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Greetings from Carrboro, I have a certain professional empathy for Joey Chestnut. Setting the world record for hot dog eating obviously has its rewards; the guy’s plenty famous. But still. While eating 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes might get you on ESPN, it also means that you, well, just ate 83 hot dogs. And that has […]

Greetings from Carrboro, By now, most of our earnest resolutions for the new year have entered their annual death spiral. They haven’t actually crashed and burned yet; we’re too smart for that. Instead, we turn to a whole slew of self-help books/mantras that act as consoling parachutes after we hit the eject button, easing us […]

Greetings from Carrboro, It’s birthday season. Well, at least around here. During the next six weeks Acme will celebrate 27 years in Carrboro, my eldest daughter will toast a similar number of trips around the sun, and then someone, um, else might have to – let’s just say for my sanity – put, oh, a few more […]

Greetings from Carrboro, Sometimes I think that restaurants are held together by hope, coffee, and delivery drivers. Take away any of those three and the whole charade falls apart. Especially at Christmas. I often stumble upon stashed ziploc bags of coffee beans that Raul and I have sequestered in case we arrive one morning and the restaurant […]

My kids had it dialed in. They were earnest and sweet and unquestionably manipulative. And for my part, I always fell right into their trap. It was certainly nothing new: poor, helpless children can’t go Christmas shopping for family and friends without a kind-hearted adult who takes them to the mall. Please, please, please they […]

Greetings from Carrboro, We now live in the world of  $1000+ advent calendars. These are mostly jewelry because, of course, that makes sense. But there are also calendars that feature 24 various bottles of wine for all those loved ones who had an unequivocally rough November. And even cheese-centric daily indulgences where the calendar – […]

You’ve been waiting for a good bit. But you’re finally here. And the guy’s already checked nonchalantly to see if your safety bar is secure. This is basically the point where the teenager in the booth is telling you to keep your arms inside at all times. There’s really no going back now. You take […]

Greetings from Carrboro, It’s about time. Literally. Arugula seeds that I bought in March wink at me, perched next to the lamp on my desk. I keep expecting to get an email from them, “How does your November look? Thursdays are good for us. ” Damn, cheerful little bastards. Please. Are we talking November ‘24 […]

Greetings from Carrboro, I went through three different times. The Great Hall at UNC’s student union had morphed into a showroom of sorts. A somewhat new company, Apple, was showing off its latest “home” computer, the MacIntosh, to students like me. And I was a fan. Well, I should be clear; I was mostly a […]