Beat on the brat with a baseball bat...

Maybe it's the weather or just that time of the year, but in the past few months we've been plagued by an abnormal number of unexpected nightly visitors. It used to just be the odd neighborhood cat that would land on our doorstep, but recently there have been several human intruders that have wandered to our doorstep--the scariest one was the intruder who tried to put his key into our front lock and open our front door.

!!!!

Luckily, the would-be intruder was drunk as hell and thought he was somewhere else--just a little misunderstanding. Same goes for the young woman who tried to scale our side wall after a night of partying. Or the two guys who were staying with neighbors and got locked out. For some reason, people seem to think my door is the magical portal home. Beam me up, Scotty!

Surprisingly enough, this is the first home my partner and I have had that doesn't have a locked front gate or common lobby area. We do have handy-dandy panic buttons linked to the police, and after a quick trip to Cliff's, bought a really inexpensive wooden axe handle that also doubles as...protection.

We also have a few other tricks up our sleeves in case anyone wants a piece of us. Any tips from readers? What do you do to make your home more secure?

Hong Kong Garden

Yesterday my partner and I went to lunch at the heroic Boulevard Cafe in Daly City before our suburban shopping extravaganza--basically our quarterly Target run, with a first-time-in-a-decade stop at JC Penney's (since I'm beginning to think it's important to support the retailers who support your community.)

Anyhow, while we over there, I saw this AMAZING apartment complex...I couldn't describe it. 1970s Asian? Each cluster of buildings was slightly different, some where Asian, others were Neoclassical (maybe a nod to the Greek community?) And all had varying takes on fretwork on the balconies.

Needless to say, I loved it. Would I want to live there? I don't know...I live in an Edwardian flat right now because it feels like San Francisco. But if I lived in someplace like LA, I think I'd totally want a home in a heroic complex like this: