2007 LA trip recap

Got to take my first vacation in quite a while this past week for New Year's, visiting Shally's/my friends/relatives in Vegas and LA. Some highlights and observations:

Prius
We showed up at National rent-a-car at LAX, filled out the paperwork for the cheapest compact-level, and walked out to pick up our car. We had two choices - a PT Cruiser, and a Prius! Naturally we went with the latter. Some amusing idiosyncracies about the Prius:
- it took us 10 mins to figure out how to turn on the engine. There's a power button (like a computer!), but what we didn't know was that you need to remove the emergency brake and hold down the brake pedal, then hit the power button in order to turn on the engine. Even then it was hard to tell whether the engine was on because the electric motor is just about completely silent.
- the onboard computer display can be very distracting until you get used to it, because it gives you a real-time update on whether you're using the electric or gas engine, when the battery is being charged, and what MPG you're getting at any given moment. Maybe this is why Prius drivers are notorious for going slow... they're too busy trying to max out their MPG.
- I haven't figured out yet how the hybrid's gas/electric motors know when to engage. Using the electric to go from 0 mph to 15 mph makes a lot of sense since accelerating from a stop is when most of the gas is used, but it seems like the gas engine needs to be restarted often... not sure how they do that.
- we averaged 44 mpg for the trip. I've never been able to fill up a tank with less than 9 gallons before.
- it gave me a surprising amount of peace of mind in the midst of the legendary LA traffic to know that I wasn't idling and spewing emissions into the air while not moving. All in all, I'll probably get a hybrid as my next car.

Vegas
Didn't spend much time on the strip this year aside from a visit to the Wynn and walking in the fashion mall. We spent most of the time at the house of one of Shally's HS friends, played a ton of Rock Band.

Old friends
I enjoy seeing how people live - what their typical week looks like, their homes, offices, frequently visited stores, people they hang out with, etc.

Spent New Year's w/ NorCal Canaan transplants Andy and Esther at their place in Orange, with Chris making the drive over from his parents' place.
- Mario and Sonic at the Olympics on the Wii, Speed Scrabble (Chris is a monster), hot pot, cake, some catching up, reflections on 2007. It was neat to hear about the adjustments that A/E have made in setting the foundation for their marriage and adjusting to LA.

Got to see Cal buddy Danny, hear him order food in Korean (don't think I've heard him speak Korean before - maybe that helps with the illusion that many people have thinking he's Chinese - speak more Korean in public!), learned a bit about the social justice/law scene and talked some about Obama's presidential campaign.

Finally, got to hang out with my bro at his pad in downtown - very posh (full court indoor basketball gym!), see what a young high-powered lawyer lives like, and got to play with some of the neat gadgets (see below).

Other gadgets
- we got to borrow my brother's GPS system while down in SoCal. Talk about a lifesaver! LA freeways are so utterly confusing - lanes on either side that suddenly lead to other freeways, the well-known traffic, carpool lanes that you can only enter in designated sections... having a GPS to help correct our route when we went off-course, and letting us know when to stay in one lane or the other, combined with the Prius' electric drive system to make what would normally be stressful LA driving into... well, not stressless, but much easier.
- my dad recently got me an iPod, so I've now joined the iPod generation. I'll admit, it is awfully nice to have all my music in one place, available anywhere. We spent a good portion of the drive from Vegas-LA and back listening to an audiobook of Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, the author of the Tipping Point, which I also finished on the trip. Blink is about the psychology and science of human instincts... pretty interesting stuff, may warrant its own post in the future.
- does anyone know if it's possible to sort by "Album Artist" rather than "Artist" from the iPod interface?
- my brother's HD-DVD setup was quite impressive. We watched the "Planet Earth" HD-DVD and were stunned at the clarity and detail of nature - better than the human eye. That's the future right there.

Food
No vacation is complete without food! We got a pretty good variety:
- SoCal frozen yogurt from Pinkberry and Red Mango - why don't they open up one of these in NorCal?
- famous moist, flavorful bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes in Vegas
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- Hot Pot @ Andy/Esther's
- Andy's recipe for French toast with mixed fruit/Grand Marnier topping and maple syrup
- cheap Chinese food in Monterey Park (7 dishes for < $50)
- dol sot bi bim bap with kalbi bits in Koreatown
- sea bass, duck confit, and sweet potato fries from a French bistro in LA downtown
- high-quality sashimi lunch from Sushi-Gen for a relatively bargain price of $15