Columbia, ABC Fixed A Problem

In my post Columbia, We Have A Problem on March 19, 2013, I did like we bloggers do when we can't get information or answers via regular channels: we take to our respective soapboxen and start making a lot of noise on the internet. Like Jerry Orbach said to Patrick Swayze in the Emile Ardolino magnum opus Dirty Dancing, if I'm wrong I say I'm wrong. My loud-mouthiness aside, let me tell you what I know to be actual evidence-based reality: ABC Columbia listened. ABC Columbia stepped up, fixed a problem, and in doing so they made important information available again. Not to mention they warmed my cold and blackened heart.

Fussbudgets, I am so happy to report to you that the previously identified problem has been resolved. ABC's interview with Emma Davidson of Tell Them and New Morning Foundation has been re-posted on YouTube (thus, the direct url has changed), and WOLO updated all of their various social media channels to reflect it:

ABC Columbia on Facebook
Good Morning Columbia on Facebook
@abc_columbia on Twitter

Watch the interview:

Thank you, ABC. You did a good thing today.

Screenshots:
YouTube: http://flic.kr/p/e53tHJ
ABC Columbia on Facebook: http://flic.kr/p/e53rx1
Good Morning Columbia on Facebook: http://flic.kr/p/e53rxh
@abc_columbia on Twitter: http://flic.kr/p/e53rDN

Ring Ring Ring Bananaphobe

My Dearest Starbucks,

I love you. Let's just get that out of the way first: I honestly love you. I love your coffee. I love my Starbucks Portland mug, a keepsake from my hometown. It's my go-to, my favorite, the one mug I'll wash to use even though there are a dozen others clean in the cupboard. If you're curious, it's from the Skyline Series, the "City of Roses" 18oz mug, which I've owned for over a decade. My favorite coffee drink, the Pumpkin Spice Latte, is so beloved in my heart of coffee hearts that the day it becomes available each year is like my very own special kind of Christmas.

So, now, at this point we're clear on how I feel, right? You know I love you. Thus, dear Bux - can I call you Bux? - I feel sure you will take this carefrontation letter in the spirit in which it is intended. Yes? Okay.

Here's the thing: Your baked goods should be awesome and delicious, but they are not. They're kind of gross, and it's because of the whole display case situation you've got going on.

the contaminated cookie bag

Don't get me wrong; the display case is always a perfectly lovely well-lit presentation offering a tantalizing view of pretty muffins, brownies, crisped rice treats, scones, cake pops, and assorted other goodies. All of these goodies hanging around together in the same open air space as the Banana Walnut Bread is the problem. Why? Well, Bux, I'm glad you asked!

You see, while banana walnut bread should indeed and does taste like banana walnut bread, double chocolate brownies should most definitely not. Iced Lemon Pound Cake also should not taste like bananas, but it does. In fact, I've noticed over and over again that anything and everything coming out of the bakery case tastes like bananas. Cinnamon Chip Scones taste like cinnamon, and chips, and scones... and bananas. Cheese Danishes taste like cheese! Aaaand bananas. Today, I bought an enormous, gorgeous, enormously gorgeous, Chocolate Chunk Cookie, and lo! Neither chocolatey NOR cookie-ey, but it sure did taste like bananas!

The solution, I think, is a simple one, and won't require any new equipment or menu alterations. You know those clear covered dishes you guys use for offering free samples? Stick your banana walnut bread in one o'those bad boys and then but the whole business in the display case.

Bam. Problem solved!

Bux, I believe speak for banana-hating-bakery-goodies-loving Starbucks customers everywhere when I say I want to give you more of my moneydollars, but you're not making it very easy. I'll happily give you more of my hard-earned disposable income for a pastry when I buy a coffee... but I just can't do it again until you get a handle on this banana contamination problem. Because Bux, it is really super gross.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Jen Bailey Bergen
Bananaphobe

Listing Covers

We've covered lists before here on Not Too Crazy, so by now I expect you know: I am a listmaker; I make lists for almost everything. I write them by hand, with ink, on paper, and I've been doing so since I was a kid. I'm pretty sure this habitslashcompulsion originated with my initial reading of Anastasia Krupnik circa 1985, but I cannot be certain.

Eventually, the playlist will be ordered so that my chosen cover version plays first, followed by the original. The cover versions I'm listing here may not be The Royale With Cheese of cover versions*, but they're the ones I know/love/want. For example, of all the Hallelujahs in all the world, many (most?) of you would probably select Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, and I get it. No, I do. I get that. I happen prefer Rufus Wainwright's version, and you'll just need to accept that about me.

Anyhoo, at present, I am making a list of cover songs which will later become a playlist. The list in current progress below is what I have up to today; it's not complete and it's not in any particular order. What do you think? What would you add? What am I missing?

Hallelujah
Rufus Wainwright, Leonard Cohen

Wild Horses
The Sundays, The Rolling Stones

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Heart, Elton John

Hurt
Johnny Cash, NIN

The Weight
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings with Old Crow Medicine Show, The Band

99 Problems
Hugo, Jay Z

Crying
KD Lang, Roy Orbison

Easy
Faith No More, The Commodores

I Will Survive
Cake; Gloria Gaynor

With A Little Help From My Friends
Joe Cocker, The Beatles

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Marilyn Manson, Eurythmics

Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Guns 'n' Roses, Bob Dylan

Killing Me Softly With His Song
The Fugees, Roberta Flack

Oh Pretty Woman
Van Halen, Roy Orbison

I'll Be There
Mariah Carey, The Jackson Five

Gold Dust Woman
Hole, Fleetwood Mac

Valerie
Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez on Glee, Amy Winehouse

I Will Always Love You
Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton

Landslide
Smashing Pumpkins, Fleetwood Mac

Hazy Shade of Winter
The Bangles, Simon & Garfunkel

Everybody Knows
Concrete Blonde, Leonard Cohen

Dancing Days
STP, Led Zeppelin

Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon
Urge Overkill, Neil Diamond

Wild Night
John Mellencamp and Meshell Ndegeocello, Van Morrison

Cruel to Be Kind
Letters to Cleo, Nick Lowe

Love Hurts
Nazareth, The Everly Brothers

*Faith No More's cover of Easy is The Royale With Cheese of covers.