This raccoon, however, is ridiculously large. I would wager that it weighs roughly 30-40 pounds (14-18kg).
This is only newsworthy to me because of the raccoon's size. Most raccoons we have around here are at most half the size of this specimen. The quality of the picture is so poor because that is the closest I could get without cutting out any part of the animal.
Poor guy, took it right on the chin, as dictates the stoic's manual.
I was walking by the community swimming pool, and was surprised to see this.
One can purchase 3 high-quality plain t-shirts for $10 plus sales tax at these stores, so it makes little sense to steal something from these generous proprietors.
However, somebody didn't tell the kid in the picture above how cheap the garments cost, as he took it upon himself to steal clothing under the watchful eye of CCTV.
Thankfully, this petty thief has been shamed by the owner in this series of video stills that resides next to the door.
The cop told me that the driver is okay and then offered me free pre-mixed cement.
Ever seen anything like this before?
I'll be back on Monday to begin my Asian-style pastoral training. Anybody want to come with?
Do you guys/girls ever go fishing? I do see girls fishing from time to time, so it's not unheard of.
So, what's your favorite fruit?
Why do you think they don't want anybody knowing where they are? Other tenants in the building don't even know it's a Wal Mart office - I asked two and they said it was a real estate company in there. Hmm. Very interesting.
They really are fascinating creatures, the way in which they protect themselves is quite remarkable. It's really the first bullet-proof vest, if you think about it. They don armour that isn't part of their body in order to protect themselves.
I just find these simple creatures to be incredible.
Note: I found him on my trowel in the backyard, took him in the garage for some photos (he was a natural in front of the camera), and then brought him back to right where I found him. I even made a mark so I could return the trowel to the exact same place from which I took it. No snails harmed here; I love them far too much.
Yogurt and cheese were my final hold-outs, and it appears that the former has gone the way of milk, cream, and many others. Now it's down to cheese, but I doubt I'll be able to eat that for very long.
Are you lactose intolerant? It started to hit me around 19-20 years old, and at 25, it's nearly destroyed my capacity to consume dairy products. Oh well, I won't lament the loss of the ability to process lactose - I'll just accept it.
Photo: Copyright, PA from telegraph.co.uk
What is your favorite mobile phone game or app at the moment? I'm always looking for new stuff, so I'm anxious to hear what my dear readers have to say!
Image: Copyright, Andreas Illiger
I'd have to say that I am partial to the Law & Order series and police procedural dramas in general. 
Here's a picture of a backyard I just visited in Newport Beach, CA. Must be nice, huh? Would you like to live here? A tsunami might ruin everything, though.
We had severe winds this morning, at roughly 30kph, with 100kph winds forecasted for the night - though I've seen no evidence of these winds that were reported via the emergency broadcast network, as their monotonous female computer voice so kindly interrupted my Law and Order marathon.
That being said, this area is not known for its rain. It is, however, known for having schizophrenic weather, as evidenced by the photo I posted of the sunny beach on Friday (it's now 22:45 on Sunday - 55.5 hours after that post).
Anyway, this weather has severely interrupted my nightly jog/walk, and I'm feeling a bit restless. One can only walk up and down the stairs so many times before those nicely carpeted steps lose their allure.
I hope everybody had a lovely weekend. I didn't, as I am sick once again. My immune system is really taking a beating as of late.
Now, however, there is allegedly a cloud of radioactive particles floating over our beautiful coastline. Do people here care? Nope! As you can see from this photo taken at 15:05 local time, the main beach in Laguna Beach, CA, is quite crowded.
Go figure...
Tsunami? Let's go watch! Radiation? Let's not give a shit! Funny world we live in.
What about you, dear readers? What languages do you speak? Which would you like to learn?
UPDATE: Given StareDad's proclivity for programming in many languages, I'd also like you to list any programming languages you know! Good call, StareDad!
The petrol station pictured here is an average price for my area; $4.139 is the highest price I've seen for 87-octane petrol. That being said, last time I wrote about how we had just passed the $1/liter mark; however, that was some 18 cents ago. The price for a liter is now 107.2 cents - and climbing.
The sign pictured here started the day at a mere $4.019 - something I would have loved to have paid. By 12:30pm, the price moved up 4 cents, and this was on a day when the markets were closed.
Without using currency exchange rates, how much is a liter of fuel where you live? And, if you're in a part of the US that is not California, how much does it cost where you live?
*For some reason, the American spelling of this word - with 2 l's - looks wrong to me now.
Well, I'm in one of these communities, and the only thing that's happened is severe overreaction. The police set up a blockade for a kilometer around the harbor from all directions, preventing me from getting to two restaurants I work out of. This makes little sense, though, because Coast Highway is actually closer to the ocean in some parts than the harbor's shopping area.
The only abnormality here is that there are literally hundreds of boats out on the ocean. Even on a hot summer day there have never been so many boats out on the water around here.
Apart from that, there's nothing out of the ordinary here vis-à-vis the tsunami. My thoughts (not prayers) are with the Japanese as they struggle through this horrific disaster.
I want to thank all my readers, especially the people who comment frequently on my posts. You guys/girls are bloody awesome.
Also, I'd like to say thank you to all of you for your kind words in my previous post. I really appreciate it.
Unfortunately, due to some people not having profile pictures, I can't tell who was follower number 200 :-(
What about you, loyal readers? Are your parents divorced, and did it bother you at all? This may sound callous, but it doesn't bother me one bit.
