Real estate is expensive here in Southern California, except in the rarest of circumstances being the most expensive thing we'll ever buy. So it's common to convert our garages to some other purpose and leave that second most expensive thing, the car, outside. After all, with 11 months of sunshine and just one month of rain, what harm could it do to the car?

For those of you who have never been to Southern California, here's a personal tour of some of the finest Southern California garages that I've inspected, or not inspected, as the case may be.

Figure 1. The general storage garage. This is the most common type of garage conversion.

Figure 2. The home gym garage. This type of conversion is popular with armchair quarterbacks and basketball officials.

Figure 3. The entertainment garage. This type of conversion is popular with families that have teenage children.

Figure 4. The home handyman's garage. This type of conversion is popular with the Jack-of-all-Trades. Do not touch anything in this garage unless given permission by the home handyman, preferably in writing, signed and notarized.

Figure 5. The electronic technician's garage. This type of conversion is popular with the family of computer geeks, nerds, and brainiacs. It doesn't matter how old the electronic gadget is, they know they'll find a use for it someday.

Figure 6. The hobbyist's garage. Tickets required; only $1 at the door. I actually offered to buy this model train set from this guy, but his new townhouse also had a garage, so he was taking the train layout with him.

Figure 7. The young child's campout garage. The owner here admitted to me that his young son used to sleep on that "bed" when he wanted to "camp out." But once the son got too big, dad didn't think it was safe for him anymore. Uh, it was never safe for him!

Figure 8. Who needs a garage? Besides, my F-350 won't fit in it.

Figure 9. Opening the vehicle door is soooooooo inconvenient.

I truly hope I've added some humor to your day to get your week off to a great start.