Surf's up

Tried out my bodyboard this morning. Wow. Talk about an adrenaline rush. Whoo... I drank a lot of seawater today. It was a little scary the first time I got thrashed about in the surf, but not being too far out, I could at least put my feet down and push upwards. Apart from the moments of mild panic, I had a great time. Now to convince the boss that I should get a couple of hours to boogieboard in the morning before work... Heh. Fat chance.

Beer vs lager

Way off base here, but I had to highlight the difference between the British and American definitions of beer. American beer = British lager, served chilled. British beer should not be put in the fridge lest it loses its flavour. Source of confusion, hence everyone thinking the British drink warm beer. They do, it's just not the same beer. It's like trousers and pants; the British use both words, but for different garments. Over here, someone commented on my pants the other day. I had to stop myself from checking if they were sticking out or something... (I LOVE the diverse ways in which English-speakers use the same words. It's so flexible that way...)

Burrito liner

Anthony of spiceblog has provided the explanation for why I don't feel hungry today. That man has too much time on his hands.

:D

Celavatory spotting

I thought I should start a new type of post, entitled Celavatory spotting™ (name coined by P when I'm a Celavatory; Get me out of here first hit our screens). Today's celavatory: that ex-WWF guy with the blond handlebar moustache, the Hulk. Spotted: Walgreens on Lincoln Blvd. (Where I finally bought some sorely needed storage for my bits and bobs.) So, there you go. Confirmation that I too, geek though I am, can rub shoulders with the celavatories.

:D

Polis

Walking into work today, saw the polis on a motorcycle put his sirens on to pull over a cyclist. Yes, you've read that correctly. A cyclist. Not a motorcyclist. Why, I don't know. He was wearing a safety helmet and had lights on his bicycle. Didn't stop him long though.

Culture shock, I

Saw an ad on the TV the other day. It was for a vacuum cleaner (can't remember which brand or model), and the company claimed that their "cyclone-style" cleaner performed 40% better than Dyson's in tests. That just didn't sit right (and it's not because I'm feeling indignant on Dyson's behalf). It was the same with a lot of other TV ads. They made me uneasy, because there was no way most of them could back up their claims. Where was the small print? Is there any advertisers' regulation act in the US?

I haven't made clear exactly what the company claims that made me uneasy. That's because I've already forgotten most of the ad. I just remember they called their machine something VERY similar to the cyclone, and were downright dismissive of it. By name! I think you're supposed to say "leading competitor" or some such euphemism. I'll edit this if I see it again...

:D

Saviour

Just watched the G8 concert at Murrayfield - fairly entertaining. It amuses me to think how maybe there will be books written in 2000 years time about how a new messiah called Geldof (the man in the white suit) preached to the thousands, standing up to the oppressive regimes of Bush and Blair sending out a message to make poverty history. Stood next to him his disciples Bono and Midge spreading the word of love and free- trade.

:P

Venice (not in Italy, unfortunately)

Paid a visit to the southern continuation of the super-long beach along the coast of LA (I should really call it LA County, 'cos Santa Monica and Venice are not considered part of LA city). OMG, Americans really don't do anything small, do they? I thought Yellowcraigs (near Dirleton, East Lothian) was long. But it's nothing compared to these.

I've uploaded a few shots, and have placed them into a special Venice Beach, LA set.

On the cultural shock front, before getting here, I realised that the rented apartments didn't have washing machines in them, that you had to use a central laundry room ($1 for a wash!) or go to a laundromat. But I wasn't quite prepared for the size of the machines. They easily take twice what we normally put in (a week's wash for one person), and I'm going to have to re-think the way I wear my clothes. We're so used to doing one wash for darks and one for lights. But since we own fewer light-colours than dark, we tend to do an "eco-cycle" on "delicate" (so we don't waste energy and water). How am I supposed to do that in these giants? Will my lights have to sit in a laundry basket for a whole fortnight while blooms of bacteria take hold? Or will I have to buy more light-coloured clothes so I can have dark weeks and light weeks? It's an environmental and fashion dilemma... (OK, just environmental... Anyone who's seen my clothes will know that fashion just does not come into it...)

:D

Blog clarification

I originally set the profile for this blogger account for both P and myself, but until now, P hasn't really had much inclination to write for the weblog(s). In anticipation of his first post, I'd like to explain that we're now going to sign our posts so it's clear where it was written:

• :P = P, in Embra
• :D = D, in LA

You could ask why we don't just set up two blogger user accounts, but you might as well ask why the cookie monster is blue.

:D

Santa Monica

Back from a day of being a tourist in Santa Monica. Very conveniently, several buses run from UCLA to Santa Monica and its environs. The Big Blue Bus issues a Little Blue Card which you can top up with cash every now and again, and saves you fumbling about for quarters. Naturally, I purchased one yesterday so I would be able to use it this weekend. Without my Supreme Gatherer Of Dross (he coined it himself, nowt to do with me) to supply me with 20p coins, I'd be lost for bus fares. It's not like the fancy new Oyster card, nor LRT's (Lothian Regional Transport) new magnetic card, but it saved me from looking like an idiot who can't tell the difference between a quarter and 5 cents.

My trip was timed perfectly to hit the end of the Saturday market on Arizona (between 2nd and 3rd Street), where again I had to be very careful not to buy too many plums! I love the names of the varieties on offer. Today's purchases include Black Amber plums, Santa Rosa plums, and Spring Brite nectarines. The stall also had White Lady peaches, but I've set the absolute limit on soft fruit purchases at 3 varieties max, with 2 of each, exception for smaller plums to be 3 or 4. Given the opportunity, I'd gorge myself on so much soft fruit that I'd be sick!

The main fun of the day over, the cool interiors of the shops on Third Street Promenade beckoned me in... "Get out of the sun before you develop melanoma", they whispered. Fortunately for my finances, I had the good sense to come out with only a small amount of cash, and no recourse to the credit cards. But being a geek first, and a girl second, my first stop was the Apple shop. Not the fruit. I used to spend many a lunch hour at Edinburgh's Scotsys shop (near George Sq) drooling over the sleek, stylish Powerbooks. When my laptop last gave out, I kicked Windows XP off the system (SP2 caused the damn crash in the first place) and replaced it with good old Linux. Unfortunately, running Linux prevents me from updating my iPod and doing fun things like watching movie trailers with Quicktime. The obvious solution to this is for Apple to release some source code to help the Linux community adapt drivers and software. But since that's as likely to happen as me climbing Mount Everest, I've been keeping my eye out for a decent Apple offer. And what perfect timing I have.

Apple is running a special offer for students and staff of schools through their Education store, giving rebates on the price of a mini iPod when you buy a computer and a mini. It's not quite as good as last year's UK schools offer (that was for a 20GB 4th gen), but that's fine because Apple products are cheaper here than in the UK anyway. Now, I've been thinking about this for a long time, and decided months ago that I'd get one here. But now Apple has gone and announced that they're switching to Intel chips. Which means the 4Gs will probably be shelved, and software and hardware support will probably wither away within a year or so. And I don't want to add to my already massive pile of obsolete equipment. Looks like my bare bones Linux machine and I are going to remain partners for a bit longer.

Right. [Geek Off] Shop curiosity satisfied, I went to get sunstroke on the beach. I've uploaded some photos. Have a gander...

:D

Listening to Savage Garden's Santa Monica while typing this post.