I love LA (sort of)

If it weren't for the people, LA would be paradise. It really is amazing some of the special things that exist in this sprawled out metropolis; things you wouldn't necessarily find in the midst of a city. But this isn't just any city. One of the great things about the area is its terrain and natural beauty - from coastal and lush to arid desert with stunning forests and peaks dotting the environs. I hope there weren't too many visitors to the city on Saturday because it truly was one of those perfect days that makes people never want to leave LA. It was a pleasant 75, gentle salty breezes, ocean waves glistening in the warm sunlight...
so, we decided to meet some friends for an afternoon of wine tasting in semi-local Malibu. Located deep in the canyons of the Santa Monica mountains resides the Malibu Winery.

Family owned and operated, they grow 8 varietals including cabernet, merlot and syrah grapes on 65 acres of rolling surrounds. The open-air tasting room - effectively a hutch - is the centerpiece of a small parkland where old wine barrels form tables for picnicking. I's byo munchies and beware the corkage of $200. for byob. We were rude enough, or smart enough, to bring our own tried and true. While the setting is magnificent the Malibu Vineyard wine was not and we were prepared. Once you toss back a few pours though it gets increasingly difficult to discern the good from the bad! Most of the flight we had wasn't so great but the 2002 Semler Syrah wasn't too bad. Jack bought a bottle plus he'd made a nice nosh of bread, fruit, and cheese from Beechers in Seattle. (The flagship is to die for.)

It so happened that since it was such a glorious day a number of other people had the same idea. The place was a little crowded, hence, good people watching. What could be better than observing winos in their natural habitat? There was one stand out in particular. A woman in probably her mid 30's with quite a bit o' junk in da trunk was wearing a navy blue jersey knit dress and thong underwear. We know this because we could see the silhouette as her clingy dress clung. Our first encounter was when she approached our table with a child of oh, say 10 years old collecting corks for a project. In their way, Damon and Jack had a go at poking fun at surrogate mom at which time she whisked the little girl away as if they were weird or something. Strangely, in an attempt to come down to the child's height the woman was walking around all hunched over like she hailed from Notre Dame, or so we thought, all the while her dress getting caught in the crack. Turns out the woman was blitzed as evidenced by the fact that she went bounding across the grass oblivious that her dress was no longer stuck but floating up and over her bare cheeks. And then she zigzagged back across the lawn to join her party. Not long afterward she grabbed a garden hose and started dousing her friends - the blue dress now sopping and clingy. I wonder if she knows Bill Clinton.

After a brief stop along the shore to dunk our toes in the warm suds of the pacific surf the evening winds down with tacos and margaritas. Gotta love it.

Notice of Public Hearing

Some jerk-off in my neighborhood wants to tear down a charming little house and build a 6-unit condominium with 14 parking spaces all on 6000 square feet of property. Our house is within 500 feet of the proposed project so we were invited to participate in a hearing on the matter. The day before the hearing I got online to check the agenda just to ensure it was going forward as planned. I didn't find the case on the list so I rang the number provided in the notice. True to government fashion the contact person provided on the notice was on vacation until July 8th and, of course, there's nobody else to confirm the schedule. Dare I ask why such a person is charged with correspondence if they aren't available? The meetings are held in the middle of the day, in downtown LA. I vacillated about whether or not to make the trek and in the optimistic end I did. The 3 parking lots surrounding City Hall cost $16.00 to park and I might have paid it except they were each full. So all my effort was futile. After driving around for 30 minutes looking for a spot I gave up. I suspect that making things so prohibitive is the goal so the council can push their pet projects through without fear of reprisal.

I am opposed the condo for a handful of reasons. I know I have to live with progress but "monstrification" creates an aesthetic problem for the neighborhood - a small, historic little enclave. Gigantic structures are out of place not to mention how it encroaches on neighboring plots jeopardizing privacy and quality of life. The tiny street is already congested with 4 other giant apartment buildings which causes double parking issues and overflow onto adjacent streets. We reside on the cul-de-sac at the end of the street where these monsters sit so people use it as a turnabout; their cars come screaching around the bend only to speed off to their destination. More people means more trash - also a problem on our block. Since many of the tenants are not homeowners there seems to be a lack of pride in the neighborhood. There's plenty of litter in general but also the trash cans do not get pulled off the curb in an appropriate timeframe, rather they are left out sometimes all week long.

