mbietz May 15th, 2008
“We conclude that the purpose underlying differential treatment of opposite-sex and same-sex couples embodied in California’s current marriage statutes - the interest in retaining the traditional and well-established definition of marriage - cannot properly be viewed as a compelling state interest for purposes of the equal protection clause, or as necessary to serve such an interest…. Accordingly, we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional.” -California Supreme Court, May 15, 2008
mbietz November 30th, 2007
It’s raining in San Diego. We’ve already had more than 1/2″, including a few moments of near-downpour. To put that in context, our average rainfall is only about 10″. With so little rain, the roads are pretty oil-slick, which makes for a crappy commute. And there are worries of rock and mudslides, especially in the recently-burned areas.
But that’s not what I’m thinking about. This is the first big rain since we moved into the new house. It’s a bit like the first road trip with a new lover. You’ve gotten to know a lot about each other, but now you see all the annoying little quirks. I keep wandering around the house looking at the ceiling for leaks. None so far, but I discovered that the front door doesn’t have weather stripping, and with the wind today, we’ve got a puddle on the floor. The driveway also slopes a bit toward the garage, so there’s a puddle there too (although it’s not right up to the door, so probably not an issue).
But now I’ve got an excuse to go to Lowe’s this weekend. 
mbietz October 26th, 2007
The fires aren’t out yet, but the San Diego Fire Chief announced today that there is no more fire threat for the city of San Diego, and Qualcomm has been emptied. The winds and temperatures are now in the firefighters’ favor. We’ve still got pollution issues - the air is still hazy, and the invisible particulate matter is high. We’ve been keeping the house closed up and we’ve got our small HEPA filter and the air conditioning fan on to help. Dan went in to the UCSD campus today - he said the smell was worse there, and there was some ash in his office around the windows (which don’t seal particularly tightly).
But all in all, we’ve been very lucky. No fires got even close to us, and the pollution hasn’t been as bad here as in most other areas of the county.
mbietz October 24th, 2007
7:45am: A little stronger smell of smoke this morning, but again no change in our status. There has been more “onshore flow” with the winds, which is probably the reason why we’re smelling it more. The smokey sky also made for a colorful sky. With the wind shifting, many of the new evacuations have actually been on the northeast side of the fire (that is, farther away from us).
mbietz October 23rd, 2007
10:15pm: I’m back in San Diego. Flying in was interesting - as we were coming in over San Diego everybody had their eyes glued to the windows. Could see the fire lines on both sides of the plane, and the eerie orange glow in the smoke we were flying through. Became even more obvious, though, that the flames are (thankfully) pretty far away from our house. The weather seems to have been slightly more cooperative today. Hope that continues.
But I’m still on Eastern time, so I’m heading to bed. G’night!
mbietz October 23rd, 2007
If you’re interested in tracking the progress of the San Diego fires, some of the most up-to-date info seems to be at the Union Tribune web site, although their servers have been pretty overloaded. The most recent news updates are at the Fire Blog. There’s a relatively recent (and frequently updated) Google Maps mashup that shows the boundaries of the fires and the evacuation areas.
I’m in Ann Arbor right now, but planning to fly back in to San Diego this evening. The airport is running as usual and is planning to remain open.
We live in the very center of San Diego, very near Qualcomm Stadium (one of the main evacuation centers). That puts us east of I-5, west of I-805, and just south of I-8. We’re essentially on the south rim of Mission Valley, and just north of Balboa park.
As for now, our area has not been evacuated, and the closest evacuated areas are many miles away. I just talked to Dan and apparently there is a slight smell of smoke in the air, but otherwise things are normal at our house.
One issue highlighted by the fire officials is that predicting the exact path is a problem because the Santa Ana winds tend to be inconsistent, and over the next couple of days are expected to turn around and head back inland.
So for now our house isn’t in the path of the fire, but it’s wait and see. I’ll post here again if there’s any major change in our status.
mbietz July 8th, 2007
I got back from North Dakota earlier this week after Grandma Mary’s funeral. And, in another blow to our family, Uncle Bob (Grandma Mary’s brother) died 6 days after she did. My parents and I were on the way to visit him in the hospital in Langdon, but when we arrived, we found out that he had passed about 15 minutes earlier. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for his funeral.
