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Oct. 6th, 2017 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scarfmanMcDonalds outsmarted me.
Thirty years ago, when I lived in Chicago, there was a McDonalds out on Milwaukee Road that was building a new store for itself a block away. My roommate Bill aspired to creating and possessing an undoctored photograph of two instances of Arches on high poles less than a block from each other. Unfortunately the window of opportunity was only a week or so and Bill missed his chance.
But I never forgot. I remembered.
About six weeks ago, here in Omaha, it became apparent that the new construction on the southeast corner of 72nd & Blondo was going to be a McDonalds ... only two blocks south of the one at 72nd & Lake which I have been patronizing for a dozen years. There was no indication I could see that the new one was going to replace the old one - in fact hiring information for the new one was posted at the old one, suggesting, I thought, the old one's staff were staying where they were. But, I reasoned, even if the new one was to replace the old one, there would likely be overlap like there was on Milwaukee Road, and there would a time - perhaps a short time - when two high-pole Arches would be capturable in one viewfinder (as long as there was an angle they both rose above the hill between them, which was uncertain) and I could, with my newfangled touchcamerasmartscreentelephone, restore my comrade's honor tarnished of old. The gods need only delay it until I was automotive again because making regular passes to determine whether the Time Had Come while constrained to bus travel was a challenge I wasn't prepared to take on.
As you may know I became wheeled again about ten days ago, but sad to say McDonalds hasn't been foremost in my mind in the time since then. Today however, in belated celebration of my mother's birthday postponed till there was a car to facilitate it, I set out to procure by drive-thru for her a Big Mac, a strawberry shake, and an apple pie (and a two-cheesebuger meal for myself while I was at it), at the 72nd & Lake McDonalds which is after all on the way. But what, on approach, do I see, but the parking lot is empty and the windows dark - and the Arches gone!
Naturally I put the best face on it and declared to myself, in so many words, "While this foils my noble quest to go viral in the name of my buddy, it undoubtedly means that the new one has been completed and I can there fulfill the birthday wishes of the woman who gave me birth and this car." But, lo, I topped that hill which was no longer any obstruction to any plans of mine, and to my wondering eyes did appear a franchise burger restaurant still under construction.
So, not only was I compelled to use my pocket computer instead to appraise my mother that I must temporarily return to my own neighborhood in order to complete my assigned rounds, but the evil empire had thoroughly thwarted me by daring to do what I could never expect: abandon 72nd Street from Ames Street to Papillion* without McCafes and french fries that my dream of three decades be utterly demolished.
* Disclaimer: It's actually been years since I drove to work in Papillion on 72nd Street looking for a McDonalds, and for all I know there is one or more along there somewhere by now. It just always boggled my mind then that there wasn't any.
Thirty years ago, when I lived in Chicago, there was a McDonalds out on Milwaukee Road that was building a new store for itself a block away. My roommate Bill aspired to creating and possessing an undoctored photograph of two instances of Arches on high poles less than a block from each other. Unfortunately the window of opportunity was only a week or so and Bill missed his chance.
But I never forgot. I remembered.
About six weeks ago, here in Omaha, it became apparent that the new construction on the southeast corner of 72nd & Blondo was going to be a McDonalds ... only two blocks south of the one at 72nd & Lake which I have been patronizing for a dozen years. There was no indication I could see that the new one was going to replace the old one - in fact hiring information for the new one was posted at the old one, suggesting, I thought, the old one's staff were staying where they were. But, I reasoned, even if the new one was to replace the old one, there would likely be overlap like there was on Milwaukee Road, and there would a time - perhaps a short time - when two high-pole Arches would be capturable in one viewfinder (as long as there was an angle they both rose above the hill between them, which was uncertain) and I could, with my newfangled touchcamerasmartscreentelephone, restore my comrade's honor tarnished of old. The gods need only delay it until I was automotive again because making regular passes to determine whether the Time Had Come while constrained to bus travel was a challenge I wasn't prepared to take on.
As you may know I became wheeled again about ten days ago, but sad to say McDonalds hasn't been foremost in my mind in the time since then. Today however, in belated celebration of my mother's birthday postponed till there was a car to facilitate it, I set out to procure by drive-thru for her a Big Mac, a strawberry shake, and an apple pie (and a two-cheesebuger meal for myself while I was at it), at the 72nd & Lake McDonalds which is after all on the way. But what, on approach, do I see, but the parking lot is empty and the windows dark - and the Arches gone!
Naturally I put the best face on it and declared to myself, in so many words, "While this foils my noble quest to go viral in the name of my buddy, it undoubtedly means that the new one has been completed and I can there fulfill the birthday wishes of the woman who gave me birth and this car." But, lo, I topped that hill which was no longer any obstruction to any plans of mine, and to my wondering eyes did appear a franchise burger restaurant still under construction.
So, not only was I compelled to use my pocket computer instead to appraise my mother that I must temporarily return to my own neighborhood in order to complete my assigned rounds, but the evil empire had thoroughly thwarted me by daring to do what I could never expect: abandon 72nd Street from Ames Street to Papillion* without McCafes and french fries that my dream of three decades be utterly demolished.
* Disclaimer: It's actually been years since I drove to work in Papillion on 72nd Street looking for a McDonalds, and for all I know there is one or more along there somewhere by now. It just always boggled my mind then that there wasn't any.
