2012 Jan 29 | downtown public library, Glu games on phone (Gun Bros)



Some kind of accident on the highway.



There's a fire truck, a tow truck, a semi, an SUV with a smashed-up hood, and a pickup. Not sure who hit whom, but it slowed traffic down.



Pretty sunset on the way home.



Had a deaf mute patient, so the exam consisted of a lots of writing and thumbs up/down.



The little Chinese restaurant beside the office always gives me tons of food. However, it's almost too much; I can barely eat it without spilling.



I'm gonna hang on to this one.



The clerk at a little convenience store near my apartment has lots of pictures up of him and pretty girls.



Really, why all the stamps? Can't they just weight it at the post office and you pay that?



Ooh, another snack pack from the parents. :)



Although the Pringles didn't survive the trip.



The public library downtown is only a few blocks from my apartment.



There are some pools out front with neat statues.



The one closest to the doors.



There are also some pretty little park-like areas.



Some fountains.



The directory; it's a pretty big building.



Looking down the escalators.



Aw, man, no Economist?



It's weird with how every recipe ever invented should be on the internet, they aren't, and there are tons of recipes that might be lost forever in all of these books.



An area with tables for reading. This guy was taking pictures of some foreign recipes.



A standing-only, 15-minute use computer center.



And a bigger one with more time and chairs.



VHS tapes; not many people still use these.



I thought the book I wanted was in this section, so I was a bit annoyed about the "cannot be checked out" part, but it was actually the same number but in a different section. These were really old books, so not being checked out made sense.



Well that's annoying. Why not just open those up?



The fiction books are in loose alphabetical order, not exact.



Aw, man, I forgot to validate my ticket at the library, so I had to pay $8. I think it's still $4 if you validate, though, so I'm just gonna walk from now on.



The most annoying part is you're supposed to use this card or key fob. I hate carrying anything extra in my wallet or on my key chain, so I'm gonna see if I can do it by just giving them my phone number instead.



I wanted the new Stephen King or PJ O'Rourke book, but they were both not on the shelf, so I settled for this.



And actually, the explanations of the poem are more interesting than the poem itself; it adds a ton of info that I'd normally have no idea about.



My favorite chips in LA! One time you could buy them in bulk in bags they had out, but I haven't seen that since. I'm gonna have to ask the workers if they can bag a bunch up for me some time, I guess.



Ah ha! My favorite loofah! I couldn't remember where I found this type, but apparently at least Ralph's sells them. I would have bought every one they had, but they only had one, and the other Ralph's I've been to didn't have any.



I've seen lots of missing dog posters, but that's the cutest one ever.



I was going to go to FedEx to ship something, but there was a UPS store I noticed right by the grocery store, so I went there instead. There was a huge line and only one guy working, so he apologized when he got to me. I said no big deal, it's happened to me before when I was working alone and I understand. He asked what I do, I answered, and then he said he needed an eye exam, so I gave him a business card. Now I wonder if he'll actually come in.



I hate this question. If I have a big enough hammer, I can break anything.



That's a pretty good discount, but it's still really expensive.



A friendly, no-money poker game on Friday night. I brought a lot of the snacks that mom and dad sent and the gals absolutely loved the licorice. Here Joanna is happy for Marie Grace because she won the hand, but Marie Grace is mad because she wants to lose so she can just be the dealer, heh.



And a good time was had by all.



Hmm, this looks like it could be decent.



Uh... I don't see any noodles, nor chunks of chicken; just a bunch of powder. Maybe they'll magically appear?



Nope. Not to mention it tasted nothing like chicken noodle soup and was really disgusting.



Gun Bros is a fun game on my phone from Glu. However, the good weapons are really expensive. You can download other apps, like the Zynga Poker at the bottom, to get War Bucks, but at 1 buck a download, it's gonna take forever to get to the 100+ bucks you need for the good weapons. You also don't get war bucks by just playing the game, only gold.



You can perform other offers that give you a lot more, but I don't think applying for a credit card is worth some in-game currency, especially at the risk of messing up my credit.



You can also complete in-game quests that change each day to get war bucks. However, the one that give you war bucks often require you to use items that you have to buy with war bucks, making you come out even.



This guy has the most expensive gun in the game, which costs nearly 10 times more than the second most-expensive one. I don't think he could complete enough offers to get 3499 war bucks. You can actually straight-up buy war bucks with real money, but it would cost $500. Hmm.



Some of the other apps I downloaded to get war bucks. Some are actually kind of fun, but some are bad. Oh well, I can just delete them.



The war bucks I got from downloading the above apps.



This was one game which is actually fun. You fight gladiator style. It's very similar to an iPhone-only app called Infinity Blade, although that game is better. Too bad they won't port it to Android because they're wary of it being hacked.



Although it's another Glu game, which means it tries to get you to spend real money to get in-game items. How about "better practice more" instead of "buy better equipment"?



Again, not even close to being able to afford even decent weapons and armor with money from just playing the game; you'd have to download apps, complete offers, or pay real money.



Ooh, this is so slimy. I want to cancel this service, but I actually have to call them and wait on hold to do it. Really, I should be able to do this online instead.



A speed-dating Meetup. I'm betting all those women with blank profile pics are fake ones created by the organizer. A lot of Meetup groups here are really just fronts for companies that want you to pay for their services, like this one.



I put up with not getting service or getting basically unusable service from AT&T in my apartment for half a year after moving, but after the office tried calling to tell me a patient was there and they couldn't get ahold of me, I decided I had to switch. You'd think "lack of service in your own apartment resulting in potential medical malpractice" would get you out of a phone contract, but according to the AT&T customer service agents I talked to, nope. Oh well, I filed a complaint with the FCC to try to get my money back; we'll see if it works.