The Colorado fires are crazy. There was a fire near Boise last year that filled the entire valley with smoke for most of the summer. I woke up every day with a headache. It was started by a firefighter of all people, who wanted to get attention from his dad. Now, getting started working in insurance I pay attention to this sort of thing a little more closely. I work in auto claims, but want to get into catastrophic field work soon (of course cars burn too, but people tend to take those). A whole lot of my friends worked fire lines in the forests in Idaho and Oregon during college. One became a smoke jumper for a while, it is the only natural disaster you really need to worry about in the west, unless there is a freak hail storm or you live on a flood plain.
I am not too sure how to go about making new friends here. All the people I work with seem to have kids, or nothing else in common with me. I know I am not the only 26 year old to be in a mosh pit last week (saw The Thermals for the third time this summer), but I get alien looks from coworkers when I bring it up. I have discovered that "adults" really do talk about the weather a lot. I have been asked how I am liking the heat here in Phoenix probably 50 times (I do not have strong feelings about it one way or the other) and zero questions of substance. People marvel when I tell them I walk to work since I live a mile away (I am broke guys, moving is expensive and it takes just as long to drive). Maybe it will be easier when I start saving up some money and can hang out downtown? I always used to joke about the stereotypical pac northwest hipster, but they don't have them here and it turns out they were all my friends.
Hopefully I get my own internet on Monday. I have a dumb phone and a six year old laptop that needs to be plugged in wherever I go, so now I am in my apartment office. It has given me time to read and study for law/grad school, though. Kind of nice. I always thought life would be easier if I got a degree and a job, maybe it used to be, but I am struggling with the realization I may have been happier with a crappy minimum wage job living a carefree lifestyle with my friends. The job itself is cool, though! People find the most creative ways to bust their cars. ADVICE: Avoid wal-mart parking lots. Grocery stores don't tend to be too bad, but wally world is the place you will get your vehicle ruined. If I get industry certifications the company pays for it and gives me a bonus when I complete it. If I get this CPCU designation (it is like a CPA for insurance people apparently) I get a $400 bonus, and around the time I complete it I get a trip to Hawaii for me and another person for the industry conference. Also, on my third day here I got a $2000 pay increase!
tl;dr: fire bad, moving hard, job good.