Lunch Report: Olmos Pharmacy...

My wife and I are still playing catch-up after our long weekend in Florida last week, so the thought of going beyond the general area of home seemed out of the question - until my wife mentioned knocking the Olmos Pharmacy off of our list of places we need to eat. So, what the heck, off we went!If you are familiar with the McCullough - Hildebrand part of town, you know exactly where Olmos Pharmacy has been, for many, many years. I love that entire area and occasionally will take a drive through there when coming from my downtown office. In spite of driving past the place numerous times, I just never stopped in. So today, we took care of that.We sort of expected to see a pharmacy inside of Olmos Pharmacy; wouldn't you? Instead, it was just a diner complete with a long bar with stools for folks to sit up at the counter. I trust that the pharmacy part closed a while back but the milkshakes and malts were enough to warrant keeping the soda fountain part of the store open.Instead of sitting at the counter, we opted for a booth so we could sit back and take it all in. Like some of the other diners we have visited in town, there is this genuine feeling of near time-travel back to an earlier time. Does that even make sense? I mean, couldn't an architect with a few drawings taken from an old Life Magazine simply recreate the 1950's experience? I suppose, but when I sat down in the cushioned booth we were seated in, I swear it felt like years and years worth of peoples butts had softened the cushions. And it felt pretty good!

There is nothing special about the place unless you count the history and the fact that they have been around for so long. In other words, don't go expecting some special, elegant or super fancy diner; it is what it is and for us, that was good enough.My wife ordered a burger which comes with Ruffles chips. It wasn't jumbo sized but neither was the price. She was more than pleased with it and even did a little bit of the Happy Dance at one point.I opted for a patty melt on rye bread. Not bad at all. The sandwich was certainly enough, and chips versus fries was actually a good idea since we both ordered Malts.

If you haven't read a reason to make a visit to Olmos Pharmacy up until now, I understand. But if you have ever enjoyed a shake or a malt, I think you will find the trip very worthwhile, if only to experience one of these. I ordered chocolate and my wife got the strawberry. When our waitress brought them out, they were served in the actual mixing cups. This seemed highly unusual to me. We both sort of looked at one another wondering what the protocol is for getting the malt from the mixing cup to the mouth. There were straws at the table, but this was really thick. Then the waitress came back and brought long spoons and asked us if we wanted whipped cream. We both nodded yes and she brought us these small cups filled about quarter full with the whipped cream.In looking around, we also noticed several other folks pouring their shakes or malts into the smaller cups, and we were then sufficiently educated enough to proceed. Good Lord; you can't take us anywhere fancy.

One note - if you are eating lunch and you want to order a shake or malt, they are big enough and filling enough that you could easily share one between two people - assuming you can agree on the flavor.One final note. We noticed that on some of the signage outside, they referred to it as Olmos Bharmacy (as in "Bar"). And, behind where we were seated, there was a fully stocked bar. I didn't ask, but I got the distinct feeling that when the milkshakes and malts shutdown, the beer and bourbon opens up. Who knows?

Have you been to Olmos Pharmacy - or Bharmacy? Were you there when GW Bush visited? Tell me about it or leave a comment here.

Timber Path Construction Update...

What with it being Good Friday and all, I needed to get my wife to a source of fish without having to cast a rod so to speak or drive very far. So we took part in the Bill Miller's Lenten Special and went through the drive-thru. Of course, since the fish is cooked to order, they pulled us to the side and that gave me chance to jump out of the truck for a few happy snaps at the intersection of Grissom and Timber Path, and an opportunity for one of my infrequent Timber Path Construction Updates.So, is it me, or has the work come to a screeching halt?I love the road that goes about 50 feet, then stops. I can only assume that there is some explanation for this.

Coffee Time!

On our trip back to Brandon last weekend, aside from driving by the place, the thought of McDonald’s or that McDonald’s in particular hadn’t even crossed my mind in some time until my wife casually asked, “Is that your store?” Has it really been 30 years since I was a goofy kid flipping burgers and eating leftover Big Macs at closing time? Time flies.

Anyway, my only real thought of McDonald’s was the maintenance man at our store named Carl. Carl was a retired Navy guy - complete with obligatory anchor tattoo - who came in to the store just as the night swing shift would be closing the place. This was before anyone dreamed of a full 24-hour burger operation.

