Lorenzo Charles, 1963-2011

Grocery Wars: Which store is winning the battle in Richmond?

Well, apparently adding beer and opening seven days a week doesn't quite win over the Richmond shopper. Actually, it only made Martin's "just like everyone else".....

Food Lion took over the market share lead in Richmond from Ukrops back in 2009, mostly because they have double the amount of stores in the area. This brick and mortar advantage kept Food Lion ahead in 2010 as well.

A few thoughts....

1) This market is up for grabs. Even with the remodeling of many of their stores, Food Lion is nothing special. There's no personality, and no driving force product-wise that makes me think, "I want to go to Food Lion". I think about going to Martin's because of the salad bar, or the Ukrops fried chicken. I love Kroger's macaroni salad. Food Lion? Eh.........

2) Martin's, as I mentioned on this blog a year ago when Martin's came to town, is Giant with another name. And Giant died in Richmond once before.....they may have some "Ukrops" products, but they have the charm of.....well, Food Lion.

3) Kroger is expensive as crap.

4) Walmart has cheaper prices. But I hate Walmart. I go when I HAVE to. Keyword: HAVE.

5) It's funny watching these other guys fighting for the 3 to 6 percent market share (CVS, Walgreens, Target, etc....). For all the talk about organic foods, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's barely make up two percent of market share. Yes, I know they have hardly any locations, but the way I hear people talk, you'd think there were lines out the door of those places constantly....

6) Farm Fresh needs to pack it in.

Click on the title link, see the numbers broken down, and tell me what you think, where you shop, and has it changed in this "Post-Ukrops" Richmond....

How Obama Got Elected... Interviews With Obama Voters

Here is the biggest stumbling block to making Barack Obama a one-term President.

Barney Frank knocked on his Fannie

You MUST read paragraph #2 of this article (click on the title link). Frank argues his point, and by doing so, proves the point of many of his critics, including myself. BOTH political parties see Washington through this nasty prism and it is a major reason why we are in the $14 trillion debt mess we find ourselves in.

The new "in" word in Washington needs to be "recuse".

KATV Little Rock Pre-empts Oprah Finale With Storm Coverage

Awwww.....too bad Oprah fans. Some Little Rock viewers are incensed when they can't watch the finale of their favorite TV show. Click on the title link for some of their choice comments to local station KATV.

A gentle reminder--TV and radio stations are licensed by the FCC. When those licenses are up for review and renewal, a major component is whether the owner of said station "acted in the public interest".

It is much, much more "in the public interest" to warn thousands of people of life-threatening weather than it is to run a talk show. The primary purpose of TV and radio locally is to INFORM. Secondary is entertainment.

People who whine that their show is preempted when tornadoes are all around them are, in my opinion, a bag of fries short of a Value Meal, if you know what I mean.

Somehow I don't think alot of people in Joplin, Missouri cared about whether the Oprah finale aired in their market yesterday. They were busy with this.

Stifling dissent on a bumper sticker, Back to the Future of 1967, and Vince McMahon blew it big time.....

So, if you don't like political or controversial talk, you might want to skip over this entry......

1) Media Matters Goes After Fox News----Again.....

Usually the people who scream for tolerance are the most intolerant. Such is the case with Media Matters and their friends on the uberleft, who now offer the masses bumper stickers that say "Turn Off Fox: Bad News For America". I've seen two of them on the road in recent days and it reminded me of the following.....

I watch ALL cable news channels. I still believe CNN beats the tar out of Fox News when breaking international news takes place (and Fox was AWFUL last night when the Joplin tragedy came to light. CNN was all over it, while Fox dedicated its time to the Casey Anthony case). But the bottom line is, anyone who takes the actual time to watch the channels have to admit (as a new Suffolk University survey shows) that Fox is, indeed, the most trusted and fairest news organization on television.

It's simple. If I disagree with a Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow or whoever on the left, I can offer my opinions and rebuttals. But one thing I've never done, and never will do, is call for their removal from the public square.

The fact that Media Matters wants people to "Turn Off Fox", all the while pressuring advertisers to leave them as well, proves that they can't handle dissent. They can't handle when people disagree with them. You see, Media Matters knows what's best for you. Don't you understand that? Just give them your life and your brain and everything will be just fine.........

Be weary of ANYONE who wants opinion stifled, and speech eliminated. There's always a reason, and it's never a good one.

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2) Obama says "Welcome Back to 1967".........

