Sandy Banks writes in the Times that she took herself to UCLA Medical Center fearing she was in the middle of a heart attack, but found out after a couple of days of tests and rest that her blood pressure was high, her potassium was low and hear heart was skipping beats due to premature ventricular contraction.

It's hard not to feel foolish, guilty even, when you suck up so many hospital resources and then find out there is nothing seriously wrong....

I left with orders for further tests, a handful of prescriptions and instructions to rest more, drink less coffee and stop arguing with my kids.

On Saturday, I'll be back with the column I intended to write last week.

On the Opinion L.A. blog, LAT columnist Patt Morrison hopes the City Council — which is considering dropping the ban on hailing taxis on the street — won't "interfere with my simple pleasure of watching a visiting, unwitting New Yorker stand at a curb marked 'taxi zone' — markings probably stenciled there by a film crew — and keep with one arm futilely, heroically upraised for long, l-o-n-g minutes. It's a wonderful sight. It almost makes up for us not having the Statue of Liberty in LA Harbor."