Public Transit Ediquette

By not driving in today, I am certain to spend less than $20 on parking at work this month.  I really wanted to, but the drive to Vegas and back this weekend and then to the Rose Bowl last night for the Legends of Summer Tour pretty much scared me out of going into a car again.

The think about the LA Metro is that not many Angelenos know about it.  I mean, it's with good reason, as I have mentioned in the past, the people who take the Metro don't even look like they have cars and that for them, the Metro is a last resort.  I do it to be environmentally conscious and so I can play Candy Crush on my phone.  Okay, let's be real, I really only do it so I don't have to pay for gas...well and Candy Crush.  However, there is a lot that I need to deal with when it comes to behaving right on the Metro.  Proper metro etiquette is only something that I think New Yorkers get, which is surprising since they are also the rudest people on earth.   

1. Let people out before you go in!: You don't even know how much this bothers me, whenever I'm waiting for the car doors to open, you already see a bunch of people standing at the door and then shoving their way in.  WTF is up with that?  In what world does it make sense to try to get in a car door when people are trying to get out.  I get even more angry when I'm the one who wants to get off on my stop.  Wait for the train to pull up, move to the side and let people out.  There is more than enough time for you to get in there!

2. The escalator is not a ride at Disneyland or whatever gross theme park you enjoy: Here's the thing, I don't care if you want to be lazy and let the escalator carry you up, but please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, move over to the right so people can walk up on the left side.  There is no reason why anyone should be standing in the middle of an escalator.

3. Sitting on the stairs: You can take a kid out of the hood, but you can't take the hood out of the kid.  This also applies to lazy obese people.  The stairs that lead you to the subway platform is not a stoop.  Please don't sit there. There are often people rushing to catch a train and your dumbass is interfering with their work commute.  Let's be real, if you're sitting on the bottom stair of a subway platform, you probably don't have a job.  I bet there's a statistical significance to that correlation.  The worse is when people are exiting a train and trying to walk up the stairs to exit and the stoopid sitter makes a face like we're making their life difficult by wanting to exit.

4. What you're selling, I ain't buying:  I'm from NY, so if you want money from me during my morning and evening commute, you actually have to do something like a song and dance.  You can't just be hollering on a train telling me you're broke and asking to give money.  What do I get in return?  And please don't say "feeling like a good person."  Do a jumping jack for me!  Why should I give you a dime if all you're doing is walking up and down a car telling people of some misfortune that may or may not be true.  I see some of the same people every day.  However, the biggest culprit of all, the kids who sell candy for a basketball team.  Here's the thing, I went to a New York City public school and played sports, we did not have to sell candy on the subway...and if I don't want candy, don't try to check me and force me to buy it.  I'm pretty sure your basketball coach did not tell you to terrorize people so you can get uniforms.  And a bag of M&Ms for $3, bitch please, if I can get it at Walgreens for cheaper, that's where I'm going for my candy.  

5. This next thing that drives me insane is just a list of characters that I often have to deal with as well:
a. homeless people
b. something that smells, it's not always a homeless person
c. wanna-be thugs
d. loud teenagers
e. people and their weird pets...there was a guy with a parrot that just kept shitting on his shirt
d. the drunks coming back from a Kings game

Yup, I do all this to save gas...I can't really figure out if it's really worth it yet.     

Reunited!

Alcove Burger

It's a sad and a truth at the same time, the older you get, the less you get to see your friends.  However, this month, I was able to hang out with not one, but two friends I haven't seen in literally months!  Yes, I'm totally going to give myself extra credit when I do end of monthly goal calculations.

On Thursday, the 11th, I hung out with my friend Trent.  He wanted to go hiking and I offered up Eaton Canyon.  I chose Eaton because it was an easy hike and Trent hasn't gone hiking in a while.  I'll let you define "a while."  We coached together at the high school and the club level.  "Coached" being the operative word.  I personally don't do it anymore.  I noticed that with my coaching friends, unless we're in season, it's really hard to see one another.  He was a good sounding board to my coaching woes though.  Now that I look back at my woes, I'm not even really sure what they were.  Other than dealing with parents and emotional teenagers, I guess it really wasn't all that bad.  You learn quickly how to "yes" people to death and then not really deliver...

