nice weekend

even though janice's flight was late and we missed seeing vains of jenna saturday night, and that the jimmy kimmel taping was canceled so we didn't get to see duran duran on monday, we had a nice visit :)

sunday, martha and marvin were also in town and we all had a nice visit--did some shopping in hollywood, took martha by high voltage tattoo (aka LA Ink) so she could get some pictures and earn some "cool points" with her students ; ) and had a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, with our favorite waiter....

on monday, darian was sick and stayed home from school, david spent time with martha and marvin (went to the grove), so janice and i ventured out to burbank----since we weren't going to see duran duran on jimmy kimmel, we thought maybe we could somehow get in on the ellen show taping they were doing...

we went to burbank to the NBC studios.....we weren't able to get tickets and did not see the guys, but we did see some of the writers on strike....janice wanted a picture with the strikers so we went over and asked if we could take a picture....they said, 'sure--pick up a sign and walk with us....we've been doing this for 2 wks and we're tired'......so janice picked up a sign and i took a picture......turns out, 2 of the strikers were tonight show writers...

we also saw people picketing in front of ellen's entrance.....while other shows have stopped taping because of the strike, ellen has continued taping using her own material.....
they were doing a military-type chant: 'ellen ain't no friend of mine (ellen ain't no friend of mine), she danced across our picket line (she danced across our picket line)....was kind of funny.....i understand why the writers are on strike, but boy, if janice and i could have gotten in to see duran duran, we would have happily walked into the ellen studio :)

martha and marvin flew out monday......so david, janice, and i went to el cholo for food and drinks monday night....we had fun......after visiting a while, i went to bed and janice and david spent a couple hours catching up and talking about music/bands.....

i took janice to the airport early tuesday morning.....was sad seeing her go, but i know we'll all see her again before too long....i can't believe Christmas is almost here!!

janice coming to cali

janice is coming to town---originally coming in to see duran duran on jimmy kimmel monday....but due to writers strike, that has been canceled.....
we'll have to figure out what fun things we can do while she's here....we're bummed we won't get to see DD, but happy we'll get to see each other and hang out---that's always a good time :)

Homewalk

this morning i participated in a 5k walk with about 4,000 others to help defeat homelessness in the los angeles area....i learned of this from church---6 of us walked.....it was the first annual homewalk and was a really good turnout...

there were signs with various facts and photos about the homeless in the area and one sign in particular really caught my eye...
it said "Los Angeles: entertainment capital of the world. Los Angeles: homeless capital of the nation"

Below is some information i got from www.homewalkla.org
Statistics
* There are more than 73,000 people who are homeless every night in LA County, and 152,000 over the course of a year.
* One in four people who are homeless in LA County each night are in families.
* There are 13,521 homeless students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, a 35 percent increase in just the last year.
* Veterans are twice as likely to become homeless as the general population.
* About a third of the homeless population in LA County are chronically homeless, compared to an estimated 23% across the U.S.
* 15% of the 13,000 people released from jail in LA County each month are at risk of becoming homeless right after release.
* More than 8 in 10 of persons who are homeless in LA County every night are not sheltered.
* 6 in 10 of the homeless at any one time have been homeless for less than a year.
* The most commonly cited reasons for becoming homeless in LA County are losing a job, followed by eviction.
* About a quarter of the homeless persons in LA County have at least some college education.

"HomeWalk is a non-competitive 5K walk in support of the A Pathway Home initiative helping to end homelessness. United Way of Greater Los Angeles in partnership with The Fannie Mae Foundation has collaborated with PATH Partners to back this initiative providing resources for existing efforts to address homelessness. We don’t need a whole new “plan” to solve the problem of homelessness—we need a grass-roots mobilization to engage the community through advocacy and volunteerism; build a stronger system of care by increasing resources to homeless agencies and helping them link services with permanent housing; and bring private and public sectors together to get more involved."

weigh in

as of tonight, i have lost a total of 6.5 lbs :)