RETAIL ROUNDUP

We were intrigued to note that Maggiano’s Little Italy in Costa Mesa

will be holding a “Great Italian Chef Search.” The event is a competition

in which locals can enter their finest cannelloni (or lasagna, or

whatever), get a chance to cook up a version of it in Maggiano’s kitchen

and possibly even win a trip to Italy.

What’s so intriguing about that? Just that the people judging the

contest will be “established journalists and food experts.”

And we at Retail Roundup are both -- or so we keep telling ourselves.

We’ll be waiting for the call from the judging committee, our tasting

forks at the ready.

WE GET SO EMOTIONAL

For all of you who own the little electronic dogs known as Sony AIBO

Entertainment Robots (You o7 dof7 have one, don’t you? We at Retail

Roundup have a whole litter of them scampering around the office), Sony

will be holding a free, “veterinarian-like” clinic Saturday at the

Promenade in Santa Monica.

At this charming event, we can get our AIBOs tuned up and examined,

and we can pick up some tips on how to “raise and train AIBO for optimal

performance.”

If you’re not aware of what this little robotic dog is, suffice it to

say that it’s a little metal beast that, according to Sony’s Web site,

“is capable of six different emotional states: joy, sadness, anger,

surprise, fear and discontent.”

That’s only one good emotion, and five lousy ones. No wonder we relate

to these dogs so well!

WE SHOULD BE SO LUCKY

Finally, to thematically complement last week’s item about National

Hot Dog Month, we would like to note that extreme motocross jump expert

Seth Enslow will appear July 14 at the Orange County Fair.

Enslow busted his skull on a big crash in Las Vegas, but that hasn’t

stopped him. He’s going to be flying through the Costa Mesa air,

undaunted, in training for another world record attempt.

Go, Enslow, go! And don’t forget to wear your helmet.