Trent's first hike in a while was a nice starter hike, although I wasn't sure if he was going to make it at some points, but he pulled through!  In the end, we were able to see somewhat of a waterfall.  The day ended with an awesome lunch at my favorite Alhambra eatery: Baccali Cafe.

This past Monday, I was able to hang out with Jocelyn.  She too is another former coaching colleague at the high school and club level as well as my European travel buddy.  I dragged her all over London in a walking tour that went from Kensington Gardens to the Tower Bridge.  She learned first hand what a New Yorker I am.  I don't think I saw her since I went with her to watch the "Catch Me If You Can" musical.  That was either April or May.  It was awful if anyone cares.  We didn't go for a hike though.  I took her slutty bathing suit shopping with me at the Andrew Christian Factory Store in Glendale.  The prices are cheaper and you always get 20% off.  I wonder if the website is suitable for work...

We caught up over lunch at Alcove Cafe & Bar in Los Feliz.  I never hang out there, but I thought why not join all the other unemployed hipsters who can sit at trendy cafes in the mid afternoon of a Monday.  Their Alcove burger is delicious and you should really try it...I also think it was probably very good because I just finished a round of food poisoning and this was my first real attempt at solid food other than my first attempt, which was Ramen.

Food poisoning, for those of you who haven't had it, it's rough.  I think the only silver lining is that it's a great diet program because you don't eat and you when you do try, your body just lets it all go in any way possible.  I mean, how else can you lose weight from sitting around and doing nothing all day!  P.S. I don't wish that on anyone though, unless they actually want it.  

Looking for a new home and living in a tempoary home!

My home owning process has begun!  I was recently pre-approved for a mortgage of $400K.  I was so excited at first until I remembered that I live in Los Angeles and that if I want to live anywhere remotely safe, I can't really afford anything.  Boy, if only I lived in Atlanta, I would have a nicer house than any of those broke Housewives.

So, what I found out is that with 400K, if I wanted to live in a desirable neighborhood, I would be able to own a studio or a 1 bedroom.  Forget about a 2BR or a house in the suburbs where there's a good school district so I don't have to send my future children to private school.

The other challenge I found is the HOA fees for some of the condos.  In DTLA, there are some condos that have HOA fees of $956 a month!  That's kind of like a double mortgage.  What exactly is the building doing for you that would warrant that kind of charge?

This just ended up being more depressing than I originally thought.

However, on the bright side, I did clean out my luggage from when I came back from New York on June 30th.  I left all my dirty laundry in there until the other day when I had to pack and move into the Omni for work for the week.  I actually love living in hotels, if there was a way to do so, I would love to live in a hotel for an apartment.  What is better than hotel bed and towels?  Especially from a place like the Omni.  The Omni ain't no Holiday Inn.    

Wax on, Wax off

That's the hood of my car.  I know, this picture doesn't even do it justice...

 I had the morning off of work today, so I went shopping for some new bathing suits in Old Pasadena.  I haven't been there in a while, and they have these cute new signs up.  Sorry, I digressed.  So I went to park my car at the free 90 minute public parking because they also have a Go Green Auto Spa.  I pulled up and the guys looked at my car in terror.  It was so bad, they told me they needed two hours to wash it a couple times and then do the detail after.  I didn't have two hours.  I knew what I wanted to buy, so I really in essence needed an hour tops to shop.  So given the horror on their faces, I decided to just go to a gas station car wash to at least get the first layer of dirt off before I bring it back to a car wash place. 

I headed to my office after and on my way down, I remembered that there's a car wash by my work: Downtown Car Wash.  I wanted just a simple wash, but the guy talked me into a great deal.  He asked if I wanted to detail my car for $89.99.  I guess they were doing a special since detailing is close to $150.  I asked what it entailed and on top of the soft cloth hand wash, there's buffing, waxing, carpet shampooing, interior cleaning, rimming (okay, they just clean my rims, but I wanted to using that word), and a host of other stuff.  I figured why not?  I don't ever detail my car, and this would be a nice treat for it. 

After!  What a Difference?  I didn't even show you the inside where it's spotless.

They told me 45 minutes and during that time, I went to Target to pick up some household supplies and some family planning amenities.  The check out person kind of giggled.  Whatever, we all have sex.  Get over it, but i think it was more about the fact that I just had random purchases.  In addition to raiding the family planning aisle, I bought carpet cleaner, shaving gel, and motor oil.  I know...random. 