So, what's your favorite non-alcoholic beverage? Post away!
UPDATE (09.03.2011): I've tallied your votes below, and the top three choices were Water (12 mentions - including mine as the tie-breaker), Soda (11 mentions), and tea (10 mentions).
Very close in the end, with honorable mentions for smoothies, juice, and milk!
How is this the least bit acceptable?
It turns out I was spot-on, and this parade caused me to do all kinds of extra driving and clever navigating only a local could accomplish.
Once past the parade, I thought I was free to speed on up the coast, roughly ten miles to the other place in which I work. In this case, I was dead wrong. The city directly to the north was having a parade of its own, meaning that I was left to struggle through detours for more than an hour.
So, after leaving the home base around 11:45am, I didn't reach the other location - just ten miles up the road - until 1:10pm. Couple that with the fact that it was 28C (86F) outside, tourists rarely know how to drive, and the truck I was using lacked air conditioning; and I was made to be in a perfectly dreadful mood as a result of these tedious parades.
In future, you may go march your local celebrities, dressed-up marines, and driving advertisements elsewhere. Thanks very much.
It was very odd driving down the street with no lights. Have you had a similar experience? It's very weird, yet extremely cool at the same time.
I just wanted to extend my thanks and gratitude to all my readers/followers for contributing to this. I remember being chuffed about 250 views, and I genuinely did not expect to reach this momentous plateau so quickly.
So once again, thanks to all, and if you happen to be visiting when the views clock strikes 2,000, leave a comment so I can thank you and give you a shout out!
Thanks, everybody! ¡Muchas gracias por tu apoyo!
Have you got a favorite podcast? A podcast that you await eagerly, maniacally refreshing iTunes as you wait impatiently for its arrival?
Do post in the comments section below!
Picture credit: guardian.co.uk
There's a very good, frustrating reason for this: I took a nap.
Sleep beguiled me with its charms and I fell victim to the age-old trick known as a 'nap'. As I imagined, the nap felt spectacular, as giving in normally does.
Sleep tempted me with promises of eradicating my boredom, relieving a bit of sleepiness, and leaving me perfectly dehydrated. In other words, it was a mighty temptation.
And, as Oscar Wilde remarked in Lady Windermere's Fan, 'I can resist everything except temptation'.
I wholeheartedly concur, Mr Wilde.
Fernando Torres (pictured) is playing for Chelsea against usual title rivals Manchester United - the first time he's met them since his move from Liverpool.This website is also good for live sport and many other things - especially films. It has virtually eradicated any last morsels of boredom from my nightly walks.
The quality of the streams is fantastic; it looks as though you are legitimately watching television. Many people stream large blocks of a single show, such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, and Top Gear. This is great because one can simply start watching a channel at any time and he or she will be treated to something magnificent.
All you need to do is go to veetle.com, the mobile version, which is simply a list of good channels, will show up. All you need to do is tap the channel you want to watch, and it will load in the iPhone's QuickTime player, and you'll be set.
I wish you many hours of entertainment whilst walking, sitting in class, or queueing - it's spectacular regardless of where you are or what you're doing.
As wonderful as that may sound, Sunday is the day on which I do the most sleeping. I really cannot be bothered to get out of bed at all on Sundays, but today I was out of the house by 7:45am.
I'm the worst kind of cantankerous when I've not had enough sleep, but today I feel strangely relaxed. Perhaps it's a sign that I should actually get up out of bed on Sundays.
Probably won't happen, though. Sitting is just about my favorite thing to do.
Americans are so used to their silly, super-sanitized suburban neighborhoods that they need to be reminded that their Labrador isn't the only animal in the world.
Here we are, just a few days later, and much to the chagrin of SUV drivers up and down California, we have met (and surpassed) $3.785 per gallon for 87-octane fuel. For the record, 91-octane petrol passed this mark some time ago.
As I passed my local fill-up station today, I was stunned to see that the price for 87 octane had risen dramatically quickly to $3.859 per gallon. This, logically, put the 91 octane at $4.059 per gallon - a price not seen in the US since the petroleum supply in the southern United States was interrupted by Hurricane Katrina.
This brings the price of petrol in Southern California up to 102 cents per liter, the very same price I paid for a whole US gallon when I started driving 9 years ago.
We are only in February, roughly four months before the annual spike in gas prices, meaning that the price will only be going up from here.
I think we have all but seen the end of the era in which Americans pay far less for gas than their European counterparts. When broken down per unit of currency, we are now paying almost the same as those in Europe (currency conversions aside).
I'll never forget the day my high school economics teacher told us that we would never see gas for under $2 per gallon again. That was the only bit of truth he told us burnouts during that astonishingly boring semester immediately before my graduation.
It turns out there's another place constantly advertising here that I've never seen. This place is called Golden Corral. It appears to be some sort of seafood buffet costing 'around 10 dollars', as they invariably put it.
The closest one, however, is nearly 100 miles away, and I've never seen it, nor known anybody who has eaten there.
Then again, this place could be just like Sizzler and fully exist without my knowledge (or consent, for that matter).
I know most Americans do not use the metric system, but paying less than $1.00 per liter used to set the American driver apart from his or her European/Canadian counterparts.
1 US gallon is equal to 3.785 liters, so as soon as the price (currently at $3.659 per gallon) reaches $3.789 per gallon, we Californians will be paying $1.00 per liter for gas/petrol.
So, $45 to fill up my 45-liter Honda? I bet that V8 SUV isn't making you feel very clever right now.
