Pacific Dining Car

If I were reviewing the breakfast exclusively, I would have given them a perfect rating. The banana and pecan pancakes, Eggs Blackstone, fried potatoes, and the muffins are spectacular. The breakfast cooks know how to cook your eggs a perfect over medium or however you desire them and the coffee is first rate. The steaks are just plain hunks of dead, unseasoned cow flesh and that $55.00 price on the menu makes you think surely they must jest. On a brighter note, the creamed spinach is one of my favorite sides anywhere and the fried potatoes are similar but not identical to the ones that come from my own kitchen. If you are alcoholic, you can get a proper but expensive fix here. If you puke on your shirt in the bathroom, nod off on dilaudid, if the prostitute you came in here with starts to become belligerent and disputes her fee, or you and your friends are coming down slowly from acid, they aren't going to mind. Your money is still green here. Lots of high powered attorneys, judges and other assorted assholes routinely clog their arteries with Hollandaise Sauce in this dining room. If you were a fly on the wall, you would find this place very entertaining.

Daniel Marquez- Asskicking Tenant's Rights Attorney

Dan is without a doubt THE best tenant's rights attorney in Los Angeles. When the owner of my rent controlled apartment passed away, her evil daughter inherited the complex. I had been living there since the 1986, and the rent had never been increased. Immediately, they tried everything they could to get me out of the place. This included having the unmitigated audacity to file three frivolous bad faith eviction cases against me in a one year time span. Dan represented me in the last two cases, and won both of them at trial. He did not overcharge me, make false promises and representations, or even charge me extra for things like phone calls and copies like most attorneys I have used in the past. Furthermore, I found Dan not only to be a wonderful attorney but a really cool guy. He used to be the director of the eviction project at Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation in the early 1980's, and because of his vast experience with eviction cases at the Central District and the Los Angeles City RSO he was able to beat the fucking snot out of the lawyers that the owner used to file those bogus evictions. Because of Dan's great work, I was able to keep my place, save face, and recover my costs. Winning these cases was of the utmost importance to me. I suggest that if your landlord begins acting un-ethically and starts pushing you around that you give Dan a call.

Fuck The Miller Brewing Company and their Tools for Success Program

Miller Brewing Company Miller, the embalming fluid of beers, ought to be ashamed of themselves for sponsoring the Tools For Success Graduation award in our local community college automobile programs for several reasons. Firstly, the Miller Brewing Company produces dangerous, sub-standard products that contribute to numerous automobile accidents on a daily basis. Miller Beer is involved in hundreds if not thousands of automobile collisions every year and many of them are fatal. Alcohol manufacturers and automobile technology and repair should be mutually exclusive. Instead, we should force the alcoholic beverage industry to retrofit every existing automobile with an ignition interlock device and force the automotive industry to make this a standard feature on all new cars. In this day and age, a super-duper sensitive ignition interlock device could be manufactured and installed into any car for less than a hundred bucks. Unfortunately, these things are bad for business so they will never be used on a mass scale. Secondly, Miller targets the Tools for Success program at Latinos. The last thing Latinos need is another drink, especially a fucking bottle of Miller. Alcohol is simply a poison for people who are mestizo or indigenous with almost no exceptions, instantly addicting and frequently fatal. It is a terrible idea to drink any alcohol whatsoever if you are of Mexican descent. It is clearly a genetic condition that does not allow us to drink alcohol in moderation and without horrible consequences like other people. Miller should be ashamed of giving free tools away, and the winners should be ashamed of taking them. What if Watson Pharmaceuticals decided to sponsor a tool giveaway in West Virginia? Or how about if Kentucky Fried Chicken sponsored a culinary tool giveaway and blatantly targeted people who were strung out on fried chicken and processed foods? Finally, community colleges are not an appropriate advertising platform for alcoholic beverages or other mind altering drugs. If anything, it should be a platform for educating people about the dangers of alcohol. Public schools should not participate in the program or allow Miller to distribute applications and paraphernalia with the Miller logo to its students or set up displays on campus. I know that it may seem like a big great philanthropic deal to have an alcohol manufacturer award a full cabinet of tools to an outstanding graduate of an automotive technology program, but if you consider it for a while, I am sure you can see how deceptive Miller truly is.

