As my son and I were driving past South Coast Plaza, we saw a woman holding a cardboard sign that read “UNEMPLOYED AND DESTITUTE. Any Help is Appreciated.” “She’s got a good vocabulary,” I said to the boy. “Someone should hire her.” Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Orange County
What Would Hope Do?
A young lady named Hope Xu — from University High right here in Irvine — scored a perfect 2400 on this year’s SAT exam. I’ve advised my 16-year-old son that henceforth, when he’s faced with a tough decision in life, he should ask himself the question “What would Hope Xu do?” I know one thing she wouldn’t do and that is to run into her dad’s bedroom at 11 p.m. and start doing flying front kicks when he’s trying to sleep. “Why are you doing that?” I ask him. “I just drank a Red Bull,” he says, then dances back out the door singing a song I don’t recognize . . . Read more →
Twitter: 2009-10-15
For nothing in the white hotel but love / Is offered at a price we can afford — D.M. Thomas # RT @HiltonHB Waterfront – Come decked out in USC gear & colors this Sat. to watch the game at Shades Lounge and get 10%off your bill 🙂 # Read more →
What Am I Thinking About?
High school roller hockey starts tonight. To prevent the use of ringers, each kid has to turn in an enlarged color copy of their school ID card. I reminded my son about that requirement last night as he was doing homework in his room. “Why don’t you go ahead and make the copy now while you’re thinking about it?” I said. “I’m not thinking about it,” he said. “You are thinking about it.” “What am I thinking about?” “Okay, do it your way,” I said, and left. “What did you come in here for?” he called after me. Hilarity is really going to ensue when he shows up for the game tonight and can’t play because he doesn’t have a copy of his ID card . . . Read more →
And That’s What He Does to People He LIKES!
Man accused of almost beheading best friend, setting him on fire — Orange County Register Read more →
Saturday Mornings at the Dog Park
I love Saturday mornings! My owner takes me to the dog park, then we drive through Starbucks and I get a Pup Cup, which is a paper cup filled with whipped cream. — Lightning Read more →
Twitter: 2009-09-17
Best practices premised on good results in the long-term but ppl R rewarded based on the results they got last quarter. http://bit.ly/aH7Vt # RT @OCWeekly: Halloween plans for Disneyland: New fireworks show, SPACE MOUNTAIN GHOST GALAXY + more – http://bit.ly/26pBZ1 # RT @GettyMuseum: Monkeys wearing hats? Green strawberries? Explore imaginative world of marginalia http://bit.ly/pHFh9 Check out interactive # Signed up for a free shot at work. They tried to stick a *needle* in me. # Jimmy Carter says criticism of Kanye is racially motivated… # Read more →
Orange County Restaurant Week, Sep 13-19
Special prix fixe menus from participating restaurants: $20 Dinner Menus $30 Dinner Menus $40 Dinner Menus You can’t go wrong with Orange Hill or Anaheim White House, in this reviewer’s opinion . . . Read more →
Twitter: 2009-08-27
RT @PeteCarroll: congrats to matt barkley on being named our starting qb… let's rip it matt! http://bit.ly/o7hbG (@USCRipsIt) # RT @OCWeekly: We round up our top five favorite things to eat at Disneyland: What'd we miss? http://bit.ly/15dKgE # Read more →
Twitter: 2009-08-25
RT @OCWeekly: Thanks to all those who have participated in the OC Weekly Flickr pool! http://www.flickr.com/groups/ocweekly/ # Read more →
The Moreno Valley: Junkyard of OC Dreams
The Moreno Valley is now the poster child for American housing gone wrong, and the New York Times weighed in with one of their stock magisterial pieces, the kinds that read purty but don’t say jack shit about reality. The Orange County connection is that two of the homeowners profiled in the piece moved to the MV because they couldn’t afford apartments in OC, which should clue the rest of the nation into how stupid they were to buy into Moreno Valley. Reporter Jennifer Steinhauer doesn’t note that even people in Colton ridicule Moreno Valley residents for living there. It’s not an area “filled with people priced out of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, or looking to escape louder, less-safe cities,” as the Times notes; it’s a place for fools who weren’t smart enough to buy a house in Calimesa. Shit, even Beaumont is better than Moreno Valley, and Beamount… Read more →
Twitter: 2009-08-20
Orange County Superior Court case search — more addictive than crack! http://tinyurl.com/ypkfqn # Read more →
New Used Books
I paid a visit to The Bookman — a local used book store — today, spent $36 and came home with the following haul: The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories, Leo Tolstoy Despair, Vladimir Nabokov Hunger, Knut Hamsun The Lover, Marguerite Duras New York Trilogy, Paul Auster Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray The White Hotel, D. M. Thomas Read more →
Twitter: 2009-08-11
Writing Microcopy http://bit.ly/pYMPz # Hof's Hut closes. Went there on my first date, then to a movie at the Cinedome, which was demolished 10 years ago. http://tinyurl.com/nkc2s8 # Read more →
Low-End Wealth
Flying back to California from the east coast, I sat next to one of about 60 kids coming back from a three-week tour of Europe to celebrate their graduation from an Orange County high school. “You guys must be rich,” I said to her, “traveling around Europe for three weeks.” “We’re on the low end of wealthy,” she said. She put her hand out in front of her, palm down — not too high — to indicate her standing on the wealth ladder. Read more →
Feeling the Burn
It’s a warm early summer day here in Southern California. As I come back to the office from lunch, a colleague is setting up one of those windshield screens to keep the sun from shining into her car all afternoon. Toughen up, sweetie. I like my steering wheel to be blazing hot when I return to my vehicle. The pain reminds me I’m alive. AAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Read more →
More People I’m Sick Unto Death Of
Adventurers Jonny Copp, a well-known mountain climber and adventurer who grew up in Fullerton, has been found dead on the side of Mount Edgar, China, the apparent victim of an avalanche, according to a variety of websites, including his own. — Orange County Register Three words that come to mind when I hear someone introduced as an “adventurer”: Die, die, die . . . Read more →
Twitter: 2009-05-07
@ReporterHaley I love acai smoothies. Where do you get them? in reply to ReporterHaley # RT @MSFTResearch: Microsoft Research has updated the humble Post-it note .. http://tinyurl.com/dkn2bq # I am hearing reports that the Swine Flu can be cured by…SUSHI ! # @ReporterHaley Have U tried Juice It Up acai bowls (not smoothies)? I’m addicted! Aliso Viejo store makes ’em the best… in reply to ReporterHaley # Read more →
You Had a Bad Day
Nick Adenhart pitched six scoreless innings for the Angels last night but took a no-decision as the bullpen came in and blew the lead. A few hours later, Adenhart was killed in a car smash in Fullerton by some drunken idiot who ran a red light. He was 22 years old . . . P.S. My son says Adenhart’s dad had flown out from Baltimore and saw his son pitch a great game, that Adenhart was “buzzing” in the locker room after the game, despite the loss, so maybe it wasn’t a bad day. Except for the dying part. P.P.S. The Angels postponed their game the following night, April 9. The local Angels TV station instead replayed the April 8 game — the Adenhart game. It was sad watching him walk off the field, not knowing it was the last time . . . Read more →
Microblog: 2009-04-05
RT @Ben373: Being responsible is below my pay grade. 🙂 (The New Yorker) # Temperatures soared into the 80s in Orange County this weekend. Thank god I stockpiled enough rum, Coke and ice to ride it out… # @Ben373 My wife is Asian. Your post gave her the idea of putting birthday candles in wonton soup. I can’t see how that’s going to work… in reply to Ben373 # Read more →