Personal Dork Assistant

Alright, time for some content.

Alright, time for some content. I drove back to San Diego from the Bay Area yesterday. I timed it perfectly so that I hit LA after six hours of mind-sucking boredom that is the drive through the Central Valley, just in time to run into the teeth of the afternoon commute. If you're not familiar with California geography, you have to go through the entire length of the LA and Orange counties to get to San Diego, and both counties form pretty much a continuous traffic jam during rush hour. Actually, it wasn't that bad throgh the Santa Clarita valley, but I had to make a decision on which north-south artery to take through the rest of LA. There was no way I was taking I-5 all the way, and the 210-to-57 route would've been clogged at the 210-10 interchange, not to mention it's a bit out of the way. Decided to take the 405, since it is suppose to be the San Diego Freeway, after all. Even though it doesn't go to San Diego nor is it the shortest way to San Diego, but it's a route I haven't tried before. Of course, if you know anything about LA traffic, you know that the 405 is no picnic during rush hour either, and I should've known better, too. It was stop-and-go from the Getty Center all the way down to Costa Mesa, but at least I got to drive by a different array of LA surburbs. Sherman Oaks, Culver City, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Westchester (not to be confused with Westminster), etc., etc.

Not sure why I even drove in the first place. It just meant that I could carry lots of extraneous junk which I never used anyway, like my work PC. It did let me take advantage of mom's Costco card, though, and I'm now stocked with enough Kleenex to last me through Spring and then some, not to mention enough Tupperwared food to feed me 'til then. The car did get a badly needed oil change and wax job. The car still looks pretty good after a thorough wash-n-wax, for a six-year old stock Honda anyway (no rice rocket here). The whole process involved about half a dozen sundry chemicals and cleaning products, so I'm sure I sucked in some interesting fumes on the drive back. The iPod was the MVP for the trip. Kept me (almost) awake, and no repeated songs during the whole time.