Category Archives: Business

2024, Business, education, Kids, Uncategorized

Sidewalk Sales

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Photo credit: Ames History Museum

On Sunday, my little neighbors Minnie and Marie came home from errands with their folks and decided to have an “Icee” stand down on the boulevard.  I was weeding in my yard so I got a front row seat to all the proceedings.  First off, “icee” was a misnomer, since they were actually selling those Fla-vor ice pops but they had their signs made so I wasn’t going to quibble.  They also were giving out dog treats free and borrowed one of Guinevere’s bowls so they could have water for dogs as well.

Most of the work for setting this up was done by their folks and then Dad sat up on the driveway with his laptop as they got going.  They were selling the ice pops for $1.00 – a long cry from the 5 cents that was the going rate for a cup of Kool-aid when I was a kid – but that didn’t seem to stop anybody (including yours truly).  Of course, there was also some sampling of their own product as well.  Even on a busy street like ours, a few people actually stopped as they were driving by.  A third neighbor child, Lindsay, joined them for the last hour, although it was clear they were all flagging by then.

Minnie told me that they made $18 and then confided that it was really boring.  They were open for 3 hours total (they took a break for lunch), so that’s 6 ice pops per hour… not terribly rigorous traffic. 

I had several Kool-aid stands when I was a kid.  The house we lived on when I was Minnie’s age was on a corner lot of a fairly busy street.  Like most kid-run stands, my folks paid for the Kool-aid, the sugar, the cups and any other supplies that were used.  One time my father suggested that we kids split the profit with him since he had paid for everything.  Unfortunately this lead to graft and a second set of “books”. He never asked again.

Did you ever sell stuff as a kid?

2024, Business, Food, Games, Mysteries

Reverse Jenga

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Part of my post-milkman life now includes just running out get milk. And if it’s only milk that I need, Aldis is my grocery store of choice.  Easy parking, fast in, fast out.  My shopping trifecta. 

Normally at Aldis I do self-checkout; even if I get more than just milk, I don’t have the much so usually can’t get myself in too much trouble.  But this past week, I was determined to use some of my surplus quarters (lots leftover from my day at the laundromat) so I parked myself in the regular cashier line.  I’m retired – I have time.

The couple in front of me had more groceries in their cart than I have ever seen at Aldis, heck that I’ve ever seen anywhere.  The child seat was full, the cart itself was practically overflowing and even the bottom shelf under the card was full of stuff.  It was amazing.  While they were unloading everything, the guy even went and grabbed a few more things from the freezer section.

The cashier was bound and determined to get everything back into one cart was she was scanning.  (I’m not sure why… there were plenty of empty carts next to her station.)  She stacked and wiggled and moved stuff around.  I was pretty sure things were going to start sliding off the mountain that had been created in that cart.  The woman looked at me with my two cartons of milk and gave me a “I’m so sorry” quasi-smile.  I laughed and said “it looks like reverse-Jenga”.  Everybody, including the cashier thought this was pretty funny. 

The total on their order was $312!  Considering that Aldis sells pretty much everything at a bargain price, you can imagine how many groceries it takes to hit the $300 mark.  And how funny it felt to cough up my $4.98 in coins right afterwards. 

Cash or credit card for your groceries?

2024, Business, Mysteries, Seasons

The Land that Time Forgot

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I go to the laundromat twice a year.  I have allergy covers on my box spring, mattress and pillows to help deter my allergy nemesis – the dust mite.  My allergy doctor recommended stripping these covers off and washing them in hot water twice a year.  I also do the pillows themselves as well as my bed’s dust ruffle and my blankets.  A lot of laundry.  Now I can do all this laundry at home, and did so a couple of times during pandemic, but it’s a LOT of up and down stairs and takes most of the day.  The laundromat, while more expensive, is fast. 

It was quiet when I arrived at 8:30 a.m.  I had been feeling a little anxious that I didn’t go earlier; you don’t want to run into big crowds where dryer time is involved.  There were actually only two other folks there so I had pretty much my pick of machines.  I also had a load of regular laundry with me so I used four machines and sat happily with my book while they filled/washed/rinsed and tumbled.  I looked up at the clock and noticed that it said 2:33.  Hmmmm.  I checked back when I was emptying the washers and noticed it still said 2:33. 

