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November 2005

Yogi and the Gang

From Hartsville, South Carolina. It’s apparently the only Yogi Bear’s Honey Fried Chicken left in the world. I’d read that it was there, but had completely forgotten until I drove by it this afternoon on the way home…

Greensboro had one too. As I remember, it opened and closed within the space of about a year when I was seven or eight years old. Yogi’s was a national (or at least regional) franchise in the early 1970s, along with such other memorables as Minnie Pearl’s, Heap Big Beef, and Lum’s, home of the Ollieburger…

It’s a pity I’d already eaten today…

Yogi Bear Graveyard

It’s the Toilets, Stupid

Just for the record, I’ve decided that my first priority in buying a house is not the number of bedrooms, the size of the yard, the neighborhood, or anything of the sort. My first priority in buying a house is to find one that still has its original bathroom fixtures rather than the USELESS FUCKING LOW-FLOW TOILETS I’ve had to live with (by law) for so many years now…

Sorry. It needed to be said. And many of you were thinking the same thing, no matter how environmentally-minded you like to believe yourself to be…

Road Trip

 

I’m going to Myrtle Beach tomorrow…

Why would I do this in mid-November on the coldest weekend of the year so far?

Because I’ve been wanting to for a few months now. Because I found a room at the Red Roof Inn for about thirty bucks. Because I’m very excited about spending a freezing cold night by the sea. Because I haven’t had a chance to poke around down there all by myself in almost twenty years. Because I’m in a bit of a funk and need to get out of this apartment for a while. And pretty much just because I damned well feel like it…

Early Morning in Charlotte

The neighborhood Wal-Mart Supercenter is strangely pleasant at 5:30 in the morning. Employees outnumber customers about two to one, there are no lines, and everyone is really friendly and says “hello” when you walk by. Actually, this being the south, they all say “hey”…

I drowned my sorrows after dropping Mark off at the airport (he’s spending another month working in San Francisco) by picking up some of those great cinammon buns that are only $1.44 for a four-pack. I also discovered that Antichrist Inc. sells its own brand of (passably good) English toasting bread…

I love roaming around town at odd hours when there’s no one else on the streets. Maybe it’s my antisocial nature, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, even though this particular morning was the coldest one of the year so far…

Mmmm. Hard freeze…

Onward Christian Sausages

I stumbled into this band’s website sort of by accident, but I think I love them:

Q: Is Girl for Samson a Christian band?

A: No, although, many of Girl for Samson’s songs deal with the process of creating, destroying and recycling human sausages.

Marketing

By way of clarification, I’d generally rather shop at Target as well. They have nicer stores and the whole shopping experience is generally more pleasant than at Wal-Mart. But my point — and the theme of the article cited — is that I don’t equate Target’s enhanced shopping experience nor their elevated sense of style and fashion with some false notion of moral or ethical superiority…

Ultimately, Target and Wal-Mart are two very competent retailers who do everything they can to maximize profits. The only siginificant differences are aesthetics and demographics. The fact that Target attracts stylish middle-class urbanites rather than fat, boring low-income rural and ethnic shoppers does not by definition make it more “socially conscious”. It’s all marketing. Period…