if its going to burn, at least provide smores

Along my route into work there is a citibank billboard that reads:

"Money can't buy Happiness, but it can buy marshmallows and they are kinda the same thing."

Not until recently when greater Los Angeles started burning and I had to endure the smell and ashes of a mammoth campfire did I think it might be true.

is there a doctor in the house?

Well I knew we were about due for another Dave accident but of course I'm never expecting it. Monday night at the season opening hockey game Dave took a hit which left him in need of medical attention. After a significant wait at the Emergency Room which left both of us cursing every politician in the book, I decided it was time to take matters into our own hands.

Since I have been married, nearly 4 years, I have learned an amazing amount of nursing techniques. Name a wound and I've dressed it. I have slathered, taped, swabbed, kissed, bandaged, cleaned, sprayed, and (as of Monday) butterfly'd.. cuts, abrasions, burns, breaks, and (as of Monday) gashes.

Growing up I never had a desire to be anything in the health industry but after 4 years of schooling I guess I'm about ready to take my boards and apply for a residency.

When deadline means I'll try to finish it before I'm dead.

I'm convinced every office has one. The slacker. The guy or girl who seemingly never works yet somehow manages to get praise.

How does this happen?

TEACH ME PLEASE.

I'm full

The weekend turned out to be quite eventful from start to finish.

Friday after much debate Dave and I along with Mike decide to try out a new Korean restaurant. Beverly Soon Tofu is not on Beverly but is quite nice. We all had tofu (surprise, surprise) along with many sides. After dinner we took in Thumbsucker. Excellent! Keanu Reeves acts as bad as ever and Vince Vaughn is surprisingly great. Definitely go see it if you have the chance.

Saturday I put in a solid 8 hour day at work, then Dave and I decided to try the other new restaurant that didn't make the cut of Friday. Guelaguetza is Oaxacan, authentic oaxacan. We had trouble deciphering the menu but ended up ordering in basic terms a tamale, a quesadilla and a plate of meat with shredded cheese and cactus. All of this cost us next to nothing and had serious flava. I have a feeling this will make it into our regular restaurant rotation.

Sunday... started out with some serious intellect. The Hammer museum was holding a panel discussion on Power & Architecture. And if that wasn't enough, the panel consisted of Rem Koolhaas (OMA founder), Mark Wigley (dean at Columbia), and Sylvia Lavin (chair at UCLA). After the discussion we headed to our old hood Venice for the Abbot Kinney street festival. We then dropped by our old favorite sushi place Canal Club, affectionately referred to as Crap Club, but only in our inner circle. THEN the big finale of the weekend, Ascension. A play showing at the Electric Lodge.

the shortest distance between two points is a triple ess curve

It is of course perfect that 2 weeks after we made the move to be closer to 'our' jobs. Dave decides to leave his. And yes it is even more perfect that his new job should be located a mere 6 blocks from our old place of residence.

Ahh yes. Things are never simple in the Freeland household.

Tonight when he picked me up from work (I took the bus, see
MASSive transit), he went into his usual explanation of route to and from work. Below is a sample:

"Today, I was flying from Venice all the way to Robinson, YES ROBINSON! I was there in 20min. and I thought maybe, MAYBE I can get home in under 45min." (ie. 44min and 30secs)

"First I was on Venice, then Durango, then Catturagus" Catta what? Is he still talking about LA or Rita's path through Texas?

"And.." If you can believe it, there was an 'and'.

"I recorded all the times down in my notebook so if I ever get in a jam, I just take the path of least resistance"

Swiss Family Freeland

"Dave, I'll be right....

....up!"

when it rains, it...

Last night it started raining in Los Angeles. In most cities, this fact might not be blog worthy but in LA its a rare occurrence, especially in September. Below are some things I've noticed that are a direct effect of rain in LA.

1. The number of traffic accidents triple. This causes massive slowing effectively reducing all freeways to parking lots.

2. All gutters overflow as most LA roofs are designed for a maximum water drainage of dew in the morning.

3. The geese at Echo Park are angrier than usual. One chased me completely off the walking path and nearly in the lake.


4. Water abounds, throughout the city sprinklers can be seen running.

they call her mighty melanie


And then there were 99....

same as it ever was

UCLA posted a win over Oklahoma today. 47-24!

As many of you know my family are big OU's fans... but I was hoping for a Bruin upset. In fact, yesterday I received a phone call from my brother who was more than willing to place a wager on the game as long as I covered the spread.

What did we wager you ask?

If UCLA won, he would have to refer to me as the brightest child. If Oklahoma won, I would have to referred to him from today on out as the 'favorite child'. I guess this means I can keep calling him what I always have... just the child.

MASSive transit

As my brother is quick to point out. I'm a liberal. In truth, I'm not all that radical but if Brett is doing the defining, anyone not south of Arkansas can be considered left. With that said, this week I've been doing my part to try and better the world around me....

I've been taking the bus.

