Connie, for right on the beach in Venice, I'd give airbnb a look. May find a deal there. You also might want to look at something like Playa del Rey, just south of Venice. Quieter and more local, so maybe less tourists means more affordable motels?

I've got 17,500 steps in today because it was lovely and so I walked home from work. But now I'm super tired and I'm going to spend the next couple of hours watching TV and drinking lemony vodka cocktails with my feet up.

Edit: Actually, before I get into the vodka, I'm having some ice cream, god damn it.

I thought I recalled Banana Bungalow having a beach-adjacent hostel from my PBP trips, but it looks liek the only have Hollywood and West Hollywood locations nowadays

I'm not getting much walking outside of work, besides grocery shopping. My new parking situation prohibits it. I got the cheapest lot near the hospital, it's a park and ride which has a shuttle to take you directly to your door. It wouldn't take much to get that last 1000 steps, if I put any effort into it at all. But I am lazy.

I love their awful awful playoff beards so much! I also think this tradition is hilarious for people who only tune in during the Cup finals, and therefore only see hockey players in full lumberjack hipster mode.

So much this. Love the playoff beards. There was an NBC Sports exec who was trying to get the league to make them shave, so as to expose the hotness (which for the Blackhawks is really something) to the folks who just tune in at playoff time. That went approximately nowhere.

Connie, for right on the beach in Venice, I'd give airbnb a look

Thank you, there are some interesting options there!

I should clarify that I'm super amused by the playoff beards because there's such a wide variety of facial hair to be had. Toews has the Amish muttonchops and Kaner has the Teen Wolf. Saader's been looking like Jesus. A couple of the guys are REALLY GINGER. Most of them look like unkempt lumberjacks, although I kinda like it on Crow.

Johnny Oduya's beard is perfect, though. He's the handsomest.

I LOVE ODUYA SO MUCH.

I know, when they first started, they could barely grow beards! Those kids.

It's true there is Blackhawk hotness going hidden under all that sruff, though.

Some of it is genuine hotness and some of it is "I have grown accustomed to your face and your hockey ability is hot enough to make me enjoy it."

At one point when we were playing the Ducks, they showed Ryan Getzlaf shirtless in the locker room and all of us exclaimed in horror. (I'm sure Getzlaf is crying into his millions.)

O captain my captain: [link]

Hossa in the house: [link]

Crow catches another one: [link]

Your Conn Smythe winner: [link]