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I’m loading up the car with about 14 loads of laundry and more books than I’d read here in 2 weeks to go see my parents for 4.5 days. I always have this irrational belief that away from home, time will somehow expand and I will accomplish all kinds of stuff that I know I … Read more

He sent this to the L.A. Times op-ed section. Did they print it? No. BUT, he reports, all the “think” phrases did mysteriously disappear about a week later…think this might have had anything to do with it? To the Editor, There’s a newly-overused grammatical device taking over the pages of your publication. It’s in op-ed … Read more

The other day at Publix I saw these Tide-to-Go Instant Stain Removers and bought one. Got home and looked at the fine print: Works well on these stains:TeaWine Grape JuiceChocolate SyrupBBQ SauceKetchupCoffee …okay, well I do drink tea, and occasionally have ketchup I guess. Does NOT work well on:GreaseBloodInk …huh, lets just say that as … Read more

I woke up this morning a little sad—it happens sometimes. Then, as I was getting ready for work, I pulled on a sweater, and saw it had a stain. Front and center, two shades darker than the fabric around it, it seemed to be an oil stain, from a cooking mishap no doubt. The stain … Read more

I had gathered enough information…statistics about public transport and congestion costs in L.A., and price quotes from the guy at the tracking company, to support my great idea. I decided to find an authority to share it with. But what are people who know about these things called? I surfed around until I found my … Read more

I told friends about my idea, but few seemed to see its brilliance. “What if you get in a car with a psycho person, or a bad driver?” they asked.“Well, obviously you’d have to have police records and driving records…and you’re being tracked on GPS, so there would be an alert if someone started to … Read more

My Dream: I walk out of my apartment in Palms and don’t get in my car to go to the dentist’s office. Instead, as I walk toward Sepulveda and Venice Avenues, I pulls out my PDA and enter my location and the address of my destination in Sherman Oaks. At the same time, Ginger Tompkins, … Read more

Here‘s an interesting article from the L.A. Times about individual health care coverage after cancer.For all of my three years working in Chicago, and three of my six years in L.A., I was a free-lance contractor. Among other things, this meant I was responsible for my own retirement plans and insurance. Then Paul and I … Read more

Trying to do a little planning ahead–like when and how and where we’re going to move after graduating in the spring, and how we’re going to afford it. And then, jobs? More school? No jobs? Plans need to be made, but it’s not the most pleasant mental place for me. A lot of the future … Read more

As the lady in billing said, “You’re paying your insurance company to do the shopping.” But when I asked for price breakdowns from various vendors, my Aetna representative declined to do the research and recommended that I go to the Aetna Navigator website in order to see “a rough estimate for the cost of this … Read more