I shake my head listening to all the Obama zombies in the media yelling and screaming about how "all the President did last week by invoking the 1967 borders is to publicly use a starting point for negotiations that have been in talks privately for YEARS!!"

Apparently, pointing out that a new idea is not "new" makes it right. Good. Acceptable. Great for all parties. I mean, my Lord, we are talking the Democratic Messiah, right, so he has to have the solution!

Jimmy Carter got Anwar Sadat and Menacham Begin together at Camp David in 1978 for about 12 days, and, in the end, we got the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty. The Camp David Accord. What did it produce? Sadat's assassination three years later, and 33 years of, at best, a cold peace, all the while Israel having to fend off the other Palestinian haters around them.

The same ones who want to play Pac-Man and eat up more real estate to place their mortal enemy in a position to be eliminated.....

....which is what Hamas wants anyway. Just read their charter sometime.....

Prime Minister Netanyahu schooled Barack Obama in the White House last week. I loved every minute of it. The realist, the man on the ground in the Middle East who knows the realities, knows the threats to his people, took the Harvard professor to school in Middle East Reality 101.

Just because George W. Bush privately discussed a proposal doesn't mean it's good.

President Obama squarely placed his ball in the court of the Arabs. No surprise there. Apparently over the 20 years he spent not listening at Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church, an issue not brought to his attention was the history of Israel and how God will protect His people, no matter what.

And taking America away from Israel can only mean bad things for America.

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Now, from a totally different universe.

Vince McMahon, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Please, spare us the "too little, too late" idea of posthumously inducting the late Macho Man Randy Savage in 2012. It would just be that.

What a horrible injustice, a horrible shame.

The meteroric rise of the then "WWF" was built on the shoulders of three wrestlers in the 1980s: Hulk Hogan (the hero), Andre The Giant (the villain), and Randy Savage, the one who could be counted on to pick up the big ball and run with it.

Thus was the case in 1988 when, smartly, McMahon realized Hogan couldn't be champion forever, and created circumstances whereby Wrestlemania IV was headlined by a tournament for the WWF Championship. And Savage, without having to face Hogan, got to wear the strap.

And he did it well. Then, when the inevitable turn to heel in early 1989 occurred to place him and Hogan in the main event at Wrestlemania V, Savage did a tremendous job, realistically portraying the heel character in a way today's wrestlers can only dream of.

And I haven't even discussed his Wrestlemania III match against Ricky Steamboat, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest matches, if not the greatest, technical match, in wrestling history.

McMahon diminished Savage's role in the company as the 1990s progressed to the point where he wanted out. McMahon gave it to him, and kudos to him for that. He must have thought Savage's tank was dry. He was wrong.

He gave another five years of compelling performances in WCW, and his 1997/1998 feud with Diamond Dallas Page was one of the best in the later years of that company. Remember, Page was a retread manager/midcard wrestler at best over the years, and Savage was the one whose feud with Page gave DDP "the rub", launching him into a main event status.

For whatever reason, McMahon and Savage haven't exchanged Christmas cards in recent years. I have no clue why. But before a 46 year-old Shawn Michaels was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, there should have been a Macho Induction. He should've been in the Class of 2010, or 2009, or 2008......I could go on.

Now, in light of the tragic end to his life Friday in Florida, if McMahon decides to induct him, it will be so hollow, and, as stated earlier, too little, too late.

My Dad used to praise parishoners from the pulpit when they did things never wanting to be noticed or praised, saying, "We should give bouquets to the living so they can enjoy them, rather than to the deceased."

He's so right.

I'm sorry that Savage's widow will now have to stand in for him whenever McMahon finally does the right thing. Macho deserved that last moment in the sun, the cheers from the crowd and from peers and the next generation of wrestlers, the ones who grew up watching him.

Vince McMahon's ego gets in the way of alot of good decisions. This is definitely one of them.

While I'm at it, may I go on record as saying McMahon missed a chance at genius this spring. With Wrestlemania in Atlanta, it was the perfect opportunity to induct someone extremely worthy into the WWE Hall Of Fame......

Ted Turner.

Yes. Ted Turner. The guy who tried to put Vince out of business with that "WCW rasslin'!"

Long before McMahon was top dog, Turner showcased wrestling, using it to build his cable empire, and giving the industry/sport exposure it had not enjoyed since Dumont Television in the 1950s (Gorgeous George, anyone?).

