JJVilla

So it's interesting that this heating up and going the logical course so far - people wanting more competition, better quality or at least cheaper despite the United scare tactics. On the way to work yesterday I heard that LAX was rated the worst airport in the nation, which after the hellish experience on 3 out of 6 flights last year, I have avoided like the plague and am glad I have many other options that allow me to get cheaper and better quality airport service.

Just 10 days, 6 hours & 5 minutes till opening game!

No-Tsu-Oh festival would be an interesting event to return or at least the name. Quirky and old school mix.

The toll booths, when entering or leaving one area, just sounds too funny (odd) and impractical to be implement. Not sure why but this kind of reminds of our company's consideration, and quick rejection, a few years ago of charging consultants/contractors for using our office space to reduce costs because it would just be passed onto us via their charges/fees anyway. So deemed a "non-starter".

Normally the comments on Chron.com are way off base BUT this time they have generally pointed out some reason - why is that City Council is so opposed to having competition? Competition that will wake those slobs at United thus maybe improve quality or at least drop prices by reducing their monopoly.

Living in SoCal I can take advantage of flying out of LAX, LGB and SNA within 30 to 45 minutes drive, which means I can get higher quality and/or lower prices because of COMPETITION. I can get RT ticket to SFA from LGB (5 minute drive from home) for less than $100 or just above up to Seattle! You can dream about that with United, which will probably send you luggage or carry-on items they forced to gate check to the wrong terminal (which happened to my mother when she visited from Houston) or just make the flying experience much worse than it used to be a few years ago.

I work mostly from home, because it's my office that is too distracting. I am also a night person and my most productive hours are 12am-6am.

Some people work better at home and sometimes I can work better at work when less people are around (late night or weekends) but you need the structure of the office for many jobs.

Why don't they make the former tenants pay for the upkeep? That would probably make the decision a bit easier.

He offers this one great tip: go see where they are living now. That will tell you what they are going to do to your place. And meet the gentle Pit Bulls and the couch-surfing brother they forgot to mention.

This a very good point that my realtor in LA also mentioned to me when she is looking at future renters.

Anything less than granting equal rights to homosexuals is not "middle ground." There can be no compromise between injustice and justice. It's wrong that a gay person cannot marry the person they love. Wrong.

That issue has nothing to do with gay rights.

Justice for one person is injustice for another. Just becuase you believe it's justice for gays to marry or for people to commit abortion doesn't mean it's the right way.

I wasn't sure where this was going when I saw the title. I thought you were going more along the thought of post#4, areas that have decayed or been abandoned. You haven't seen sprawl till you've been to beautiful, "green" SoCal. If I drive my hydrid for 4 hours per day and/or refuse to carpool I must be saving the enviroment, right?

Seriously though, if we want to reduce sprawl and it's negative impact then we should start by living smaller and/or closer to the center of the city. You can only move out so far to avoid undesirables before you're in Oklahoma or Louisiana.

Well, if anyone is interested, apparently, there's a list of top schools where students are looking for sex. University of Texas was at the top. Can't find the list, but I'm sure a lot of kids are going to care more about that list than some boring scholastic stuff!

Some parents demand of their children that they must become a doctor or a lawyer; being a petrochemical engineer or a CPA would be a disgrace in comparison, and being in pharmaceutical sales would just be icky. Of the people that I meet that had their careers foisted upon them (mostly baby lawyers), most seem deeply dissatisfied. There's something to be said for doing what you want, or what comes naturally, and then doing it well.

Hah! Who says you can't do both. You can get a degree in something you like while doing well financially or not being icky and go to a school on top of a non-academic activity! Awesome that these 2 areas were brought up.

This is an excellent idea since I think more money should be put in post high school education, just need to make sure there's execution and enforcement on this scorecard initiative. Too many schools are wasting taxpayer money on overpaid AD & sporting staff, subsidized sports facilities (that make pro sports look like charity at the big schools) and resort style living projects. Many dorms or facilities added in the last 10 years at many schools are way too lavish (i.e. plasma screens and resort style pools). They should include trade schools in adding money and grading for value. Also, too many students are failing to realize that studying just what you want may sound cute or choosing the easy way out to meet the parent’s demand for college education won't pay the bills

Barely remember going to the place (in Downtown) when I young in the mid 80s.

