This year in particular, this month seemed to really fly by and before I knew it Christmas is almost here.

It’s certainly not at all like when I was a kid and waiting from December 1st to December 25th seemed like an eternity!

If you have to travel across town, across the state (or farther), be safe and have an enjoyable holiday.

-Steve

I had been meaning to write a post about my increasing appearances at the Ukrop’s in Roanoke, which opened several months ago along Franklin Road. I have found myself frequenting the grocery store much more regularly over the past couple months and have been quite pleased with the prices, quality, and atmosphere of the store.

Then, I noticed a recent article in The Roanoke Times which suggested that sales at the store are currently not sufficient for it to continue to operate long-term.

Say it isn’t so Roanoke!

Well, over the past few months I have done I would say at least 80% of my grocery shopping at Ukrop’s. Shopping that used to occur almost exclusively at Food Lion and very occasionally at Kroger’s. As of yet I haven’t got into the Fresh Market scene, and I never, ever grocery shop at Walmart.

Since moving into my house in the City back in 2005, and until recently, I had done 99% of my grocery shopping at Food Lion. I usually stop at the one at Oak Grove Plaza, or the one near the Salem Valley 8. I much prefer 2-3 grocery trips a week filling up one of those hand-baskets each time, instead of one big trip a week and pushing around a cart.

For the most part, everything was fine in shopping at Food Lion. If they didn’t carry particular items (such as the only flavor of food my cat will eat) I would reluctantly make a stop at Kroger’s.

But, there came a time a few months ago when I took my grandmother out to help with her grocery shopping, and she wanted to go to Ukrop’s.

Quite frankly, I considered Ukrop’s to be a “store for the rich” because it was new and had an extensive dining area with prepared foods. Now, I make OK money I guess, but I live in a modest 2 bedroom home and drive a paid for 6-year-old car. I’m hardly rich. So for the longest time I had just stayed with my routine in shopping at Food Lion, which I considered to be a more thrifty grocery store.

But, as I was to find out, for many of the items I regularly purchase the prices at Ukrop’s are very competitive with Food Lion and Kroger’s. In some cases, the prices at Ukrop’s are even noticeably cheaper. As for the items that are more costly at Ukrop’s (such as meats and produce) I think the higher quality very easily offsets the increase.

Secondary to the quality and pricing, and much more superficial, but I just like the layout of the store. Instead of the standard long aisles, there are these half-aisles with a walkway down the middle.

Produce and meat that is on display doesn’t look sloppy at Ukrop’s, but all looks very clean and appetizing.

And I absolutely love the self-checkout, it saves me considerable time. I realize the idea of self-checkout basically does away with several job positions, but it really is much easier for an introvert like me.

I work in the downtown area so the store is quite convenient to hit on the way home to my house in Virginia Heights.

If there is even any traded, I don’t own stock in Ukrop’s, so I have really nothing to gain by writing in favor of the store. Just the hope that this nice addition to the Roanoke area makes it, and continues to be in business for a good while.

Have any of you ever shopped there? How was your experience?

Why is it that after a desiginated few days off for vacation such as the past holiday, I feel the need to then have a vacation from that vacation?

Oh well.

I also ended up breaking most of the rules from the previous post:

On going to the Malls…

I actually went to both Tanglewood and Valley View malls on Black Friday, and to my surprise neither seemed to be that much more busy than a typical Friday night. I did, however, avoid the malls and department stores during the morning/doorbuster hours.

For the sake of our economy, I hope I wasn’t the norm, though.

On eating…

My family and some good friends of the family did go to the K & W at Tanglewood Mall to eat on Thanksgiving Day. By the time the restaurant had been open about 30 minutes, the line stretched all the way outside to the entrance of the mall itself. We waited every bit of an hour while standing in line.

I made extra effort to ensure I didn’t overeat there, and as it turns out they had a special Thanksgiving Day meal deal for $5.99 which was just about enough.

