You may have seen Boogie Box Fitness on the news or in the paper lately. Its the latest work out to hit Orange County and classes have been popping up everywhere.

Care to burn up to 1100 calories in less than an hour?
“This workout is a high intensity fusion of hip hop & Latin dancing, mixed with kickboxing, plyometric exercises and military drills choreographed in intervals in order to really burn off those calories!”

All I have to say is be ready to sweat. Its not a ladies only class either, so guys head on out!

This Friday is a launch party and free class in the Lake Forest area at 6:30 pm.
Xtreme Dance
26439 Rancho Parkway South #175
Foothill Ranch, CA

I’ll be there, but don’t expect me to be able to hold a conversation once class has started…

LA Boxing in Lake Forest is offering a free class here!

Classes available are boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts and are scheduled throughout the day and evening. There are classes for men, women and children.

Grab a friend and check it out, there will be a bunch of us newbies on Wednesday at 6:30 pm!

Located off the 5 Freeway at El Toro
24320 Swartz Drive
Lake Forest, CA 92630
949-859-4269

Let me begin by saying I grew up as a Dodger fan.  I was born and raised in the LA area and my family had season tickets for about 15 years until Fox bought the team and jacked up the price and actually physically moved what were once fantastic seats.  Instead of being five rows from the field between the opposing team’s dugout and home plate, we somehow wound up much closer to first base and more like 30 rows from the field, and all for a bigger price.

When Fox took over the Dodgers, that sort of soured me on the team, and my loyalty has never managed to recover.  To go from the O’Malleys to soulless Fox was wrenching.  It also probably didn’t help that I had met my husband-to-be, who also hated the Dodgers, despite also having been born and raised in LA County.

Oh, you must be thinking, he was an Angels fan, right?

Wrong, he was an unabashed Yankees fan.  When he was a young lad of 12 or so, Don Mattingly of the Yankees was at his peak.  My young-version husband latched on to good old Donnie and has never let go of the Yankees.   Which is ironic because Don Mattingly is now a hitting coach for the Dodgers.

But, as you can see, my husband was no fair-weather Yankee fan.  They have always been his team, and by default, they became mine. 

So you’ll have to forgive me as I am gleefully watching Guerrero struggle at the plate, and thanking the stars that the Angels have made so many defensive errors.  I mean really, Angels fans, they’ve been especially horrible in the field so far this series. 

We are also fully aware that the Angels usually have the Yankees’ number, having a winning record against them that normally sends us home packing.

So, may the best team win.

I am watching the  11:00 a.m. news on ABC7, one of the perks of working part-time, and they just did a story about how you can’t tailgate in the parking lots at Angels stadium. Wait, let me clarify … you can tailgate, but you can’t drink alcohol. What!?! But here’s where it gets really stupid. There was a private lot across the street, that charged the same as the stadium, that did let you booze it up. However, the City of Anaheim shut it down for the playoffs citing zoning violations.

As a huge sports fan I take offense to this. Tailgating, with alcohol, is part of the experience. Of course there are always people who drink too much and become belligerent and want to start a fight with anyone for any reason, but that can happen anywhere.

What everyone needs to remember is tailgating is about celebrating the commonality that is your team, which makes it a community. When you have a shared community you have respect, or should have, and that means respecting your fellow fans and the fans of the other team. I’m all for good natured ribbing of the rival team especially if they come into your stadium all decked out in their teams gear. It’s expected and if you don’t know this you’re very very naive. Remember though, mean-spirited barbs and violence is never appropriate.

Okay, end of my rant. Do you guys agree with me or the City of Anaheim?

Unfortunately, I can’t imbed this particular video from the ABC7 website (it was shot earlier than the live shot I saw), but click here to see the video/story.

So, I was at my local Ralph’s the other day getting fixin’s for sandwiches. As I was waiting for my stuff at the deli counter I looked to my right and saw this …

(more…)

Fire Knife of Samoa presents the 6th Annual Fire Knife Championships in Anaheim on Saturday, September 5th and Sunday, September 6th (4 PM to 10 PM). The event is located outdoors at the Pearson Park Amphitheater, 401 N. Lemon St., Anaheim, CA, 92805.

