It seems that in the last few weeks, there have been numerous articles about people driving around Orange County with guns in their car. Or, in the case of those guys in Fullerton, sleeping with guns in their car.

Is this some kind of new trend?

Or, have people always done it, and I just never got the memo?

The chances that you would actually need a gun while driving around town seem to be pretty slim to me. Yes, there was that woman in Los Alamitos who almost got robbed/kidnapped at her bank drive-up ATM, but she seemed to really have her wits about her and drove off instead. A very good, gun-less solution. Carjacking is a violent, horrible crime, but it truly doesn’t happen enough to warrant hauling your gun around everywhere with you.

Besides the small fact that it is illegal, people whose state of mind I have no clue about, driving with their precious 9mm riding shotgun, (I couldn’t resist, ok?) really freaks me out. (Changed from my erroneous 35mm, my husband was embarassed)

Anyone recommend a good broadband provider in Central Orange County?

I’m an Earthlink-Time Warner “High Speed” Internet customer and I’m into week two now of call center wait hell. I’m frequently being assured that “Your call is important to us, please continue to hold for the next available customer service representative.” Strange, I’m not feeling like my call is very important.
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My wife and I recently attended a matinee at the AMC Fullerton 20 theaters. I walked up to the box-office, paid for my tickets and got more than I bargained for. The cashier thrust two tickets, a receipt and an advertisement into my hand. Great, not only do I have to see ads in the lobby, before the movie (and often during the movie — hello product placement) but now I have to endure a box-office bombardment of crap as well.

When I studied the advertisement I was fairly dismayed to discover it was a flier directing me to purchase merchandise for the armed forces at their official government web site. I am not really sure why, but this severely rubbed me the wrong way. Why was the Fullerton AMC allowing the military to try and recruit me?

Find out after the jump…
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The California State Supreme Court will soon be issuing a ruling on a free speech case that originated on Balboa Island.

Long story short, it addresses a “prior restraint” order in which a judge told a Balboa woman that she was not allowed to say certain defamatory things about a bar which is next to a property that she owns.
Read about it here (and let me know if you can’t get in to see the story).

I think this is really interesting. On one hand, you have the right of the individual to free speech. On the oher, you have the results of that free speech, possibly defamatory, on a business. Should a judge be able to preemptively bar you from something you are likely to do?

I wrote a while back about a possible “remodeling” of Tom Sawyer’s Island to incorporate a pirate theme.

Well, it looks like it’s pretty much a done deal.

In response to some public outcry, a good portion of the existing attractions will remain intact, just with a little “Pirate” dressing. In fact, the book “Tom Sawyer” did indeed have a very minor pirate subplot, so it looks like they are going to tie it in that way.

We were just there again last week, and didn’t notice if Tom Sawyer’s island was closed for the upcoming refurbishment. It is due to open with its new theme in May, to coincide with the opening of the third movie. If they haven’t yet, and you want to see it in it’s original form, I’d hurry if I was you.

… for those of you living in the first supervisorial district.

It has come to my attention that most of you have been sent a large number of mail pieces from most of the candidates who are running for the open seat for the 1st district. It has also come to my attention that with the campaign entering the final weeks the opportunity for misleading fliers is starting to kick in.

Be alert and observant. This always happens in the final weeks, if you need accurate information on the candidates (such as Tom Umberg and other candidates) and where they stand on the issues visit OCvote.com. The Registrar of Voters can provide you with accurate ballot information that is directly from the campaigns of each of the candidates and will also provide you with information on your polling locations and where to turn in your absentee ballots.

I would like to introduce Kimberly Edds, the author of this article in The Orange County Register, to the word “allegedly”. Her account makes it seem like the man accused has already been tried and convicted. She presents this information as if it were fact, instead of accusation and allegation. Interesting, since there were no official charges filed at the time the article was published. Charges smarges.

Those pesky constitutional rights just get in the way of everything don’t they? Goddamn constitution. Besides, who needs due process when the Register seems to have a perpetual case of clairvoyancy?

My son and I were playing a game when the phone rang. I looked at the Caller ID window and it said in big letters, “ANGELS BASEBALL.”

Why are the Angels calling me at home?

I let the machine pick it up, because I didn’t feel like interrupting our game for a call I knew nothing about. A very nice, perky young lady left a message about how she would like to speak to me about my visit last year to Angel Stadium and talk about the upcoming season.

Ok, what are they selling? It can’t be season tickets, because didn’t they have to turn away people last year who wanted to get them?

Chances that they wish to discuss the crappy tickets I bought and how we always try to park across the street seem slim. Even worse, we aren’t Angel fans. Does that fact mean I am ineligible to write for this blog?

Recently, I made a trip for a doctor’s appointment in West Anaheim. As I live in Anaheim Hills, I thought to myself, that should be no problem. Just a straight shot down the 91, off at Beach. I made sure to make the appointment time after 930am, because I thought that most people would be at work by then and off the freeways.

Well, now that you’ve picked yourself up off the floor from laughing so hard at my naivete, I have a question for you. How do you do it? How do you keep yourself from weeping every time you get on the freeways here? I can’t even begin to imagine how much time in our lives is wasted from sitting in traffic.

When we first moved here in 2001, I was still working in Santa Monica, and I had a work schedule that made it somewhat bearable to make the commute. That changed during the latter part of 2002, and has never, ever recovered. And it is suposedly only going to get worse. I recently read some reports about the 91 being the most congested freeway in the United States, based on total hours of congestion, not just necessarily during “rush hour.” The 405 isn’t exactly a cakewalk, either.

What, for you, are the most troubling freeways or portions thereof, in Orange County? What suggestions would you have for the mucky-mucks that plan for our transportation needs?

Mine would be to actually have all the carpool ramps connect with each other! What a novel idea! That way, we wouldn’t have to get over five lanes in less than a mile and thus wind up backing up traffic for miles behind us as we attempt to actually merge out of the carpool lane to make it to the upcoming interchange.

Anybody else got any ideas?

Convert or be condemned to eternal damnation, or the unemployment line, whichever comes first.

Had they been ranked, I’m betting Meguiar’s Inc. would not have scored too well on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. What a shame because it sounds like a really pleasant place to work (wink, nod). Of course I couldn’t work there, because I am too busy preparing for my descent to the fiery bowels of hell. I’ll be sure to pack lightly; it’s not the heat that gets you, it’s the humidity!

What is Meguiar’s Inc. you ask? They are a lovely little car wax company in Irvine that (allegedly) enjoys firing people who are not going to heaven. They claim all of this is just a “publicity stunt”. If it truly is a “stunt” then it’s a really dreadful one that serves no purpose. I ask you, what can be gained by a “stunt” of this nature?