Today In Traffic

Hollywood High School sidewalk... a perfect place to take a nap yes?  Unfortunately, since I was driving I missed the picture of people walking around him without even a glance...

Floods in L.A. - Sans Rain

I've been on a bit of a vacation, i.e. Sanity Break, back East. Trying to ignore the many many 'demons' of late in California was a necessary part of this 'reboot.'  But now I'm back and I'll start you off with this article from the New York Times highlighting our latest issue - water main breaks, and plenty of them. 

In a Parched Los Angeles, the Streets Suddenly Run Wet

My favorite quote is the opening.

This arid city is always looking for water. Lately, a lot of it can be found cascading down the streets. To the threat of quakes, wildfire and mudslides that give Los Angeles an air of impending collapse, add a multitude of recent damaging water main breaks that have buckled streets, flooded businesses, exasperated residents, blocked traffic and perplexed engineers

*The above picture is from a water main break earlier this month.  Whoops.  

The Station Fire

That little fire that started last week became quite the problem.  While no fire is a good fire out here they tend to feel as common as thunderstorms are on the east coast, but this one had perfect fire conditions for almost a week, doubling in size several times.  It was then joined by several others in the L.A. area just to keep everyone on their toes.  150,000 acres and 64 homes later it finally allowed the firefighters to gain some ground and we are luckily on our way to full containment.  Unfortunately it appears this one was arson, a lot of people's lives ruined because of some jerk, very sad.

Now that our lungs have all been nicely coated, we've depleted most of our wildfire budget only two months into the season, and the news crews are back to full coverage of all things Hollywood, here are some pictures and links so you can see what we see when L.A. is burning.

*As snarky as my posts may be, an honest and heartfelt kudos to our firefighters.  They put their lives on the line and go above and beyond the call of duty every time.  Thank you for all that you do.

Both of the above photos are smokey sunsets on the 4th or 5th day.

Click here to see some professional pictures.

And here to see a cool video of the smoke mushroom.

And, finally, here to see what the fire lined mountains looked like at night.

Smokey the Bear Resigns in SoCal

It's fire season in L.A. again.  I still have yet to see evidence that fire season is actually a season and not year round, especially with our continuing drought (I've also yet to see proof that this drought is really not just our regular weather).  At any rate we've had a few months without any biggies but this past week our firefighters are hard at work again.  While most of the fires are never actually in my neighborhood the smoke files into the L.A. basin and tends to hang around.  If you've already gone months without rain, the smoke combines with the heavy smog making for some delicious air.  It's the kind of air that I imagine has smokers thinking 'Yes!  No need to buy cigarettes today, I'll just open my window!'

The news media barrage us with safety measures as the air quality deteriorates (not that it was great to begin with remember).  Instead of 'breath with caution' or on bad days 'breath shallowly' it becomes 'just don't breathe.' 

And lucky you if you don't have air conditioning you get to choose what will cause your demise.  "Close the windows," the TV guy tells you, "You don't want to breathe this air!"  UNLESS you don't have air conditioning and it's hot (it's August in the Valley, is anything other than hot even an option?).  Then DO NOT close the windows.  So then you must choose, do you close the windows and suffer heatstroke?  Or do you keep them open and go with smoke inhalation?  Eenie Meanie Miney Moe?

In truth I've been camped out in Santa Monica watching the smoke drift out over the mountains and avoiding the worst of it.  I did however do one Valley errand this morning and am fairly certain I've had enough smoke inhalation to last me for the year, possibly the decade.  I tried to hold my breath but apparently oxygen deprivation affects your driving ability just as much as heatstroke. 

So if you live here, pull out the facemasks and crank up the oxygen tanks.  At least you'll not only cut down on your smoke inhalation, you can also avoid being one of the 25% of Californian's expected to get the Swine Flu this fall!  Oh Los Angeles, you and your charms...

Cankles Finally Get The Attention They Deserve

CNN posted an article today.
Click here to read it.

One they obviously thought was fairly ground-breaking, a new phenomenon or unexplored problem that was suddenly coming to light. That is, they addressed cankles. Sorry to burst their bubble but this is a term I've been familiar with since 8th grade which was quite a few years ago. A field hockey game was in full swing when I commented to my friend, "Wow, I just noticed how fat my ankles are." To which she kindly replied, "Yeah, I noticed that too but I didn't want to say anything." Ah, middle school friendship.

For those of you not in the know it comes from the illusion that your calf literally runs into your ankle, hence 'cankle.' OK, so maybe it's not an illusion, it just is. Over the years I've tried to accept it by applying a good dose of humor. If you can't change it better to laugh than cry right? There was the time in Payless when I tried on a pair of strappy heels and turned around to see two of my best friends almost in tears they were laughing so hard. Trust me, 'Miss Piggy legs' are not a compliment. I realized then that those cute shoes with the ties around the ankles would never be in MY closet!