So, the wifey and I attended last year’s event and had ‘spec-freaking-tacular’ time! The contest is “hosted by the actual descendants of Freddie Letuli, the man who literally invented the concept of adding fire to the traditional knife dances the warriors performed before and after battles”. Last year was so fun we’re planning on attending again on the night of the final competition (that’s Sunday for those keeping track). I know the poster says 4PM but we showed up at 6 PM and it was perfect – the sun was setting, the heat dissipated and the night sky was literally on fire!

Anyone care to meet us there for some fun out of the sun? Maybe we can have have drinkies at Hotel Menage afterwards?

I’m sure many of you are wondering what the hell I’m talking about. On the other hand, I know there are a lot of Western Pennsylvania/tri-state area transplants that live in Orange County and know exactly what I’m referring to. I’m also sure there are many of you that don’t give a crap.

IC Light served in a one pint stubby bottle at Players Sports Grill

Since it’s football season again that means it’s time for me to head back to my local Steelers sports bar*. There are a few in Orange County, but Player’s Sports Grill is the official OC home to the Black & Gold Brigade and the one I frequent. During football season they carry Iron City and IC Light beers in bottles only.

Iron City (yuk!) and IC Light (yum!) are readily available in every single bar in Pittsburgh, so no big deal. However, it is a big deal in Orange County, well, at least for some of us, OK … me. For the record it’s not the best light beer, but it’s better than Coor’s Light. I think so anyway.

IC Light isn’t even my favorite regional beer, that would be Straub, but I’ve yet to find it in Orange County. So, if anyone has come across it, comment away.

I’m sharing this since it is quintessentially Pittsburgh and I still miss my city, especially after reading this. I’m guessing there are some of you out there who’d like a taste of home that’s not limited to Heinz ketchup. Don’t we all want and get excited for things that are not readily available, especially if it makes you feel nostalgic?

So OC Metbloggers, share your hometown imports – and where we can find them – with the rest of us, maybe we’ll get turned on to your local/regional favorites. SoCal favorites are accepted as well. Nor does it have to be beer … where to find homemade pierogi would also be of interest to yours truly.

* Click on this list to see all of the Steelers fan-friendly bars, not only in Orange County, but all over the country.

I’m a huge tennis fan so I’ve been watching, when I can, end-to-end daily coverage of Wimbledon on ESPN2, until yesterday. I woke up early and saw the end of the Federer match. At 7:00 a.m. PDT, ESPN announces that they are going to stay with the match until it ends, but that NBC is picking up the coverage at 10:00 a.m. in ALL time zones. WTF?

That means the rest of the live matches will be over by the time 10:00 a.m. rolls around here and the scores posted all over the Internet. There were only eight matches yesterday, four women’s and four men’s. It happened again today, no live matches after Safina’s (which went past 7:00/10:00 a.m.) and there were only four women’s matches. The same stupid set-up is scheduled for tomorrow. God forbid they preempt the Today Show. Does anyone on the West Coast even watch it? Everyone I know either watches Good Day L.A. or KTLA.

By the way, NBC pulled this same bullshit with the 2008 Summer Olympics … tape delaying coverage for the West Coast, while airing live on the East Coast. I mean seriously, the Olympics, they only come around every four years. We couldn’t even watch Fishy Phelps win his 8th gold medal live. Is anyone else as pissed-off about this as me?

So you ask, what the hell does this have to do with Orange County? It’s where my TV is. Simple as that.

Whereupon the Angel fan makes a derogatory remark about having to share the Fullerton bar’s bathroom with a Dodger fan.

The Dodger fan then makes a profanity-laced retort regarding the Angels.

They start to fight, which eventually leads to the Dodger fan knifing the Angel fan in the neck and face with a folding pocket knife.

Apparently twenty one years without a World Series title makes people a little bitter.

(Edited to add that the victim suffered only minor injuries.)

Fox’s hit show, So You Think You Can Dance, is having auditions for season 5 of their show right here in Los Angeles for L.A., Orange County and the surrounding areas.
If you watched the show last season, you may remember Orange County dominated, with 3 dancers in the top 10, Katee, Kherington and Twitch (I know. Dancers and their names.)
Why Orange County rocks and audition info after the jump:
(more…)