This particular laundromat is quite large and in good shape.  Two of the walls have undersea artwork – whales, fish, seagrass, etc.  On the ledge above all the washing machines on the south side of the building, there are lots of pretty planters, although they don’t look real.  There are a couple of arcade games for kids and the ubiquitous tv screens (although luckily no sound). The washers & dryers have the option to use a credit card, the machines that dispense packets of soap are always working and there are a few vending machines for pop and snacks.  The dryers keep going until the sensor says the load is dry so you don’t have to keep plugging coins in for cycle after cycle.  Most importantly there is a full-time maintenance employee who is always around, keeping things clean and orderly.  This time I saw him cleaning out the lint traps on the dryers – all these years and I’d never thought about lint at the laundromat.  

More folks eventually started to file in, one family who had the back of their pickup chock a block full of bags of laundry.  One woman was clearly irritated by something in her life; she threw her laundry around like it was offending her.  Another young couple had a disagreement about how to sort the laundry out; maybe doing your laundry together at the laundromat is another of those tests to see how compatible you are as a couple.  It was great people watching, a little world all of it’s own there at 37th and Chicago.

After all my stuff was washed, dried and folded up ready to head home (2 hours total), I looked up – still 2:33 p.m.

When was the last time you hung out laundry to dry?

Here is Barbara’s clothesline photo… putting it here…. long story.

2024, Business, Family, Food, Uncategorized

Convention Grill Melt-Down

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When I took a leave from college during my junior year, my first job supporting myself in Northfield was as a waitress at Country Kitchen.  Yea, I know, glamorous.  My next job was also waitressing at Ole Piper Inn – a little better money and closer to my apartment.  When Ole Piper went other (rather abruptly), my friend Deana found a job at the Ole Store and managed to squeeze out a job for me as well.  That job was a combination of waitress/baker/cook. 

I’ve heard people say that everyone should be required to spend a year being a waiter or waitress as they’re starting out-kind of like compulsory armed services requirements. I’ve always thought that was a great idea.

Convention Grill in Edina closed down during pandemic and then for a variety of reasons, never got around to re-opening until this past week.  The family who owns it has been telling us for years that they were going to be back in business eventually so I’ve been keeping tabs on their progress for awhile now: when I saw the ads for staff last month, I was ecstatic and YA thought we should go right away. 

It was during this trip that I was reminded about everyone needing food service background – especially YA!  We had a wait, which was expected.  A very pushy gentleman managed to get the young guy monitoring the waiting list to seat him before us.  This outraged YA.  I was more mad at the pushy guy but we got seated immediately after that and it turned out to be a better table.  YA was not mollified. 

Then it turned out that they didn’t have a veggie burger.  My guess is that they will eventually bring that back but the thin paper menus made me think that they might be opening on a restricted listing.  YA was in a huff about this, announcing right as my Diet Coke showed up that she didn’t want anything else.  I said “OK, then let’s go.”   This took her by surprise and she backed down quickly.  She said we could stay but she wouldn’t have anything.  I replied that this wasn’t my idea of a good time and we should go.  Grumpily she said she’d have the triple-decker grilled cheese.  She didn’t want an order of fries, said she’d have “10” of mine.  The one thing you can still count on at Convention Grill is the size of the orders of fries.  One side order is good for two.  YA ate her entire sandwich and about half the fries.

Luckily getting food into her helped a lot but she continued to point out things that could be better, including the wait for the food, the fact that the waitress only checked in with us once, the wait for the check.  When I suggested that the restaurant had only been open for three days and it was chock-a-block full of customers and unsurprisingly they had a few kinks to work out, she was unconvinced.  I also told her it was likely that 100% of the staff were new, she retorted that most of them probably had experience elsewhere, I told no… probably 80% of the staff probably didn’t.  If they had prior experience, they most likely couldn’t afford to work at Convention Grill.  At this point I told her she needed to spend a year working in a restaurant and that she was “harshing my buzz” (quote from Big Bang Theory.  Rest of the time was uneventful.

