LA

okay, so we woke up early, met at 4 am, and drove through the pouring rain to LA to visit Hansen Dam by 8. Got there 45 minutes early so we had breakfast at McDonald's. Some guy held the door for me and then asked for some spare change on my way out. I said no thanks, so he started giving me crap about it and talking to a bunch of people, apparently other beggars, about me. The bathroom was full of apparent live-ins, so I held it and went to order my food. Normal McD food: sausage biscuit, greasy hashbrowns, and too-hot coffee. Ugh. On my way out, the beggar said have a nice day, then thanked me for my smile. I don't remember having smiled. Maybe he saw me smiling inside that I was leaving the place.

Turned out that our 8:00 appointment was cancelled. I guess you can't visit a dam when it's raining. We walked out to the dam control house and noticed a stream of water passing under the dam, but it really didn't seem like much was going on. Lots of people were walking or running along the top of the dam, which was at least a mile long and 90 feet high. Not sure what the big deal was about the water, but it cancelled our 10:00 appointment at the Sepulveda Dam as well. Basically, we did nothing all morning but drive around LA. Got some nice views of the city, so it wasn't all bad. Then again, it's not the best looking city in the world either.

After a lunch in the food court at the Montebello Mall, we visited the water reclamation plant in Whittier Narrows. Nice place, if you like sewer water and chemicals. Having Curtis along made it worthwhile. He's an old timer with tons of experience running water reclamation plants. He felt like it was old home day, reliving his days at his own plants. Very enthusiastic, and informative as well.

In the evening, we arrived at the Residence Inn only to find that our confirmation number had been lost. Great. Fortunately, they had a few rooms at the same rate we had originally, so we're here.

Now that I've had a lousy day, it's time for the Red Sox to change the world and make it all better.