Travel Blizzard Come in from the cold.

We live in the Age of Advertising. This is sometimes more noticeable when you visit another city, state, or country. When you travel, you might notice the commercials more than usual because they are not the same old commercials that are engraved in your brain. On a recent trip to Los Angeles a commercial for Israel's Ministry of Tourism caught me without my yamaka. The tag line for the commercial was a play on the promised land, "No one belongs here more than you." Now, I want my Zionist TV as any body else but the I just never imagined how you can sell refugee camps, constant warfare, and apartheid.

What also surprised me about television in Los Angeles is that they have a surf report. And it is not uncommon to put some jams while doing the weather forecast. But my favorite news segment had to be the trend style report! While there, between national and local news, I learned from the style report that boyfriend jeans are going to be big! Following the style report, there was a Octomom report!

Oh yeah, we were talking about advertising... I have a short attention span, because of advertising. If you are new to Los Angeles the first thing you notice is not necessarily the skyline, it is all the ads on the little skyline there is. While there I saw Pepsi ads that spanned all 10-15 stories of a building. You can see them miles away, as you are landing...

One of my favorite spots in Los Angeles is Melrose Place, I mean Melrose Boulevard. Off of Melrose you will find the longest line for a hot dog I have ever seen. The line at Pink's is longer than your typical Hollywood premiere.. Pink's is a small restaurant and the crow goes around the business next door and down the block. You can smell the hot dogs from a block down, it's smell is stronger than the gas and smog smell from local mechanic shops. It is said that the average wait for one of these coveted hot dogs is 45 minutes off peak hours, during the weekend your wait will be nearly two hours. By the time you get a chance to order, you are so hungry you want to order everything off the menu, which makes those behind you wait even longer.