Been in deep geek mode for most of the weekend, doing a major rebuild of my home network computing infrastructure. Details are at my professional blog, which I won't link to from here, but it involved a number of bleeding-edge technologies that help insure that I have no trouble getting another job if my current employer craters.
I just got back from the store. My neighborhood store is a shabby little local independent chain where the air of defeat is prominent in the air. Their prices are good, but they don't carry everything I want, so I went to a bigger regional chain to get a couple of things I needed. And standing outside the doors were those evil green-wearin' elves again... so now I have five boxes of Thin Mint cookies that need eating. See ya later :).
-- Badtux the Hungry Penguin
Thin Mints! The little boogers were all out of Herring Cookies again?
ReplyDeleteI understand that in some backwaters anchovy paste is de rigueur on thin mints.
ReplyDeleteOne horrible thing I've been thinking about recently is the near impossibility of participating in the economy in any way that does not involve enhancing the cash flow of some god damned mega corporation.
Shopping at your local bodega is a step in the right direction, I guess.
Cheers!
JZB the "buy local" trombonist
Um, you didn't know that those Keebler elves have their own version, called "Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper"? Available year round....
ReplyDeleteMontag, for some reason herring cookies haven't caught on. Huh. Who coulda expected :).
ReplyDeleteJazz, not much local in my local bodega, except maybe garlic. The problem is one of cost. I mentioned the "air of defeat". This is a small local chain of stores that the down-and-out go to. They buy the same factory-farmed stuff that Safeway does, it's just that any of the scarce profits they make in their shabby store mostly stay here in the community, rather than flying off to some overseas tax haven. The problem is that catering to the poor, while a valuable service, does not produce much profit. Thus the shabbiness of their stores, and the odd patchwork of items that they carry. Of course, if they *were* profitable, one of the larger store chains would have bought them out long ago. It seems that the only way to not become part of the cash flow of some god damned mega corporation is to be a failure.
Marc: I usually don't buy sweets. I'll occasionally -- *very* occasionally -- cook up a batch of chocolate brownies, or buy a dark chocolate bar. That's it. The evil elves in green make me buy their cookies, though. It's for a good cause, right?
- Badtux the Already-too-rotund Penguin
I'm so glad we have locally oriented markets here that are successful, without an atmosphere of defeat. Of course, they cater to Yups like me, so maybe that's not the best example. We also have the major chains like Safeway, Whole Paycheque -- I mean, "Foods" -- and their rivals. Tonnes of ethnic-oriented markets, too. It was the same in Australia. From what I've observed in travels overseas, they have a similar mix of big and small, local and globalized. It's just the U.S. that seems so totally given over to "big or die" in retailing.
ReplyDeleteJust give it time, Bukko. Whole Paycheck is a good example. They were wildly profitable, so have become as evil as any other mega-foods corporation and have gone into that whole merger thingy big-time. It seems like profits turn you evil here in the USA...
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Prophetable Penguin
Well, if sugar cookies are made with lots of sugar, and chocolate chip cookies (good ones, anyway) are made with lots of chocolate chips, I suppose that by the "fish oil" - "baby oil" analogy, Girl Scout cookies, etc.
ReplyDeleteStella bought several boxes of Thin Mints last week. I have not eaten one yet. I shudder to think of the consequences when I inevitably weaken.
"Hey, did you hear about the smart cookie who sold..." ah, never mind; that one's past its expiration date.
Duuuuuuuude.
ReplyDelete