Then I saw that there was no line for Sprinkles and I thought to myself, why not have cupcakes for lunch!?!  I picked up a red velvet and strawberry and coupled that with an ice coffee.  I'm good to go.  Now I think I'm just sitting in my office with a sugar rush. 

July Goals

So, monthly goals are posted later than usual.  There's a really really smart reason behind this.  That reason being America's birthday and the 4.5 day weekend that I had.  I didn't want to start goals on July 1st because I didn't want to say anything that would cause me to fail the next day like "no drinking" (I ended up in a impromptu trip to Vegas with three other friends).  Or like "save $1,000" (again, I went to Vegas and then had a shopping trip in the Outlets.  I bought some great shoes though!).  So alas, these are reasonable ones that can be achieved after the fact...

June Recap

This has nothing to do with my goals, I just happen to like this Bachelorette pic when I Googled "June Recap."

I know, it's a little later than my usual recap, but it's been a whirlwind of a past couple days.  However, I do get to work from home today for the July 4th weekend, so I figured in between checking e-mails and well really, just checking e-mails, I can recap what seemed like a successful June. 

Goal #1: Work out 12 days - these are always the hardest to succeed, there's something about 12 our of 30 that just seems so daunting, but I did it!  Exactly 12 with a mixture of all things (5 gym days, 5 hiking days, and 2 yoga days!).  Full credit for me over here! (1)

Goal #2 and #3:  If you haven't seen these postings yet, please do so as they show my undying love for Samantha. They can be found here and here. (2)

Goal #4: It's been a month since Kim left me at the office.  I think I'm doing better, but I also haven't really been working a lot since, so I think I'm self-medicating by not working.  That's my way of coping with the issue. (1)

Goal #5: Update: So she did do Blow!  We just thought that since the concert started at 7:30 and she had two opening acts, that it would be safe to leave my apartment at 8pm for the 10 minute walk over, WRONG!  We missed the first four songs.  Well, that's what happens when you pre-party like crazy at the apartment.  White girl wasted...check!  (1)

Goal #6: So I didn't skateboard on the beach, but I did skateboard in the park.  That deserves half credit right?  I mean, I did the verb, it was just that the noun was different... (.5)

Goal #7: Save $300.  Okay, so I know you're all like it's just $300, why would that be difficult?  Well it was!  I was only able to save $100 this month, but I'm not even sure I really did because I had to spend $1,200 on my brother's bachelor party in Vegas next month.  I'm going to give myself credit for this one because I'm spending on family and sacrificing my own financial happiness. (.5)

Goal #8: Umm, so I try to stay true to being a New Yorker.  I do this by using public transportation do go to work.  The only thing is that in LA, only weird people take the metro.  It's not like NY, where it's used by the masses, these people look like they don't have cars.  Plus, it's just kind of annoying when I think about how I can be in my own space and not deal with people all the time just by driving in.  There was once this crazy bird couple that had a parrot on his shoulder and it just kept shitting on the back of his shirt.  Yup, and that's only the least of the crazies I see.  Regardless, I do this so I can also save money on parking.  My job charges us to park for work and we're talking over $90 a month!  Crazy right?!?  So the metro makes even more sense, since a monthly pass is $45 and no gas is involved.  However, when I do drive in, I just pay to park at the meters which is $4 max, I usually don't end up paying that.  So this is why I shot for five times, so even if I drove in five times at $4 a day, that would be $20 a month and it would still only cost me $65 to commute to work.  However, I drove in 11 times in June!  Oddly enough, that's still $44 + $45 which equals $89.  I guess that's that magic number.  Do not drive in more than 11 times so still pay less than monthly parking at my job.  I'll deduct a tenth of a point for each day that I went over five. (.4)

Goal #9: Inspire and be inspired.  I'm not sure I can prove that I did this, but I'm sure I did this. (1)

Goal #10: So, I managed to touch the PCH and be on it when I went to visit Nikki and Kim.  Shut up!  That totally counts. (1)

So I know I only scored an 8.4 out of 10 for this month, but at least I don't have any zeros.  I actually made an attempt to try to accomplish and touch each and every one of the June goals.