the wildfires look much closer than they actually are, still far enough away that there doesn’t seem to be much fear of evacuation, at least not in pasadena where i live. i’ve been holed up with a summer cold the past few days, watching the flames burn over the ridge in the distance at night. today i’m finally feeling a little better; enough to be able to smell the smoke, at least. it’s hard to tell now if i’m congested because of a cold or because of the poor air quality. driving around town yesterday felt a little like being in a stephen king novel. everyone went about their business, but there was a red haze to the air and a giant cloud floating above the city. people would ocassionally glance nervously at the cloud, or stop to point at an area where they could see flames. people would take camera phone pictures. it was a strange combination of business-as-usual and wonderment.

my brother and his wife are having a baby daughter in september. my father, who lives in new york, has not seen them since before emiko got pregnant, so i thought it’d be nice to make a video for him for father’s day. also, i figure it serves to mark my brother’s first “official” father’s day – or is that a pre-father’s day? either way, i’m to be an uncle soon and as such it’s my right to subject everyone to time in front of the camera. at the moment, the leading contender for baby names falls to “willamina”. so here’s my brother james and emiko and willa – t-minus three months.

of course, my brother approaches impending fatherhood with his usual humility.

and just in case it’s unclear, that phrase he says at the very end is “chocolate cake and fred segal’s.”

click the play button below.

still, the plumbers were nice enough to let me take their pictures during the lunch break. i managed to talk nine (out of twelve) of them into doing it. we had a short window before the sun came out in full force in my driveway and ruined the light, but they all seemed to have a really good time. when the foreman/inspector came out today he was talking about how all the guys went back to the office talking about their pictures. that’s really a great thing, i’m always glad when i get to do that for people who don’t ordinarily get this kind of attention.

thanks guys. and the water pressure’s great.

here is: hugo, carlos, leo #1, leo #2, giovanni, rex, ken, douglas and jose.