Welcome to S.M.

It's been grey pretty much since I landed in Cali.

Okay, my plane arrived at 11pm, so technically is was black, not grey. LAX is a lonely place at night.




The cabbie was nice. Though I don't really recall what we talked about; I was completely knackered from the flight.


I just remember speeding along the highway with the window rolled down so that I could smell the salty air.





As I mentioned above, it's been grey every day and there's a slight chill. But I kind of like the weather, to tell the truth. I should consider moving to Brighton Beach, UK.




I'm staying right on the beach, a stone's throw from the Santa Monica pier, which is cool. Yesterday I rented a bike and cycled to the office. When deciding on that mode of transportation, I hadn't realized that the road is on a slight grade, so I biked uphill the entire way. Very sweaty. Not the nicest impression to make on a bunch of people I just met.

Music to my ears

It's 11:30pm Cali time or 2:30 back in Toronto.

I'm staying at a hotel on the beach in Santa Monica. (Photos to come before my plane leaves here on Friday morning. I had to sprint to Radio Shack before they closed to find a USB cable to connect with the computer. Sigh. Hopefully Windows XP is intelligent enough to have some sort of photo software to read my digital images without resorting to loading the proprietary Olympus software disc, which is back in Toronto.)

I'm back at the hotel room after a late dinner with work colleagues (the global folks -- France, UK, Miami) at some seafood restaurant along Ocean Avenue. I had scallops with a corn chowder side. Good (AJ's tuna was better) but everything along this strip is terribly overpriced. Lovely place, but unnecessarily expensive.

As I type this, I'm listening to Pandora, which is my new favourite "radio" station. Many thanks to the minds behind the Music Genome Project. Right now it's spinning Honeymoon Suite's "Lethal Weapon" and Corey Hart's "By Your Side." Normally I'm not this cheesy, but c'mon -- it's nearly 3am back home. I'm telling you, it's the best thing to happen to music in a long time. When I'm in the mood for a specific genre, this is the main source I turn to. I'd willingly pay for a monthly subscription fee for this service. (Not to give these guys ideas or anything....)