I have put my faith in the mass transit system of LA twice this week and there are a few things to note:


1. It is clearly NOT the hip-everyone-does-it-so-why-don't-you subway system of nyc.
2. Most stops are NOT within what would be considered acceptable walking distance from any destination.
3. At $1.25 a ride it really does NOT save us that much money in gas considering we live 3.67 miles from my office. (Yes, I mapquest'd it for accuracy)
4. I DID finish the Tuesday nytimes crossword in the 45 minute ride.

back to the basics

Right before we moved from our old location to our current location, we called on the cable guy. Well not really the cable guy but the please-help-us-our-internet-our-lifeline-has-gone-lifeless guy. The cable guy and him just happen to be one in the same.

Soo.o they came, they fixed, and when they left.... we had CABLE.

See, before we only had basic which means in LA the major networks plus every spanish station you could ever want. Dave and I were in cable heaven. We watched the Daily Show every night. I got totally hooked on the Food Network and a bunch of other stations I'm too embarrassed to mention. We told no one... which meant we told all our friends but no one who was really important.

When we moved we thought maybe just maybe our good fortune would move with us but alas after a month in our new abode, we are still back to the basics.

your other left

Another photo for the parental contingency

the lesser of two evils

We, being the office, were one of the many who lost power (GASP) in Los Angeles yesterday. Not your typical power outage where you get the surge, beeping of the monitor, and then your computer starts to hum as it reboots.

Nope.... This was a full on blackout.

I did what any sane employee might do. I stood up. Everything was down... computer, lights, phone (double GASP). I walked into the hall. Yep, the whole building was down. Lots of other people were standing in the hall too. We all walked outside. Yep, the whole block was down. Lots of cars stopped at the light that was not lit up. Then we all simultaneously got on our cell phones. Yep, the network was down (triple GASP).

Could it be?
No, not terrorists. BUT one stupid employee who clipped the red wire instead of the blue one.

Which is scarier, that is could be a terrorist?
Or that it only takes one person as foolish?

i now pronounce you wife & husband


The wedding was a huge success.
No objections.
No tripping down the aisle.

One item to note.....the minister managed to reverse the obvious husband & wife phrase every time he said it. I guess we know who was running the show.


p.s. we forgot the gift....

thank you for the amazing spoon

Dave and I are getting ready to head off to Kalamazoo Michigan for a wedding this weekend. We have a brief stop over in Chicago to visit a friend of mine from school and then rental car it out to the middle of the state tomorrow afternoon.

The wedding is a friend of Dave's from UCLA and if the bachelorette was any indication (Brad Pitt made an appearance), it should be quite the party. I am generally looking forward to it.

The one thing about weddings is the gift. I hate giving wedding gifts. You pour over all of the 'lists' only to find that you can only afford some tupperware, a glass, or worse.... sheets. If you spend to much or too little it doesn't matter, they will still send you some hurried, overly long, amazingly ridiculous thank you note. I know. I've written them.

count them... 100 giants

As my boss so eagerly pointed out yesterday morning at 9.35am, "It's clear that summer is now over". I would have to agree.

Dave and I and our trusty sidekick Brennan had quite the time camping in the Sequoia National Forest over the holiday. All meals were provided by the separate tents in the camping tribe and I'm quite proud to report we were the only team to avoid salsa and tortillas as a main ingredient. Our tent was a 2-fer but the three of us fit quite nicely, probably even provided some extra warmth and it was definitely needed. Below is a schedule of events.

Saturday:
Drove to the forest barely missing a fire along the way which closed the freeway both directions. Arrived 3:00pm to an empty site, no sequoias in site. Dinner (tacos) by 6 after a small rafting trip in the river/stream/trickle. Dave and Brennan did their best to disturb nature by moving rocks to create more of a current. After dinner we played some Mafia games. I was mayor, sheriff and mafia. If you haven't played, I highly recommend it. Thanks D Lee for the tip.

Sunday:
Late rise, breakfast (potato tacos) by 10:30am. Blew up the tubes and headed to the
Kern River, still no sightings of big trees (I'm starting to get skeptical). Liquid lunch and into the river we go. Freeze for 2.5 hours in the river and enjoy several butt busting rocks along the way. Back to the camp site to make dinner (pre-prepped steak, fish, beans, and potatoes), small stop over at hot springs hot tub. Early to bed.

Monday:
Early rise, broke down all equipment and breakfast (egg tacos) by 9am. Off to
100 giants trail, and yes we finally saw some big trees, although we were counting and I'm pretty sure we didn't see 100.


the great outdoors?

It is officially the Labor Day weekend, but I am still at my office. And yes, I am going to take the full 3 day holiday. (I usually put in some hours on Saturday).

I have been trying to get Dave to take me to a bed and breakfast or spa or something equally as relaxing. I tried valiantly to get a return trip to Hope Springs scheduled (an amazing little spa in Desert Hot Springs near Palm Springs). I even made a reservation which I had to cancel last Saturday.

Instead we are camping.

Dave said we would be 'car camping'. I quickly asked if that meant we would get to sleep in the car. The statement wasn't met with laughter, although I didn't mean it as a joke. Yes, I did my fair share of sleeping 'outdoors' when I was growing up. But now that I have 2 diplomas and some paychecks under my belt, I feel that a nice soft mattress and hot shower are worth cash. We are of course camping somewhere hundreds of miles away, paying far to much in gas to get there, AND it will be cold. I'm not really a cold person and as a co-worker aptly stated, "spooning will only get you so far."

all in a days work

Umm.... Guys..... I think you forgot something.