Yesterday was my first full day living in Los Angeles. I spent most of it waiting in a cold house for Verizon to show up. But it was worth it. Here’s what I learned.

1. People do walk in LA. Maybe not a lot. Maybe not everywhere, but at least near Santa Monica Blvd. west of the 405 nobody looked at me odd when I walked from our temporary house to the UPS store to check Sword and Laser’s new mailbox. And no, the people walking weren’t homeless. They were normal people of all kinds, Latinos, Asians, African-Americans and whiteys like me. One guy even said hello and remark don how stinky the roofers nearby were.

2. Verizon FiOS can be f@)$!! fast. Also Ron my installer was excellent. He was competent and knowledgable and knew enough to skip the things he could tell I knew (like ‘setting up email’) and tell me the things he thought I didn’t know ( like a bit about how their box works). 300 Mbps down and 65 up with .7 ping ain’t bad either. Pricey but not bad.

3. Brent Bye can hang a light. He’s helped a ton at the TWiT brick house in Petaluma. My little setup was child’s play for him and his buddy. They clamped up a kino and a couple back lights without drilling into my landlords ceiling beams. I also hooked up the HV30 Mac Mini and got the bare minimum hardware I need for streaming p and running. Might need a better camera, but we’ll see.

4. Mitsuwa Marketplace makes the best ramen I’ve ever tasted. I haven’t been to Japan. But damn that spicy ramen with extra pork was fantastic.

5. My landlord is on it. As soon as I emailed about the furnace my landlord set the wheels in motion to geton getting it fixed. Hopefully it will be resolved today. This is a temperate climate so it’s not a habitability or survival issue like it would be in some areas, but that didn’t delay the response any.

6. I still hate moving. That’s not about LA. But it’s true. Can’t wait to be done.

Raw video I shot for Iyaz of the elements of the new studio going in.

Hour two of the four hour window for Verizon begins and the dogs are not amused.

Dinner on the roaf

Today was stressfull for a control freak like me that wants to know what’s going to happen when.

The movers couldn’t tell me when they’d arrive. I didn’t know what all they wouldn’t take. Then they arrived.  Then they were awesome and hard-working but I couldn’t do much of anything useful.  So I sat in the backyard with thedogs and tried to keep Jango from eating rocks. And caught Sawyer knocking over the birdbath to get to the wrapper from my Trader Joe’s Chicken Tikka.

After 6 hours of sitting outside and occasionally traipsing through the house to see what was happening and stick some stuff in the car, they were done.  It was 3 PM.  I had to drive to Comcast and return my cable modem and then drive to LA. I was *just* early enough to beat rush hour.

I got to Comcast’s San Rafael office at the warmest part fo the day, but it was still cool enough to crack the windows and leave the dogs and all the stuf in the parking lot while I ran in quickly and dropped off the modem.

And then there were 13 people in line. THIRTEEN. I have two dogs and a bunch of stuff in my car and all I need is to give you your stupid crippling modem Comcast and…OK.  To be fair, they threw two more people on the service desk and I was out of there in 20 minutes. But honestly, it was touch and go when I first walked in. 

Then I hit the road. No traffic to speak of on the Richmond Bridge or in Berkeley.  Score.  It did slow down right before the split of 880 and 580 but not nearly as bad as it can be and only slow, not stopped. It was smooth sailing until Dublin-Pleasanton. That’s when rush hour caught up with me.  But it was still early rush hour and while I slowed down to 20 a few times, I never stopped dead. 

Once I got past the Altamont Pass things lightened up considerably.  Fromt here on out the 580 and the 5 were free and easy. I got behind an unmarked cop at one point so couldn’t go flat out, but he went 75 in a 70 zone) so I did too.

The dogs were quiet. In fact I had to reach back and pet Sawyer a few times to make sure he was there.  I could see Jango.  They chilled quietly until I stopped at Taco Bell at 6:30. We all three ate and reassured Eileen I was not dying on the highway, and after a luxurious 20 minute break, jumped back in the car. It was 80 mph for most traffic form there until the Grapevine. If you don’t know the stretch of Interstate 5 north of LA called ‘the Grapevine’ then you don’t know the horror that can strike in drivers. It’s a very steep mountain pass almost always filled with semis and sometimes snow because of the elevation.

Thankfully I only got the semis, and not even the most I’d ever seen. It was uneventful to the 405 right up to the Santa Monica Blvd. exit.  Which was closed.  No problem. I’d spent two weekends down here, and from jogging around Eileen’s temp housing knew where I was going. Got to the place without a problem. 

The dogs are a little freaked out. I’m exhausted, but I’m home.  Well, temp home. 

Tomorrow: Verizon gets hooked up. The guy called me while I was driving.  I called him back from Taco Bell but he didn’t pick up. Hopefully it was just a courtesy call, not a “we have a problem” call. Saturday DirecTV comes, and Brent Bye hangs the first set of lights for the new studio.  And Sunday our stuff arrives…we hope.

Tonight: SLEEP!

Last tour through the empty house.