Stephanie flew down for the weekend to celebrate her birthday.

We went downtown to the Standard Hotel to hang out at the rooftop bar and visit with some of Stephanie's friends.

The place has these big red pods with water beds in them that you can climb into and hang out or drink or whatever.

After about five minutes, I was done.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I prefer to have my gin and tonics on solid ground.

GUEST BLOG FROM DAVE:

B and I went Downtown to see the new LA Live complex across the street from the Staples Center (home of the Lakers).

LA Live is the city's attempt to have its own "Times Square."

This town is so fake that even our Christmas trees are made of plastic.

Every time I walk down Hollywood Blvd., I inevitably see a mixture of awesome and appalling sights, as I imagine everyone does.

This is kind of a highlight.

D and I talked about posing with Scientology Santa and sending the pictures out as Christmas cards, but we both have have an irrational fear of looking like idiots so we decided against it.

It's just now starting to get really cold here.

D and I do a lot of laying around in bed, watching tv because it's too cold to do much of anything else in our heater-less apartment.

We have the same taste in movies and tv for the most part, which helps.

We also apparently have the same hairline, which is disturbing.

Almost every time I go to IKEA, I end up not buying anything but food there.

I go for a coffee table and leave with a cinnamon bun. Why does this happen?

David Lynch was at Amoeba for a signing.

We went, hoping to catch a glimpse.

He was well hidden though and I refused to wait in line with all the nerds so we went for sushi and then headed home.

Maybe next time.

If you grew up in the LA area, you've probably been to the La Brea tar pits about a thousand times.

I hadn't been since I was little so I made D go with with me.

This scene of a mother mammoth being swallowed by tar while her baby and another adult mammoth watch helplessly is still kind of sad to look at.

Of course, when you notice the coke cans floating in the pit and the homeless dudes walking around the park, you're immediately reminded that you're on Wilshire Blvd and animals are in fact, not dying before your eyes.

I went to Canter's Deli for the first time today.

It's an LA landmark that has been around for 60 years or something like that.

The lox sandwich was decent, but nothing to blog about.

If you enjoy old, curmudgeonly Jewish wait staff and over-priced diner style food, I highly recommend.

I attended my Great-Grandmother's funeral today.

My second funeral in the last few weeks and hopefully my last for a long while.

I kept looking at my cousin's daughter happily playing around outside.

She has no concept of where she is, of course.

Life just goes on.

Saw the new Bond movie today.

It was ok, but I wasn't totally impressed.

They had "his" car parked out in front of the theater.

We drove out to Rancho Cucamonga to attend a memorial service for D's grandmother.

I got to meet his extended family for the first time.

His sister is just as goofy as he is and I didn't get a serious picture the whole time we were there...to the dismay of his mother.

I cast my vote for Barack at Temple Emanuel.

I don't think this day could have been any more exciting.

It's so refreshing to feel hopeful again.

For Halloween, the city shuts down a stretch of Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood for a huge block party type thing.

Much like SF used to do in the Castro.

It was happening only a few blocks from my place so I felt like I should walk over and check it out.

John took us out to Meltdown, a comic book (and nerd paraphernalia) shop on Sunset Blvd.

There was some kind of event for the magazine, Girls and Corpses going on at the place.

Awkward.

Drove out to Santa Monica for a few hours.

I always feel like I need to rush to the beach on warm days.

I'm still getting used to the fact that it is ALWAYS warm here.

We stumbled upon the premiere for Role Models after eating dinner in Westwood.

It was definitely C-list.

Seann William Scott is very attractive in person.

D claims he was wearing make-up.

We met another couple, Nate and Sarah, at Maureen's wedding.

We got some free tickets to Nate's band's show at the House of Blues.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside but I snapped this one on the iphone before the band came on.

Roses on Her Grave...check em.

My friend Maureen got married today.

It was beautiful and fun and touching and all of the other things that weddings are supposed to be.

I bought her a frying pan.

City Walk is a mall outside of Universal Studios.

I remember going there as a kid and thinking it was fantastic.

There are a couple interesting stores but mainly it is just over crowded and over priced.

If only the joy of watching this Rock Band competition had made up for the fact that I paid ten dollars just to park at this monstrosity.

We went to D's friend John's house so that D could act in a film John's roommate was making.

I spent the evening admiring John's amazing turn of the century Craftsman home.

I am so old.

We decided to be tourists and walk down Hollywood Blvd.

I think D was embarrassed to stop at the Chinese Theater but I made him stand there long enough to snap this picture of me with Marilyn's prints.

Grayson took D and I out for some delicious Polish food followed by drinks at a pub in Santa Monica.

You can see in his face that he is not yet accustomed to my constant (and annoying?) candid picture taking.

We went to the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood to see a one man show about Beethoven.

Free wine provided: good.

Couple in front of me falling asleep during performance and snoring loudly, probably after consuming free wine: not good.

It has been horribly hot here, and it's always about 10 degrees warmer in my apartment than it is outside.

