I bought milk there on Monday and its exactly what I dreamed. I am so excited that I now wave as I pass by. I wish it was either a little closer to work or a little closer to home. As it is now, its about 1/2 way between the two. On the other hand, seeing how there are only two in the whole state of GA – the one in Roswell, and the one Joey & Kelly found in Perry – I’m kinda glad I at least get to drive by it four days a week.
I agree, Joey, there wasn’t much in the beer case, but there were six-packs of Guinness in two varieties, and that’ll do just fine in a pinch. Plus, the real Publix is about 100 yards behind the convenience store.
See ya tomorrow, Pix!
Aside from my family, seafood and salt air, the thing I miss most about NJ is Wawa.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, chances are, you are one of my beloved Southern friends – bless your heart – and unfortunately, there’s no one thing down here to compare a Wawa to.
Essentially, its a convenience store. And yes, convenience stores are everywhere and, well, that’s kind of the point. But how many of you would consider your neighborhood convenience store the place to buy milk between trips to the grocery store? Or a viable dining option at lunch time?
When I first moved here, I was headed home from work. I stopped for gas. When I was done at the pump (which I had to PUMP MYSELF, ugh!), I went inside to grab a carton of milk. Every one in there was expired. Not I’ll-never-use-this-by-the-date-because-its-only-2-days-away expired. No. Full on This-carton-was-delivered-when-Multiples-were-still-in-style expired.
I went home and pouted, but didn’t give up. After all, we have QuikTrip and Publix here. If you love QuikTrip’s coffee and convenience and you crave Publix deli and dairy, then you would walk into Wawa and feel like you had come home. You wouldn’t even care if you had to tell someone you were going to Wawa and had to actually say “Wawa” out loud because you’d already be thinking about your buttered roll and coffee.
At first I just hoped Wawa would expand. I’ve seen one outside Richmond, VA. They wouldn’t have too much further to go. But Wawa actually is based around a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, so there is only so far they can carry that milk, I guess. So then I tried to imagine alternatives and the best solution I came up with was “Publix Express” which was basically a little baby Publix, that could even sell gas, that carried your basic snacks, a full line of dairy and the best of the best from the Pubix deli.
So after putting this much thought into – I’ve already rambled over 300 words here about it – you would think I would be more alert when something along these lines came into fruition.
A Pix opened on my way to/from work just before Christmas in front of Publix. Its a gas station and its not QuikTrip, so I pretty much ignored it. Until today when I thought – Pix is a weird name…its like a shortened version of “Publix”…and then I looked a little more closely at the sign and GOLLY! It’s Publix’s gas station and convenience store.
I didn’t have time to go in, as I was on my way to work, but I plan to…soon…I’ll let you know how it turns out.
You might recall that a few months ago, Camp Willow Creek joined forces with Jane Drive and crashed The SoCar lair of Nansox for the Bank of America 500. Or you might not, because chances are, I forgot to write about it.
Anyway, we created a little NASCAR monster that fateful fall day.
Nancy, Jason and I just got back from our first Daytona 500. The first thing that struck me about this whole experience was that Daytona International Speedway and Lowes Motor Speedway have little in common other than a big paved oval.
I know its kind of a lame thing to talk about, but the parking was super organized and super easy at the super speedway. I guess after 50 years of practice, they should be expected to get a few things right. On the other hand, tailgating in Lot 10 was pretty sparse. Which was actually fine because after stopping at every Walmart between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach – this is Florida we’re talking about. Do you know how many Walmarts that is? – looking for rain gear, we were running a little behind schedule.
So we took the bus over to the track and found our seats in Row 4. I couldn’t find a Row 2 anywhere, so this was essentially 3 rows from the track. Very close and very cool. When the cars went by, they were a blur. Luckily, there was a big screen pretty close where we could keep an eye on the action. Also, the PA system was clear and easy to hear, so I thought it was a lot easier to follow what was going on than it was at Lowe’s.
However, being that close has its drawbacks too. From that low a vantage point, its hard to see much of the track. You can see a little stretch right in front of you and you can see the turns to your left and right, but with the size of this speedway and the proximity of our seats, we could barely tell when the cars were near the Grandstand, much less have any idea who was crossing the finish line unless we were watching the big screens. Being higher up at a smaller track like Lowe’s, we could see everything from our seats at Turn 2.
Of course, no one actually crossed a “finish line” Sunday, since the checkered flag was never waived. Rain stopped the race at 152 laps and never let up, so the powers that be called the race. In NASCAR, as long as they complete half of the race (100 out 200 laps, in this case), they don’t have to restart or resume the race and finish it. Whomever is winning when the race is stopped wins. Game Over.
This fact compels sportscasters and fans to discredit the winner. I disagreed. All week forecasters said there would be rain in Daytona on Sunday. Throughout the race, the drivers were getting updates on how close the storm was moving. Presumably, unlike Donovan McNabb, they all know the rules of the sport and were fully aware that once they hit that 100 lap, it could rain and end the race at any time.
So while Daytona was a completely different experience from Lowe’s, it was just as much fun. We’re already talking about our next NASCAR adventure – March 8 in Atlanta – so stay tuned.
I just wanted to share with you the newest craze here at the camp – Breakfast. Breakfast By Jason, that is.
Yes. Jason Makes Breakfast.
And that does not mean beer poured over Cheerios. This is real-life, honest-to-goodness breakfast. Eggs, Bacon, Potatoes, Toast. And it gets better every week.
Like weekend mornings aren’t good enough on their own. Now we add home-cooked bacon-flavored breakfast in. Watch out Waffle House. Thanks Jason.