The manager on duty always knew to start a fresh pot of coffee just before Carl would show up, but not too early, otherwise he would give them a condescending, tsk tsk tsk look, pour it out and start a fresh pot. This led to many managers often asking the crew in the drive-thru window to report the first sighting of Carl pulling into the lot, thus, the coffee could be started at the right moment.

Carl’s real notoriety, besides being a small, scary looking guy who could probably beat the crap out of any five of us punk teenagers without missing a drag from his cigarette, was his nightly ritual of screaming “Coffee Time” at the top of his lungs when the fresh pot had finished brewing. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that grown men, on their first night closing the store had been known to wet themselves upon hearing the loud and unexpected screeching. He especially loved to sneak up behind young ladies busily trying to close their registers so they could leave for the night, and give the ol’ Coffee Time yell.

Have you ever seen the movie Full Metal Jacket where the drill instructor tells Private Joker he wants to see his war face? The first time I saw it, I figured that Carl must have been through basic training with R. Lee Ermey. I have also thought fondly of how funny it might have been if Starbucks had been around during Carl’s prime. Can you imagine some teen aged Goth or Emo barista prancing around with a double latte mocha chino only to have Carl come up and scare the bejesus out of him with his war face like Coffee Time routine? Then he would no doubt berate them mercilessly for ruining the coffee by loading it up with all sorts of Nancy-boy flavorings – like cream and sugar.

Carl had a routine aside from the coffee thing and he would come in with his lunch in one of those old school style lunch boxes, the kind with the rounded over top so you could put a thermos in the top of it (which I supsect may have contained a nip or two of the Happy Sauce), and he would place it on a shelf in the walk-in refrigerator. I am only assuming that there was a Mrs. Carl living somewhere who lovingly put together his lunch, complete with a sandwich that would put Subway to shame for him to snack on when he took a break during the night. There was a big scandal that involved someone taking a huge bite from or possibly eating the entire sandwich one night. There were even rumors that I had been the culprit and on a few occasions, I even took credit for the outrageous crime. But in reality, as far as I know, they never caught the guy who did it. To this date, I suspect there may be one of those cold case files sitting in the basement of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office, if they do in fact have a basement.

I often wondered, years later if Carl did it himself just to shake things up. Managers had been fired for lesser offenses, and taking a bite from the maintenance guy’s sandwich was a serious breach of store security.

To this day, I attribute my skill at mopping to Carl. The man could wield a mighty fine mop and if a few of us young bucks were willing to stay late (off the clock, mind you) he would teach us a few tricks of the trade, in full Tom Sawyer fashion. I have never had the opportunity to try it, but I bet I could swab a deck if the Navy needed my assistance.

So I’m guessing that Carl would have to be in his late 80’s or early 90’s now, though in reality, even though he looked to be at least 65 in 1979, he may have only been in his 40’s when I knew him. I wonder if he is still alive and if so, does he still mop the floors at night at the McDonald’s in Brandon? And I wonder if he still scares the piss out of people with his Coffee Time yell?

Have you worked with someone like Carl? Over at Buzzardbilly, she worked with an old gal named Hester who may have been related to Carl. I'd love to hear about your scary co-workers.

A Mayor Should: Look Mayor-like...

...and not be crazy.I wouldn't be opposed to having a mayor who was slightly goofy in a funny sort of way - I think it adds character to the city to have someone with Mayor Phil Hardberger's cartoon character-like voice to make us stand-out amongst other cities in the nation. But nobody I know thinks Mr. Hardberger is crazy, right?

Choosing elected officials is an important thing and each of us, regardless of our political leanings, or our desire/ability to research and really understand who the candidates are, need to be aware of who could potentially stand before a national audience and be interviewed by some sportscaster during an AlamoBowl, a Final Four event, or even be featured on a San Antonio tourism commercial. So even if you don't mind letting your vote move toward the fringe - just because that is your right - just remember, you could end up with some guy who makes our city skyrocket to the butt of Jay Leno jokes, and we don't need that.I bring this up because being the inclusive HOA that we are, our board invited all of the official candidates running for mayor to our Mayoral Debate (or forum, if you will). Of course, you have your standard candidates, all of whom are at least electable. That is to say, agree or disagree with their policies, you know that they can at least complete a sentence, base thier positions on reality and at least a small dose of background research, and if you put a camera and a microphone in front of them, they wouldn't say something that is likely to make most people scratch their heads. Oh sure, they may make some comments that are eye roll worthy, but for the most part, they are serious about all of the issues.