Because I am currently unemployed and my apartment is an inferno, I take a lot of walks.

I hope to get a job soon so that I can afford something marvelous from Johnathon Arndt's Gallery of Jewels.

We've been checking out some of the popular spots in our area of the city.

I'm trying to get acquainted with everything.

We went to the Grove tonight.

It's essentially an outdoor mall, which isn't very exciting of course but there is a permanent farmers market area that is sort of unique. If I ever went there again, it would be for that.

Everytime I move, I swear to myself that I'm never doing it again.

It always takes about twice as long as you think it will to get everything packed and I had a seven hour drive to make on top of it.

I barely had a moment to snap this picture before I had to get the hell out.

I guess on the plus side, I didn't have time to be sad about anything either.

I thought I was being incredibly smart by choosing a truck rental place that was out of the way.

I figured it would be easier to maneuver the gigantic truck in an area with little traffic, but it ended up being totally lame and hard to find.

The one employee that was working at the time was completely insane.

My mother thought "he seemed nice".

We had some friends over for a small going away get together.

I'm glad I got a chance to spend a little quality time with some of my favorite SF people.

I wish I could take everyone with me when I move.

In an effort to spend a night doing things that are uniquely San Francisco and totally cliche, D and I had dinner at Fisherman's Wharf, drinks at the Buena Vista and then took the cable car back to Powell St. from Ghirardelli.

I think we were both reminded how annoyingly overrated it is.

I hope there's a Chevy's in LA that I can force people to go to with me.

Somehow I don't think happy hour will be as awesome.

The subsequent stomach ache and gas, yes. But not the company.

Last time I'll be cat sitting for my buddy, finn.

Nicest cat ever.

Stephanie introduced my to Katie and Ethan about a year ago.

Every time they are in town, I try to make it out to see Ethan's DJ set.

Always a lot of laughs to be had with those two.

One of many, many things I'll miss like crazy about this city.

The drop in clinic is not where I like to spend my Saturday mornings, typically.

I was forced there by lingering eye problems stemming from my trip to Vegas.

They were no help with my eyes but if you happen to need a wheelchair, they are on that shit.

Stephanie was gracious enough to host us in her spruced up digs for an impromptu movie night.

Ghostbusters, followed by wine, followed by Anchorman, followed by wine, followed by wine spillage all over D's pants.

Pretty good night, I'd say.

My co-worker makes his own wine.

He brought in some tiny wine grapes for people to eat.

He's not really the type of guy you can say no to easily, and I was curious, so I took some.

They are actually delicious.

I haven't been blogging, because I've been packing.

Lame, I know.

D snapped this paparazzi spy cam looking shot as I was handing over my last months rent to my landlady.

She is the sweetest little person you'll ever meet. She makes me look gigantic.

Everything about leaving this place is going to be difficult.

Although most of my weekend was spent packing, I was able to sneak out for a few hours.

Trying to remain a vegetarian at a BBQ, is extremely taxing.

And I'm ashamed to say that the sweet smell of roasting flesh broke my will.

I'm late to work every morning.

Partly because I don't get up on time, and partly because the most insane Muni employee in all of SF drives my route in the mornings.

Her wrath knows no bounds.

She makes Mrs. Crabtree look like a fucking saint.

The beginning of the Fall semester always makes me a bit sentimental now that I am no longer a student.

I miss the excitement of new classes and new people.

I'm probably overly romanticising the experience but I still can't help but feel a little sad.

Oregon has the bluest sky.

One of my favorite places to hang out in Ashland is the Black Sheep Tavern.

This looks like an advertisement for my Framboise but in reality, we are just toasting.

And Josh is giving me the psycho peepers.

Today began a short weekend trip to the Oregon Shakespeare festival with some friends.

I'm positive that this dude was not headed there.

Went to a free screeing on Hamlet 2.

The last few times I've tried to attend screenings, I haven't been able to get in.

This time I got there an hour early to make sure I scored a seat.

I gave my notice at work today.

This picture was actually taken in October of last year, but I thought it might be appropriate.

It's the view from my office window.

My parents game up for the weekend to see the Packer/49er game at Candlestick Park.

They are big Packer fans and this was the first NFL game any of us had ever been to.

I don't think the Packers have ever played a worse game.

I felt bad.

Me: Nice terrorist scarf. Can I take a picture of you?

Suzanna: Yes. Hold on...let me put it around my head.

D's friend Justin made dinner for us.

At one point during the evening, people began doing yoga poses.

I guess it is apparent by my bemused look that I found this strange.

But to be fair, I was sick (but to be fair, I always have that look).

Went to Sarah's BBQ/pool party in Vallejo.

I got to relax and play some Rock Band. D had never played before, so that was fun.

Makes me sad that spending days like this with my friends is soon going to be a thing of the past.

Still re-binding the old LIFE Magazines.

I saw a picture of Hitler playing with a baby at her christening. He is the baby's godfather. That must be weird for her if she's still alive.