Stop the presses

One of the section editors said that he's sending me a couple of story assignments, so I should have some bylined work to show soon.

With this being my first weekend alone and completely moved in, I’m finally getting a chance to do a more personal blog entry. My DSL still isn’t on, but at I do have an installation date (Sept. 12), so updates should reach their usual frequency soon. [Update: they turned on my DSL today.]

Anyway, things are going pretty well here. I’m really enjoying my living situation in West L.A.. Geographically speaking, my home is close to Westwood Village, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Beverly Hills and Hollywood. More significant, I’ve always wanted to live somewhere that has everything within walking distance, and Westwood Village comes pretty close to that ideal. All of my favorite fast-food and casual-dining chains are in the area, along with a large grocery store, two electronics retailers and my favorite no-cost weekend haunt, Borders Books (that’s where I’m writing from now) and at least five movie theaters. The grocery store is a little pricey -- it has a captive audience of dorm-bound UCLA students -- but Safeway-owned Vons just started online delivery, which is a little cheaper, not counting delivery. If I have to pay a premium, I might as well have it delivered. The area does lack a Fry’s Electronics, however, and the nearest one is a 45-minute drive. Once you’ve adapted to Fry’s, Best Buy seems a little too much like Sears’ electronics department. Speaking of Fry’s, the one here is themed like a 1950s alien drive-in B movie, complete with a flying saucer crashed into the front of the building, huge mothership on the inside and army jeeps melted in half, presumably by some sort of death ray. Very cool.

My new job is OK. The people there are smart, funny and nice. The work is a little less challenging than I had hoped, but my immediate boss has given the nod for other editors to assign me some real stories. So here’s hoping to get my first national print byline soon…

I haven’t purchased my annual pass for Disneyland yet, and since I’ll be out of town two out of the next three weekends, I may wait until October. I hear they re-make the haunted mansion into a “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme for Halloween. Chad and Susan got theirs the first day they were both out here. It actually makes more sense when you live in Orange County, though a co-worker says that getting the pass is mandatory for all Southern California residents.

Andrea’s situation is still up in the air. She isn’t being used anywhere near her full potential, and based on the experiences of co-workers, there’s little chance of her getting a full time position there anytime soon. But even that could be a good thing; it gives her an incentive to move down here. The job situation doesn’t look good in either location for graphic designers, and I’m not familiar enough with the industry to give her any useful advice. UCLA offers a graphic design certification program, and that could provide good job contacts.

As Andrea would say, aye aye aye!

Orange alert! Orange alert!

Terrorist risk level raised to ‘high’