His decision to battle head-to-head with McMahon in the 1990s created the super-era of professional wrestling in the late 1990s, which set the stage for the current landscape (with its ups and downs.....). If anything, he should thank Turner for pushing him into having to "become a billionaire himself" in order to fight off the challenges of "Billionaire Ted" back in the day.....

Vince should have named him to the WWE Hall of Fame AND should have inducted him.

Big men do that sort of thing.

The Morning Show with Bowman and Henderson

A MUST SEE VIDEO for long-time Richmonders like me! Click on the title link to see Bill and Floyd in action. I salute WHAP in Hopewell for having the fortitude to allow two legendary personalities, long since forgotten by "corporate media" to continue to entertain and inform audiences.

Long live Bowman and Henderson! THIS is radio!

Rip Van Witham

I've been mulling over this blog post for quite some time now, and, in light of tonight being one of those nights where I find myself "tired, but not sleepy", I'll take the opportunity to opine.

I can pretty much tie anything that happens in life to an episode of my all-time favorite television show......"The Flintstones".

One of the more thoughtful episodes was at the Slate Company picnic, where Fred begins in his usual rotten mood, not wanting to partake in the annual three-legged race. He ends up getting away to himself and actually falling asleep somewhere in the park.....

....and he dreams that it's 20 years later. A gray-haired Fred, complete with LONG beard, proceeds to run back to Bedrock to discover what's happened to Wilma, Pebbles, the Rubbles, et al in the 20 years since his apparent demise. It made him realize he should enjoy every moment.

Even the three-legged race.

He wakes up, goes flying back to the picnic, and he and Barney are the hit of the day.

Carpe Diem.

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After completing my fourth week at a job yesterday, this is a good time to share my "similar to Fred" story. Going back to Aunt Sharon's sudden passing in February, my life schedule started to get back to a reasonable normalcy. It certainly has since April 11th. And I've realized how much has come and gone over the past nine years.

For example:

--I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that it's 2011. It doesn't seem like it's been almost 10 years since 9/11.
--I've realized how much pop culture has come and gone, much of which I don't know, know bits and pieces of......now, don't get me wrong, it's not that I regret it, it simply is a barometer of the volume of what's gone on while I've slept.....

....and slept.....and rested......and tossed......

Now, add to that the egregious error of allowing myself to live at my job at Clear Channel the last four years I was there, and it all adds up.

My son is now 19?
My daughter starts high school in September?
What happened to Blues Clues?
Has it honestly been seven years since we left Longdale Elementary in rezoning?

Some of what I've experienced (and missed) the past several years was truly out of my control. Concoct a potion of sleep apnea, depression, bipolar, then throw in some diabetes, and there have been many days where I may have wanted to conquer the world, but, in the end, I was lucky to get to the bathroom. I know some who read this will truly not understand. That's okay. I certainly never want you to experience it simply so that you'll "get my point".

Other things, though?

One of the coolest things about the new workplace is everybody looks at each other just before 5:30 each day and implores the others to "get up and get out". We get there at 8:30, we work throughout the day (thankfully it's close enough to home where I can come home for lunch and check on Harry!), but then, when it's time to go home, WE GO.

I'll never make that mistake again. Am I saying I'll never stay late? Of course not. But if I ever get back to working 70/80 hours a week again (and I KNOW that can't happen in my current physical condition), somebody slap me silly.

Fourteen years of mostly seven day a week newspaper delivery, having 2 or 3 jobs for 17 straight years, working 80 hours a week in the mid-2000's....they all had a hand in the permanent crater that now occupies my half of the mattress, I'm sure.

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But what I'm really trying to convey is simply this.

1) Remember what's important in life, and focus the most on it. I gave Clear Channel the bulk of my energy and devotion, and it got me.....a pink slip. I married Bonnie, I'm hired to do jobs. BIG difference.

2) When the kids are young, breathe it in. ALL OF IT. Even the hard times. Rachel and I are at Roy's Big Burger in Lakeside today and in line is a dad with his son, probably three years old. Some of the boy's behavior reminded me of Rachel when she was that young. Then I smiled, looked at the practically grown Rachel in front of me....part of me kept smiling, part of me sighed with great disappointment. That Rachel, the one looking for her binky, is gone forever.

3) Enjoy the current moment. If you've experienced/are experiencing similar regrets to what I've shared here, DO NOT dwell in them. Period. You must live in the moment, enjoy what's happening NOW, otherwise "now" simply becomes an extra day in the regret column.

In the past ten years, I missed many things in life. Some I couldn't control. Others I could have. Those which I can, from here on out I will. I suggest you join me. :)