Every time I’ve ever had anyone ask me about restaurants in my town, or that I like, I hear that chain restaurants don’t count, or are not real restaurants. A good, real restaurant must be independently owned and operated. What is this attitude, and where does it come from?

Now, I can understand dismissing fast food stores from a list of restaurants. That’s like dismissing gas station convenience marts from a list of grocery stores. But what is inherently wrong with chain restaurants? What is inherently right with independent restaurants?

I’ve had good and bad meals in chain restaurants, and I’ve had good and bad meals in independent restaurants. There’s nothing about a restaurant being independent that guarantees the food and service will be good. There’s nothing about being a part of a chain business that lessens the quality of the food and service.

And at what point does an independent restaurant loose its independent halo and become a chain devil? When the owners open a second store in town? When they open a store in another town?

When I go visit friends or relatives in other cities, and they take us out for dinner, we inevitably end up at an independent place. Usually, the place, food, and service are all fine, but also usually, I’d be just as happy and satisfied at a chain restaurant. At an independent place, I probably don’t know what I’d like on the menu; at a chain place, I probably have already tasted at least something on the menu.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have no dislike for independent places, at all. I don’t shun them, and I don’t dismiss them. (My mom owns a great independent restaurant—and I love the food.) I just find the somewhat snobbish attitude against chain places to be unnecessary and silly. It’s especially annoying when someone dismisses them as not counting, or as low-brow, or as tasteless.

Chain restaurants don’t become chains unless the food and service is usually good, at least in the beginning of their growth. I like many chain restaurants, and I’m not ashamed of it.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

This month marks five years I’ve been without a drink.

A note about the Southern dialect (for non-Southerners): Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper are “drinks.” I know folks in other parts of the country call them soda or pop.

My choice of drink rotated between Coke, Dr. Pepper, and Mountain Dew. I had to have one of them to come alive each morning, and through a whole day, I drank two or three cans in total. I just didn’t want to need that, and so I decided to cut out the drinks. I also wanted to be a good role model for my children, and I didn’t want them seeing me drinking sugar and caffeine drinks all day. Plus, I just didn’t need the empty calories—getting older means holding onto calories longer than one would like.

So I quit cold turkey. I’ve always heard about the addictive quality of caffeine, and the first several months without it really proved the claim to me. I had headaches, serious cravings, all the expected withdrawal symptoms, and several times wondered when the hell I was going to shake it all off. It took about a year to fully break the craving, but when I finally got past it, I could really tell a difference in the way I felt in the mornings and all day long.

Now I drink lots of water during the day, and I have no cravings for the drinks. I know it’s kind of silly to talk like all this about Coke and Mountain Dew, but it really surprised me how the drinks were really that deeply addictive. Or maybe it is just me; thank goodness I’ve never gotten into pot or heroine. Heck, I’m not even an alcohol drinker. But that’s another subject, for another post.

Quitting drinks is not a big accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, like quitting smoking, alcohol, or cocaine, but it was a very interesting process to go through. And I’m healthier for it, and happier for it.

For the record, I don’t really keep track of my time “on the wagon” from drinks, and I don’t proselytize on it. It’s just one of those little trivia factoids that we all have in our life. I only remember the anniversary month because I did it right before Thanksgiving, so the holiday each year reminds me.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I stopped by the local Super Target around 9:30 this morning, to pick up a couple of things. The place was crowded wall-to-wall with moms and young children. Every aisle in the grocery section had at least two moms shopping. I picked up some milk and bread for home, and then I walked to the opposite side of the store to look at the toys; moms and babies from one end to the other.

I saw one man, and he, too, had a young child with him. I think I might have been the only customer in the store without a kid along.

Not only was the place full of women, but it was like a social gathering for some. I saw several pairs talking, with their carts parked next to each other, while their children munched on Goldfish.

The situation is probably good for the store, as they were doing a brisk business. It looked like the week before Christmas in there. You just don’t normally think of 9:30 a.m. on a Tuesday to be a big shopping time, but for a very specific demographic, it apparently is.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

At the breakfast table this morning, the boys got on a roll of telling silly and nonsense jokes. Here’s how it went:

6 year old: “Why did the rubber duck cross the road?”

3 year old: “Why?”

6 year old: “He wanted to stretch his legs!”

All laugh.

3YO: “Why did dhe wubba duck ross dhe woad?”

6YO: “I don’t know. Why?”

3YO: mumblemumblemumbleMUMBLE! Laugh!

All laugh.

6YO: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

3YO: “Why?”

6YO: “Because his underwear was falling.”

All laugh.

6YO: “Knock knock.”

3YO: “Who’s dere?”

6YO: “Theodore.”

3YO: “mumbledore who?”

6YO: “Open the door and let me in!”

All laugh.

3YO: “Knock knock.”

6YO: “Who’s there?”

3YO: [looks around the room] “Daddy is at dhe door.”

All laugh.

On and on and on and on and on and on and. . .

Most of the jokes made no sense at all, but they made the boys laugh hysterically. I laughed, too, because of the complete silliness of it all. There were a lot of punchlines involving underwear.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com