Getting to North Dakota was no fun either. I was supposed to fly up on Friday, June 29, but I woke up to discover that my flight had been canceled. The earliest I could get re-booked was Saturday afternoon. I’d still be able to get to Grandma’s prayer service and funeral, but I missed my Aunt Elsie’s ordination Saturday morning. On Saturday, my flight from San Diego to Minneapolis was fine, but then they canceled my Minneapolis to Grand Forks leg at the last minute. Luckily my Uncle Ross and Aunt Lila and their family had just flown in to Minneapolis from a wedding, and were driving to Walhalla (400+ miles), so I was able to catch a ride with them. We arrived in Walhalla around 5:30 Sunday morning.
The funeral and related events were intense and wonderful and overwhelmingly sad. For me, the most meaningful and memorable part of the weekend occurred after the visitation and prayer service Sunday night. We were still at the church, and Melanie and Dad started playing folk songs on violin and guitar in the sanctuary where Grandma was laying. Soon Mom joined in on one piano, and Aunt Elsie on the other. And the rest of the family and some friends joined in playing and dancing and singing old songs. Making music together has always been such a huge part of our family, and I couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to say goodbye to Grandma.
My family has a flair for pomp and circumstance, and Grandma’s funeral was no exception. The family and clergy processed to and into the church accompanied by a bagpiper, although Grandma would have been mad that as a result we started the funeral 20 minutes late. After the funeral, the bagpiper also led us from the church to the cemetery for the burial service.
After all of that, I’d love to have some time to recuperate, but life keeps coming. On my calendar:
- Close on our new house on the 11th. Move in on the 16th.
- Fly to cousin Nathan’s wedding in Fargo at the end of the month.
- Draft of the dissertation by August 1.
Wish me luck!
mbietz June 25th, 2007
Grandma Mary had a very sudden massive cerebral hemorrhage yesterday morning. She never regained consciousness, and passed away this morning.
She was a great lady, and I’m going to miss her terribly.
I have to mention her sense of humor. Every time we talked on the phone, we had to share any dirty jokes we’d heard. One memory keeps sticking in my head: We were watching the news together at her house. It was during the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal, and the newscaster had just finished giving all the sordid “blow-by-blow” details. She shook her head, turned to me, and said, “Bah. If you’re gonna sleep with the president, you should at least do it right and go all the way.”
A highlight of any visit to her house was a meal of her tomato soup (always served with corn bread, of course). It’s hearty farm food - not fancy, but boy did it put Campbell’s to shame! I’m sure that part of the reason it was so good (and mine never tastes quite the same) is because she made it with home-canned tomatoes. Here’s the recipe if you want to remember Grandma too.
Grandma Mary’s Tomato Soup
1 qt. tomatoes
1 qt. water
1/2 cup rice
1 onion
2 tbsp (about) cornstarch
1 cup whipping cream
salt and pepper
- Cook onion and rice in tomatoes and water until tender.
- Mix cornstarch with water, add to soup.
- Add cream and bring to a boil. Season to taste.
mbietz April 27th, 2007
Rostropovich died today.
He’s always been one of my role models and heroes. His collaborations with Britten and Prokofiev and Shostakovich resulted in some of the best cello music ever written. I had the picture of him playing at the fall of the Berlin Wall hanging in my room.
In 1993 (when he was 66 years old!), I was lucky enough to see him play two big concerti in the same program with the London Symphony Orchestra. I was in London for the semester, and I was taking lessons at the Royal College of Music. I had a lesson earlier in the day and told my teacher I was going to see Rostropovich play the Britten Cello Symphony that evening. I was more than a little shocked with his reply: he had studied with Rostropovich, and for the English premiere of the Cello Symphony at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1964, he was playing in the orchestra, and was asked to go sit in the audience and listen for balance.
So today I’m listening to his recordings of the Bach Suites, and the Britten Suites, and Britten’s Cello Symphony, and Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto. Maybe I’ll even get out my own cello and annoy the neighbors.
mbietz April 17th, 2007
We had the water off today. Only a few hours. Supposed to happen again tomorrow. Backflow prevention or something like that. Not a huge deal, but annoying. Like, eating an orange, and then can’t wash the hands. Ug.
