Hello devotees. Sorry the pickings have been so slim around here these days. Writing in a blog is like writing in a diary: stupid. No, I mean, it’s like going to the gym: boring. No, what I am trying to say is that writing in a blog is a habit-based activity. If you stop doing it regularly, it’s very hard to get back in to the groove of things. So actually it’s more like a car battery: if you don’t use it, it dies.

Jeez, I’ve gotten really bad at this. But this weekend, a good pal suggested I keep writing the blog because, in her paraphrased words, it was the only thing that made her happy in this life. So here’s attempt #1 at being a regular blogger once again.

While I was in California for 4+ weeks my car sat in the garage. I had my awesome landlord-neighbor take it around the block a few times, to keep everything in working form. For whatever reason though, the battery was dead when I got back. No big deal, we jumped it and everything’s fine. EXCEPT: I have a car stereo with an anti-theft feature. Whenever the car stereo is disconnected from the battery, it is disabled, so if some crook tries to put it in a different car, he needs the super-secret “security disc” (which I chose) to put in the CD player and re-activate the thing. Cool idea guys, but it’s always been more of a hassle than a worthwhile addition. Every time the car’s electrical system gets worked on, or the battery dies, or the battery connection is interrupted in any way, the security feature is activated. Then I gotta grab the CD and go through the process of enabling the stereo. Annoying.

Well, a few months ago, the CD player completely crapped out on me. It was no big deal because by then I was using my iPod with tape deck adapter and never really planned on using the CD player again… until now.

With the CD player unable to read my security disc, there must be some way around it, right? Unfortunately it’s a pretty good security system. The tech hotline says I’m fucked, gotta buy a new CD changer.

But they don’t know that I drive a 1994 Nissan Sentra with 188000 miles on it and no paint… I am not buying anything. Mike gave me a extra (stolen?) CD player deck he had lying around which I am now in the process of trying to figure out. So far, outlook not good. I will keep you updated.

This montage goes out to all my homies not in California who haven’t seen the sun like this in a while. I had a great time in the Golden State; over 4 sun-shiny weeks all said and done. This blog post is also dedicated to all the friends and family I spent time with, and their furniture. What follows is a brief tour from the sunny San Francisco Bay Area down south to balmy San Diego, then up to tropical Los Angeles. It concludes with my lovely train ride back up to the Bay, where I spent my last week living with rainbows and unicorns.