Then you have the people who run for office, just because this is America, and they can. Please don't misunderstand; I love the enthusiasm of some guy sitting on his couch in his underwear as Chris Marrou and Sarah Lucero tell it like it is, and the guy shakes his fist and says, "I'm mad as hell and I'm running for mayor." Bravo! As long as they first put on their pants, more power to them.

But forgive us voters if we don't take you seriously as a candidate when you say goofy things or seem to only have a single issue in mind, regardless of the questions asked. If you are asked about the different topics of Police, Animal Care Services, and Graffiti problems, and somehow or another, your answers all center around "getting our fair share of the stimulus money, prayer in front of abortion clinics and George Bush was a crappy president", I'm sorry, but I'm going to need a little more specificity in your plan.

Of the three fringe candidates at the Mayoral debate last evening, one, Mr. Lauro Bustamante stood out as the least crazy. In fact, if you read his questionnaire for the SA Current, he sounds like he could have a chance if he had gotten started a few years earlier. This gentleman simply wants to serve in some capacity, and though many of his responses to the issues presented were lacking in reality, he was at least able to provide lucid and well formulated responses. But in his closing remarks, it was clear to me anyway, that this fine man is just doing this to say he did it. I admire that. I hope someday to have the balls and the nerve to do something equally crazy.

Mr. Rhett Smith was another of the "not a snowballs chance in hell" candidates (though of the three, he has a better chance than the other two). He seems to be a very nice, retired military guy who has run for multiple offices and in fact received 200,000 votes in his most recent run for state senator. I'm thinking he might set his sites even a few steps lower, because he was short on meaningful, reality based responses to the questions. Thank you, sir, for your service, but when running for mayor of a city, it doesn't help your cause to run against the former president. Wouldn't it be funny if you and Mr. Bush ran into one another in front of a Planned Parenthood building, deep in prayer? Maybe he could help you out with the stimulus money you so desperately think will solve all of our problems.

And the craziest of all was a remarkably nice man, the Reverend Napoleon Madrid. Dressed in his best preachin' outfit, I at first thought he was somebody's crazy neighbor, dragged along to the debate so we would have enough people to fill the seats.As the candidates each took two minutes to introduce themselves, they remained seated at their positions where microphones had been provided for them. When it came time for Napoleon Madrid to speak, he jumped up out of his seat causing a visible reaction from the moderator and people in the audience. Okay, apparently none of us had seen this guy in action at previous debates.

Rev. Madrid enthusiastically reported that he was a Christian, a Reverend, and job number one as Mayor would be to put all the people in city hall in jail.

Thank you and goodnight.

No, he went on. Two minutes is a long time when you are enthusiastic and have lots of ideas. For instance, I think he said he would personally create 5 million jobs. On his web page, he says 3,000 to 5,000 as opposed to 5 million, but what's in a number. Oh, and on day one at city hall, he would have the entire city of San Antonio audited. Oops!

Look, all three of these candidates are nice people and they mean nothing but to be helpful citizens making San Antonio and Texas and the nation a better place. But at what point does someone say to them that they only make the other legitimate candidates, for all their faults, look that much better?

More importantly, how are organizations wanting a forum with the legitimate candidates supposed to hold an informative debate when, in between the sane, thoughtful, reality based ideas and positions, we have to take random two minute breaks to hear from one of the crazy people spouting off the same response regardless of what the question was?

In a response to the tagging problem, Mr. Bustamante felt that we should do more to help the little darlings understand that their behavior is destructive, but in no way should they be treated as criminals. Sorry sir. You may sit in your car for the rest of the evening while we continue the debate. And if you see any 14 year olds breaking into cars in the parking lot, I hope you can help them understand how hurtful their behavior is.

Mr. Smith's response? Of course; stimulus money, and a good dose of change you can count on now that the last administration has been replaced.

