Santa Monica. Again.

Erin was in town for Lush this week, so I drove to work on Tuesday so I could head out to Santa Monica that evening. For a few minutes in the car, I had a fear that I would like driving better than the bus, but that fear was quickly conquered. Driving sucked.

Erin and I had a nice time eating, drinking, and checking out the Pier. She was coming down with an illness and was too sick to see me on Wednesday, but luckily she will be back in a couple weeks.

Wednesday night 3 of the other fellows and I went to Pasadena for dinner and entertainment. Luckily that doesn't require nearly as much driving.

Anyways, one article was in the paper today on the back page of the A section - not sure if that's good or bad. Another article will come out tomorrow morning I think. Today's is about Arizona, so ya'll should check it out.

Peace from the city of angels.

Updates

Okay folks, there will be another article published in the national section somewhere tomorrow, which means it will be buried in the paper. There should be another story on Wednesday as well unless it gets bumped.

Tomorrow night I am going to see Erin in Santa Monica, and Wednesday night will be our second weekly fellow get-together, this time in Pasadena, thankfully.

Liz and Glenn have been added to the potential visitor list. Yesterday was Glenn's birthday. He said he is old but he takes solace in the fact that my husband is older. How do you feel about that Matt?

Dirty and Smelly

That's me right now. I went on a pretty nifty hike about 8 miles from my house. It was 2.5 miles and 1400 feet to Echo Mountain, the location of an old resort and incline railway. It was also nearly 90 degrees and there was virtually no shade until the top. I realize that some people out there like to hike Squaw Peak when it's 105, but for some reason the sun really beats down here. Natalie will verify this. I think maybe it is magnified by the pollution. I seriously could see hardly anything. I would like to do this trail again on a clear day (hah!) and also start earlier and go on up to another mountain past this one.

Almost everyone was friendly. Except for this group of 3 young people. 1 girl, 2 boys. I said hi and only the boys were nice. After they passed I heard the girl making fun of people huffing and puffing on their way up. Which I'm sure referred to me. Okay well I can't breathe in LA. Seriously. It is polluted. And I have asthma. Give me a break, little girl in your cute strapless shirt looking like you don't know what a hike is. Some of us also don't stop every few minutes, we just keep on plugging. Whatever.

I definitely recommend this hike. I would say to go earlier but I suspect there would be a lot more people then, so it might be a toss up. At any rate, bring lots of water.

And for the record I had cell phone service the whole way, so hiking alone was a perfectly fine activity. I was impressed to see at least 3 other girls my age also hiking by themselves. Way to go girls!

In the News Part II

Well, my longer more controversial piece got cut drastically. I think I need to work for an advocacy magazine.

However, on the bus ride home some interesting things happened.
1) I had to speak Spanish and it just came rolling off my tongue without me thinking. Who knew?
2) I had to hold someone's very small child. Ya'll, I am not a baby person. At all. But when I got off at my bus stop, this lady was struggling with the child and opening the stroller so I offered to help. For some reason, she thought the most appropriate thing would be for me to take her baby. And then put the baby in the stroller. Ya'll. Have I mentioned I don't do babies? Seriously do not hold them. Seriously don't put them in strollers. Not for babies I know. But apparently for strangers. Oh well.

Then Natalie's mom took us out to dinner so that was fun.

Unfortunately, Natalie is running away to Mexico. So much for having a friend in LA. I hope she has lots of fun.

In the News

At 3 pm today I had my long-awaited interview with a certain high up government official in the environmental world. I had told his press people only that I was with the LA Times. When I talked to him he said, "So, I hear you're at the LA Times on a fellowship?" I said, "I guess you've done your research." He countered, "Oh, only a little."

Here is my question.
1) Where did they find this out? I hope it was from the LA Times themselves.
2) Because this is how my interviews go, where there starts with one point and ends up with 1044. What the hell else did they find out about me. Here's a thought. Maybe I should hide my identity on this blog.

Hmm I have just discovered by googling my name and Los Angeles Times that the article appeared multiple places in the websphere. Weird. I'm even on the American Buddhist net.

I may have a tiny boring piece coming out tomorrow or shortly thereafter, and then a longer more controversial piece hopefully this weekend. We shall see.

Apologies to my blog friends

What has happened to me? I used to be somewhat prolific. And I used to put two spaces between every sentence. And sometimes I even had interesting things to talk about.

I have been in the City of Angels for about 10 days now. I have been to Santa Monica twice - not sure why, didn't mean to. And I forgot my camera both times. Next time I'll remember! Last night the other Fellows and I had an informal get together. Four of us were there early, so we had a snack at Johnny Rocket's on the Promenade.

