Don't miss Pierce College's annual Farmwalk, beginning 9:30 a.m. Sunday. The earlier and the cooler, the better, I say.

Same Starbucks, different day, no dark roast.

Once again, the Canoga Avenue/Oxnard Street Starbucks had Pike Place and House -- no dark roasts.

I tried the House today, and it's better than Pike Place. House has a little more character.

So I go to Starbucks yesterday, Canoga Avenue and Oxnard Street in Woodland Hills, pretty much across the street from the Daily News. I was much kinder to Pike Place Roast than I should've been. It's pretty weak. I mean that literally. But there's always the dark roast of the day.

Not so much.

My choices were Pike Place and House Blend.

No dark roast.

Starbucks, are you trying to kill me? This isn't going to help profits.

Actually, it is, because the very helpful barista suggested that I add a shot of espresso. That made it go down better, except for the fact that my $1.90 coffee now cost $2.50.

Are there any of you out there? If so, e-mail me.

Since this is my nightshift day, we thought we'd go to Aroma in Studio City for a little something. Mobbed. Makes the weekends look downright doable at this extremely popular spot.

The line wasn't just out the door, it then went around the corner a bit.

A lot more people are ordering full meals at Aroma. While pricey, the food does look good. But I hate crowds. And I hate waiting.

We went to Coffee Bean on Whitsett Avenue and Ventura Boulevard. No line. No seats either. It was a bit windy outside (there might have been a free table out there). But inside, all three tables were occupied by lifers. Three inside tables for two. That's it.

We grabbed a couple chocolate chip cookies, went home and made our own tea. That what Studio City on a weekday afternoon will do to you.

I should take pictures, but in lieu, we have two tomato plants in pots, plus a garbanzo bean plant that the 4-year-old started from a seed (a dry bean plucked from the ones Ilene was about to cook).

I got the two tomato plants from Tomatomania. At $4 each, they weren't exactly a bargain, but we got to soak up the atmosphere at the Tapia Brothers Farm on Havenhurst Avenue in sort-of Encino.

One of the tomato seedlings is a Sweet 100, which is almost guaranteed to produce, since the fruits are small and many in number. Even the squirrels can't eat that many. The other plant is some kind of healthy hybrid with extra lycopene in the tomatoes. We'll see how it does.

I didn't even do tomato cages because I'm lazy and cheap. I figure I'll stake pieces of the plants if and when they get to that point.

And I'd love to even get a half-dozen garbanzo beans. Fresh garbanzos? It'll be amazing.

Ilene tells it way better, but I will sum up:

Issue 1
My father-in-law, he of the ladder-fall/coma/recovery transition, has taken to collecting pets. Since getting out of the hospital and recovering his mettle, he's acquired a dog (small), two canaries (smaller but one male and the other female), five more canaries from the resulting first clutch of eggs, two finches (again, one male, the other female) ... and he's not stopping there. On the drawing board: backyard pond with fish and turtles.

Issue 2
Our 4-year-old has taken this opportunity to tell us that she no longer wants to be a vegetarian (as we are) and that she wants meat, meat and more meat. Since she had never tasted meat, she got Ilene to take her to Trader Joe's, where she tasted the meaty (chickenish) sample. Now the teachers at preschool have been informed that little miss can, indeed, have meat if she wishes.

Today's preschool menu? Cheese enchiladas. ... no meat in sight.

Anyway, it's a kind of teenage rebellion, a quest for control ... except that SHE'S ONLY 4.

When a gallon of gas cost only $2, it was a case of apples and Orange Line, but now that I'm dropping $30 to fill my not-so-large gas tank, the $2.50 it will cost me today to make the round trip from Van Nuys to the Daily News in Woodland Hills is looking like quite a bargain.

Not factoring in wear, tear and maintenance on my car, I'm still saving a bundle, even with an 11-mile trip. To do that twice, I'm spending at least $4 on gas alone, so riding the Orange Line bus nets me $1.50 right off the top. And the more I do this, the longer my tires will last, the longer I can put off that 60,000-mile service, etc.

I'm taking the walk from the bus (Ilene gave me a ride to the station on the Van Nuys end) as an opportunity to get a little exercise, which I could really use.

And how could this not be helping the environment?

I'll probably do this two or three times this week. Today's trip was fairly quick -- a bit under a half-hour.

Like I said above, with $2 gas, it's not a huge, immediate savings, but $4 gas is enough to get me right out of my car.

A weekend visit to the Good Earth Restaurant in Studio City, Calif., is a reliable source of minor and mid-level star sightings (Jon Voight's a regular, as is Ed Begley Jr.), but today we spotted a celebrity of a different kind -- Adnan Ghalib.

Yes, the paparazzo who has been ever-so-close to Britney Spears of late (but not lately, it appears) was lunching at a window table with a young blonde -- not Britney -- about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19.

I've gotta tell you, he loses that funky beard-stripe thingy that extends from lower lip to chin, and he's just another dude in an Ed Hardy hoodie.

But give the man his due. He's been on the cover of the Star more times that even he may care to admit ... and that's good enough for me.

The comments all across the Daily News' Insidesocal.com empire are a bit hinky these days, but I've turned comments back on for this blog. It takes a dog's age for your comment to make its way into the system (don't adjust your set), but it should plunk itself down in the system for approval by the powers that be, i.e. me.