At least the Reverend Madrid recognized the problem. He said he used to be in the graffiti abatement business and wouldn't even get out of bed unless he was getting paid $1,000 to remove the taggers work. (Or was it one million?) His plan? Make everyone in jail get out (of jail) everyday and clean the city for free.

Okay, just the logistics of transporting 5,000 inmates around town would cost more in a month than we have budgeted for graffiti abatement in the entire year. This is what I mean by responses to questions that are not based on any sense of reality.

You and I could sit down over a beer and come up with lots of great ideas that would be fine. I say shoot taggers on site, then make fun of their crying mothers on KENS5 Eyewitness Newsreel. As fine an idea as that is, and as much as we might enjoy talking about it over a beer, it has no basis for a serious discussion regarding city policy.

Okay - I think I've made the point. I urge each of the not a snowballs chance in hades candidates to please, continue your efforts via the Internet or call into talk radio etc, but allow the serious candidates to participate in these community forums and debates without you making them just drag on and on.

On to the serious candidates.

• Shiela McNeal did not make it to our event
• Diane Cibrian will never get my vote for anything. One piece of advice for Ms. Cibrian: See if you can answer a single question without saying the name Phil Hardberger. I mean, really. When was the last time you went to a strip club? Phil Hardberger and I don't like strip clubs. When was the last time you went to Cancun (or wherever somebody paid for you to go)? Phil Hardberger and I blahbety, blah, blah... And your website is totally negative. Why not discuss your ideas and quit talking negative about the other candidates. Leave that for me.
  
• Julian Castro is clearly experienced and knows the issues and has many good ideas. I could live with him as mayor, I suppose.
• Trish DeBerry-Mejia, barring some wild scandal surfacing (and even possibly then) is getting my vote. I will tell you in all honesty that I had not made up my mind going into the debate. It was her responses during the debate that won the day. She was direct, to the point, not a single calculated feel-good response. She used her two minutes to cut right to the chase each time and tell you how she was going to respond as mayor.

Did you attend our forum? Have you seen these people in action before? Am I wrong about the crazy candidates or my selection for Mayor? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tell me about it or leave a comment here.

UPDATE: Apparently the Express-News agrees with my assessment of the situation.

GNW Hosts Mayoral Debate...

No time to post a full report but we did get most of the candidates for SA Mayor out to the Lodge of the Great Northwest tonight.Present were, Lauro Bustamante, Julian Castro, Diane Cibrian, Trish DeBerry-Mejia, Napolean Madrid, and Rhett Smith. The no shows were busy or, ahem, otherwise detained.In addition to a good selection of candidates, thankfully, we had a very nice turn-out for the event. By the discussions taking place afterwards, the clear leaders in this forum were Mr. Castro and Ms. DeBerry-Mejia. I'll post a full report tomorrow.

Were you at the debate? Do you have an opinion about the event? Tell me about it or leave a comment here.

UPDATE: On the News4 WOAI 10 PM broadcast, Randy Beamer seemed to report that the GNW would be hosting a follow-up debate with the "top" candidates next week. I'm pretty sure Mr. Beamer confused our HOA with someone else.

Two of Three GNWCIA Debates: Over...

As I briefly posted earlier, The Great Northwest Community Improvement Association hosted the first of three debates related to the elections for Council seats in Districts 6 & 7 and the Mayoral race for San Antonio.Last night, two candidates, Ray Lopez and Anna Caballero were kind enough to meet with residents, answer questions both before and after the debate, and of course, participate in the debate moderated by Dr. Eric Cooper, a resident of Silver Creek (and my neighbor I might add).

The format for the debate included a opening remarks by each candidate up to 5 minutes, then taking turns answering predetermined questions with a time limit of 3 minutes. Finally, because time allowed, Eric let several residents ask questions from the audience and each candidates answered them. At the end, both candidates again had the opportunity to make a closing statement.

I am always looking for an opportunity to make fun of someone, but in the case of both Ms. Caballero and Mr. Lopez, there simply was nothing to pick out from either that was worthy of tickling a funny bone. I believe both of these folks are serious and qualified for the position, and regardless of which won wins, our district will be well represented.

