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Coffee From Heaven
zz: why did you not call your co-workers on that? i feel we owe it to the people serving us, to call out the jerks that are with us. also, i had a similar experience at the Coachouse in San Juan Capistrano. I went to see The Zombies, and I'm chewing the ice after finishing my whiskey sour. And I feel a chunk of glass. I call the waiter over and show him. he apologizes, and the manager comes over. they tell me they'll bring me free drinks the rest of the night. they ask if i'm okay, do i need a doctor. i tell them it didn't even cut me. but the chunk was friggin' huge. so, get this. they tell me that someone dropped a bottle in the kitchen and glass went all into the big container of ice. and, it's hard to see it in the ice (although, not sure why they didn't just throw out all the ice). they also said i could have free tickets to any upcoming concert. i said that wasn't necessary, as i didn't get hurt and the couple free drinks they brought were fine. they insisted, so i took tickets to see Arthur Lee and Love the following month. then, because i'm an idiot, i was out of town that day and didn't even use them!— March 3, 2009 11:53 p.m.
A sampling of San Diego's vanity license plates
readergal: I'll assume your neighbor is the one with OOSIK or whatever that was. All the other plates are self-explanitory. But on the topic of videos, my friend and I did a funny video as a joke for this story, but it's not posted. He has a BMW with a personalized plate, and an SUV with a regular plate. I had him standing in front of his SUV at the mall, and the joke was for me to approach him asking if he has a personalized plate. He looks down saying "Uh...yeah. This is it." The camera pans down, and you can clearly see it's not. He then says, "The number 8 is because I collected Matchbox cars when I was 8. The letter C is for the Chargers, because I'm a big fan. And, uh...the letter Q is because this car is 'quick'." This goes on with each letter/number on his plate, and you quickly realize that this person is just making this stuff up. I then say "Really? Your plate means that? It looks like just a random series of numbers and letters." He then looks at the camera, looks down at the plate, and runs. My camera is focused on him as he runs out of the frame. Well, as we were filming, there was an old lady putting groceries in her car, that just happened to be a few spaces over. As he starts running away, she looks up. I'm catching this out of the corner of my eye, thinking she's going to call the cops or something. Instead, in this Clara Peller/Where's the Beef? voice, she says "I don't think that plate is personalized. Or that the car even belongs to him!" It was classic.— March 3, 2009 11:49 p.m.
A sampling of San Diego's vanity license plates
Gavin: I lost a bet with my girlfriend over a year ago. I had never noticed that pattern of of number, letter letter letter, numbers. So in a parking lot, there was a combo that looked like: 1BOB414. I said "I wonder why Bob did that to his plates." She laughed and said "That's not a personalized plate." We bet dinner on it, and asked the guy. I lost, and found out that the plates have a pattern I had never noticed (I guess I keep my eyes on the road while driving...hehehehehe). Reggie: I wondered that, too! Because you can't have anything obstructing your plates, and sometimes those clear covers are really dirty, and I'm sure cops give fix-it tickets for that. And, regarding VH...I'd be more scared if it was a 5150 plate! Hey...everyone heard about the woman in Cleveland breast feeding her baby, while talking on the cell phone, right? Well... In the Journal, from May 3, 2007, there was a story about a woman that was denied the plate BRSTFDR by the California DMV. She posted that her civil rights had been violated. After a similar form letter to mine, and actually talking to someone on the phone, she posted, “I said it was ridiculous and that everything will offend someone. Either allow BRSTFDR or disallow all personalized plates. It didn't have profanity in it!” And, she has a point. I interviewed these guys in a car club dedicated to "Woody's." If someone is offended because of the slang with that word, would it be revoked?— March 3, 2009 11:38 p.m.
Drug Busts at Schools
POT UPDATE: Wow, everyone thought the Michael Phelps bong smoking incident was wild, get this. On Headline News just now, I heard about these guys that got arrested for smoking pot. And, they had a 6 month kitten stuffed into the bong. One of the guys said the kitten was always really hyper, and they were trying to make it more mellow. The authorities say the kitten was lethargic and almost appeared to be asleep.— March 3, 2009 10:54 a.m.
Coffee From Heaven
I don't disagree with that. But Abby said you should say "not interested" and keep walking. I think that term is a tad rude, when you can say "no thanks."— March 2, 2009 11:43 p.m.
A sampling of San Diego's vanity license plates
TC: Oh yeah, I remember Wes. Met him a few times. He told a great story (opposite of ones here with cops NOT giving people tickets), police thinking his eye problems mean he's on drugs. He's a great guy. You only needed one of those three words for me to remember him...hehehehehe. I guess a fire department thing would get you out of some tickets. I was with my stepbrother when a cop let him off of a ticket, saying "My wife is a teacher, too. I never give teachers tickets." But, most teachers probably do, with the cop saying "My teachers in high school always gave me bad grades. So...you're getting this ticket!" Who knows, although I have no problem with cops not giving other cops tickets. It makes sense. If someone got a RUSH license plate, their car might be keyed by someone thinking it was for Rush Limbaugh. You'd need to squeeze in a 2112. Or have it on a red Barchetta or something. I have no idea why the DMV would care about WTFOVER, as even if you knew what the WTF stood for, who cares? It's not a curse word. In the DMV handbook on personalized plates, they do say something interesting. If a word IS NOT a curse word now, but someday becomes one, or ends up with a slang meaning, they will pull it. Even if that wasn't your intent. They care very little about intent, it's about how other drivers interpret it NOW. But when authorities go down this path, it's very odd. I had a friend on the football team in high school, who wasn't allowed to wear his jersey in the group photo. He was #69. Now, it's one thing if he was holding up a sign with that number, but it's on his jersey, along with lots of the other football players that had their jerseys on (and weren't asked to take them off). Regarding Dr. Seuss...I would think his first wife (who wrote a few of his early books), would think that she was a Grinch. After all, he stole her husband, and she killed herself because of that (and lingering cancer problems).— March 2, 2009 5:31 p.m.
