i'm still here
December 06, 2004 by Eric Richardson
Not much here in the way of updates lately, but that'll happen come this time of the year. I thought that things would be lighter after last Thursday, but it turns out I'm still going to be busy straight on through the end of finals.
So USC's in the Orange Bowl... And in an orgy of bad planning my flight back from MI is scheduled to arrive into LAX right as the game is supposed to begin. I'm going to need to be seeing what can be done about that.
free water, a rarity in these parts
December 03, 2004 by Eric Richardson
The water's been non-potable (ie. undrinkable) in my building here at work for a week and a half or so now. I'm not sure exactly the details of how it happened, but the word is "ruptured pipelines." That doesn't really affect me, since I don't generally drink from the water fountain anyway, but until the lines are fixed the contracting firm is providing bottled water on each floor.
That means that while I wouldn't normally be drinking water out of the fountain, I now have free bottled water today to help me get myself a little more hydrated.
ah, promises*
December 03, 2004 by Eric Richardson
So I haven't watched last night's debate yet -- I went to sleep at 4pm yesterday and didn't wake up until 9am this morning. I did tivo it, so I'm planning to check it out this evening. That said, I saw an interesting tidbit in today's LA Times coverage.
Villaraigosa, who represents an East Los Angeles council district, said he would extend the Red Line subway to the beach.
Did he really?
If so, do these candidates even listen to what they're saying up there?
I would absolutely love to see a Red Line extension to Santa Monica, but the logistics are absolutely breathtaking.
Let's say it's 13 miles down Wilshire from Wilshire/Western to the end. Right now the estimated costs for the 3 mile Red Line extension to Wilshire/Fairfax are running around $300 million/mile. So a 13 mile project would cost $3.9 billion.
You have to get the no tunnelling under Wilshire law overturned, or waste time going around its boundaries.
You have to get the sales tax restrictions on subway spending overturned.
And maybe most importantly, the city doesn't control the MTA. The MTA is a countywide agency on whose projects the city of LA gets a voice. A big voice, certainly, but still just a voice.
Hopefully what he really said, or at least what he really means, is that he'll do what he can to get the process started. Because no matter what there's no way a line, even one approved today, would be running before a newly elected mayor termed out.
I would think it might be cheaper to just build a beach at Wilshire/Western.
Updated (2pm): Revised my distance estimate to a more realistic 13 miles down Wilshire.
time for some sleep
December 02, 2004 by Eric Richardson
So one more paper is now done, and another will be turned in late. I finished my big paper for speculative cinema in just the nick of time this morning (after working on it for about 20 hours straight... I think that's a record for me. no clue why so slow). I then went to two classes, almost fell asleep in both of them, and now I'm back here. It's 3:50pm and I'm ready for a nap. I've been up since 9:30 yesterday morning.
That said I'm not the only one going through this right now... my roommate Magilla didn't sleep last night either; he too spent his night paper writing.
mmmm... keg cans
December 01, 2004 by Eric Richardson
We had a meeting at my apartment on Monday, and one of the attendees brought with her some coffee and a box of Mousse Pocky sticks. I now have a new appreciation for the culture around me and a desire to go explore more of its tasty treats.
This coffee she brought wasn't normal coffee: it was cold. Now iced coffee isn't that weird of a concept; while I haven't much drank intentionally cold coffee, I do see it on menus at coffee shops. It's my understanding that usually iced coffee is sweetened, but I drink my coffee black so I was perfectly happy that this was black. In fact the name was "Drink It Black" (third item on the page). Apparently canned coffee is a pretty common thing in Asia. I had never heard of it.
Having now corrected that lack of knowledge, I made another radical discovery. Japan has black cold coffee in a keg can. Look at this. Amazing. Given the college lifestyle, what better to accompany an all-nighter than a six-pack of coffee keg cans? It's like you're halfway to the weekend, but you're staying awake.
My new mission is to explore Little Tokyo until I find such a wonder. I don't know, though, if it'll happen before my all-nighter that's set to be held tonight.