I’ve been doing almost all my grocery shopping at Publix over the last few months, and yesterday, I felt like I was Billy in a Family Circus cartoon. I blame the cereal aisle. The late Bil Keane (yes, that’s how he spelled his first name) drew Family Circus cartoons for years, and a highlight were the intricate mazes that he would draw depicting young Billy’s winding journeys. Since the local Publix store started putting one-way directional arrows on its aisles, there were several seemingly out of kilter, and the first was the cereal aisle. Once you finished in the produce section (because everyone starts inRead More →

By:
On:
In: Blog post, Commentary
With: 2 Comments

I read an article the other day about who makes the best cheeseburger of the top three burger chains, Wendy’s, McDonald’s or Burger King. The reviewer gave Wendy’s and McDonald’s a tie for first. However, it was an unfair contest. More on that in a second. Anyway, I repeated the test and came up with my own result. The reviewer compared regular cheeseburgers from Wendy’s and Burger King, but the Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonald’s, which gave an unfair advantage to McDonald’s. The Quarter Pounder with Cheese is one of McDonald’s premium menu items, and why the author chose it over McDonald’s regular cheeseburger,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Blog post, Commentary, Food, Friday free-for-all, New Bern
With: 2 Comments

Every now and then in my life, I am happy with what I have. It happened in 1995. I was driving a 1979 Volvo station wagon, shooting pictures with a 1979-vintage Nikon F-2 film camera, and living in a spacious-for-me one-bedroom apartment in a town that I loved. My shoes were comfortable and well-worn leather work boots from Sears that, by some odd quirk, were also purchased in 1979. My camera and my car were rugged, mechanical, and dependable. I was impressed and comfortable with the look and feel of them. As a reporter, I carried around a notebook, calendar and two pens, held togetherRead More →

By:
On:
In: Blog post
With: 2 Comments