Psst ... Are You Interested in Writing for Patch?

1. Are you interested in being a contributor to Rancho Santa Margarita Patch? Writers are meeting on Thursday, 6:30 p.m., in a secret location; if you want to join the team, contact martin.henderson@patch.com as soon as possible.

2. There's a Trabuco Canyon Water District meeting tonight, 7 p.m., at 32003 Dove Canyon Drive. If that's too dry for you, there's a at Dove Canyon and Plano Trabuco from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

3. The cheapest gas in town, based on Tuesday's prices at GasBuddy.com, is at the Arco station at Empresa and Santa Margarita Parkway. A gallon of regular is $3.29. That price has held steady for a week.

4. On this date in history, Jan. 19, 1974, second-ranked Notre Dame beat the visiting UCLA men's basketball team, 71-70, to snap the Bruins' 88-game winning streak after overcoming an 11-point deficit with 3-1/2 minutes to play; a week later at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA scored a 94-75 victory. In 1977, President Gerald Ford pardoned Tokyo Rose, and in 1999 a Southern California man was charged with cyberstalking three weeks after the law went on the books; he was sentenced to six years in prison.

5. Famous birthdays today include Dolly Parton (65), Paula Deen (64), Junior Seau (42) and painter Thomas Kincade (53); also born were the late Janis Joplin (1943), artist Paul Cezanne (1839), Edgar Allen Poe (1809) and Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807). Seriously, who knew Dolly was older than Paula Deen?