A four-wheel antfarm?

Hi everyone. Last week, I discovered an ant colony living in my car. How is that even possible? I close my car windows all the time when I'm not using it. Did the ants spring to live spontaneously? It seems supernatural to me. Anyhow, Windex took care of 'em. I haven't seen a single ant in a couple of days.

The bagels here are disgusting

Enjoying California but the bagels here are, basically, circles of air with ropes of mealy dough around them. I'm sorry, Noah, but this is not a bagel. This is a dinner role with a bellybutton in the middle of it. California needs artisanal bagels. Maybe I'll have to open up my own store.

I don't recommend living next to an ice cream parlor

I live (temporarily) near an ice cream parlor in Santa Cruz. It's called Marianne's, and it's probably my favorite ice cream parlor anywhere. Fresh. Great flavors. Prompt service. The only problem is, it's literally right across the street from my house, which means that I'm eating trough-loads of ice cream for every meal. This is bad news for me, especially in light of the article that my friend Sam sent me about porcine authors who never leave their homes and weigh 500 pounds. Tomorrow we're moving to another location just to get away from the ice cream parlor. I'll keep you posted.

Stink-eyed at Rite Aid

I was standing in line at Rite-Aid, just minding my own business, reading the Us magazine article about Britney Spears and the sleazy college student in the hot tub, when I looked up and saw that a guy in another line was staring at me in a very threatening manner. I am not sure why he was staring at me in this way. Anyhow, I had a friend with me in the line who stink-eyed him right back. I'm wondering if the starer is the same person who has been texting all those NFL scores into my cell phone.
In other news, I watched two DVD movies in the past two weeks. One was "The Host,'' about a man-eating slime monster in Korea. The other was "The Pursuit of Happyness,'' starring Will Smith as a guy who spends the whole movie chasing people up steep hills and hauling machinery around and shouting through traffic. I thought "Pursuit'' was way more scary than "The Host.''

Not a sports fan!

Some bozo keeps texting NFL scores into my cellphone.

Questions raised about my "Road'' review

Someone has raised a few questions about my short review of "The Road.'' This particular reader said she perused the book quite carefully and could not find any references to Starbucks in the book. Here, then, is a quotation from page 343 that directly addresses the Starbucks situation. I think it should put the issue to rest:

"The day dawned, ashes swirling, the usual pallor across the sky. The man and the boy saw a light in the distance, a pale burning in the middle horizon. Perhaps it's a farmhouse, and someone is home, thought the man. Perhaps there will be shelter, or tomatoes and cucumbers in jars. But when they got there, it was just another Starbucks. Disheartened, they walked inside, knowing there would be nothing to eat that day except a 'Heart Friendly' egg-white Swiss cheese sandwich on focaccia, a maple-nut scone and an extra large macchiato split between the both of them.

''I'm sick of Starbucks,'' said the boy. "I'm sick of all the sugar and caffeine and carbs.''
"But we've got no other options,'' said the man. "It's all we've got right now. Okay?''
"Okay,'' said the boy.''

Mammoth Lakes and the New York Times.

It was a little surreal to open up my favorite paper and see my story in there on Friday. I wrote about the Eastern Sierra -- specifically, about Mammoth Lakes. My family has been visiting that place, almost every year, for nearly four decades. It was scruffy in an appealing way back then. Lately it's been a real estate hot spot, with quite a few celebrity sightings. Pink proposed to her now-husband at a motocross there. Justin Timberlake (apparently a snowboard enthusiast) was seen hanging out in the Village, a relatively new lodging and retail complex not far from the base of Mammoth Mountain. When we first started visiting the place, it was as far from chi-chi as you can get. There were one or two "fancy'' restaurants. In the off-season, it was mostly a fishing village/backpacking retreat. Now you can get $300 bottles of wine with dinner, get an herbal mud wrap and eat foie gras sandwiches. I like the fact that some of the best "old stuff'' has survived, including Schat's Bakery, etc. Here is a link to the article...