I am not on vacation anymore, but I am still acting like it! I am here in the SB in Ptn catching up on my newspaper reading. I was only away from the internet for a day, but so much has happened!! A few interesting articles to share:

An interesting tactic to using discounts through websites ala groupon. I hope this spreads to other cities.

Steve Lopez doing more truth-telling about Prop 13 (and more on financial irrationality)... if only people would hear it. I am all for getting real on our budgets, but that requires us to, um, get REAL. That means no more crying about issues that don't actually drain our budget like the undocumented and teacher pensions. Ok, stepping off the soap box now, I will let Steve and his new economist friend tell you all about it.

On another note, though, I love how Steve reads comments left by readers and interacts with them proactively, like making this new economist friend and then turning that into a column. That is forward thinking in journalism, in my opinion, and another reason why I LOVE THE LA TIMES!

Another nod towards rationality comes up in this article about underage drinking. It is followed by the opposite opinion, in case you were worried about balance.

Pre-weekend (it is the summer after all) note:

If you have not tried out your local first Friday, what are you waiting for? Even though our ABQ art scene is not on fire, there are still great shows to take in. Here's an article about the Natural History Museum in LA taking it on.... would love to be in town for one of these!