TweetStill sort of reeling from this discombobulation called Daylight Savings, and having had three glasses of sweet tea with my lunch at Seawell’s — to no noticeably helpful effect — I decided to do a wide swing through Five Points to get some REAL caffeine at Starbucks on my way back to the office. So […]
Tweet The other day I ran into Wesley Donehue at Starbucks (see that, Starbucks? yet another product placement you’re not paying for), and we talked briefly about my appearing on “Pub Politics” again, which would make me a member of the Five-Timer Club. I’m totally up for it, particularly since I’d like to discuss this […]
TweetThis morning, when I went for a Grande Verona at the 5 Points Starbucks, I had the pleasure of flashing one of my favorite souvenirs from our trip to England: My official London Starbucks card. (Yes, it’s touristy, but I don’t care. I tend to like almost anything with a Union Jack on it.) The […]
Tweet All right, so it wasn’t properly a leader, but a column. I just wanted to add some British idiom to my allusion… Thought y’all might be interested in this item in The Guardian today (over breakfast at our B&B in Oxford, my wife was reading The Times and I had The Guardian — which […]
TweetFirst, an apology for not blogging more. Had major trouble connecting to the wi-fi at the hotel again. After working on it for about an hour and harassing the Polish night clerk for half that time, back in my room I finally got on. My wife asked me what I did differently. I explained that […]
TweetGot an ad from Barnes & Noble via email saying, “Just Announced!… Oprah’s Latest Book Club Pick.” Turns out it was something called A Tale of Two Cities by one Charles Dickens. I’m glad Oprah decided to help the guy out. He deserves a wider audience. I see he’s from London. Maybe I’ll look him […]
TweetFolks, I’m a bit out of pocket — I’m in Memphis for a wedding, and my Internet access where I’m staying is limited (I may stop by a Starbucks later) — but to give y’all a little something to chew on, I share this email from a reader: What did you think about Juan Williams […]
Tweet I don’t think of myself as a particularly materialistic person, or a sensualist per se (except within certain parameters). And I am most definitely, certainly not a foodie. Personally, I find foodism… off-putting. But there are two things that I look forward to every day, and that are hard for me to forgo — […]
TweetMany of you know Janette Turner Hospital, the novelist who for years has run the “Caught in the Creative Act” seminar at USC. Yesterday, a reader called my attention to a piece over at Gawker, but when I got there I didn’t read the thing I was being directed to, because I got distracted by […]
TweetWho’d like to invest in a coffee shop in Surfside Beach that is designed purely as a place for people to take their laptops and connect via wi-fi? There’s a real gap in the market there. And the public library that was my refuge last week has its limitations. For instance, my son-in-law, who is […]
TweetI ran into Nikki Haley at lunch today, at M Vista on Lady Street. She was there with Rob Godfrey and Tim Pearson of her campaign. I think it was the first time I’d conversed with her since that time at Starbucks on Gervais shortly after the 2008 election. That day, she had a young […]
Tweet Remember when you were a kid and the breakfast cereal companies were always advertising cool stuff you could send off for if you saved up enough boxtops? Well, if you grew up when I did you should. Well, I never actually accumulated the sufficient number and followed through, because I didn’t have that kind […]
Tweet This was a bit much… Lora from ADCO and I had decided, on our way to lunch, that we’d stop at Starbucks after. But then we got more iced tea in to-go cups. But a plan’s a plan, so we carried them into Starbucks, which made me self-conscious. (Was this uncool? What would the […]
TweetThere’s an interesting contrast between the approaches of the two candidates in the 4th District race to replace Kirkman Finlay III. Tony Mizzell, as a former county council member and advertising executive at Chernoff Newman, works the phones, checks in with local party leaders and makes savvy media buys — such as being the first […]
TweetAm typing this on the Mac laptop with which the kind folk at ADCO have provided me, because my own trusty Dell (which has served me wonderfully well, in spite of the dire warnings of the Geek Squad) is too busy for me at the moment. It’s primping. I don’t really know what it’s doing […]
Tweet There’s one thing I never thought of during this past year of unemployment, and maybe I should have: I can play guitar. At least, I can strum one, and I know several dozen chords without thinking too hard or consulting a chart. And I can sing, if the song’s undemanding and suited to a […]
Tweet Here’s an e-mail I got within the last 10 minutes from Kevin Fisher (the photo above is from my interview with him on Friday at Starbucks on Gervais): It’s no fun to lose, but it shows you were in the game. And I’ve always liked being in the game, whether it’s business, adventure, sports, […]
Tweet “Change is good,” says Kevin Fisher, and he says it consistently. It was the theme of his run for mayor four years ago, and he says it with greater enthusiasm now that Columbia is on the verge of historic turnover on city council. With the incumbent mayor leaving after 20 years, the forced retirement […]
Tweet A little over a week ago, I started worrying about Bud. Y’all know Bud, if you know anybody in this community. The guy who gives me such grief over the Iraq war. The guy who calls me a lover of big government. The guy who was once GrandMaster Bud. He’s also known as William […]
Tweet Friday morning I had coffee for about 90 minutes with Leona Plaugh, the former Columbia city manager who is running for the 4th district council seat that Kirkman Finlay III is vacating to run for mayor. (Other candidates for the seat include Tony Mizzell, Kevin Fisher, Mary Waters and Walter Powell Jr.) Although I […]