 years.
We should all pray that Washington DC isn’t smart enough to figure out what comes after trillion.
Photo Credit: AP
A Great Dodger Game
I’ve lived in Northern California for 23 years, but I was born 15 minutes away from Dodger Stadium and Dodger Blue still runs in my veins. There still hasn’t been a World Series moment to rival 1988 with Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser.
(Gosh…I’d sidebar about marrying a Giants fan, but fortunately Cacey isn’t too nuts about baseball.)
Anyway, my buddy Clayton is a lifelong Cardinals fan, and he and I have been wanting to see a game together. The last regular season series between both teams was last week, so we put it together and made it happen.
Now, for those of you who think Facebook and Twitter are useless, I twittered a few weeks ago that I was going to go down for the game, and my good friend and real estate magnate Christine Schlittenhart responded back and said she had a family connection with some free tickets! (And in case you’re wondering, of course I’ll report the gift on my disclosure form as required by law, even though it has zero connection to my elected role.)
So I flew down on Sunday night, and worked out of Clayton’s law office on Monday. Got to see several old friends, and then we headed to the game that evening. My dad and brother met up and joined us for a great evening of baseball in great seats on the second deck.
The Cardinals did end up pulling off a 3-2 win, but we all had a great time nonetheless, and the Dodgers are still the best team in the National League (and almost all of baseball, except for the cursed Yankees).
Book Review: The House of Dimon
I’ve been a fan of Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase and Company, for a while. He helped build Citibank through a series of mergers, was exiled after he refused to promote the boss’s daughter to a job she wasn’t qualified for, and then took on the job of turning around Chicago-based Bank One.
After accomplishing that goal, he merged that bank with JP Morgan Chase, and took over as CEO in 2007. In that short amount of time, he built the strongest financial institution in the United States, capable of withstanding the 2008 financial crisis and taking over several other troubled institutions during the process.
Dimon has a detail-oriented management style. His philosophy is to drive cost out of business (primarily through technology), and invest the savings into sales and growth. He employs “management by asking around” — chatting with employees in the hallway (often three or four levels away from him in the organization) to confirm facts and double-check his assumptions.
But to be honest, I was a little bit disappointed in this book. Basically, it seemed like the author had extraordinarily limited access to Dimon and very few facts to go on. In comparison to this Fortune Magazine profile that paints a detailed picture of Dimon’s management style, the book was a bit repetitive and seemed to stretch three or four chapters of information into a book-length treatise.
That being said, Dimon is a fascinating business leader and the book does share some interesting original tidbits from an interview the author held with him. Dimon’s foresight in controlling risk and building a financial institution capable of growing during the financial crisis is unquestionable, and will be a case study in good management for a long time in the future.
Spencer as Cocoa the Dog
Spencer has a very good imagination. Cacey captured him being Cocoa the Dog and Socks the Cat in this video.
He’s also getting really good at his name. He pronounces it “Pence” and takes a stab at the “Daniel Sang-Jin Klein” as well.
