As I was waiting for the bus this morning I noticed something outrageous. At the Moulton Parkway Auto Spa (24202 Moulton Parkway Laguna Woods, Ca 92637) the price of “Super” gas was $3.33. At first I though someone was playing a prank and switched one side of the sign, but upon further investigation all signs reflected that price.
On the contrary, the Arco and Mobil stations at the same intersection are selling their premium grade at $2.23 and $2.25 respectivly.

I know gas prices are on their way up, but this is a litle much. Either the owner of the Moulton Auto Spa wants to get everyone ready for the increase, got a bad deal on a delivery of gas, or the gas is really super and requires a premium price. (it would need to make my cat get 50+ miles to the gallon or make it fly to be worth it to me)

The Register reports that a few people are upset by the fact that the Anaheim White House Restaurant has recently named a new room for Barack Obama. Never mind that the restaurant has rooms named after presidents from both parties. Instead, the owner got some hate email from disgruntled people after sending out a promotional notice.

“I am not an Obama supporter,” read one angry e-mail. “I could never be, and as much as having an African-American in the White House could be a good thing, having one with Marxist ideals is certainly not a good thing! I will not be patronizing your restaurant, much less the ‘Obama Room.'”

Ah well, they’ve always got the Nixon room to make them feel better.

I caught this while riding my bike south on PCH. Catalina silhouetted by the sun. I really love coastal California. This ride took me on about 17 miles of coast.

This Friday January 30, Lucha VaVoom is coming to The Grove of Anaheim. The shows contains Lucha Lubre, or wrestling for you gringos out there, a burlesque show by several different performers and comedy acts by Tom Kenny(voice of Spongebob Squarepants), Blaine Capatch and, one of my favorites, Patton Oswalt. It looks to be a good time. You can get tickets here. A quick search showed me a $50/ticket price, but if you enter the code “MASK” you can get “buy one get one free”!! (You can thank Spencer Cross over at LA Metblogs for the pw.)

C'mon you little Hulkamaniacs!

If you really want to see live wrestling but can’t hack the $50 $25/ticket pricetag, check out M 1 W Pro Wrestling happening at Santa Ana High School Saturday afternoon at 2pm.
Tickets are only $8 for adults and $5 for children and students/ID!
A friend of mine is the famous infamous Red Tornado! So go cheer him on! As if that wasn’t incentive enough to go, there’s a good chance you’ll see me there too!

A Steal at Only $500,00!

We recently decided to refinance our home, and luckily we were able to get the mortgage rates at their lowest point in a while.

During the process, we were asked what we thought our home was worth, and we gave what we felt was a reasonable answer. Well, after doing comps on the computer, the appraiser came back with a figure that was fifty grand less! Which scared us, because we thought it was already pretty low. But, we bought our property almost eight years ago, which at least put us in a position that wasn’t upside-down.

All homeowners know that their home values have decreased in the past year. At the peak of the housing boom, our home was valued at over $200,000 more than it is now. Ouch! We had been tempted to sell our home and get one of those fancy ARMS.

But let’s face it, real estate prices were highly overinflated, and we are now reaping the consequences of that ill-advised bubble in the form of a recession.

So now that banks are tightening up credit access and in most cases requiring a twenty percent down payment just like the good old days, how much longer can homeowners price small, older houses for over $600,000 like this one?

Yes, it may be a lovely house with lovely features. But it was still built in 1961 with less than 1700 square feet. Does $649,000 sound like a value price to you?

As homeowners, we all want to think our property is worth top dollar. But it’s time to face reality, folks.

With the closing of Club Libby Lou, or as we call it my house, The Build a Whore Workshop, you may be wondering where your can take your daughters (or son’s I suppose) to get all gussied up like princesses. Well, in an uncharacteristic move, Disneyland has let the cat out of the bag by posting this sign in front of the (now former) Once Upon a Time… shop inside of Disneyland.

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique already exists in Walt Disney World Florida and it’s wildly popular. So it’s no surprise that Anaheim has been harboring not-so-secret desires for their own version of the kiddy makeover salon. You’re little ones will have their choice of hairstyles, makeup, nails and gowns to complete that signature Disney Princess look. The closing of CLL in DTD seems to be fortuitous indeed. Now the mouse has a local monopoly!

Will you be bringing your kids to the new Princessory?

You guys, I’m so excited about this. Virgin America is my favorite airline to fly and now they’ll be flying out of Orange County! I became a “founding member” of their frequent flyer program Elevate when I signed up before their first plane even left the ground 2 summers ago. I heard about what they had planned and saw the pictures of what was to come and I was sold. My first flight with them was in February last year and it was an amazing (I’m realizing I use that word far too much….but in this case it’s true). Thanks to a storm over New York we ended up on the plane for almost 8 hours, but thanks to all of the special features of the plane, including the large comfy seats, leg room and Red, the seat-back computer system, time flew by almost too fast (no pun intended). In fact, I just recently got their credit card to help me build miles.

Oh, and did I mention it’s SUPER DUPER CHEAP?!?!

If you ever get to fly with them, I’m quite sure you won’t regret it and you’ll be spoiled, never wanting to fly another airline again.
I only hope they start service to New York from John Wayne……maybe I’ll start a petition. Anyone wanna sign??
Almost forgot. Service starts April 30

Panera Bread will be offering free coffee all day tomorrow, January 28, 2009, as well as samples of their new breakfast fare. Visit their website to find the nearest location, or check out the list of 11 OC cafes below.

Orange
2214 North Tustin Street

Tustin
13205 Jamboree Road
2467 Park Avenue

Irvine
6372 Irvine Boulevard
3988 Barranca Parkway

Fullerton
2415 E. Chapman Avenue
1981 Sunnycrest Drive

Newport Beach
1348 Bison Avenue

Lake Forest
23592 Rockfield Boulevard

Costa Mesa
235 East 17th Street

La Mirada
15224 Rosecrans Avenue

In 2000, four year old Brandon Zucker was trapped and crushed by the taxi cabs on the Roger Rabbit ride. He died today after being found unresponsive at his Anaheim home at the age of 13.

According to the LA Times, Brandon suffered severe brain injuries and never recovered.

I always find it horrifically tragic when people go on family outings to amusement parks, only to be injured or even die.  Any death or injury is tragic, but it always seems especially wrong when what was supposed to be a day of fun turns into what will forever be a day of sadness.

Rest in peace, Brandon.

Anyone who’s been to California Adventure knows it has had a really rough time getting going and, with the exception of a few gems here and there, the park kinda sucks. I was in the first parade DCA had, Eureka, when there were many days of performing to a near empty park, so I remember the tough times well. In fact, it was so bad we often called it “The parking lot they turned into a parking lot.” Sure, over the years they’ve added some new attractions (A Bug’s Land, Tower Of Terror, and Toy Story Mania….one of my new favorites), but the park as a whole just isn’t welcoming.
Well things are about to change……..a lot.
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