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First test of iPhone Typepad app. This is on a pwned iPhone with 2.0 on Tmo.

Musings on LA

I have not spent more than a few days in LA since '93. Prior to that I spent some time there visiting my family who lived there (and have since moved back). I am staying at a downtown hotel. That is the first change. The last time I was really here, people did not go downtown for much of anything. It was near 'skid-row' and people generally avoided it. Even businesses moved out to Century City. Now, it is a mixed community that really demonstrates how gentrification works. It is a very diverse community made up of African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. I am truly a minority. It seemed vaguely foreign to me while I was walking around the hotel. However there is an energy that is very nice. People seem like they are in a much better mood than they do back in Michigan. Perhaps it is the steady dose of Seasonal Affective Disorder that blankets our area for six months a year! I am certain that having good weather has much to do with peoples moods here.
Another thing that I quickly noticed is how healthy people looked. People generally take care of themselves. There are far more choices in all restaurants here. Even Starbucks offers far more healthful choices than in Michigan. Some would argue that it is due to the superficiality of the area. I am sure that is part of it. However, being physically active and eating better is not superficial, it is proper. I'd love to move out here. Sure it is crowded, polluted and a bit plastic. But it makes up for it with an energy that is lacking in the Midwest. We are so damn uptight there. The central limiting factor is that it is just too damn expensive to live here. Thus, it shall remain a pipe dream.

Trip Itinerary

have not flown since the updated policy involving liquids. I am going to LA on business and to potentially visit my cousin in the OC. Haven't been to LA for more than a day in 12 years. I used to fly to the Philippines from San Fran so I got to know that city fairly well, but LA is kind of a distant memory. My cousins and aunt lived there until the mid-90s and then moved back to Ann Arbor. All but my aunt have moved back there so I guess that tells me that the lure of LA is greater than its perceived negatives: insanely high cost of living; traffic galore; over-population and the synthetic environment. To be sure, I always have enjoyed my stays there. My aunt lived in Manhattan Beach (right on the beach) and it was a lot of fun staying there. I found people in the beach communities to be "very" down to earth (if you get my drift).

Not sure how much time I will have to take in any sights. When I travelled to the Philippines a lot, it depended upon the trip. My first trip I had a lot of extra time and hence I went all over the place; subsequent trips proved less forgiving. It is funny that as a kid when my step-dad would go to NY or Boston on business I always assumed that he'd have time to visit famous places- only later when I experienced the same situation did I fully appreciate the toll that travel takes. It is only compounded by the fact that travel in these days sucks. If you are not an Elite member or are traveling business class, it really sucks. After my second trip to the Philippines I was a Platinum member on Northwest, hence for nearly 5 years I never flew "steerage" class (as my mother is apt to say).

Currently listening to on iTunes: Accused Of Stealing from the album "The Great Eastern" by Delgados
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Cedar Pointe 2005

We took the family to Cedar Pointe on Father's Day. Just testing out the Ecto iPhoto conduit. We'll see how it works! Ecto is such a fantastic program and I am always impressed that it is updated so regularly with real improvements.

Father's Day at Cedar Pointe is actually "gay day." An interesting irony I believe. But we find that it is very fun to just people watch. The great thing about going that day is that most people stay at home with their families so it is not nearly so crowded, especially for a weekend summer day. The other great time to go is in late October, when the do Halloween weekends. If you catch a nice weekend it is truly enjoyable.

Norm's in Portland, Maine

I don't normally do restaurant reviews in this, instead saving it for my other blog concerning Ann Arbor, however this is an exception.

As my previous post indicated, my family went on a journey to New England. On the way back we wanted to go to the public market in downtown Portland. Similar to and owing allegiance to the great markets, especially Pikes in Seattle and those in New York and San Fran. It is a nice market, although I must say that even tiny Ann Arbor's is probably better. Never mind that. I was buying some apple butter at one of the stands and asked the cashier where a good place to find a meal was. She obviously saw that I needed one that was child friendly. She told me about Norm's and indicated that was where the locals go. So we walked the 5 blocks there in the blustery autumn day. When we arrived, we were a bit taken aback. It looked like a bar. Not a friendly bar, but a bar bar. We were going to just leave but everyone was tired and hungry so we decided to say fuck everyone else and we ate there. We ordered the hummos plate for an appetizer. It came with home made flat bread gently pan fried (using olive oil I might add) and a variety of olives and cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. The hummos was obviously homemade and was perfect. Many varieties of hummos are too watery and many contain too much tahini. This was perfect. There was garlic, but not so much that you could not taste the subtle taste of the lemon juice. Just great. All at the table ordered the "skinny chicken" which was essentially smoked chicken breast with red beans and rice. Their bar b que sauce was exceptional. The chicken was moist and tender and had this amazing smokey flavor without being overpowering like so many "memphis style" places make it. The red-beans and rice were great. The seasoning, on the spicy side to my liking, was one of the best I've ever had. All in all, I would say this was one of the best meals we had, even in the company of Legal Seafood in Boston. It is a hole in the wall to be sure, but it is not to be missed. I wish they could make it more family friendly because food like that should be enjoyed by all! I must say that they seemed to tolerate us fairly well. Perhaps they realized that if a family doesn't mind dining with multi-tattooed, multi-pierced people at the bar then they can't be too bad!

General Observations of New England

You know my family and I just returned from our first time to New England. We flew into Boston's Logan and drove up to Bar Harbor, ME. It was a wonderful and relaxing time. I was struck that people were so similar to us in the other Blue States such as Michigan. I had this stereotype that people were going to be similar to what New Yorkers are perceived to be: rude, pushy, etc. I was actually expecting it to be worse thinking that the arrogance of the intellectual class would further render the region irritating. I was astonished that while people WERE far more well read than their mid-west bretheran, it was not in a condescending way. Here in Ann Arbor, you must have fairly thick skin to survive in this bastion of elitism. I did not find that, even in Cambridge. To be sure, I am not naive and I certainly know that it is there, however to a tourist, it was not on the surface. Rather, I found people to be exceptionally hospitable and polite, even inviting. I know that the region is not necessarily known for their pronounced hospitality, however we found this to be the case. People make much of the "Southern Hospitality" and I find it sugar coated and phony. I have travelled the South extensively and enjoy it, however I have not had as many delightful conversations with random people as I did in Boston, Portsmouth, Portland, Freeport, etc. I traveling up the coast I was expecting that the Blue states would have all sorts of Kerry/Edwards banners and in the "Live Free or Die" state, I was expecting Bush/Cheney signs all over the place. What I was struck with was how all the way up the coast, I saw a mixture. In Michigan, for example, it is quite polarized, In my hometown of Ann Arbor, it is one of the last enclaves of the left and hence, you predominently see signs for Democrats. However, if you travel to New Baltimore, Detroit suburb, I defy anyone to find a Kerry sign. It is not like this is Orange county full of money either. This area is still partially rural and with middle to upper-middle class homes. I feel as if I am in a different state when going there. New England was not quite as polarized as this. Even on Cape Cod, you'd find quite a few Bush signs. Even though I think they are fucking idiots, I was glad to see that you cannot just say that such and such state is Blue or Red, rather there are people there.... I am just glad that those shitheads on Cape Cod's vote wont really count!