Anyway, my review is that if you enjoyed Convention Grill before pandemic, you’ll most likely enjoy it now.  If you’ve never been but like retro dining experiences with a variety of burgers, malts and fabulous fries, you’ll most likely enjoy it.  If you’re YA – maybe not.

Tell me about a favorite place that has re-opened since pandemic!

2024, Business, Family, Mysteries
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When I walked into the bathroom yesterday, I noticed that YA’s toothbrush is wearing a space helmet.  I asked her about it and she said it’s to keep the toothbrush clean if it falls on the floor.  Apparently when she plugs in her hairdryer to dry her hair, she often knocks the toothbrush over.  Another one of those items you never knew you needed.

Occasionally I see lists of these kind of “needed” items, usually on Amazon.  Things like:  Dill Pickle Lip Balm, a 12-pack of Flying Rubber Chickens, 101 Pooping Puppies Jigsaw Puzzle (1000 pieces no less), Fridge Jar Fork Caddy (this is a holder with a plastic fork/grabber that attaches to a jar in your fridge like olives or pickles) and my favorite – the Light-Up St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock Headband. 

It’s amazing to me what people can get a production loan for; I’ve always wanted to be a fly on the wall listening to whoever first pitched “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.

My first thought about the toothbrush helmet was how silly it was.  Now I’m wondering whether MY toothbrush ends up on the floor when YA dries her hair. 

Do you think I should get a toothbrush space helmet?  What color should it be?

2024, Business, Food, Mysteries

The Last Straw!

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I have to admit that I am a regular at the Taco Bell drive-through.  Bean burrito with extra red sauce, Fiesta potatoes and usually a large diet Pepsi.  This is my normal order – this stop is usually if I’m out and about doing errands.  I never just leave the house to go there.

My most-stopped-at location is the one near Southdale as many of my errands have me in that neighborhood.  About four months ago I noticed that the straw that came with the diet Pepsi was very flimsy and split while I was trying to get it through the little hole on the lid, making it unusable.  If I’d been the passenger in the car, I probably could have jerry-rigged it but as the driver it wasn’t do-able.  Luckily I was on the way home.

I thought I was a fluke but the next couple of visits confirmed that they had switched to these crappy straws.  If you poke a good hole in the lid first with your finger and are VERY careful unwrapping the straw and putting into the cup, you’ll be ok but there are too many ways to screw this up.  I started taking a straw of my own re-usable straw in the car if I thought I might be hankering for a burrito but it wasn’t a perfect solution. Interesting side-note… it’s just this location.  The other location close to us hasn’t switched to the thinner option.

Last week I stopped by and realized I hadn’t brought my re-usable.  I thought about asking the drive-through guy for two straws but decided that was just too silly.  When he handed me my pop, he handed me two straws and I couldn’t help it; I burst out laughing.  He laughed too and said they’re giving out two straws now because so many folks have complained.

Reminded me of when my company changed to a thinner toilet paper ten years back.  I’m sure it was cheaper but if you use twice as much because it’s so thin, I’m pretty sure the savings go out the window.  The thin tp only last a few months.  I don’t know if people complained or if they realized right away they weren’t saving money.  Or both!

I will keep bringing my re-usable straw (if I remember) but am wondering how long it will take this location to figure out that giving out two thin straws isn’t smarter than just have decent straws.

What do you drink if you splurge on fast food?

2024, Business, Food, Mysteries

Twins?

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There are a handful of ads that come into my Inbox (instead of Junk) – Einstein Brothers and Brueggers are two of those because they offer occasional coupons that I like, particularly my birthday freebies every year.  A couple of weeks ago, not only did an ad for each show up on the same day, they arrived one after the other in my Inbox.  If they hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have noticed that they have both launched the same sandwich on the same day.  See the photo above – I won’t even tell you which is which.

My first, very fleeting, thought was that it was a coincidence.  Then I thought it must be an amazing corporate espionage situation.  But the pictures are almost identical so I ventured the thought to YA that perhaps Brueggers and Einstein Brothers were somehow related.  YA snorted and said “of course, they’re related –  they’re owned by the same company.” 

