There is an ugly car parked across the street.

It's not ugly because of the color. It was originally a sky blue color. Now it's some kind of strange matte blackish color, which to me looks more appropriate to be a primer than an actual color. But that's not why it's ugly.

No, instead it's ugly because it appears that someone decided that they could do some body work on the car on their own. Which is fine for some, because there are indeed individuals out there who, with a bit of spit, a bit of grit, and a lot of know-how, can actually do some pretty cool modifications to their cars.

Sadly, whoever did these modifications isn't one of those people.

Maybe there was some damage to the car, and they had to do some major body work. Maybe a whole section of the body had to be replaced. I don't know what happened. All I know is, whatever they did, the left side and right side of the car do not match. One side has some kind of "customized" racer-type paneling of some sort. The other is just plain normal car. So someone decided to make some kind of panel thing to stick on, so they look more similar. Good in theory.

Not so good when it looks like you joined it to the car with spackle.

Sorry dude, but no amount of paint is going to fix that.

The Following is a Public Service Announcementaru, broughtaru to you by the Windurst Coalition for Goodaru Health Habits and Poopy-Free Supermarketarus For Everypeoples Everywhere:

Dear tarutarus and taller peoples who visitaru supermarketarus with puppy doggies of all differentaru shapey-wapeys and sizies.

Please remember thataru having a puppy doggy is notaru a righty-wighty. Itaru is a privilegey-wigely, andaru a responsibilitaruy. Also, if the doggy is notaru trained to go to the potty-wotty correctaruly, you should NOTARU bringy-wingy the doggy to supermarketaru.

The supermarketaru is where tarutarus and taller peoples go to buy foods for eataruing. Itaru is NOTARU HYGENIC for you to letaru untrained doggies to go poopies or peepees insidaru the supermarketaru.

Doggy poopies have badaru e.coli, andaru that is VERY-WERY BADARU to be near foods for eataruing. It can makey-wakey tarutarus and taller peoples sicky-wicky in the stomach, andaru that is notaru very-wery fun.

Also, no tarutaru or taller peoples wantarus to step into a pile of green doggy poopies on the slippery floors insidaru the supermarketaru, where tarutarus and taller peoples go to buy foods for eataruing. A tarutaru or taller peoples mightaru slippy-wippy, andaru fall down intaru the doggy poopies.

Thataru would be very-wery unpleasantaru.

So please remembers - doggies that don'taru know how to go potty correctaru should notaru be taken-waken to the supermarketaru where tarutarus and taller peoples go to buy foods for eataruing. Thank you.

This concludarus this Public Service Announcementaru, broughtaru to you by the Windurst Coalition for Goodaru Health Habits and Poopy-Free Supermarketarus For Everypeoples Everywhere. We now returny-werny you to your normaru bloggy-woggy viewings.

*reported from my other blog, for the amusement factor, and also to spread the word on unhygenic practices of some irresponsible tarutarus and taller peoples who have doggies.

As a result of the state's proposed slashing of funds for education, the LAUSD has gone to court to try to stop teachers from protesting on Friday. Citing concerns for student safety.

LAUSD asks court to block teacher's budget protest

Umm... yeah, right. That's the only excuse they could come up with that even has a chance to be heard, more likely. Of course, if parents were really concerned about their kid's safety for the day, they could just pull their kids out of school for an hour - if the teachers are on strike, it's not like they'll be learning anything for that hour anyway. At least, not in a scholastic sense.

I still don't understand the mentality of politicians - they always seem to cut education first. It doesn't make any sense to me. Maintaining a good educational system is essential to building a better tomorrow. With new discoveries and advancements being made every day, it's important that our educators keep up with the times. This is difficult with history books that only go up to the Reagon administration, and literature books that are so dog-eared and tattered that they are held together with postal tape and hope.

Without good schools, and good teachers, who's going to teach the kids? If no one teaches the kids of today, what happens tomorrow?

There are many disgruntled people who leave the state, filled with dissappointment and bitterness over so many things. They spread the hate, especially many former Los Angeles denizens, trash-talking and reinforcing the negative image of the city that so many non-Californians envision, sometimes with secret, malevolent glee.

To me, it will always be home. And what is happening to my home makes me very sad.

