If you’re looking at the post here on the blog, and you can’t believe your eyes, well, I understand. You’re thinking, “Our Man in LA doesn’t post on this blog anymore. He’s probably dead. Or probably part of one of those non-blogging cults so common out there on the left coast. He certainly doesn’t update the blog anymore. We haven’t heard word one about super-heroes, sporting events, or quirky slices of life in California.”

Then you’d probably mutter something to yourself about how I think I’m a big shot and how this always happens to people who leave middle America. I’ve heard it all before. Believe me, I have.

So here’s the skinny. Our Man in LA has been working crazy hours – both in his capacity as a fund raising agent for the YMCA of the USA and its International Y in Jerusalem (there’s kind of a war going on over there, which has busied up the calendar), and in his writer by night identity, where work continues apace on his new project and a couple of others are coming down the pike.

On top of that, it’s been extremely hot in LA (in the 90s, and don’t even get me started on the Valley) and so on and so forth. See what I mean? These excuses are meager. If I was reading this, I might believe that Our Man in LA was now part of a non-blogging cult and the excuses were just out there to throw you, the blog reader, off the truth.

So enough of the excuses. What I’ll give you instead are Our Man in LA’s patented reasons why you should be checking this space over the next few weeks:

1) Our Man and Woman in LA are running a marathon! Well, actually, not really. It’s a half marathon. But 13+ miles is still plenty impressive, and we’re doing it for a really good cause. If you haven’t checked it out yet, go to this site: http://aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=LA-9738&EventCode=DL06H&SearchBy=Team

You’ll learn about why and how Our Woman in LA and I are logging a hundred or so miles over the next few weeks to raise a few funds for AIDS Project LA, a very worthy non-profit that provides services and care to people dealing with HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles. You might not know this, but LA has the second highest population of people dealing with HIV/AIDS in the nation. If all the Angelenos with the disease were brought together in one place, they could fill Dodger Stadium.

Our Woman in LA and I are working to raise $3800 by the first week in August. As of today, we’re about halfway there, but we could totally use your help. If you’ve already donated, thanks so much. If you haven’t, there’s still time to aid this very important cause. Just click the link above, and the website will tell you what to do.

Thanks for listening. Also, check back with Our Man in LA over the next couple of weeks, and I’ll take you through the grueling training sessions, the encounters with disgusting training foods like “Gu” and gels, and much, much more. Seriously, there’ll be more. Really. No, I’ll think of stuff.

And look, Our Woman in LA and I running this half marathon – in the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland – is only one reason to check back with the chronically late Our Man in LA. What else, you ask?

How about:

2) Our Man in LA is so committed to his readers that he will age one year this Wednesday!

That’s right. It’s no small thing, either. Living in LA where youth is king, Our Man in LA is actually willing to age for his readers. Not a stunt! This Wednesday, he’ll go from being a smart-assed 33-year-old with delusions of something to being a smart-assed 34-year-old with similar delusions!

Seriously, how many other bloggers are willing to age just for you, the reader – and not even on that cool a day. July 19 is just your average Wednesday. According to my wife’s Birthday Book, it’s the “Day of Controlled Movement.” How lame is that? Others born on this date include axe murderer Lizzie Borden. How crappy is that?

But I’m still aging – just for you. I could have picked a cool day for all this, but I want to give my readers something special.

3) A Tuesday Top Five. Coming tomorrow. Really. I already have it worked out.

4) A Wednesday Bottom One. Choosing one hasn’t been easy.

So buckle up, folks. Hold on to those hats. We’ve got to do something to pass the summer, so I might as well come back around and interrupt your workday.

See you tomorrow.