Celebrity Sighting: Cuba Gooding Jr, Mexican restaurant getting take-out. Cool hat.
Just checked out Point Dume in Malibu with my friend Scott today. Nice spot. Also good for photo opps such as the gem to the left. Some version of a Heat-miser comment will probably occur to you, but I'm not sure it should be shared....or maybe it should. Oh, how I enjoy pictures that are not standard. Thanks, Scott!
I know you're all really holding your breath about UCLA tuition....UCLA is hiking fees (not tuition....read on) 33% next year, after raising it something like 45% over the last two years. This is in reaction to budget cuts at the state level. Let's cut your budget by a few hundred million dollars and, ah, well, you'll figure it out. Seems sound. I'm actually not fundamentally against cutting some of the dollars going to UC, there's quite a bit of inefficiency that could use cleaning up. However, a bureaucracy doesn't try to make things more efficient, nor would it even know how to approach such a concept. It's a little tough that the cuts come in such a large chunk, though.
Anyhow, there were pretty major protests on campus the other day outside the Board of Regents meeting. Sirens going all day (which is normal since we're near the hospital, but seemed like more), helicopters, etc. People have made their feelings known. I lit myself on fire.
Things don't feel like they're being managed very well in this very large state.
It's weird, when you look at the UC education costs, it lists University fees for CA residents at around $8500, and tuition at zero. Is that like a handling fee or something? What the heck? Free shipping, but we'll charge you $8,500 in handling fees. By the way, non-resident tuition is $22,000, in addition to the "fees". http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/fees/gradfee.htm
I guess it's nice they break it down so I can see where my fees go. There's even a seismic fee, which as you can guess I find reassuring. By the way, I think UC costs about as much as UWisconsin, now. Education is highly subsidized in CA. Or at least, it was....
I know you're all really holding your breath about UCLA tuition....UCLA is hiking fees (not tuition....read on) 33% next year, after raising it something like 45% over the last two years. This is in reaction to budget cuts at the state level. Let's cut your budget by a few hundred million dollars and, ah, well, you'll figure it out. Seems sound. I'm actually not fundamentally against cutting some of the dollars going to UC, there's quite a bit of inefficiency that could use cleaning up. However, a bureaucracy doesn't try to make things more efficient, nor would it even know how to approach such a concept. It's a little tough that the cuts come in such a large chunk, though.
Anyhow, there were pretty major protests on campus the other day outside the Board of Regents meeting. Sirens going all day (which is normal since we're near the hospital, but seemed like more), helicopters, etc. People have made their feelings known. I lit myself on fire.
Things don't feel like they're being managed very well in this very large state.
It's weird, when you look at the UC education costs, it lists University fees for CA residents at around $8500, and tuition at zero. Is that like a handling fee or something? What the heck? Free shipping, but we'll charge you $8,500 in handling fees. By the way, non-resident tuition is $22,000, in addition to the "fees". http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/fees/gradfee.htm
I guess it's nice they break it down so I can see where my fees go. There's even a seismic fee, which as you can guess I find reassuring. By the way, I think UC costs about as much as UWisconsin, now. Education is highly subsidized in CA. Or at least, it was....
By the way of the way, where I work, we get no state funding, and we're not needing to raise class costs. However, we have the privelege of taking paycuts....taking it for the team....good times.
On a lighter note....my friends Karen and John visited a couple of weeks ago. Great times, there. I took a couple of days off work and we went to several touristy locations including the likes of Griffith Observatory, Rodeo Drive, and the Pacific Coast Highway. They wanted to go to Whiskey-a-go-go on Tuesday eve, but alas, it was closed. We were then beckoned into the Cat Club next door, where we were told there would be music. We walked in, it was quiet, and everyone was looking at us, including the female singer and male guitar player. I kept saying, "What the heck is going on, here?" until finally someone told me they were shooting a movie. The someone was a director. OHHHHHHHHHHH, I get it. So, these are extras, and we're about to be extras! All the other extras were about 20, so I suspect we'll end up on the cutting room floor, but still! Did I mention it was a Disney movie? I guess it's called, "Feel", athough I've seen nothing on it. If you google disney and feel, you get all manner of stuff, the ickiest of which is "radio disney - feel my body." That's wrong on so many nice, neat, prissy levels. If the economy doesn't improve, disney porn is next. Fall of civilization, here we come!
Anyway, I digress, digest, delude, and diverge.
So! It was very nice and a little surreal to have Karen and John here. It was like two realities converging. We had lots of fun and they got to be in the warm. There was something Karen was insisting I blog about, maybe it was the movie, but I'm not sure now.....talk about a true Hollywood experience, though. By the way, for my protest, I went on down to Hwood to get some protective gels and clothing. No worries. That's why I moved here. Access to protective fire gels and clothing for my protest activities, to have a Louis Vuitton bag with a small dog in it, and to get something injected or enlarged.
What else?
Anything else?
I got nothing. Except, evil does indeed drive a BMW. I understand there's something about the way it's engineered, but somehow they always seem to be speeding and weaving. There is quite a bit of evil in LA....sometimes even in a minivan. Oh! Now my sister has a minivan! Laurie!!!!
On a lighter note....my friends Karen and John visited a couple of weeks ago. Great times, there. I took a couple of days off work and we went to several touristy locations including the likes of Griffith Observatory, Rodeo Drive, and the Pacific Coast Highway. They wanted to go to Whiskey-a-go-go on Tuesday eve, but alas, it was closed. We were then beckoned into the Cat Club next door, where we were told there would be music. We walked in, it was quiet, and everyone was looking at us, including the female singer and male guitar player. I kept saying, "What the heck is going on, here?" until finally someone told me they were shooting a movie. The someone was a director. OHHHHHHHHHHH, I get it. So, these are extras, and we're about to be extras! All the other extras were about 20, so I suspect we'll end up on the cutting room floor, but still! Did I mention it was a Disney movie? I guess it's called, "Feel", athough I've seen nothing on it. If you google disney and feel, you get all manner of stuff, the ickiest of which is "radio disney - feel my body." That's wrong on so many nice, neat, prissy levels. If the economy doesn't improve, disney porn is next. Fall of civilization, here we come!
Anyway, I digress, digest, delude, and diverge.
So! It was very nice and a little surreal to have Karen and John here. It was like two realities converging. We had lots of fun and they got to be in the warm. There was something Karen was insisting I blog about, maybe it was the movie, but I'm not sure now.....talk about a true Hollywood experience, though. By the way, for my protest, I went on down to Hwood to get some protective gels and clothing. No worries. That's why I moved here. Access to protective fire gels and clothing for my protest activities, to have a Louis Vuitton bag with a small dog in it, and to get something injected or enlarged.
What else?
Anything else?
I got nothing. Except, evil does indeed drive a BMW. I understand there's something about the way it's engineered, but somehow they always seem to be speeding and weaving. There is quite a bit of evil in LA....sometimes even in a minivan. Oh! Now my sister has a minivan! Laurie!!!!
Happy Day of Football and Triptophan. :)
