1) shout out to j-ho, since s/he is the only person who reads this anyway: get yer ass down here. and call me.

2) got an e-mail response from fucking United, but only an automated mailer response. it encouraged me to call them if i was trying to change my travel plans, since due to the power outtage things were a little delayed. somehow i'm suspecting i'll get no response.

3) fucking Kahlua. looked in stores in Arizona this weekend, they are fucking around there too, selling the 40 proof stuff -- still no signage witnessed. two other observations: in Costco (in San Diego) found a big box of Kahlua 1.0 liter bottles where someone had taken a permanent marker to cross out the proof marking (advertising) on the outside of the boxes. so they know full well this is happening. and at Trader Joe's (also in San Diego) they have some 53 proof bottles sitting around, clearly old, given the noticable amounts of dust on them. i'm going to try to find an address to write to them and ask for some answers.

4) watched When Harry Met Sally last night on DVD, and was entertained. nothing too deep or moving in it, of course, but it's light and entertaining. and no, i'd never seen it before. (it's a rare, rare movie i'll bother watching twice.)

5) this morning's traffic reports included all manner of foreign objects in the roads, including another big rig which dumped animal poop all over the road, near Julian, a mountain community out in East County.

6) favorite sounds outside our studio apartment: a nearby intersection (well, two intersections, really) which features loud, screeching tires at least once daily, usually two to three times. they really, really need a stop sign, or signal, out at one of those intersections. people drive way, way too fast ont he street (well, all over california, of course) and one intersection is just below a hill, the other just past it, which eliminates most of the important lines of sight. lots of accidents there, according to the san diego police department's handy crime/incident mapping function: Crime & Disorder ;; Vehicle & Traffic ;; Arrests & Citations. i'm toying with the idea of trying to get a stop sign put in, but i don't know if it'll be worth the effort.

7) while wandering around on the san diego police department's website, i found some crime statistics, including those for our current neighborhood (OB: Ocean Beach) and one (NP: North Park) we are considering moving to next year. In July, here's what they say happened (I should note that I don't know how they define the neighborhoods, but North Park is potentially quite a bit larger than OB):
rape: OB: 0; NP: 2
armed robbery: OB: 2; NP: 5)
strong armed robbery: OB: 0; NP: 1
aggravated assault: OB: 3; NP: 15)
total violent crimes: OB: 5; NP: 23
residential burglary: OB: 8; NP: 16
commercial burglary: OB: -1; NP: 2 (no typo: OB is listed as having negative 1 commercial burglary: maybe someone gave some stuff back? =)
theft: OB: 43; NP: 66
vehicle theft: OB: 12; NP: 43
total property crimes: OB: 62; NP: 127

8) on a happier note, we had a lovely weekend hanging out with friends in Tucson, Arizona, possibly the loveliest place on earth, certainly in the Top 3 in america. love love love that desert heat.