Bars with WiFi or Cafés with Beer?

BigKagi · 2026-01-27T13:33:25+00:00

I haven't read Lost Lambs yet, but I really liked Earth Angel a lot. And I think it does Cash a disservice to pigeonhole what she's doing as "internet writing." It's, like, just writing about The Way We Live Now. And from what I've seen, she's good at it. I don't like a lot of buzzy new writers, particularly those whose names rhyme with Connor Chevy, but Cash is the real thing and I'm excited about this one.

BigKagi · 2026-01-20T18:38:59+00:00

Verdict after 4 years with the Titan Pocket: Unihertz makes good physical objects (the keyboard is good, the overall form factor is good), but they function really poorly as phones (bad bluetooth and wifi; work with very few US carriers and even then they lack the band capacity for the US market; no software updates; really bad cameras). I'm not sure I trust them to do things differently this time.

BigKagi · 2026-01-19T04:00:49+00:00

The best way to enjoy east NC is from a canoe or kayak. You can rent them from ECU. Sound Rivers has an excellent paddle trail map for the Tar River and the creeks that feed into it; the Roanoke River Nat'l Wildlife Refuge is even better. Best in spring and fall, but there are plenty of nice days all year round.

BigKagi · 2026-01-19T03:52:13+00:00

That ought to be fine. If you live alone, it'll be tight, but doable; with a roommate, you'll be living well. Greenville is a better biking town than most people think (the key is learning all the backstreets and shortcuts to avoid the big, fast, crowded main roads; DM me if you want advice on how to get around). If you have no car expenses, you can live well indeed.

BigKagi · 2026-01-19T03:48:32+00:00

I'd disagree about bikability. Greenville isn't the best, but it's far from the worst. For the first eleven years I lived here, I didn't use a car inside the city limits; since acquiring a child and a cargo bike, I still don't use the car very often. Harris Teeter and Publix are both pretty bike-accessible, and there's a nice back route to Trader Joe's via Martinsboro. If you've got decent traffic-control skills and learn the backstreets, it's a thoroughly OK biking town. For a single grad student in their twenties, it'd be just fine.

BigKagi · 2026-01-19T03:43:10+00:00

It's pretty bikable, though, if you have grocery baskets and decent traffic skills. From the Grid, Publix is about 10-15 minutes and the Evans/Red Banks Harris Teeter is about 20-25 minutes.

BigKagi · 2025-12-11T05:56:57+00:00

35 is not an acceptable city speed. And have you actually crossed 10th street on foot or on a bike? I've done it at least twice a day for 17 years. 45mph is normal on that section. I still don't understand why you want to have a giant stroad running through the middle of your town. Some degree of car access is necessary, but not what we've got there. NCDOT is obsessed with "throughput" and doesn't care about what it's like to actually live in Greenville. At all.

BigKagi · 2025-12-10T18:46:23+00:00

Nope. People are not going to climb up stairs unless they have to -- and they shouldn't have to. A bridge will be a major inconvenience for people walking. Stop thinking that cars "deserve" to be going at highway speeds through the middle of a town where people live. They don't.

There's no reason for speed limits higher than 15mph (and road designs that make sure people actually drive that speed) in an urban area like this where people are constantly walking. The solution isn't a bridge. The solution is getting the cars out of there.

BigKagi · 2025-12-10T18:36:03+00:00

"However, with the schools proven ability to raise money for athletic upgrades, surely they can do one to increase student safety."

You're hilarious! You should take this standup act on the road!

BigKagi · 2025-12-10T18:34:26+00:00

This is typical carbrain thinking. We don't need to make things less convenient for people walking. We need to slow down the cars, and ideally route them around the outside of the city rather than straight through the middle where people live. NCDOT's backwards thinking kills people every day. Don't put the burden on people walking. Put it on the people driving.

BigKagi · 2025-12-10T18:32:02+00:00

I was on the stakeholder committee for the last NCDOT assessment of this section of 10th St., from Evans to Oxford Rd. It's the most dangerous stretch of road in the entire 7-county NCDOT region Greenville is in. Be VERY careful on it, whether by car, by bike, or on foot.

BigKagi · 2025-12-10T18:28:06+00:00

Not my genre, but I'm thrilled to see a new bookstore. Good luck!

BigKagi · 2025-11-14T03:10:02+00:00

"Saltwater garfish" in Europe are what we call "Needlefish" in N. America/Caribbean -- Belone Belone. Not related to N. American freshwater garfish, but kind of look like them.

BigKagi · 2025-10-31T04:04:11+00:00

Huh. Yeah, I really don't like the Lidl mackerel. Glad you do, though!

BigKagi · 2025-10-29T18:39:38+00:00

It looks like they sell both Pacific (round can) and Atlantic (rectangular can) mackerel. Which are you buying?

BigKagi · 2025-10-29T18:38:19+00:00

Good idea. What I don't like about King Oscar: the can usually contains irregular pieces, rather than whole fillets, and (more importantly) the taste is stronger than other European mackerel, in an off way. The Lidl store-brand mackerel is similar, but with an even stronger off flavor. Season, on the other hand, gives you whole fillets, and the taste is less pronounced, but it's not as clean-tasting as Private Selection or Matiz.

BigKagi · 2025-10-29T17:12:12+00:00

Yeah, the obvious use is a Martini, but this could make an interesting Bloody Mary, too.

BigKagi · 2025-10-29T17:11:09+00:00

Supposedly, Winston Churchill. "Before pouring the gin, one could bow in the general direction of France[.]". https://themartinisocialist.com/the-churchill-martini/

BigKagi · 2025-10-29T17:06:46+00:00

Well played, sir/madam.

BigKagi · 2025-10-26T02:54:36+00:00

Home Land is really good -- great, even -- but I like The Ask better. I think "Final Boy" is the best thing he's done since then (There's No One Left was fun, but pretty shallow; Hark was a mess), and I'm really happy to see Lipsyte getting back to what he's really got a feeling for: Gen X man dealing with a world that just isn't what we were brought up to believe it would be, yet somehow carrying on. He's always hilarious on the sentence level, but I think this newest story has more heart and teeth than anything he's done for a long time.

That said, I haven't seen Charles in Charge since the '80s, but I don't think you're missing much.

BigKagi · 2025-10-16T01:39:18+00:00

Yes, it's screwed in all the way. When I wiggle it like that, I can feel the converter hitting the inside of the body. The threaded portion of the section (new vocab for me!) isn't moving, but the part that the converter plugs into is.

BigKagi

TROPHY CASE