The nice thing about listening to NPR in California is the chance to hear newsclips of the governor discussing current issues. It's very childish, I know, to ignore anything Scharzenegger says and focus on his accent alone, but it's just so hilarious to hear him discuss serious issues.

And when he's interviewed on a new proposition aimed to protect ( Read more... )

After some back and forth, some progress was made:
1) I'm in LA, not far from the airport. Motel.
2) Car has been entrusted into the hands of janric, via the mediation of belvane. May their lines prosper and thrive ( Read more... )

Ok, now I'm screwed ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

The shoreline Highway 1 along the Pacific ocean, from Monterey down to Los Angeles, really is as beautiful as everyone said it would be. Cliffs and beaches, the ocean itself. Great, really.

But sometimes it pays off to look at the other side of the road. I find myself doing a double take, driving into the roadside and making a U-turn just to make ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Santa Monica downtown, Monday afternoon. Everyone is 17-25 and on their way from the beach, on their way to a party. Don't people work here? More Starbucks-per-square-inch than in Manhattan, and that's saying alot. Movie theaters and pizza parlors, city-provided free WiFi and street musicians everywhere.

So far, LA is living up to it's party-town ( Read more... )

( If you really don't care about The Dresden Dolls, or about music reviews, or about my experiences in San Francisco - don't click this. It's long. Very long. But you DO want to know, right? Of course you do. You wouldn't be here otherwise. So click. Go ahead. There's nudity! )

There are two distinct differences in how the US traffic system treats traffic lights. The first is the Right Turn - to avoid having to build those little right-turn lanes that we have in Israel, the law states that you are simply allowed to turn right at any intersection even on a red light - unless specifically forbidden.

Another aspect of ( Read more... )

As they say, the big difference lies in the little details. Take street signs, for instance. Oh, they have the usual iconograms here in the US, the strangely universal octogonal and capitalized STOP sign, the intuitive No Right Turn and the ever-popular Road Work sign heralding another highway slowdown. But in the US more often than not you'll see ( Read more... )