How Dumb Could a Person Possibly Be?

Inglewood Sidewalk, originally uploaded by Gamut's Edge.

The title of this post is a quote I lifted from my family's Christmas dinner which we ate on Christmas Eve. This morning, the day after Christmas, I woke up in the LAX Westin once again feeling hung over from my Christmas day travels. My Christmas started at 4:00 am with a -5 degree F car refuel in the dark frozen wastes of Fond du Lac Wisconsin and ended with me marveling at the palm trees that line the streets leading out of LAX airport. While we checked into the hotel Flavor Flav was standing next to us at the check in counter talking to the other desk clerk. Flavor looked a lot older than the guy having convulsions in the video for "911 is a Joke".

While laying in bed this morning recovering from exhaustion I turned on the TV. I love to watch the crazy local news in Los Angeles. Today, the all white news team was on location at area malls reporting on the day after Christmas deals that could be had because of the current economic crisis. Apparently if you have money this is a great time to buy designer shoes.

After a cup of coffee I decided it was time to go look for some photos to feed to this blog. I set out on a little hike around Inglewood. Inglewood doesn't look like the greatest place to find post holiday bargains on luxury items. Most every business was boarded up. Shortly after I took the photo at the top of this post a guy jay walked across six lanes of traffic and walked right behind me for a block and a half. I started to feel a little paranoid about carrying $4500 worth of camera equipment over my shoulder. Who'd rob me on a busy street in broad daylight?

I started back towards my hotel. On the way I ran into the usual panhandlers that hang out on the border zone between Inglewood and the airport hotels. It was easy to say no to the beggars today because I am completely broke. It's either you eat with my money or I eat with my money. Call me greedy, but that choice is easy for me to make.

When I finally got back to the Westin the driveway in front of the lobby was lined with expensive imported cars. At that point I felt like the sole member of the shrinking middle class.