The questions were crafted to give a topic then allow each candidate to give their thoughts and ideas on the topic. They were each allotted 3 minutes to answer. Paraphrased, they were:

• 1604 between Culebra and Bandera - this was basically the toll road question
• Thoughts on the need for more SAPD officers
• What to do about graffiti/tagging
• Daytime curfew for school aged children
• Section 8 homes concentrated in areas
• Animal Care Services
• If elected, how will the council person be accessible to constituents

I'm not going to attempt to recap the responses given, but suffice it to say, in every case, one may have given a slightly better response than the other, but both candidates were within my comfort zone. When the debate was over, my wife and I compared notes and we both agreed that there was in fact a winner for us, but unlike my opinions on Chicken Fried Steak, Pulled Pork, Hamburgers and Catfish, I'm not going to say who we thought was better.

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The GNWCIA hosted the second debate this evening, this time for the District 7 Candidates. The three attendees were Mr. Robert Garibay, Ms. Elena Guajardo, and the incumbent, Mr. Justin Rodriguez.Following the same format, Moderator Eric Cooper once again did a great job in guiding the candidates through the same questions (tweaked only slightly for adjustment of the 1604/toll roads issue).

I'm embarrassed to say that I was embarrassed at the small crowd for the District 6 debate where we had about 30 folks. Embarrassed because tonight, we had two residents from District 7 show up, and the remaining audience were either curious observers (like me) from District 6 or members of the candidates staff. Honestly, it is humiliating to live in such a huge association with such a potentially huge voting block and so few people simply don't give a flip about the candidates.But the candidates did not show a sign of disappointment in the small crowd. Each answered the questions and when it was over and the moderator apologized for the small turn-out, all three handled it with class and still complimented the association and the community. So there you have it - they like y'all more than I do!

About the candidates. First, in case you were not aware, Robert Garibay is an 18 year-old college student. In talking with him before the debate, he is extremely mature for an 18 year old and this whole being a youngster running for the council is not some sort of gimmick or a ploy; he is serious and committed. The young man speaks well, is smart and no doubt has a future in some sort of business and probably politics. Having given the obligatory build-up, I must say, Mr. Garibay, in my opinion is not ready for this level of service. I'm usually of the mindset that "anybody but the incumbent" is a good answer, but in this case, my advice would be for this talented kid to get just a bit more experience under his belt.

Elena Guajarda actually held the seat she is running for prior to being soundly womped by the incumbent, Justin Rodriguez. I'm not a District 7 voter, but I can help you with your selection by saying a single word: George Dickerson. Okay, that is a name.

But that situation alone should not be an automatic vote for Mr. Rodriguez. I will tell you that in spite of the fact that Mr. Rodriguez was late for the debate - he was in contact with his staff during the 45 minute drive up Culebra to give the audience updates on his status - he simply outshone the other two candidates in his responses.

Young Mr. Garibay had 3 minutes to answer the questions and other than his opening and closing remarks which were very well done, he summed up his answers to every question in about a minute, leaving valuable time to elaborate on the clock.

Ms. Guajarda used her allotted 3 minutes to relive her time on the council and remind us that she was a full time council member that could be in touch with the community. Technically, this was a slam on the incumbent, but the moderator let it go time after time. To his credit, at the end, Mr. Rodriguez, in summing up his qualifications reminded all two residents of District 7 in attendance, that he was pretty much ushered in to his seat on the council after Ms. Guajardo's term.

I'm not here to tell you how to vote. I'd prefer that many of you could have simply made the effort to show up and see the forum first hand. Those of you who don't live here get a pass.

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Tomorrow night - 8 April 2009 at 7:30, the candidates for Mayor will be at 8809 Timberwilde. Please, if you live in the area, come and join us. I can only take so much humiliation!

GNW Holds District 6 Debate...

Two of the expected four District 6 Council candidates, Ray Lopez and Anna Caballero attended a debate put on by the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association this evening at our Lodge.

I'll write more on the topic tomorrow, but considering my wife and I did breakfast in Brandon, lunch in Houston and watched the debate for dinner, it has been a long day. But I did want to post two important pictures:First, the candidates...And second, our moderator, Eric Cooper who did a fantastic job this evening.

Tomorrow night, the association will host another debate with candidates from District 7. Our HOA actually covers two city council districts (6 and 7), so even if you are voting in District 6, it will be interesting to learn more about the district 7 candidates. I hope to see many of you there at 7PM tomorrow evening.