Check this:

On September 28th from 5:00 – 8:00pm, guests will be treated to a serving of Cole’s Creation*. In exchange for the free Creation, customers are encouraged to make donations to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

That’s right, go to a Coldstone for free ice cream tonight! Of course, technically it shouldn’t be free since you should donate at least a little bit so such a great charity. But, at least it might be a bit cheaper.

You might want to think twice about going to the one on Main St. in Orange, though.

I’m pleased to announce our new website. It has been a project which has caused late nights, early morning meetings, and yes… working on the weekends to see this to the result that we have today. I’m particularly found of the Blog, Your Party, and Your City pages.

I’m not going to give too much away on how the site works, future plans, etc… so just consider this a tour of the new site. I’m even making a more formal announcement at the Truman Dinner this Saturday (Talk about getting a plug in). I admit the previous website lacked a lot of features that were key to winning and attracting volunteers, I did a lot of work on that site, but I was a one man band: Web Designer, Editor, Author, Poster, IT, and back-end support. When the election season rolled around it became a lot of work for just me to do so we found a way to automate a lot of the work. We did that and more and I’m psyched to see it working.
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This Thursday marks the first night of Knott’s Scary Farm for 2006.

Does that ever bring back memories. Although I lived in LA County, it was on the South Eastern side, so trips to Orange County were almost easier than trips to Los Angeles proper. I will try not to date myself too badly, but when I was in high school, you just were not cool if you didn’t go. They didn’t have nearly as many nights as they do now, and there was a mad scramble to get tickets before they sold out. And of course, the closer to Halloween the better.

I also got to attend before they implemented the “no touching” rule, and one of the best memories I have of Knott’s Scary Farm was when we were walking through the ghost town and a guy dressed as a creepy something or other actually jumped down from a tree and grabbed my ankle. Scared the crap out of me, as I was not expecting anybody to jump out of a frickin’ tree.

I think they are more production heavy now, and even though I haven’t been in over 15 years (uh, I just dated myself, didn’t I?) it still sounds like it could be fun.

Did you know this Saturday, Sept. 30th, is Museum Day?

No, you say, and what exactly does that mean to me?

It means that on that day only, some select museums are allowing people in for free! The list isn’t as long as it could be, nor as short. It’s somewhere in the middle, with the Bowers Museum on the list, but not the Museum of Natural History.

For a list of participating museums in California, go here.

Every month I read with great interest the list of the eating establishments closed by the Orange County Health Division. They always list the reason for the closure, and they can range anywhere from “no hot water source” to “rodent Infestation.” And usually, if they have had to close the place down, it means it was pretty bad. Bad enough that you probably wouldn’t really want to know the details, because it would gross you out.

So what would you do if you saw a restaurant that you frequent on the closure list? Would you go back, or would it depend on the reason?

For instance, the Cold Stone on Main St. in Orange was closed in August due to “cockroach infestation.” Is that on a totally different level than, let’s say Tutto Mare Restaurant on Newport Center Drive for “sewage overflow?”

Some days, I just don’t want to even think about the kind of stuff that goes on in restaurant kitchens.

The Starbucks inside a Starbucks? Well, it looks like the only major coffee option at the Orange Circle is going to be Starbucks. After the corporate board of Diedrich’s announced the sale of almost all of their locations to Starbucks the news has finally trickled down to the local stores.

it seems the plan is to convert the one at the Orange Circle to a Starbucks by December. With a Starbucks across the street in the Wells Fargo Bank Building and the only independent options being the Ugly Mug up the street and the upscale espresso bar on the corner next to the beauty academy, there are not that many options left to find an independent cup of coffee (or free Wi-Fi) anymore in north OC.

I’m personally mixed on the sale. I’ve always like the local coffee house feel of Diedrich’s on my days off from work. I sometimes think that Starbucks tries too hard to be the “3rd place.” It will be interesting to see if Starbucks offers free WiFi at the former Diedrich’s stores near UCI and Chapman. It you want my bet, don’t count on it.

I had no idea, but I just read that both Old World in Huntington Beach and the Phoenix Club in Anaheim kicked off their Oktoberfest celebrations this weekend, even though it is still rather obviously September, with yet another week to go. Apparently September sucks so bad that they are just choosing to ignore it completely. So even if you missed the inaugural oom-pah-pah night, since when was the fact that it was Sunday prevent you from having a good time? What is work but just that inconvenient thing that pops up five or so days a week?

Throw on some lederhosen if you dare, order a pitcher or four, and get up on that stage to show the world your best chicken dance. You know you want to. Don’t let all that practicing in the mirror go to waste.

Want to see a bunch of great looking modern and vintage cars, and help fund a cure for prostate cancer at the same time? If the answer is yes, then head down to the Orange County Fairgrounds on Saturday. Gates open at 7am, which must be for the truly devoted aficionado, because I just can’t see myself getting up that early on a Saturday. One hundred percent of your $10 entrance fee goes to the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center. Children under twelve are free. So check out the artwork, throw back a brew at the beer garden, and congratulate yourself for donating to a great cause.

Although I confess to being easily excitable, the thought of a new fast-food restaurant doesn’t necessarily put me on cloud 9, so to speak.

I have just noticed that in Orange County, there tends to be a paucity of good fast food. And by that, I am just going with the qualification of having a drive-thru window. Because if I’m doing fast food, I’m tired and/or in a rush, so the last thing I want is to stand in line. Thus Chipotle, Baja Fresh, and that sort of walk-up style would not count.

Back where I used to live, there was a privately owned Mexican fast food restaurant that was to die for. Everyone in town loved it, so much so that there are actually two of them in the city, and the city isn’t even that big. Their menu was huge, and I have perhaps had one bad meal during the ten plus years I ate there.

I can’t find something like that here in the big Orange, and I’m just not willing to subject myself to sub-par fast food, because when it’s bad, it’s really bad. So I assume if I haven’t heard about it from word-of-mouth, it ain’t somewhere I want to try.

For example, within easy driving distance of where I live, there is not much variety. Two Del Tacos, (is that really necessary?) In’N’Out, Carls Jr, McDonald’s and a Jack in the Box. Oh, and one mom and pop place, but the menu is not very extensive.

And the other part of it is that I don’t really consider any of those to be healthy. Or at least, places I could at least trick myself into thinking I was eating healthy, which is half the battle. We don’t eat fast food that often, but when we do, we would at least like a bit of choice instead of the same five places over and over. So, Chick-fil-A seemed to fit that bill a bit better than, let’s say, a Taco Bell. Something different than hamburgers or corporate Mexican.

But, I guess if I get all happy about a talking trashcan, then maybe I’m just easy to please. Try teling that to my husband, though.

And exactly what is the reason behind my glee?

You know that Krispy Kreme, the big one that you can see off the 55 that’s on Tustin? Well, apparently it is no longer a Krispy Kreme. I had no clue that they had sold the property, as I have never been a huge fan of Krispy Kremes. Although it was kind of cool that it was a drive-thru.

I just found out that it is going to be- A Chick-fil-A! It is slated to open up sometime in November.

I never said I wasn’t pathetic.