Ramblings of a lackadaisical blogger...

Really it’s not that I don’t love you people, I really do, I’ve just been… busy… or lazy, I get those two confused sometimes.

Anyway I’ve had a few thoughts over the past few days so here they are.

Is Wal*Mart the new K-Mart?

I was out running in a rather upscale neighborhood earlier this week. As I was ogling the houses starting at $500,000 I noticed quite a few of them had red signs saying “SAY NO TO WAL MART”.

This got me thinking… or as much as the limited oxygen getting to my brain at my 7-minute mile pace would allow. Is Wal Mart the new K-Mart? Traditionally the least desirable, due to its unkempt stores and rather apathetic sales staff, of all the large retail chains. Now that many of these stores have been closed after bankruptcy and soon to become Sears stores, they’ve lost much of their public presence. This leaves Target and Wal Mart to battle for market position.

Wal Mart with it’s revolutionary sales practices has set a standard in retail for low prices. Their sales staff gives the same courtesy as the attendants at Disneyland and you cannot beat their prices.

But let’s face it; people who live in the neighborhood that I was running through probably don’t shop at Wal Mart.

Now that I’ve over generalized let’s qualify that statement. I asked one of my four bosses (none of them named Lumbergh) about the signs as he lives on the other side of this neighborhood. He said that the Proposed store would be placed at top of the hill around the corner from the low-traffic secluded road off of which this development was built. He does shop at Wal Mart… but the nice one 2 exits over.

Now I live on the other side of Sawmill Road. And the Ghetto in comparison (you’ve met my neighbors). A Wal Mart greatly helps me. First off, cheaper groceries. Secondly someplace to go on a Friday now that Battlestar Galactica is done for the season.

But is it the traffic? Is it the clientele that Wal Mart attracts to the area? No, it’s the street lights. You see this picturesque development sits on a hill separated by some woods from the main road. Were a major retail venture to go in, especially a 24x7 business, the parking lot lights would bring a sense of the city into the suburbs where these people have escaped.

You’re not poor because you’re black; and you’re not black because you’re poor.

Yes, I’m taking on a racial issue… wait, no I’m not, I’m taking on an economic issue. Because Race has absolutely nothing to do with wealth.

Since Katrina hit New Orleans (please give to the Red Cross) people have tried to associate those who were displaced, or stranded as victims of racism. I’m not denying that racism exists, but that’s only an excuse.

Anyone motivated to better themselves, be it in education, athletics, or just to get themselves out of a city below sea level with a hurricane headed your way, will succeed better and faster than someone waiting for someone else to do it.

It has nothing to do with skin color; it has everything to do with self-motivation. Let’s look at everyone that DID get out of the Big Easy. They got out in their cars. The ones they bought with their money. The money they eared at their jobs. The jobs they get up and go to every day.

I hit the snooze alarm a few time this morning… mostly do to drinking draught beers until 1:00 am. But the need to sleep in was overcome by the desire to eat later on in the week. You see if I didn’t go to work today I’d loose my job, and if a hurricane ever hit Ohio I’d be stuck in the Superdome.

So with my 3 door plastic car, I’m ready to evacuate at a moments notice!

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Okay that’s enough for tonight… Battlestar Galactica come on soon… I may head out for a beer, and hopefully I’ll be up for 7:30 am running club at church.

Hopefully running won’t turn into 3 hours of much raking this week. That made me sore!!!