Presumably, the goal of this developer is to sell the units off. But what if he can't? Will they be leased? Who will rent them? Section 8 recipients? A transient element with no personal investment can and often does change the landscape for the worse. I'm getting ever closer to moving to the moon.

Fornication

This has been a sex-filled weekend. I finally caught Sex and the City at the movies which I thought was cute and unexpectedly disappointing. It was very, um, real. Real is not at all what I'd anticipated. What I was hoping for was the smut and deviant behavior that gripped me during the HBO series. And there was some of that, however the screenwriter was strident to point out that the women had evolved from awkward and experimental sexual maniacs messing about into mature and thoughtful love-bound 40 something ladies. Corny. Boring. Deep. Meaningful.

And then I saw my 1st episode of Showtime's Californication. I first fell in love with David Duchovny (in the 80's I think) on Showtime's Red Shoe Diaries where his character was a reckless fiend drenched in a fantasy world. Ironically, his character on Californication is a reckless fiend drenched in love with his ex-wife. Seems to be a theme emerging here... promiscuous 20's, permissive 30's, pathetic 40's.

Then there was some other show about a high-priced call girl. She seems to be the only one of the lot with a clear head. Seriously, what's love got to do with it?

I, myself now 40, think love is for the birds and that it's a pathetic trade-off for sex.

Good and Bad Coexist

I surf the internet using Goodsearch. It's powered by Yahoo! and every time you use the search engine they donate one cent to the charity of your choosing. It doesn't sound like a lot of money but since you're searching anyway it can really add up. They give kudos to a different spokesman/organization every day and I usually ignore it but today my curiosity was piqued. The feature was WITNESS. This is a program partnered by Reebok and Peter Gabriel (the musician) whereby they aim to place cameras in the hands of citizens throughout the world and encourage them to record any human rights injustices they witness. Such an act probably makes people feel empowered and emboldens their spirit, giving voice and recognition to their plight. If careless, however, it could mean a death sentence for the cameraman under some regimes. This strikes me as an important instrument in potentially heading off say, genocide (an extreme example) or other atrocities. There are truly good people out there making good of bad circumstances.

Why Women Should Rule the World

Women have the reputation of being "catty" and certainly some are. But some - I dare to guess even most - aren't. In her book, Dee Dee Myers succinctly points out the differences between male/female approaches in the workplace and in life using candor and interesting anecdotes. No matter your gender, political affiliation, or value system this book lends some insight that maybe even women couldn't have put their finger on as we meld into a "man's" world. Face it, there's hundreds of years worth of just-the-way-it's-done mentality to overcome (from both sides). Her main thesis is that since woman place value in different compartments than men and since we occupy roughly 50% of the space on the planet couldn't it be possible that women would do an equal if not better job at "ruling the world"; rule as defined however you choose - rule the land, rule the company, rule the family, rule the beach BBQ. You get the point. To be frank, the world, having been run by men, doesn't seem all that harmonious (incidentally a female desire or goal). There's no man-bashing here. Just some real straight-shootin' talk about how women (generally speaking) look at the world. If you are a woman, work with women, hire women, know any women I encourage you to read this book. I promise you'll learn something.

Oh Boy!-cott

I feel another boycott coming on. Those who know me well understand that I will cut my nose off for principles' sake. Dumb, but I can't help it. There is a Western Bagel one block from where I work so a few times/week I pop in usually just to buy a single bagel. Then I go to the deli counter at the grocery store and buy the meat I want to put on the bagel, et voila! a sandwich. Like everything else recently, the price of a bagel has increased 20% (.75-.90) in the last couple of months. Annoying but understandable. Today I go in and ask for a sesame bagel sliced and toasted (I had previously purchased cream cheese and strawberries at the market to decorate my bagel.) They asked me for $1.20. When I questioned the price difference they said they had to charge an additional .30 to slice and toast. Well, as you might imagine I flipped a lid. Of course it's not the 30 cents (however, I find it hard to swallow that it took .30 worth of labor and energy in the 5 seconds he spent slicing and toasting). The supervisor concurred and said it is a corporate directive so I should level my grievance with them. Granted they don't make a bunch of money off me but what ever happened to giving a customer the pickle*?!!!