On having adequate time to relax…

The time for this endeavor was far from enough. But, I suppose there never really is enough time, eh? After working a half-day on Friday, I did manage to visit our new art museum (which I will probably write about later). I also went to the VT/UVA football game on Saturday with dad, and ended up working a bit more on Sunday.

All in all I can’t complain, it was a nice holiday. But I’m sitting here on the Monday morning after and already looking forward to the coming weekend again!

I hope ya’ll have a great Thanksgiving and holiday weekend.

Over the next few days I’m going to try my darndest:

1) not to overeat

2) not to be within  a 1-mile radius of either Tanglewood or Valley View (maybe I should make that 2-mile radius)

3) to enjoy some great times with friends and relatives

4) to just overall try to kickback and relax as much as possible!

Since the early 1990s, my dad has been purchasing Virginia Tech season football tickets for all the home games. When I was younger I remember going to several of the games throughout the year.

And back before the football program gained a more national notoriety, I even remember a season when I believe the team only won 2 games. We still went to the games. It goes without saying, but the stands weren’t exactly packed back then, and you weren’t as likely to see VT car magnets and window flags either. But that’s a whole other post.

In recent years, usually for 1 or 2 games out of the year, I’ll go with dad in lieu of his wife. The entire 2008 season was nearly over (just 2 games left) and we hadn’t made it to one of the games yet. But we weren’t about to break tradition.

So, this past Saturday we bundled up and headed to the game. And, all I gotta say is, it was dang cold!

Recent snow had yet to melt around parts of the Virginia Tech campus.

Heading to the stadium. Short sleeves were a bit out of style for this kind of game.

Kickoff was set for right around dusk, and I believe the temperatures around then had to be in the mid to upper 30s. By the time the sunlight retreated and the game was underway, I’d say that temperatures may have been flirting more with the 20s. I could see my breath the entire time. It was cold, and it only was going to get colder as the night went on.

Pregame festivities on the field.

Considering the frigid temperatures, I was surprised to see a decent crowd turnout for the game. I believe it was on TV on some ESPN station. And because of that, for some ticket holders, being able to recline back in the old easy chair at home was probably considered a bit more comfortable than a cramped and cold stadium.

Occasionally, I caught the smell of various liquid “spirits” that had been smuggled in to, if nothing else, help to numb one from the cold. I wondered why I didn’t think of that, but I’m not really much of a drinker anyways.

The home team makes their entrance on the field.

Before going, I think dad and I had both suggested that if the game was considered “over” by the 3rd quarter then we would go ahead and leave. But, as the 3rd quarter rolled around, the game was hardly over by any means. (The game itself wasn’t the most exciting one I’ve ever seen, and if you watched it or read the news then you know what I mean.)

Doing the Hokie Pokie before the start of the 4th quarter.

As the 4th quarter starts, VT is still only ahead 7-3, and my toes were starting to go numb from the cold. My face and cheeks felt like I had just left the dentist’s office after having a cavity filled. And, as tempting as the warm sanctuary of a running car heading home was, I had already decided to tough it out one way or the other.

The game really did go down to the final minute or so when the defense scored and pretty much clinched it. I had to take a photo of the scoreboard to prove we stayed to the end!

Scoreboard at the game's final.

And, as an extra and unexpected event after the game ended, they set off a series of fireworks that lasted for a few minutes. As I watched, I nearly forgot how cold I was.

A short fireworks show to end the game.

On the way home we listened to the post game reports on the radio, and I think it was said that this was the 2nd coldest home game since Beamer has been the coach. I would certainly believe it!

Once again, I’m reminded of a weekend back in September when here in Roanoke the temperatures outside were well into the 90s. And the entire city was host to the most crazy gas panic I’ve ever seen.

Hard to believe that weekend wasn’t really all that long ago.

But, things certainly have changed

Now that most of the leaves had fallen, the wind picked up a good bit this weekend and helped to scatter them about from yard to yard. There is a big tree in my back yard so I get alot of leaves from that. But, my back yard is also fenced in around most of the perimeter so a great many of the leaves stay on the lawn.

