A whole new world was opened up to us yesterday as we expanded our home-hunting horizons to -- yes, the Valley! All afternoon Akhil couldn't help himself from speaking in that 80s Valley accent so I am not sure we should live there, however, it turns out there really are nice-looking, non-delapidated, four-bedroom homes there that we could even, like, afford, maybe. Hard to take those boulevards though. They are such ecological, aesthetic and sociological disasters. It's so weird how the L.A. area is set up with these gigantic boulevards hiding what they call residential "pockets" between them. And when you get inside these pockets, they could be New England, or someplace in the midwest, like Michigan. It's the most bizarre phenomenon. Food for thought if nothing else.

This was after discovering the mysterious city of Alhambra on Friday night (which is only say 5 miles from our apartment), where we ate Vietnamese food (and were the only two non-Vietnamese people in the Golden Deli - now that's good stuff), and then made our first-ever trip to Fosselman's for white chocolate chip ice cream. I thought the place was quaint and the ice cream was ok - but still not as good as others I can remember, like J.P. Licks. Side note - the system of checks and balances appears to be working -- I was denied unemployment! Victory for the State of California's EDD! (Bastards.)