A Day Without Plastic Bags

Plastic bags pop up in all sorts of places - beaches, hiking trails, wind-blown on the side of the highway, and ultimately landfills - and it's not a pretty sight.

Yes, it can be a hassle to remember to bring your own bags to the supermarket, but it's worth making the effort, especially on LA's first 'Day Without A Bag' - today, December 20.

According to Heal the Bay, LA County residents use six billion plastic bags each year and recycle only 5% of that amount. Cleaning up all those bags costs us, as taxpayers, millions annually.

So either bring your own stylin' bag or skip a bag altogether if it's a small purchase. The environment, your conscience, and your fellow Angelenos will all thank you!

LA Kings: Good ‘Ol Hockey Game at The Staples Center

Get into the winter spirit with a Kings game at The Staple Center – one of the few places with ice (ice cubes don’t count!) in sunny LA. So what if it lacks the cachet of the Lakers? Sticks clack, skates swoosh, ref whistles trill, bodies slam against the boards.



Last Monday, I was treated to a LA Kings v. Edmonton Oilers game. We were in the nosebleed seats in section 303, not necessarily a bad spot at The Staples Center. The air may be thinner in the section 300 sideline seats, but we had a full view of the ice and the tix were only $25/pp through Goldstar, a site specializing in discount event tix.



Better still, we were in the midst of true blue (ok, it's actually purple if you want to get all technical about the jersey color) Kings fans. They yelled out to their star players using affectionate monikers like “Cammy” for Michael Cammalleri and lovingly dissed their team: “That shot was as wide as my ex-girlfriend.”

Even if hockey is not your all-time favorite sport, everyone should experience the bizarro intermission entertainment at least once. Imagine three fans in clear giant beach balls scrambling back and forth across the ice in a race for an autographed jersey. Add in a Guitar Hero contest, fan rides on the Zamboni (the ice resurfacing machine), and the Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grade Hockey Fan? faceoff, and you start to get the idea. The brilliant thing about hockey is that there are three 20 minute periods, which means there are two intermissions – 2x the fun.



After the Kings came back in the 3rd period to tie it, the game went into a 5 minute OT. Still tied, the Edmonton Oilers emerged victorious after an exhilarating shootout. Add in a couple of good tussles and overall, it was an awesome night.

On the way out, I just couldn’t stop myself from humming that annoyingly catchy Stompin’ Tom Connors ode to the sport:

The good old hockey game,
Is the best game you can name;
And the best game you can name,
Is the good old Hockey game!



The area around the Staples Center has undergone a major facelift in the past few years. Check out the brightly-lit Nokia Theater across the street. Parking can be pricey in the lots around the Staples Center, around $15 to $20. So try looking for street parking or use the Metro Blue line, which stops nearby.

For another take on excitement that awaits you at a Kings game, check out this recent blog post from the Militant Angeleno.