Autumn is in the air in Los Angeles. Crisp air, leaves blowing. The temperature has dropped to a chilly 60, but with the wind chill, it feels like 55. Time to break out the blanket and maybe close some of the windows. Maybe I should put the shorts away and pull out some long pants. Nah. It's LA, we'll have the AC on tomorrow.

Ever wonder why those insect-gassing, building tents are striped in odd colors? I came home the other night and the big top had been raised nearby for the world's largest termite circus!

...or lessons in graphic design. Shot this with my camera phone while waiting for a light to change at Wilshire and San Vicente. When I first glanced at it, all I read was "Coca-Cola Taste Zero." While I don't exactly disagree with that statement (Coke from Mexico, despite lead-containing bottles, tastes better because it still contains real sugar, not that corn syrup crap that's in every American food product), I thought it odd that they'd advertise it. Maybe it was a new (non) flavor? They have Coke Black (Coke with coffee essense) which makes no sense to me since most people I know who don't like coffee drink Coke or Pepsi as a caffeine substitute. Why make it coffee flavored when you can just have coffee?

You'd think after five months that my bird alarm would either have a sore beak or realize that the birdie-in-the-mirror isn't going anywhere? My little bird continued to wake me at dawn by tapping away at his reflection in the floodlight outside my bedroom window...until last Saturday. I wrapped the top of the bulb in black tape to remove any reflective surface. Then I sat back and waited. He returned as expected and landed on the bulb. He looked where his adversary had been and only saw black tape. Damn if he didn't spend the next half hour trying to rip up the tape! Luckily for me: tape - 1, bird- 0. Now, if I could do something about that damn nocturnal mockingbird!

It's been 20 years since it premiered and I remember watching it every Saturday morning (with the New Adventrues of Mighty Mouse). Pee Wee's Playhouse returned on Adult Swim on Cartoon network tonight with many of its later-to-be-famous cast members (Laurence Fishburne, Phil Hartman and Gregory Harrison). It was as cheesy, over-acted, and gay as I remembered it (and just as much fun). The world was definitely a simpler place when a show like this could air on Saturday morning without the virtue police slamming it for unsavory content. Now it airs with the likes of Aqua Team Hunger Force and Minoriteam.

As seen from Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile district.