It was already warm when I went into work around 8:30 this morning. I went into my ever chilly edit bay where I put on a hooded sweatshirt and a space heater (job necessities). I emerged around noon to run out to pick up some food. On my way out of the building, I opened what I thought was our front door. As it turns out, it was a door that led directly to the surface of the sun. The temperature gauge on my car held firm at 110 degrees all the way to and from Poquito Mas. I like it warm, but man...it is just TOO warm right now. I forget how hot it can get here in SoCal. I'm eagerly anticipating the fall and lower temperatures.

As I was driving out to get my lunch, I was once again struck with a problem I encounter often, especially here in L.A. Since you are all adults, you should all be familiar with the center turn lane. It's that single lane lined by solid yellow lines that runs down the center of the street to allow you to make a left turn off the street without stopping the flow of traffic. Apparently, it is a secret to most drivers that this lane can also be used to turn ONTO the street without impeding traffic. See, if the lane coming from your left is empty, but there is still cross traffic coming from the right, you can turn left into that center lane, and then signal again to merge smoothly with traffic. I know, I know - it's CRAZY! But it's true!
And yet, everytime I use it for that purpose, someone in the far lane looks at me like I'm insane and swerves like I'm about to just turn wide into moving traffic, crashing into their car on purpose. No one else seems to use the center lane for that. Instead, they wait FOREVER until traffic is clear from BOTH directions to make the left turn. Idiots! Likewise are the people who don't use it to turn off the street. Instead, they come to a slow halt with half of their car still in the lane for moving traffic. I actually looked up the rules for the lane in the DMV manual when I had to take traffic school online because I thought maybe I didn't properly understand the lane usage, but there it was in black and white. Just more proof that this city needs better mass transit.

The song of the day is "Walk on the Ocean" by Toad the Wet Sprocket off their 1991 album Fear. Before I'd even heard this song all the way through, I absolutely had to know who sang it and where I could buy it. Though this was their third album, it's the one that commercially broke the band from San Marcos, CA. This was the first and most popular single from the album, but I still consider Fear to be one of the best albums of the 90s. One of the things I really like about the band is the story telling in their songs. "Walk on the Ocean" retells the familiar trip to the ocean as a child and how it feels to go there and to then have to return home. This video is clipped, but you get the idea: