Water, water everywhere -- and not a drop to drink
Everyone is dying to know how it went, but this blog is not about work. So don't ask here. But I'll just give you one adjective: cool.
I found the good grocery store here, called Vons. It's still no Wegmans, far from it, but it isn't as bad as Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) or Trader Vic's, both of which have horrible food and high prices. I will never forgive Whole Paycheck for their "sushi." And Trader Vic's needs its birthday taken away for having a great selection of beer, NONE OF WHICH IS IN A FRIGGIN' COOLER!!!
Cheap, quality housing and good grocery stores are things Southern Californians have no idea how bad they're missing them. The problem with all the stores vs. Wegmans is that they are all corporate and Wegmans is still privately owned.
Some things should not be corporate, in my opinion. Pretty much anything having to do with food is much better off being privately owned. Local restaurants, grocers, and farms almost always have better products that are better for you than their corporate competition.
Some things are better for being corporate. Pretty much anything having to do with transportation or travel. Especially hotels. When I'm on the road, I like that I pretty much know what the Super 8 is going to be like before I get there.
As much as I do like local restaurants, sometimes you just want to go someplace where you know the rules. Every restaurant is different. Some, you order at a counter then wait for a person to bring food to the table. Others, you seat yourself.
One of the worst examples is Heids in Liverpool, NY. I love this hot dog stand, but the first person you come to at the counter takes your drink and side order only (unless that side is a pickle, mac salad, or if the drink is milk), and does not care at all what kind of hot dog or other meat product you want. Everyone who comes there for the first time orders everything there and has to be told that they have to wait until later down the line to order those things. Even though the menu for those items is posted right behind drink guy and not behind grill people at all.
I want to think this is some sort efficient setup, which evolved after years of processing long lines of hungry Liverpundians, if the people behind the counter farther down the line didn't ask you what side you ordered all over again and seem to just be getting it together for you after the second order. Then you have to remember what you want at the grill again, and look back at the menu that drink guy is now blocking your view of.
Then, if the weather is less then perfect (how often is that in Liverpool, though), you have to carry your full, top heavy trays through the line, against traffic, to sit an eat inside.
With all that said, I'd go wait in that line for a Cony and fries right now.
Oh, I figured out the motto for the real estate in The AV, which has miles and miles of open desert dotted with vast islands of tightly packed residential neighborhoods, with .08 acres of land on each plot.
"Land, land everywhere — and none of it's your yard."
I found the good grocery store here, called Vons. It's still no Wegmans, far from it, but it isn't as bad as Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) or Trader Vic's, both of which have horrible food and high prices. I will never forgive Whole Paycheck for their "sushi." And Trader Vic's needs its birthday taken away for having a great selection of beer, NONE OF WHICH IS IN A FRIGGIN' COOLER!!!
Cheap, quality housing and good grocery stores are things Southern Californians have no idea how bad they're missing them. The problem with all the stores vs. Wegmans is that they are all corporate and Wegmans is still privately owned.
Some things should not be corporate, in my opinion. Pretty much anything having to do with food is much better off being privately owned. Local restaurants, grocers, and farms almost always have better products that are better for you than their corporate competition.
Some things are better for being corporate. Pretty much anything having to do with transportation or travel. Especially hotels. When I'm on the road, I like that I pretty much know what the Super 8 is going to be like before I get there.
As much as I do like local restaurants, sometimes you just want to go someplace where you know the rules. Every restaurant is different. Some, you order at a counter then wait for a person to bring food to the table. Others, you seat yourself.
One of the worst examples is Heids in Liverpool, NY. I love this hot dog stand, but the first person you come to at the counter takes your drink and side order only (unless that side is a pickle, mac salad, or if the drink is milk), and does not care at all what kind of hot dog or other meat product you want. Everyone who comes there for the first time orders everything there and has to be told that they have to wait until later down the line to order those things. Even though the menu for those items is posted right behind drink guy and not behind grill people at all.
I want to think this is some sort efficient setup, which evolved after years of processing long lines of hungry Liverpundians, if the people behind the counter farther down the line didn't ask you what side you ordered all over again and seem to just be getting it together for you after the second order. Then you have to remember what you want at the grill again, and look back at the menu that drink guy is now blocking your view of.
Then, if the weather is less then perfect (how often is that in Liverpool, though), you have to carry your full, top heavy trays through the line, against traffic, to sit an eat inside.
With all that said, I'd go wait in that line for a Cony and fries right now.
Oh, I figured out the motto for the real estate in The AV, which has miles and miles of open desert dotted with vast islands of tightly packed residential neighborhoods, with .08 acres of land on each plot.
"Land, land everywhere — and none of it's your yard."
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