Griffith Park 7/1/13

This morning, Griffith Park was pretty hot and sticky. My daughter and I headed up the West trail, and then up the ridgeline to the top of the mountain. Running down, it dawned on me that so far, this was the hottest morning of the year, and that the end of the Summer is going to be a scorcher. As the temperature increases, I usually head to higher ground such as the Greater Mt. Baldy area or in the alternative, Topanga State Park is normally 10-15 degrees cooler than Griffith Park during peak summer hours. When I began hiking in Griffith Park a couple of years ago, it took me a couple of hours to reach the top from Los Feliz Blvd. These days, my average times hover around 45 minutes round-trip. If you are just beginning an exercise regimen, take it easy and climb these hills at your own pace. It is not a race, and you are not going to get results if you push yourself so hard that you injure yourself. Happy Trails.

Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College was literaly an extension of my high school. Nearly all of my friends began thier college careers by attending SMC and most transferred to a four year university. I attended in the 1980's on a part-time basis. My brothers and sister also went to school here. Although I also attended Trade Tech, Mt. San Antonio, and LACC, Sata Monica College was my very favorite. Only Mt. Sac could hold a candle to it. Santa Monica College and the California Community College system in general are a land of second chances. In many countries, you are what you is and it is nearly impossible to continue anything other than trade school once you have flunked certain exams. I applaud their liberal and compassionate admissions policies. The faculty here are the most qualified that I have seen at any two year college. Many of them were also teaching at UCLA. The level of coursework is more challenging than Trade-Tech and some other colleges. Essentially, the workload for the classes that I took at SMC were similar to my undergrad classes at Cal Poly Pomona. You will need to pay attention, study, and if you do not, they will not hesitate to fail you. Some of my teachers went above and beyond the call of their job descriptions and really pointed me in the right direction. Socially, SMC was a lifesaver for me. Immediately after enroling, I made a ton of friends here. People were far more approachable and exhibited less gang behavior than the kids in high school. It made for a lot of good times. I saw Courtney Love's bush when Hole played here in the late 1980's. I also saw MDC and the Adolescents play on campus. I still know people from my Speech 101 class and that was a long time ago. The price is right! Why anyone would attend a private vocational school when they can attend SMC for peanuts is beyond me. When I read that some yellow-bellied, lilly-livered, chickenshit coward stormed in here and ruined so many lives, I was devastated. The fact that it took place at SMC where people are trying to improve themselves and stay out of trouble makes it exponentially more disturbing. While there is no emperical model that can predict who goes on a shooting rampage, you can't tell me that someone did not know how dangerous that little piece of shit was. I am mortified that person did nothing.

Merrell Shoes

The jury was out for a little while, but they have reached a verdict on the Trail Glove Grizzle. Guilty of sucking shit on all counts. Guilty of smelling like a durian. Guilty of pounding the fuck out of my poor feet. Guilty of making me feel like I got beaten on the soles with a two by four. Penalty enhancement for aggravated stench causing great bodily injury. If John Wayne were still alive, he would kill these shoes in one minute, or see them hang in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience.

Roma Italian Deli and Grocery

This place had been on my radar for quite some time but whenever I am in Altadena, the place is either closed or I am with my wife who professes to be a vegan. I walked up to the counter and asked for a sandwich. The kind man slicing the cheese pointed to a pile of freshly made sandwiches in butcher paper and said "these ones here, I make 400 of them a day." When I asked what kind they were, he said they have everything. I was sold from the moment I saw the pink butcher paper dripping with olive oil. I ate both magnificent sandwiches in the car in the parking lot. They were subtly delicious. Not drowned in mayo or some other foul-tasting sauce, not covered with vegetables, no pickles or peppers. Just a wonderful piece of bread, delicious salami, mortadella, and a little sharp provolone. The bread was a perfect showcase for these perfect slices of cured pork. I thought how sad it is that many people actually believe that Subway is what a sandwich is supposed to taste like. Better give them a real sandwich from this place for Christmas!