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Sunday, November 16, 2008 - Clarksburg WV

Vacant diner under stormy skies, across from Wal-Mart, Hazleton PA, Nov 16, 2008
Stormy weather ahead, Nov 16, 2008, Hazleton PA

This has been a mild fall in upstate New York

The mild fall in Columbia County lulled me into thinking I would escape the east snow free this year. But that wasn't to be. Not quite anyway. Some darned fool had to press his luck and head over the Allegheny mountains today. Ah well, it's not far over those beautiful mountains and my time up there where the rain turned white was short lived and only slicked up the road for a few miles.

Still heading for Kentucky

Tomorrow I'm going to continue on down I-79 to Charleston WV and catch I-64 west across Kentucky. That hopefully will put me west of the cold snap this area is experiencing.

When did Wal-Mart become Walmart?

I guess it didn't. I was going to make the switch but in looking around http://www.walmart.com I find the simplified spelling seems to apply only to Wal-Mart's online presence and on their register receipts. As an old hunt & peck typist (typer?) I was all set to drop the extra hyphen and cap. Darn.

Night camp

Wal-Mart Supercenter in Clarksburg WV

Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #1544, 550 Emily Dr, Clarksburg, WV 26301 - (304) 622-1954

Ask What Surprised Them

I was afraid of flying for a long time and could only travel vicariously. When friends came back from faraway places, it wasn't just out of politeness that I asked what they saw. I really wanted to know. And I found the best way to get information out of them was to ask what surprised them. How was the place different from what they expected? This is an extremely useful question. You can ask it of the most unobservant people, and it will extract information they didn't even know they were recording.

The Age of the Essay, Paul Graham, September 2004

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