Problem #1

They were out of peanut butter. In case anyone else is an addict like me, there is nothing like a Johnny Rocket's chocolate peanut butter shake. And for the record, a chocolate oreo shake is just not that great. It's gotta be peanut butter - I wasted my money on that one.

Problem #2

We apparently got some guy arrested. While we were sitting at the table, a man who only spoke Spanish stood directly in front of our table on the other side of the railing and talked to us. In Spanish. For. A. Long. Time.

When we left, the guys at the table next to us (with 4 small children) asked us if we enjoyed our entertainment. When I thanked them for helping us, they pointed over to where the police had him in handcuffs. I sure didn't think he was that bad. It seems like the LAPD ought to have more pressing things on their hands than arresting some bum bothering some girls on the Promenade.

Problem #3

A dinner reservation was made at an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica. It was at 2600. We were at 200. We called the one male in our group and asked him to pick the 5 of us up at a corner and drive us to the restaurant.

Problem #4

The restaurant was expensive.

***

Despite the problems, we had a good time. Everyone seems to be intelligent, friendly, and have a good sense of humor. I'm glad I ended up in a city with other Fellows around. I might be pretty bored and lonely by now otherwise.

Back Blogs

In reverse order and with much boredom. Being a journalist is not conducive to writing blogs. I've already expended my efforts.

Why we don't have internet at the house

Hopefully Matt will be online sometime this Tuesday. Without going into detail, we have a crazy landlady and an even crazier electrician. One of whom will be paying my internet bill this month.

So soon we will both be internet happy again.

My trip to LA

Hi! I'm in LA! I don't have much to say about it yet. I am a bit afraid of the city, although I went to Pasadena tonight and that was pretty cool. Although Matt, I'm going to need you to send me some of my trendy clothes I left behind. Oh wait...

I'm really enjoying this writing thing so far. I have about 3 stories in the works right now - hopefully they'll come out eventually. Other than that, if anyone has some tips for what I should do here, it would be greatly appreciated.

My orientation in DC

Orientation and my time in DC was also lots of fun. I learned about science writing, met some really cool people, checked out the National Archives and more monuments, and had some very tasty Indian food.


Here's some of the folks with Lincoln.

The one in the middle was my roommate, the girl to the left of her works with me at the Times, and I went to the bar tonight with the girl on the right. I will not disclose their identities because they might not wish to be on my blog, having barely known me.

My visit with Nic in Baltimore

Since Nicole moved to Baltimore a few months ago, I decided to stop by and see her on my way to D.C. It was about time I got my ass across the country to visit her. We had lots of fun. After spending an hour at BWI waiting for my luggage, that is. Nicole's little sister Natalie, who I have known for almost as long, was in town as well. And let me just say that Baltimore was much nicer than I expected. Nic even has valet parking at her apartment!

(Bad picture of all of us)

On Sunday Nicole and her boyfriend went to DC with me and we visited good old W in the rain.

(Let it be known that under my sweater I was wearing the infamous Army shirt.)

We also checked out lots of monuments. The World War II one was really gorgeous.

Nic also came to DC to visit me one night and we had tapas. In Chinatown. Because we are cool like that. I wish I saw her more often!

Our New House

If Matt's schematic didn't clear things up for you, here are some pictures of our adobe casita.

Santa Fe

Instead of being busy little bees like we should have been Memorial Day, Matt and I kidnapped Arun and went up to Santa Fe to see Kristin and Patrick. Unfortunately Pat had to work part of the day, so we went hiking without him.

Afterwards we had some killer margaritas at Maria's and played in the pool and hot tub.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Check out:

My first article

Hello all! I finally got internet at about 10pm yesterday but after 10 hours at a newspaper desk I haven't felt much like blogging.

Anyways, my first story will be on page B1 of the Los Angeles Times tomorrow, Friday June 16th. Wohoo! Of course I got much help from my editor who is pretty awesome despite all the warnings I got about him. I'm having fun so far. At work. Not in my personal life. It is pretty unexciting. Me, 3 dogs, and a crazy landlady. Good times. I seriously do promise to catch up soon.

Blogging Delay

I must apologize for the delay. Once I get to LA and the internet, I will try to back-blog about the following:

• Memorial Day visit to Santa Fe
• Our new house
• My visit with Nic in Baltimore
• My orientation in DC
• My trip to LA
• Why we still don't have internet at our house.

Pictures and commentary to follow!