I suppose on the other hand the fence also acts as a partial shield against leaves from other areas, too.

I haven’t even started doing any outdoor Fall yardwork yet, have you? In addition to raking the aforementioned leaves, there is modest list of duties which primarily consist of tasks I put off during the Summer because it was too hot.

“It’s too hot outside to be moving that brush pile to the corner for the City to pick-up, or to be doing some minor landscaping for the front flower bed. I’ll wait until it cools off a bit in a few months,” I told myself back in July and August.

Now, I’m looking for a new execuse!

As for the gas prices, I paid $1.85 yesterday afternoon. The cheapness of gas didn’t really sink in until the handle clicked after a full tank, and I saw the total on the screen. The gas tank in my car still had about 1/4 left so it wasn’t completely empty to begin with, but I was still astonished when the pump stopped filling at around $15. Great stuff!

The cheaper the better of course, but for me the $1.75-2.50 range on gas is very much in my comfort zone. I can and do pay the price when it’s $3+ but there is just something about being able to fill-up a tank for around $20 or so that takes me back to the real good ole days.

It seems like all of the sudden last week Fall arrived in Roanoke. At my house, there are trees in the front and back yard, and they just last week provided a great sense of privacy. Now, in large part, those same trees are just a bunch of empty branches.

After the sun sets (which is basically around 5PM now), the wind of Fall whips through those branches and causes my old house to be a bit more drafty than I’d like.

But, that’s the season of Fall.

In driving around town recently for my usual commutes I snapped a couple photos that are of nearly the same scenes as a couple of previous posts, but now offer a slightly different perspective.

Scene 1

Traveling along Brandon Avenue towards Salem in early November:

Traveling along Brandon Avenue in early November 2008.

As compared with just about the same spot from 2 months ago in a previous post:

Traveling along Brandon Avenue in mid-September 2008.

Scene 2

The recent scene looking out from atop the bridge on Brandon Avenue (near the intersection with Colonial Avenue) :

The same scene back in early September from a previous post:

With all of the talk about “going green” the season seems to be causing just the opposite outside!

Mill Mountain provides some Fall colors recently.

Mill Mountain taken over by Fall colors (11/7/08).

And as for my yard, I don’t know what color this bush would be now, but I assure you it was as green as could be just a few weeks ago.

Well, I had written what I thought was a respectable follow-up to the outcome of the election with my thoughts on the entire matter, including my political beliefs to support the way I voted. Yesterday afternoon I was one click away from posting, but then I got to thinking. I ended up scrapping it, which I’ll briefly explain below.

Firstly, as I wrote about on Tuesday morning, I made a point to wake up earlier than normal and register my vote before work. At that time the line was fairly lengthy stretching outside the school, and the entire process took me about an hour. But, I was convinced that after work during those final couple hours the line would be even longer.

Well, the curiousity got the best of me so after leaving work I decided to do a drive-by at my voting precinct, which is Virginia Heights Elementary School. Much to my surprise I saw no line outside the building and even the parking lot was only about half-full. I probably could’ve walked in and out in under 5 minutes!

Oh well. I’ll have to remember that in 2 and 4 years.

Yesterday, I had written several paragraphs essentially outlying my political beliefs and ultimately showing why I voted the way I did. I’m not sure why because I don’t particularly care to talk about politics, it’s just not a major focus of my life. I do my own research and make my own decision and that’s enough for me.

But I admit, I became passionate amongst all the hoopla in regards to the election and was anxious to put in my 2 cents. But, I got to thinking…

I don’t particularly like politics being shoved down my throat, and I wasn’t about to do just that and by using this site as a medium.

I established this site to write about Roanoke and my experiences living in this quaintly unique city. I’d just assume keep in that way, because I much prefer writing about that stuff, and hopefully you much prefer reading it.

On that note, I’ll update again tomorrow with a new post on Lick Run Greenway. Next week, I hope to update with some pictures of the changing season in the Roanoke area.

As always, thanks for reading.