Is this good or bad? Someone please tell me. My ancestors in Mexico will give you their last peso. But who wants that anyway? Ugh.

It's principal he's talking about. Then there's buying power.

The solution is rather simple, albeit draconian. Stop buying that crap. Stop borrowing the banks' money (not a problem, since they won't lend it). Shorten that list of 'must have' items sold by the companies you hate. And, for chrissakes, quit using the credit and debit cards. You're making those banks a fortune on those.

These banks and corporations only exist because of our greed, laziness, and impatience. Because we cannot wait to purchase something, credit cards exist. Because we are too cool to carry cash, debit cards exist. It took a generation or two for the American psyche to become one of unbridled greed. It will take that long to reverse it. The start is to change your indivdual mindset. It can happen. Look at how quickly the Hummer went from prized accessory of the nouveau successful to oversized symbol of greed and gluttony. Home sizes have begun shrinking. I'd like to see that happen to credit and debit cards, as well.

It's simple - if you don't like a company or product then don't buy it!

Agreed that many people and group's greed got us in the problems we are in. We also need to take personal responsibility for our actions and way forward.

Now I know the reason for the large police presence we saw in Midtown on Saturday evening and closure of the highway! We passed right by there around 6:15.

Trader Joe's, I see them everywhere...in Long Beach.

Saw the sign for the pub & eatery early this week! That will be "interesting".

Are they planning to expand to near my soon-to-be-former home near San Felipe and Bering?

Coo. I was wondering why there were so many more people than usual.

On a somewhat related note with regards to my move to Long Beach (I am working and have temp living by City Hall, in downtown). Just because you build something very nice and urban doesn't mean that all your urban problems will away and consumers will leave their comfortable areas to the new place (still urban areas). The development here is geared for urban professionals and looks nice/inviting to me but you've got to be very young or adventurous to live just 4 or 6 blocks north of the beach in some areas (where the place is). This is a nice looking, mixed use area I am referring to but deceiving (from what I have been told) and still attract problems/crime. Maybe the co-workers comments were a bit off but they have some basis.

Just thought I'd share a somewhat related impression on some issues of putting some of these of developments in an urban, developing area and it's downside. Of course this has some to do with economic slowdown over here and in general.

FINALLY!!

I can see them being able to realize looks but not sure of valuing engineering or at least on the execution side.

What does that tell you? To me, it indicates that--of those who haven't outright failed and dropped out--the difference between grade scores has a little bit to do with intelligence but mostly has to do with one's aptitude for brown-nosing. Good grades allow bureaucrats and administrators to rank-order a population of students by their ability to reliably and competently follow orders. That reveals very little of one's capacity for critical thinking or creative output, and provides limited insight as to one's ultimate economic productivity. (At its worst, the class ranking process indicates whose parents know how to game the system, and oh yes, it can be gamed.)

Completely agree with the last part, either with their parent's help or otherwise. Many people that were ranked ahead of me in high school failed out of college (I just finished outside the top 10% by 5 or 6 people). They gamed the system and eventually lost.

I would echo Niche's thoughts, and I'd even say my outlook is even more dim. The need for a college education, or at least the 4 year general degree, keeps diminishing because we simply don't have enough work to go around. Most of us without specialized or applied degrees work for some middleman in an economic culture based on extracting a percentage on moving someone else's money or property around. That's a big risk to take on job security on a $50,000 investment (on the low end). If I were giving advice to my 10-year old niece on her future, I would tell her that if she really wanted a college degree with meaningful ROI, to stick to applied math and sciences, become fluent in at least one other language, and be willing to move out of the country more or less permanently.

I agree that there are gaps between current degrees and needs. Likewise, I would add that in many technical fields we can't even fill some jobs during the worst times. I guess supply and demand is an important consideration along with being flexible and global.

NRG bought Reliant. When did that happen?