Last Chance Homeless
I just heard that on the radio, that it was the same tiger. Insane! That's why it's hard for me to have sympathy when something bad happens in situations like this. Yeah, Penn was so great in that role. It's weird, Bill O'Reily went on, at least two or three different days, about how Frank L should've won for Nixon, because "he was Nixon," but that "Penn would win because of Prop 8 and all the Hollywood types that support that." Well, I'd love to ask Bill, why Frank was so much more Nixon than Penn was Milk. In a lot of ways, Penn had a tougher job, as he had to play a gay character, and he's not gay. He had to have certain mannerisms, without going over the top and going into parody. And, yes, Frank was great as Nixon, but c'mon. Who can't do a Nixon voice? I was disturbed by the daughters treatment of her father, but probably not as much as you. Here's why. They made it perfectly clear, that Dustin Hoffman wasn't a great father. He says as much. He implies he had a drinking problem (and it looks, like he still hits the bottle more than he should). He admits he wasn't there as much as he should've been. The ex-wife talks about various things that bothered her about him. BUT...all that, to me, doesn't add up to the things the daughter was doing on her big day.— March 2, 2009 3:12 p.m.
A sampling of San Diego's vanity license plates
T.C...I can't place who Wes is, sorry. I had a friend growing up, named Wes Jones that I've been looking for. I can't place a Wes Johnston, though. Regarding cops and getting tickets, I was once swerving around the Balboa Park area. Since my plate says WSKYBAR, the cop said "How much whiskey have you had tonight, sir?" Luckily, it was just something bothering my contact lense, and he didn't give me the ticket (I've also had people ask if it is SKY BAR, which is the name of a place Cindy Crawfords husband used to own). I've had friends that have "police support" bumper stickers, and they swear that gets them out of tickets. Whatever. I'm not sure I believe that, or would even want a goofy sticker like that on my car, but who knows. A cop I dated that lives in Poway...I've thrown her name out there and got out of a few tickets, so maybe bumper stickers and plates work. Duhbya: I get the WTF part, but not sure I get the "OVER" part of that plate. Something from the original version of the story that was edited out: Bay Park resident Joni George told me she had a plate that read THX MOMY. “I bought the car with the inheritance when my mom died. I was thanking her for the car. But when I first got it, I wondered if people would get the meaning out of context and think my mom just gave me the car and then think less of me. I don’t want someone thinking an expensive car was given to me, when in actuality, it was a tribute to my deceased mother.”— March 2, 2009 10:18 a.m.
A sampling of San Diego's vanity license plates
Sassy: I had a maroon '65 Mustang at one time. I wish I still did. A glass artist that I'm friends with, has "OHGLASS" on her plates. I've never told her, but I think she could've come up with something a bit more clever than that. Scribe: I met a Doors fan that was commenting on liking my WSKYBAR plates. He said he tried to get the Doors song THE END, but it was taken (probably not by a Doors fan, as that could have many meanings). They also wanted LAND HO, but the DMV said the word "HO" was unacceptable, because it can be short for "whore". I asked if he explained to the DMV, that saying "Land ho!" is a phrase people say when they're out to sea. He didn't explain, as he wasn't sure what the best approach would've been. I had someone at the movie theatres in Fashion Valley leave a note, when I had WSKYBAR on my Sebring. It was two pages long, saying "Are you some idiot that thinks you're Jim Morrison." It went on and on, and the guy I saw the movie with thought it was the funniest note ever. I thought it was funny they used letterhead from the hotel they worked at. I think I've seen the WUT CURB on the Hummer as well, a few years back. I remember being behind it and being on the phone, telling my friend how funny it was. I wonder if the DMV would let you get something like YUCK FOU, as it's obvious what you're doing, but you aren't actually spelling the offensive word. On January 22 of this year, USA Today did a story titled “Drivers Defend Their Pithy Plates.” It starts off with the story about a Stacy Moore, who had a plate reading “XSTACY” on her Camaro. A few cars and 20 years later, that plate was on a TrailBlazer. And because of the drug ecstasy, the Nevada DMV, which bans references to narcotics on plates, made her return it.— March 2, 2009 1:18 a.m.
Viva la Restitution
It's always funny to see teenagers with Che on their shirt. Or with the anarhcy symbol. My friend says we should beat the crap out of them, take their skateboard...and when they complain about it, say "Hey man...that's anarchy. Anything goes. And, I just took something of yours. No need to call the cops, it's anarchy!"— March 1, 2009 12:49 p.m.