We did give you a headsup. Well, thank goodness you did stay in Santa Monica. I was afraid you ended up going cheap and decided to drop into NoHo or something, which would suck.

Going up Santa Monica Blvd is the worst travel plan ever. That guy must have hated you, Katy! If I was still in LA, I'd go up to the counter and give him a long chat about giving such crummy directions. ANY street would have been better than Santa Monica!

Californians leave home very early. That's how people get anywhere on time. The difference between going to work at 7am -vs- 8am is quite large, depending on what direction you are going.

I'm glad you like California. It was a pretty tough decision to leave there, but it had to be done. There's a lot of good and there is a lot of bad, but if you ever moved out there, it isn't as hard as people make it out to be (unless you decide to move to SF, then good luck).

Springtime weather is fickle - like women, children, cats, and old men.

Jazz sounds better in the Spring also. There may not be empirical evidence of this but it is true nonetheless. Second-rate sappy poetry sounds better also. Especially that of the English variety of which there are reams and reams of and is repeated often by wailing souls, like the incessant droning of waves on a desolate beach.

This was a post from back in November, but sorry to inform you, I failed miserably at this whole responsible adult thing. Eh, I'll figure it out in another 37 years, I guess.

Wilshire until you get to Beverly Hills, then take Whittier up to Sunset. Right on La Cienega, then immediate left on Fountain. Take Fountain to Highland. Stop at Fat Sal's for a sandwich. North on Highland. Right on Hollywood Blvd.



Unless it's late at night, in which get off Sunset as soon as you enter West Hollywood.

Crap. I always forget that's an illegal left turn onto Fountain. So go down 1/2 block, left on Holloway, left on Hacienda, right on Fountain.

This would have been excellent information 5 days ago. We went straight up Santa Monica Blvd around dinner time. Took FOREVER. On the plus side, I did get to see Steve McQueen's star on the Walk of Fame. woohoo . And Hollywood seemed like a pretty cool place. I would definitely like to go back there some day.

Had some fantastic tacos at Blue Plate Tacos in Santa Monica upon our return from Hollywood. OMG. I would highly recommend the short rib tacos if you ever go there. Chips and salsa are good too!

Haha, the guy behind the desk did act like a bit of a dick. I tried to be really nice to him and he was very dismissive. Good thing I ignored his advice to take PCH to get to Newport Beach for the whale watching tour or we would have missed it for sure. He promised us it would only take 1 hour. I was starting to question his judgment!

Oh and dave - i wish I had gone cheap and stayed off the beach. By the time I get my credit card statement I'm going to be sobbing.

I've been putting capers in my hotdogs. Is that clever or hopelessly frou-frou?

Like, with what else?

Capers?? GTFO

I always put capers in my garbage can. There is no food I despise more than capers.

Capers with lemon or as part of a pickle relish is fine by me. Hard to pull off much else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartar_sauce

It's like hot Italian sausage in a whole wheat bun with sauerkraut spicy mustard and capers.

Katy,

I missed you by a couple weeks. Was in Anaheim for a conference in Mid-March. Spent a day in LA at one cousin's house, drove to Las Vegas to see Dom the next day, drove back to Anaheim area the following day. Spent a couple days at another cousin's house in Fullerton before the conference began. We cruised around Newport and Laguna on his boat, went to the Nixon Library, and hung out. Picked up two of my colleagues at the airport and then went out cruising on the boat again. Spent three days at the conference attending remedial math sessions (great fun for an English teacher), and my two colleagues and I went to Disneyland one night and a dive bar in Santa Ana on another. One colleague left Friday, so the remaining colleague and I drove to LA on Friday afternoon (traffic wasn't horrible) and spent the evening at LACMA. The next day we went to the Huntington Library and stayed from opening to almost closing time. Drove back through LA and went cologne shopping on Rodeo Drive. Didn't buy anything but got to drive a few salespeople crazy.

I love being in California because I get to visit family, and after snow and cold here, I really miss the warm weather. I'm even getting used to driving around there.

Also was in Atlanta for three days last week, and the traffic is almost as bad a LA traffic.

Katy,

Addendum: the woman I was with in LA for the weekend was able to fall asleep with me driving. I took that as a sign of ultimate trust. ;-)

had a massive scare this morning. Had to get a TB test for reasons I won't discuss here, but I had a massive reaction to it. BP shot to 170 / 140 and body temp dropped to 94 degrees. I know my heart was pounding and racing much harder before the EMTs came.

The only thing I remember from those moments was someone was asking me my name, etc, and I couldn't really answer. I told him to call me a ****ing ambulance. "We are trying to help you sir, if you can't keep control of your language..."

wtf? I would think that this would be one time inappropriate language would be acceptable?

In any case, I couldn't stand and I was bawling my eyes out over it. When I got rolled into intake 1:

"How many days have you been feeling weak?"

Uh... what?

"Your docket says you are 'generally weak.'"

No... I had a reaction to a TB test. What the heck is wrong wit you?

Intake 2:

Same as intake 1;

Intake 3:

same as intake 1 and 2. Since I managed to zombie lurch into intake 3, I was getting very upset and told them that this is all wrong. I don't want to be at this hospital anymore.

They said I should stay and I have to tell the medical professionals that I had a reaction to an injection. After an hour of figuring out I'm not going to die, I walked out and told them why.

I feel like I drank a gallon of vodka last night. I also had an interview at 2 o'clock and I made it.

Dave,

That is scary. How did the interview go?

Wow dT, that's some scary ****. After 5 minutes of googling, the only recommendation I see is get hydrated. What an odd combination of symptoms. Where's the nurse when we need her?

JC,
Sleeping woman and your location seem at odds.

It was after walking around the Huntington all day and while driving to Beverly Hills. I wore her out.

Edit out that first sentence and it looks better.

I wore her out. :-)

Nice

Yeah, I'm married to a native Texan. I will never hear the end of the y'alls.

Stay healty, Dave. Sounds really scary.