It was about 7:30pm on a week night when I first saw it. I walked out of my apartment building. I was on my way to the gym. I headed up the street and noticed something move like a cat towards an old Isuzu Trooper. I looked again -- the animal was too massive to be a cat. I immediately started crossing the street. I looked again. The creature was at least as big as a dog...I moved more quickly...and finally it registered. It was a raccoon. Not in the thick of the woods but in the middle of Westwood. Not in the middle of the night but just before the sun had begun to set. In case you didn't know, raccoons are nocturnal creatures by nature. Was it rabid? It didn't appear to be, as it quickly scurried underneath the Isuzu to take shelter (in retrospect, the fact that the raccoon was out in the daylight was merely an indiction of its swagger). As I walked faster up the other side of the street, I saw the raccoon lunge out from under the SUV and dash across the sidewalk towards the gated parking garage of another apartment building, where it plunged through a pair of bars that looked as if they'd been bent for this exact reason...to let the King of Westwood into his lair. Hardly able to believe what I just witnessed, I proceeded to the gym, burnt like 750 calories on the elliptical and walked a cautious walk home, eyes peeled for the raccoon. Fortunately, I made it home safely. When I got back to the apartment I relayed the events of the evening to Loren and Tim ("I saw a fucking raccoon! He hid under a car and then he ran into the parking garage!). Their response? Something like, "Mike, you're full of shit."