There are very few reasons I would get up at the ass-crack of dawn on a Sunday. Before dawn, actually. Good friends, a good cause, and a buttload of coffee. Today was the AIDS Project Los Angeles' annual AIDS Walk.

As my friends seemed to have brought Seattle with them when they flew down on Friday, the day was overcast and cool. They laughed at us Cali girls for wrapping up in sweatshirts in the sub-70 degree temps. But the cooler weather made for great walking.

What looked like half of L.A. turned out, as did a number of celebrities, from Peter Gallagher, to Carson and Jai from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

By the end, we were tired (none of us had slept the night before), our feet hurt, and my back was wondering if I wasn't taking out some sort of revenge on it. (I've had chronic back problems from the time I was 23.) But to be a part of something on this scale is inspiring. And it's amazing the huge cross-sections of humanity you encounter - everyone from the drag queens to the Bible groups.