In the travel industry, hotels are always changing hands and my company had a actual department to keep track of this kind of thing (Industry Relations).  Who owns what was never interesting to me.  I had it suggested to me once that I could boost my career by keeping up with the industry better than I did.  Cue the laughter.  Despite both my sisters thinking of me as “a successful career woman” (cue more laughter), I never considered myself as such.  I had a job, a job that I liked, a job that I was very good at.  I didn’t want to be a team leader, a manager, a director… just wanted to do my job.  I did get every promotion along the way (apparently in record time according to my old boss) but it never changed the job that I did…. Only changed my title and added a bit more to my paycheck.

So it doesn’t surprise me that I didn’t know that Brueggers and Einstein Brothers were siblings.  It does surprise me that they launched the same sandwich on the same day and from the looks of it, probably used photos from the same photo shoot.  It doesn’t seem a good way to differentiate the two chains.  Of course, my idea of what corporate America should do and what corporate America does are clearly not in sync.  At all!

Tell me about how you like your bagel sandwiches!

2024, Business, Food, Uncategorized

Holy Cornmeal!

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Husband tried to make a hoe cake recipe the other day, and it was a disaster. Hoe cakes are traditional cornmeal pancakes. Husband’s family is from Eastern Ohio and West Virginia, and love all things with cornmeal. They even like cornmeal mush. I am really not a fan, I am afraid. I like my corn on the cob with butter dripping off it.

Husband decided that the problem with his hoe cakes was the cornmeal. Ours was too coarse. I found a Southern mill in Alabama that had extra fine ground white corn meal and ordered it. I was delighted to read that the company motto for the cornmeal was To God Alone Belongs All Glory. Well! That really appeals to the Lutheran in me. My college motto was Soli Deo Gloria. JS Bach initialed SDG at the bottom of many of his compositions. I may not like cornmeal or hoe cakes, but the company seems great! I love yeast raised pancakes and waffles.

What are your favorite kinds of pancakes? What company slogans do you like? Favorite Bach compositions?

2024, Business, Food, History, Mysteries, Travel

Where in the World is VS?

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Sliced bread was invented here. That’s right — the Taggart Company was the first place to start selling pre-sliced loaves of bread.

This is home to the world’s largest Children’s Museum, with over 130,000 artifacts, including an indoor carousel and dinosaurs guarding its walls

The original Union Station in this city was the country’s first “union” passenger rail station. Its initial construction was in 1853, but was rebuilt 30 years later. Union Station was frequented by many prominent figures, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman + Woodrow Wilson.     

The downtown Athenaeum was designed by Kurt Vonnegut’s architect grandfather.  It was originally used as a gymnasium and clubhouse by German-Americans striving to preserve their culture.

This city’s beloved Slippery Noodle Inn was a stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, with enslaved people hiding out in the building before catching the northbound train nearby. Not only that, but it was also a watering hole during the prohibition era + a mobster hangout.

Speaking of Kurt Vonnegut, this is the home of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library!

Where am I?  Extra points for knowing WHY I am here!

2024, Business, Food, Gatherings, Mysteries

End of an Era?

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I saw on the news that the last Hooters in West Virginia closed last month with a large candlelight vigil prior to its demolition.  The local news mentioned it ahead of time and several hundred people showed up. 

The vigil part of the story didn’t surprise me but the fact that there are still Hooters was the shock to me.  I haven’t heard anything about Hooters and I never see them anywhere but a quick search reveals that there are over 400 worldwide, including one right in my backyard – at the Mall of America.  Guess that’s what happens when you only go to the Mall of America once a year (to redeem birthday coupons at Auntie Annies and Cinnabon).  Since I’ve never eaten at a Hooters (just seems a little too tasteless of a gimmick to me), I can’t say whether all of West Virginia franchises closing is a loss or not.  But I know the chances are slim that I would ever go to a candlelight vigil for one.

Is there a restaurant that you’d consider attending a vigil for if it were closing?