The Good, Bad, and Downright Ugly

The Good:

File this under "Best Sign of the Week". Maybe of the year, though it's hardly fair to go that far while we're still approaching the halfway point. This is a sign sitting along Hwy. 8 in Lindstrom, just where everything's slowed down to 30 mph due to a construction project designed to a: ruin all the businesses in town, or b: make travel faster and safer as it goes through the heart of town by creating opposing one-way streets a block apart through town. The project, like the sign, garners all kinds of reactions from folks, depending on their perspectives. But unlike the project, the sign at least brings me a smile each time I see it.

"The shortest distance between two points is under construction."


The Bad:

The radio story was interesting, a tale of lowering Colorado water levels and how it affected recreation like rafting and fishing on the river. What caught my interest, however, was the pronunciation of the name of the town the reporter was covering at the end of her report.  If you read "Buena Vista" you'd automatically mentally pronounce the first word "bway-nah". Instead, the reporter casually tossed off "byoo-nah".

Huh? Say what?

So I checked with Steve, someone who spent his childhood in Greeley. Was there really a town pronounced that way or was the reporter as ignorant as I presumed she was? He not only confirmed she was correct, he further modified the pronunciation to "byoo-nee". So I'm left with my irritation at what I perceive as someone's in-your-face flagrant flaunting of their woefully ignorant pronunciation of an unfamiliar language and their pride in the process. And I'm sticking with that until -and if - someone can come up with a better reason why it's not pronounced the way everybody else would pronounce it.


The Downright Ugly:

I stopped for gas mid day on Tuesday when I spied a sign advertising $3.429 a gallon. Prices at home were clinging to the $3.599 point, so I was determined to fill the tank however much it would hold by then. It was also time for a more personal pit stop, so after filling one tank I went into the store to drain another. The pumps and convenience store were at one end of a small strip  mall, and it turned out that the restroom served the whole mall. It wasn't in the store.

I followed the pointing finger to the door into the mall. Business must have been bad for a while, as I could find only two other business open in the entire place. And that's how far I had to walk, way to the other end of the mall. The whole mall stank of mold, an old building damp and neglected for way too long. I thought of my allergies the whole trip, but need prevailed. Once inside the ladies room, the floor was littered with TP among other things best not checked closely, and there was no  door on one of the stalls, limiting my choice to a tiny low knee-killer, but again, need prevailed. The mold smell disappeared, but this was hardly a blessing. Rather, something had apparently died in that place. I mean actual decomp. Possibly something as small as a mouse, but about a week past ripe. I felt blessed that there was actually soap, water and towels.

The mold was almost a relief on the hike back to the store. Once I made it into my car, I happened to look at the price sign again. They'd waited until I filled my tank before dropping the price another $.03.

Gee, thanks.