Speaking of LA and hotel rooms, anybody got a suggestion about where I should be looking for a hotel in LA? I have to go to Long Beach, Pasadena, and Riverside as well. I'll have a rental car, but what area should I be looking in. I'm tempted to stay at the W, which is in Westwood. Is that a good location?

And um, this is relevant 'cause Tim is in LA, and I might need to see him. Or something.

Westwood is a nice location. You won't be near any of the places you're going to but, since none of the places you're going to are near each other, it's not like you'll be adding hours to your driving time.

The W is awesome.

It's really Riverside that's throwing this whole equation off, because while Long Beach and Pasadena are nowhere near each other, it's not that long to get between them.

Riverside sucks. In general. You're gonna have to actually leave L.A. County and go inland to get there, and while it's a faster trip there from Long Beach than any of the other points mentioned, it's still by no means a fast trip.

Returning to the smoking conversation for a moment, I just saw a commercial encouraging people to vote against Prop 86. (New crazy-assed tobacco tax.) According to the Association for LA County Deputy Sheriffs, if it passes, it will "increase tobacco smuggling and crime."

I was unaware that there was such a thing as tobacco smuggling but it intrigues me. In recent months, I've considered a life of crime. Perhaps this would be a good entrée to the underworld. Tobacco smuggler.

Though they do always say it's a mistake to sample your own product, which I fear could be a serious issue.

I'm now envisioning you zoned out in your living room with half a 1 kilo brick of tobacco on the coffee table.

That's not too far from my current reality.

My latte is too sweet. I even had the dude remake it and, still, he made it too sweet. I don't like new people. If I were a kingpin, I could take him out and have him beaten.

ETA: Oh! And since this is the Soaps thread, I give you hilarious Guiding Light news:

Guiding Light, America's oldest soap opera -- it began on radio in 1937 and moved to television in 1952 -- will be taking aim at younger viewers next month when it introduces a Marvel Comics-created superhero on Nov. 1. Marvel Comics said that it will cross-promote the storyline with an eight-page insert to appear in several of its comic books in which the Guiding Light characters will interact with Marvel superheroes.

The hell? Who is their head writer and is it whoever was in charge of Days when Marlena was possessed and/or Carly Manning Katerina Von Whatever was buried alived (for freaking weaks) by Vivian?

HA! I was thinking the same thing. Maybe Possessed!By!Satan!Marlena will cross-over.

In unrelated news, I'm over at Monster and it seems that they have a thing now where they tell you how you stack up against other people who have submitted resumes to the same job. I find this bizarre.

I don't know if I'd want to know that, unless I asked. Is it just there, or do you have to request it?

It's just there. It appears after you've hit apply. "28% share your education. 9% share your experience."

What does that even mean?