RETAIL ROUNDUP

We at Retail Roundup just got ourselves a cell phone, so if you

notice somebody swerving around wildly, crashing into you on the San

Diego Freeway and whisking through red lights with the greatest of ease,

that’s probably us.

Sure, it’s dangerous. But we noted in the venerable Los Angeles Times

on Monday that a survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration says 44% of drivers are chatting away on some form of

phone while cruising down the road.

The way we look at it, we’re just keeping up with the times.

And all this is a way of getting into a little notice about Sprint’s

effort to expand its Sprint ION service to Orange County.

The service is supposed to provide wickedly fast Internet access,

videoconferencing, and local and long-distance calling service in one

fairly nifty package.

Sounds fun. But can we get it in our car? Videoconferencing could be

just the missing ingredient to transform our driving habits from the

merely hazardous to the sublimely reckless.

BEAUTY OR THE BEAST?

We also note that The Clubhouse restaurant in South Coast Plaza is

throwing some sort of cross-marketing shindig tonight along with the

Orange County Performing Arts Center. The deal is that you can buy a

dinner package at The Clubhouse and get a ticket to see “Beauty & The

Beast” at the center.

Can we just say that we love synergy? We would be all over this

splendid deal if we didn’t have a hot date tonight to go eat batter-fried

potatoes and watch old musicians play at the Orange County Fair.

AND BACK TO THAT STUDY...

Can that possibly be true, by the way? That statistic about 44% of all

drivers being on the phone? The number seems a little high, and you

really can’t trust everything you read in the newspaper.

But those batter-fried potatoes: they’re definitely worth

investigating. Just try not to crash into us on your way out of the

parking lot.