DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I have to throw in one story about rural Minnesota vs. my life downtown. The night before the wedding everyone was invited to get pizza after the rehearsal. The wedding, and therefore the rehearsal, was in LeRoy, MN. The pizza place was in Spring Valley, a thriving metropolis of a couple thousand people about 15 miles away. My cousin and his wife live in New York, and on the way there she was talking about how crazy it is to her to have to drive 15-20 miles for pizza. I agreed, thinking about the variety of pizza places in a four block radius of my apartment.

Today I needed to get a cell phone charger for Kathy, to replace one she left in the hotel room in MN. I thought after going to the nearest Cingular store, which is maybe a mile away. I didn't want to go that far, though, so instead I walked to the corner of Spring & 6th, looked around and decided which of the three electronics stores I could see from there to try. I walked in and a minute later walked out with a $15 charger. Total distance from my building front door to the store... maybe 500 feet.

That's why I love civilization.