Julie's California Blog - Day 31

Julie's California Blog - Day 31, Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Today is my last full day in California and it appears we have an early arrival of "May Gray", as the locals refer to the marine layer that hides the sunshine.  The first night in the new condo was not exactly tranquil.  The refrigerator had issues that caused a beeping alarm to sound ALL NIGHT LONG.  In fact, it's still beeping as I write.  It must be similar to sound torture used at Guantanamo Bay, where interrogators play non-stop blaring music to detainees for hours.  That nagging little beeping sound magnifies in intensity the longer it beeps.  I would tell them ANYTHING to get it to stop.  In addition to the beeping refrigerator, my neighbor, who works at a bar, came stumbling by my window at 2:30 a.m., kicking over a trash can full of beer cans.  He grumbled and cursed to himself while picking up each beer can and slamming them one by one back into the metal trash can.  Then he went into his house and turned on the tv until around 4:00.  Since most of these places have no air conditioning, the windows stay open, and the units are so close together, it was like having the tv on in my room.  So it was beep, curse, crash, and a Mash Marathon for hours last night.  

Apparently Squeaker doesn't approve of the new noisy condo, either.  Normally, when I am in the kitchen and food is involved, I have Squeaker's undivided attention.  While I was cooking my eggs this morning, I noticed she was not standing by.  I searched the condo, but no Squeaker.  Damn!  So I set off to find her.  I searched downstairs, through the garage, down the alley, back to The Strand, anxiously calling her name.  I finally found her on the porch of a beautiful Mediterranean home a block away.  

She'd just made herself at home.  I must say, the dog has good taste.   It's actually a rental property that I've considered inquiring about, so I peaked in the windows as I collected Squeaker.   It's quite nice.  Which would you choose?  Mediterranean Mansion (left) or noisy condo (right)?  Ok.  I'll call on it today.  With my renegade dog tucked under my arm, I went back to the noisy condo for my cold egg breakfast.  I also tightened up the baby gate to prevent further escapes.  

I spent the remainder of the morning and early afternoon getting organized for the trip home and preparing for a dinner party tonight. 

This evening was a truly fascinating event with a group of 4 other couples, who have children in USC's School of Cinematic Arts Programs, all gathered for an intimate dinner at USC President, Max Nikias's beautiful estate.  Dean Elizabeth Daly was there as well.  We had a very diverse group from around the world.  I loved the family from Beverly Hills.  The dad is from Pakistan married to an American woman from Beverly Hills, who spent the evening texting on her cell phone.  They spend the winter holidays in Aspen and I've invited them to check out Aspen in the summertime.  Unfortunately, they usually "summer" in the south of France, but since Aspen is only a two hour flight, Fallah wants to come out and play golf with me.  Another interesting couple flew in from Japan yesterday and will return to Tokyo tomorrow.  He is President of Sony in Tokyo.  Their son is a freshman in Jeff's class.  Another couple was from India.  He is in the tech business, heavily involved with Google.  I kind of had to scratch my head and ask myself, why was I invited to mingle with these Billionaires (with a capital B) at the President's home tonight.  But I really enjoyed the evening and meeting Niki and Max Nikias.  They entertain some 4000 people per year in their home, but they made me feel like I was the single most important one.  "Fight ON!"

When I returned to noisy condo, I took the pups for a quick walk on the beach.  The refrigerator was not  repaired today, so it's still beeping.  To cut down on the noise, I closed the bedroom door and window and turned on a portable fan.  The white noise of the fan drowned out the beeping refrigerator and I didn't even hear my neighbor when he walked by.  I look forward an undisturbed sleep tonight.  Nite nite all.