*the "pickle" is a customer service training hook referring to the post-retirement career a famous CEO launched after he received a letter from a loyal customer who said he wouldn't be returning to his restaurant after many years because the waitress charged him for an extra pickle. The gist of it is GIVE 'EM THE PICKLE!

The truth is the cost of poor customer service is incalcuable. I will be writing to corporate headquarters with my complaint. In it I will suggest not only that they locate the "pickle" training materials but also post the additional slicing & toasting charges on their menu & ensure that if this is truly a policy that everyone conforms. I have NEVER before been charged extra for slicing and toasting, even as recently as Monday. In this highly competitive, service-oriented climate with everyone touting service as their competitive advantage where's the ____ pickle?

Greed

Damon and I along with a bunch of friends have booked one of those little 3-day Baja California cruises on Carnival. It leaves Long Beach on Friday, sails to Ensenada Mexico and returns on Monday morning. Fun right? I've never done it before and while cruising doesn't seem like it would really interest me I love hanging out with all the people going. We've already paid our deposit and were getting ready to finalize payment when we learned that a private party has chartered the ENTIRE ship for that weekend and our getaway would be canceled. Canceled! Are ya kidding me? It just goes to show that money trumps decency. Our fare was roughly $400 per person and let's assume that the ship holds 2000 passengers. At minimum the cruise line would have been offered $800,000 to squeeze us out. My friend is trying to rebook us for the following weekend and they had better plan on kissing up real good, i.e. upgrades, room credit, unlimited drinks - something.
Rotten.

One Pooped Pooch (& sore dogs, too)

I think my dog is crippled - as if my poor monkey hasn't been through enough lately. It's a draw which brutalized him more; nearly drowning or the 7.6 mile hike I put him through today. He's gone on long walks before but usually at his own pace. Although I spent a long time massaging him, he can barely get up his muscles are so tired and stiff. Even I had to give my dogs a good soak in warm water with epsom salts to ease the blisters. We joined friends for an awesome walk through Griffith Park. It was a perfect day, albeit not without incident. We passed a coyote on the way up to the observatory, which completely freaked me out - I'm a city girl, after all. My friend was tolerating insufferable shoulder/neck/arm pain but he didn't let a little thing like that compromise his machismo - HE CHASED OFF THE COYOTE. And then Sir Dudley (the other dog) stepped on a bee (bugger couldn't resist a stab) and limped down the hill. But all was salved with refreshments at Trail's End. This place is nicely tucked amongst the pines easily lending to the cool and relaxing atmosphere. Gourmet vegan snacks served from a little shack that resembles a makeshift summer porch kitchen are homemade. I enjoyed the tomato, goat, rosemary tart with lemonade and tried my friend's asparagus, leek quiche. We all shared an outrageous strawberry-rhubarb galette which gave us enough energy to power home and cool off with Moscow Mules served in icy copper mugs. Aaahhh! What a perfect day.

Detoxify your innards

IonChi (tm) is a system that uses reverse osmosis to draw toxins out of your body through the thousands of pores in your feet. It's done using positive and negative polarity. This is my water after 30 minutes of soaking in a saltwater foot bath. Grody, huh? The goal is to cleanse internal organs of unwanted toxins so that you can feel re-energized. Since everyone is different, everyone's outcome is different, specifically the color and consistency of your water after the treatment. My water was mainly brown, orange, yellow & green. This supposedly means that my gall bladder, joints, kidneys and urinary tract are spic n' span - well, after another few treatments that is. Prepare for summer and soak your feet for just $35. at the Skin-Medix Medical Spa in Hermosa Beach.