There is the college friend who has the complete opposite, the skinniest ankles I've ever seen. No really, they could be wrists. It's amazing she can stand on them. On slow nights the two of us would stand beside each other in front of our friends, a sight that was good for at least five minutes of giggles and jokes. It even inspired a guy friend to share that he couldn't date me cause he'd feel cheated. He proceeded to act out giving me a foot massage and then his shock and horror that it went straight from foot to calf. "Where's the ankle?!" He asked in mock dismay, "When I date somebody I need all the body parts!" *Note he actually DID date my skinny-ankled friend, go figure.

A fellow student was kind enough to share that an old man told him girls with ankles like mine are sure to get fat when they have kids. Seriously. And CNN is just now recognizing this is a problem for some us?

I cringe when Capri's are in season. Gladiator sandals are no friend of mine. And every fall without fail I envy those boots that zip above the ankle. You can usually find me in the back of a shoe store pulling and squeezing hoping THIS pair of knee high boots will go past that ankle bone. It never does. Someday I'll accept this but so far I keep trying. I actually bought a pair of mid-calf boots once and wore them all year with long jeans to cover the fact that they weren't zipped. Don't judge me.

I rebel here and there. There is still the occasional pair of shorts or a skirt that is just the right length paired with just the right heels. It doesn't make ankles suddenly appear but you can camouflage their absence so they don't have people doing double takes. "Wait, that girl doesn't have ankles! I've never seen a calf go straight to the heel." Or "Holy cow those are some sturdy legs!" They may not say it out loud but I know they think it, the same way I take sick delight when I spot a pair of cankles bigger than mine. 'Whew,' I sigh, 'At least I didn't get stuck with those!'

So there, our suffering is finally in the public eye. Maybe designers will be a little more sensitive in the future... although I doubt it. But really, if any stumble upon this post... I'd kill for just one pair of wide cankle boots!

California's unemployment rate hits record high -- latimes.com

Articles like this have two effects. On the one hand they make me feel better that it's taking me so long to find a job, I obviously have a TON of competition out there, more than the usual millions of California Dreamers. On the other hand they once again make me think... WHY am I HERE?!


California's unemployment rate hits record high -- latimes.com

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Dear California, I'm dumping you -- latimes.com

Below is a link to a letter that I think conveys the way MANY of us feel right now. She wrote a letter about it but many many more people are leaving because of similar situations... Who knows, this could be the start of a revolution of sorts... California is quickly losing it's dreamer reputation throughout the country, and to those of us who live here it's been on the rocks much longer!

Dear California, I'm dumping you -- latimes.com

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Reboot

This blog served it's original purpose well but I'll be the first to admit that other than those first few months and my original trek out here I've had no use for it. Also, considering it's been over a year since my last post I think it's time to change directions! So please don't expect daily posts on here but do expect more frequent ones than once a year. And expect them to cover every topic I feel is relevant to life in California. Some fun will be had with local news clips so the rest of you can see the incompetence we live with here. I'll also be doing the occasional "Today in Traffic" since we spend so much time in our cars... you never know what you might see and trust me, I've witnessed some interesting things! Hopefully it wont be all negative, and it's intended to have an element of humor to it, so if you find it only depresses you, I'm not doing my job correctly... or you are sane enough to see that I'm culling humor from a soul-sucking pit called L.A. Oh perhaps I've been too harsh, soul-sucking, would I go that far? Yes, yes I would. And I'd love for you to join me. : )

A quick glimpse...

Obviously the real perks here are NOT the prices, but the smoking bans are great! That little spot is the only place at this park you can stand and smoke. No smoking with-in 20 ft of bars or restaurants in Burbank either. I drive past the Warner Bros lot to and from work everyday, should keep me motivated right?! The apartment may look cute and scenic but all that surrounds it is not, you get an idea from the back window view. And don't you love that warning on the door? Just about every building here has one of those signs so I'm not really sure whether to be worried or not...

The flowers are all in bloom here it's gorgeous! I'm glad I don't have allergies because the smell of flowers and pollen is just hanging in the air all over L.A., nice contrast to the usual smog!

The Perks of living in Southern California...

So as we all know gas prices are up up up!  What I find interesting is that when we drove out here gas prices were only about 5-10 cents higher here than in Gettysburg.  Now however I do believe I'm longing for your $3.20/gallon!!!  But we set the precedent for the rest of the nation (or so I've been told) so here's what you have to look forward to!  

These are all taken today with-in 5 miles of each other so you can see we suffer a bit of price-gouging as well!