Warning: if you are not all that into people waxing poetic about bits of gadgetry, or vacuums, you might be better off just skipping this post. Although if you have a special interest in vacuums, I think I might be worried about you, and will have to ward you away with stuffed animal sheep and squid pillows. Yes, you heard me - squid pillows. Be warned.
___

Okay, so I've been thinking about getting a "real" vacuum cleaner for a while. Until now I've been making due with a little rechargable lightweight thing that, while okay, isn't exactly the best at picking up stuff. But I've been putting it off, 'cause... well,

1.) I'm kinda on a budget and don't want to spend a lot of money,

but also

2.) I wanted a good quality vacuum cleaner that would last a while, and not just your run-of-the-mill piece of poopy that would break down in 6 months or less.

But... my economic stimulus check came in, and although the frugal (cheap) part of me wanted to save it, the socially responsible part of me wanted to use it responsibly to help stimula... well no, that's not true - the irresponsible part of me wanted to spend it all on computer and/or gaming stuff.

As the frugal and frivolous halves of my personality tried to duke it out for supremacy, the money sat in the bank quietly, yearning to be spent with every ounce of its papery, coppery, and zincy being.

Then I went to try to vacuum the apartment. And my small little vacuum device was dead. Again. Because the charger was dead. Again.

Then the usually silent practical part of my came to the fore, shoving the frugal and frivolous to the side with much force and a hint of promised violence.

"THAT'S IT! I'M GETTING A VACUUM CLEANER!"

And so off to the store we went.

Now in the past few months I'd looked at the different vacuumy offerings displayed upon the alter of household appliance goods. And I had considered different options. But I had already made up my mind which vacuum I was going to get, this day.

The Dyson Ball.

When I picked up the box, I realized it was rather small. And very light. I carted it out to the car easily, and took it up the stairs without any problems. Assembly was fairly simple, even for a sometimes technologically impaired dork such as myself. After a bit of fumbling, I managed to get everything hooked up correctly, plugged it in, and turned it on.

I love this vacuum.

It seriously handles so easily. The vacuum itself isn't on 4 wheels, but moves about on a large ball, making it much easier to swing around. And it's powerful for it's compact size.

And it really is compact. The handle extends and retracts. Not only that, you can remove the handle, plug it into a tube,  snapp on the attachment, and it instantly transforms into a tool you can use to reach high corners for cobwebs, tight spaces between furniture, or a brush to clean furniture. The attachment itself is both a brush and a hard-edge thingy, depending on how you have it set.

The rotary brushes that pick up stuff from the floor is designed to be easily cleanable, with a special setting that allows you to pull string or hair from them without damaging the mechanical stuff inside. The container that collects dust and carpet offal is designed so that you can release everything into a bag without a mess, and minimized the chance that it'll get all over your newly cleaned floors again.

And it's pretty quiet too.

All in all, I think I'm happy with this vacuum. Excuse me now, I have to vacuum the other room.

...are really tiring. And not that much fun. Although towards the end, you tend to get really goofy/silly/dumb. Or in my case, just a little more strange than usual.

In any case, I am tired now. I think I will go to sleep.

So I wake up in the morning (and I use the term "morning" loosely, as in "sometime before noon"), and finally manage to drag myself out of bed. My first thoughts are, of course, of a shower. And coffee. Sadly, neither of these thoughts are destined to become reality any time soon.

You see, I have no water.

I called the apartment manager, and she said that there was an emergency in an apartment in the area, so the maintenance crew had to turn off the water for this entire section of the apartment complex. Thus, no shower.

Worse, no coffee.

They said the water should be back up in as little as 30 min. I can wait that long for a shower. But coffee... need coffee...

'cuse me, while the taru drives herself to the nearest Starbucks to feed her coffee addiction.

I found out yesterday that an online friend of mine has been very ill - and no one had any clue. He's been in ICU since early February. He had my phone number, so after he regained consciousness he communicated to his folks that he wanted them to call me, and I've been relaying info to the group of online friends and back again.

He's been very ill. They were able to take him off the ventilator last night. Today he was able to talk a little, although he still sounds very tired.

I'm rather in shock. I had no idea. No one had any idea. But still. I'm worried about him, and hope he gets better soon.