Dave's Thoughts of the Day: March 10th

I saw a friend I hadn't seen in a while yesterday at Fuddruckers over in Burbank.  Burbank was the half way point between me in Santa Monica and him in Rancho Cucamonga... about a 40 min drive either way.

I drove to meet him around 3pm as the L.A. Marathon was winding down, and with ALL THE TRAFFIC in Santa Monica and my main artery streets closed, meaning San Vicente Blvd and surrounding streets, I had to get pretty creative.   The 101 and the 10 were completely stopped so I trudged up the 405 and took Magnolia Blvd, which ran parallel to the 101.   It was creative, but Magnolia Blvd came through in a big spot!

I actually did all right getting to Burbank... then I saw my buddy, and it was like we picked up where we left off.  The best friends are ones who you have a lifelong conversation with, and it was like we just continued from where we were a few months ago, when we met in Pasadena.  I get that same feeling with the Junk Man, or Kevin on the Cape, my co-host for "Random Questions" on the podcast.   Talking to him feels like a life long conversation, and each podcast we do is continuing our long interaction.  When the hour's up, it's not an ending, but just a break until our next session.

So with my friend, driving from Rancho, we got together at Fuddrucker's to chat about all sorts of topics.  He's a Dean at Claremont these days.  He's come a long way, my friends.   More than anything else, he is really up to date on University Administration.  He has an extremely good idea of the academic standards of America's top schools.  I really enjoy talking to my buddy, truly good times were had at the Fuddrucker's.

It's kind of funny... he said to me the last time he was at a Fuddrucker's was when he got his Honda Pilot in Chicago, and I said "Oh no way!  They have Fuddruckers in Chicago too?!"

Then it *snapped* just like that, of course they do, they're all over the country, and I told my friend, "Oh that's right they're all over America.  I remember one time I talked to my East Coast friends and was explaining all about Fuddruckers when they said they had a bunch of them nearby.  Hahahahahahahahah I always thought it was just a California chain!"  I got a good laugh out of that.

A most memorable Sunday, and a sorta memorable Friday preceded that too...

Friday... I drove the car into work at UCLA, and after work, I took the car to the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills.   A scene it was folks!   I went to a place called "Sidebar" to try the steak tartare... it was pretty good, but just as good were these little bowls of potato chips they served.

I went up to the bar, next to "CUT" the big steakhouse there, and talked to the bartender for a while.   He served me the little bowl of potato chips and I munched away.   I asked for a beer and he showed me a few brews on special for happy hour.  One of them was Lagunitas, and the name sounded familiar, so I tried it.  It's an IPA and what a journey it was.  Great beer, but I could not shake those little potato chips.  They were great, and after finishing one tiny bowl they went and gave me another one.  I must have had 3-5 of those little bowls of potato chips.   Then came the steak tartare, not a very large portion size, I must say, but a large price came with it.   It was pretty good!  You know what steak tartare is?  It's what happens when you try to make tuna salad and sub in a piece of steak for the tuna.  Quite a twist, ah?

After this journey, I made a stop at Il Fornaio, an Italian Restaurant, and asked for a coffee to go.  I *loved* their coffee the last time I was there and they served it to me no problem.  Good times.  Then I drove from there to Eagle Rock, making a 75 minute stop at Amoeba, which had a 15 minute stop at Arclight to take a leak and order a regular popcorn.

Then, the drive from Hollywood to Eagle Rock... I got genuinely lost somewhere around Glendale, driving WEST on Colorado Street not realizing Eagle Rock was further East from Glendale, so I whipped that around and went to Eagle Rock to try these fish tacos.  They were all right, but not worth the drive...   ultimately that was a wasted trip.  I don't know why I wasted a Friday night like that, I could have even stayed in Beverly Hills and hobnobbed it with the guys at the other bar, "the Blvd."   Terrible job by yours truly.

But that's the 'cow for ya!   I like to explore, and you get your hits, and you get your misses too.   The truth was, I didn't think it was going to take *that long* to get to Eagle Rock, traffic was just brutal on Friday.  I was supposed to do that whole Eagle Rock thing in a 40 minute window and then drive back to Santa Monica to make the bar run.  It didn't happen, so what can you do?


Saturday was a productive day.   You can only imagine the wonders a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser can do.  It really rubbed out some pretty serious stains on my car.  Would you believe, the lady at Supercuts gave me the suggestion?!

I did my taxes in the morning, watched some golf, then I sat on the balcony at home, looking into the clear SM sky, listening to jazz on my phone, and I thought "I better put the vehicle registration sticker on my car, but I better get that stain off my bumper too, and if I'm going to do that, I may as well get a haircut, it's been over 3 weeks!"   So off I went... and at the Supercuts I mentioned how I was trying to clean the stain off my car and she brought up the Magic Eraser.   I was so inspired, it was all I could think about the whole haircut.  I gave her an extra large tip to thank her for the suggestion.   Then I went to the supermarket to pick it up.   I spent the next 30 minutes rubbing out the stains w/ the Magic Eraser in the parking lot.    These are things you do when your room mate is out of town, and your lady friend is out of town, and anyone else you felt like hanging out with has other things going.  It was worth it though, and that haircut was really overdue.

I think... that's really all I have.   Hope you all have a good Monday!