for the second summer in a row i was blessed with the honor of boring high school kids about the ins and outs of online journalism, focusing on the blogs of the LA Times

a program called Newspapers2 gathers some of the most gifted youngsters of California and brings them to Cal State Long Beach for a week of learning about newspapers, digital technology, and omg blogging.

last year i spoke for an hour and this year they must have either liked me or someone bailed out because they gave me an hour an a half as i told stories about life as the blog editor, an overview of the blogosphere, and what we’ve been able to do at the Times in nearly 3 years of my tyrannical reign.

little did i know but three of the students were dutifully taking notes so that they could write a piece about my lecture. apparently the entire group is putting together a newspaper for the week, or a website, or a blog – i dont really know, because as you know i get ridiculously nervous when i have to rock the mic in front of large groups.

but as i advised the future of america, every week you should do stuff that makes you super nervous, that way when you find yourself in front of people like Bruce Willis, Hugh Hefner, or that hot chica across the dancefloor you can fake it real-good-like and get the job done.

when i was busy minding my own bees wax

first thing i saw were these guys who the security guard at the xbi swore were running our country.

America? i asked.

yessir, he said and i forgot my question because ive never gotten used to people calling me sir who werent bill collectors or beggars (same thing, i know, whatevs)

drove past these apartment buildings on the wesssside and wondered if the people in the complex on the right convinced their wives children and mistresses that the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence sidewalk.

this billboard had me speculating as to what exactly this new thing called “litigation insurance” meant. does it mean you buy insurance, and if someone say slips in your store and sues you – and you lose the case – and have to pay out a million bucks, then you go to the insurance company and they say oh ok dont sweat it We’ll pay the mil cuz you have insurance?

made me wonder if it was just cheaper to have the insurance and then hire a super inexpensive law firm and roll the dice.

then i cruised past Pinks. for some reason i cannot pass this 71-year-old hot dog stand without looking at how long the line is. typically it stretches around the corner and you hafta wait at least a half an hour.

as you see, only a dozen people were in line, so i pulled a totally unsafe and illegal u-turn and parked and got a turkey dog that i didnt even need, but it was impossible not to take advantage of rare occurrence.

interesting fact: pinks turkey dogs may have more girth and are slightly more healthy for you, but they do not feature the delightful Snap of the traditional pink’s dog. thus it fails. lesson: its a damn hot dog. get the one that tastes better over the one that is “better” for you.

then i saw all this trash that someone had politely placed IN A TREE

then i saw an old man wearing trousers walking his dogs and i wondered how old i needed to be before i get to wear trousers. and have little dogs.

then i found myself in Long Beach right in front of their crazy pyramid and i wondered why snoop dogg never had this on one of his album covers and/or why he never shot a music video in front of it. i mean no other part of LA has a freakin pyramid, but the LBC does – show it off nephew!