Stand Up To Cancer

What: https://www.standup2cancer.org/donate_splash.asp
Why: Because a cure is possible. Enough people have suffered.

Happy Earth Day

Even though everyday should be Earth Day, its good that at least one day is used to wake us up and remind everyone to be environmentally conscientious. So here are some tips that I've come across...

On Earth911.org , you can type in your zip code and find the nearest place to recycle pesky things like paint, batteries, used motor oil, fertilizers, used electronics like computers and monitors, medicines and pharmaceuticals, and a whole host of other stuff that you might not know shouldn't be tossed in the trash can. A lot of things that end up in our landfills can leech into our water supply and contaminate it with heavy metals and toxins. So think twice when you toss that old cellphone into the trash. Make a box to throw these things in and get rid of them every couple of months.

Reduce unnecessary mail, like shopping catalogs. Just call the number on the back of the catalog and tell them you prefer to shop online and they'll stop sending them. I used to get 4 Crate and Barrel catalogs a month -the same exact one! So I called and canceled all of them.


The average person gets an estimated 41 lbs of junk mail a year. Find out how to opt out and save your self time, and save the forest some trees.

Reuse your shopping bags. It really is simple. You can either buy the reusable ones at the grocery store, or just bring the ones you've used back to the store. You can store a bunch of brown paper bags and plastic bags in your car so that just in case you need to run into somewhere and get something, you'll have bags ready for you.

Recycle!! Plastic bags, aluminum cans, glass bottles, paper, there really isn't an excuse. "I'm too busy" or "I'm lazy" doesn't count.

Carpool. Take the bus. Walk. I'm guilty of not doing any of these. I told myself that I would start taking the bus and subway to work once a week and I still haven't done it. Now that my car's gas bill is about $200 a month (aaah!!), I really need to reconsider my priorities. It comes down to convenience vs saving CO2 emissions and money. I have an 8 am meeting this morning, so that's my excuse for today. I have no excuse for Wednesday...

Now go fix that leaky faucet before all of Greenland defrosts.

Missing Persons in Los Angeles

I decided to put the local police department's phone number in my mobile, just in case. You shouldn't call 911 for every semi-emergency issue, it will keep the line busy for more important calls. So I went to the LAPD's website and just started wandering around. Its really interesting. You can find out about local happenings that you might not hear or read about on the news.

I was most effected by the missing person's link. I can't believe how many local missing adults there are. I've never heard of any of these people or seen them on the news. Some are missing as long as 10 years, and one has been missing since 1961. I've never known a missing person and hope I never ever have to go through that or watch someone else go through it.
Bezan beh takhteh (knock on wood).

By the way, if you want to get informed, go to http://www.lapdonline.org/get_informed

I (want to) love LA, but...

I really do want to love this city. I (try to) defend LA to every hater that has ever griped about how this isn't a real city and its too sprawling and its full of transplants that didn't grow up here and how over crowded it is, blah blah blah.

Today I was the biggest hater of all. Everyday LA tests my patience from the second I leave my front door, as soon as I sit in my car to drive to work.

This is my daily commute from Los Angeles to Pasadena:

• Drive 15-20 minutes on pothole riddled surface streets to get to the 101. I take 3rd Street or Beverly Blvd depending on my mood.
• Then I sit on the 101 for about 5-10 minutes, its always slow like molasses
• Then I get to the 110 and drive another 10-15 minutes north. This is the only part of the drive that is usually not congested. Unless there is an accident or construction. I take it till it ends in Pasadena.
• When I get to Pasadena, I have to cross my fingers that the Metro Gold Line won't keep me from turning left to get to my office. When the train is crossing Glenarm, California, or Del Mar, the traffic system is really (really) retarded and will keep a person from turning left for up to 5 minutes . So you could end up sitting in the left turn lane with a red arrow for a whole 5 minutes- its happened to me. My gripes about Pasadena will come on another day.

This is without any additional traffic. There is always some base traffic, but if it is more than usual it can take me 1 hour or more to drive the 16 miles I need to get to work.

That's right. 16 miles. One hour.

Today was especially bad...really bad. Before going to work, I had to drive 3 miles west (opposite direction of work) to pick up something before heading to work this morning. That little 3 mile drive took almost 1 hour.

That's right, 3 miles, one hour.

Needless to say I was cursing the whole way there and back. The return trip was only 10 minutes long driving east to get back to the freeway. The traffic was only in the westbound direction. This all boils down to really poor city planning and lousy infrastructure design. I should say NO infrastructure design.

I left my apartment at 8:20 and got to work at 10:10.

Don't even get me started on the condition of the surface streets. The pavement of the famed Sunset Blvd looks like a bomb went off every few yards. This is shameful. People come from all over the world to see Los Angeles, and the streets are so trashed that its embarrassing.

I'm not one to complain and not take action (or at least I try). I sent a (very tactful) complaint on this website this morning about the conditions of the streets.

http://www.lacity.org/boss/request.htm

Here's a website on potholes: http://www.lacity.org/boss/Resurfacing/potholes.htm

If you're in the LA area and notice a pothole, or poorly surfaced streets, go to this website and fill out this form. I've submitted a report once about two years ago when I punctured my tire on a pothole, and they filled up the pothole the next day. Maybe someone else had complained about before I did, but at least something was done.

Here's an article on the LA Times' blog about potholes

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bottleneck/2007/03/the_cost_of_pot.html

If you have to live in LA, love it or hate it, at least try to be a part of improving it. I'll let y'all know if the potholes improve.

Unclutterer

To all my fellow slobs out there, just know that it IS ok to be you (and me). Though I'm sure anyone who has ever lived with one of us might disagree.

Just in case you feel like toying with idea of change, consider some of the tips found here:
http://unclutterer.com/

I've wasted the last 15 minutes sifting through this when I should have been working. But I think it was time well wasted.

The "Unitasker Wednesday" posts are what drew me. I read the post from Miss Penguin on Weddingbee . If you haven't checked out Weddingbee yet, its yet another fun time sink.