The world as I know it has changed forever

This past Thursday I took a friend out for lunch. He wanted BBQ, and prefers Duke's BBQ to Carolina BBQ. I prefer Carolina BBQ because I think the BBQ is just a little bit better and the sauce is exponentially better at Carolina. However, I think that the majority of people prefer Duke's. Its funny because I always get the same answer to the question I pose to people who claim to like Duke's better than Carolina. They like Duke's better because of the sides. Well then, I like Shealy's better because of the sides, but that has nothing to do with BBQ. But BBQ is more important to me than to the average person.

Well the world has changed. 2 weeks ago, Duke's put ribs on their buffet. They charge an extra 50 cents to get ribs. I decided to try them on Thursday. Oh. My. The ribs were fantastic. They used the normal pork ribs and then separate them into individual pieces. They also separate the rib from the cartilage pieces on the top. It makes a nice manageable size. The meat has a dark red tint from the smoking process and has a very strong smoky taste. Some of the ribs were fresher (typical of a buffet) and the fresher ones were very tender, but firm enough to stay on the bone. The outside was crispy but easily edible. The sauce on the ribs was slightly sweet and cooked down to a thick covering. In my opinion, the ribs are ideal in just about every aspect.

Needless to say I like the ribs. I think that these ribs are some of the best ribs I have ever had. I now have to include Duke's as one of my favorite BBQ restaurants in town, maybe more so than Carolina BBQ. I went back for lunch on Friday and got more ribs.

Convert your old gas guzzler to an electric car!

One of my coworkers recently bought a brand new car. This is the same coworker that has driven his 80 something toyota corolla wagon for 20 years and put 300,000 miles on it. He has earned a new car. He still has the corolla and drives it occasionally. He has expressed interest in turning the car into a hybrid vehicle, but not in the way most hybrids work. He wants to leave the gas engine alone which is front wheel drive. He wants to add an electric engine to run the rear wheels and use battery power. He would only use the gas engine whenever the batteries were low on power. The gas engine wouldnt charge the batteries though, and charging would only be accomplished by plugging the car in. While I am no expert on electric vehicles, I think that this is not feasible for several reasons, all to do with weight. The 10 or more batteries, electric motor and other electrical system components would greatly increase the vehicle weight, causing a noticeable difference in gas mileage out of the gas engine. I think leaving the gas engine there would greatly decrease the performance of the electric engine too, leaving it almost useless except for very short trips. In addition, the vehicle isnt made to carry that much weight regularly and would have to be modified to be safe, especially with the brakes and suspension.


The alternative would be to replace the gas engine with an electric one. This is probably more popular than you would think, and thousands of people have done this. There are actually kits out there to convert specific cars to electric, as well as universal kits. I happen to own one of the vehicles that has a ready made kit with all the parts and pieces already figured out, including customized connections. This kit is for a Chevy S-10. I do not want to convert that vehicle to electric though. I do own a car that is nearing the end of its usable life though and think that it would be a perfect candidate for conversion. I normally drive it back and forth to work, 7 miles each way, and occasionally to eat lunch, usually fairly close to work. My driving pattern and how lightweight this car is makes it ideal. Maybe when my Mazda 323 stops working I can convert it to electric instead of junking it, giving it a whole new life. From my simple internet searches, the conversion kits and all the other parts currently would cost around $8,000 to $10,000. Now if I only had the time to do it...

Golden Ranch Bar-B-Q and Grill

There was a time when I travelled a lot for work. For approximately three years, I was assigned to a natural gas pipeline project that needed upgrades between Meridian, Mississippi and good old Augusta, Georgia. So for a week every month, I would drive to Meridian and work along the project all the way back to Augusta. Over the years, I got to spend a lot of time in Meridian, Selma, Tallassee, Montgomery, Auburn/Opelika, Columbus, Macon, and everywhere in between on U.S. Highway 80. Selma, Alabama, was not one of my favorites to stay, but they did have one restaurant that we didn’t mind eating at.

Golden Ranch does not offer chopped or pulled pork. They cut their meat into slices or cubes. The meat was very dark red from the smoke and had a great smoky flavor. I found the meat to be a little dry, but since it was sliced it had very little of the less desirable parts included. It really reminded me of ham, with more of a BBQ taste. It was pleasantly good.

The sauce left a lot to be desired. Maybe it was just me, but it has the appearance and taste of some institutional BBQ sauce, like something served in the school system. It was bright orange and a little sweet. There is really nothing that struck me about it as being anything but ordinary.
The sides also left a little to be desired, but were palatable.

I have eaten there quite a few times, but mainly because there are few other choices in Selma.

Roger’s Bar-B-Que

Last weekend we headed over to Florence, South Carolina and while we were there we went to Roger’s Bar-B-Que and Seafood Buffet. If you have read any of my posts, or even the title of this post, it’s not about the seafood. Since it was the whole family, we were looking for a place that the peanut could get some vegetables. I have been so Roger’s several times so I knew what to expect. I couldnt find a website for them though.

The experience begins on the road. There is a life size, or maybe larger than life size, pig on the Roger’s sign. Any great Bar-B-Que place must pay homage to the wonderful swine with pictures, posters, figurines, dolls, and/or a large statue. I have also noticed that the pigs are usually depicted as being happy. Kind of ironic, eating some pork in a place with pictures/figurines of happy pigs all around. I have even heard it say that the happier the pig on the sign, the better the Bar-B-Que. Needless to say, I can appreciate the sign.

Once inside you are shuffled to the register and then the buffet. Roger’s has a pretty large buffet with lots of interesting food. It has the typical items, rice, hash, mac-n-cheese, lima beans, green beans, corn on the cob, hushpuppies, fatback, slaw, Bar-B-Que, Bar-B-Que chicken, fried chicken and ribs. I am sure I left out at least 10 items on the buffet.

I would have to say that most of the sides are good, better than average, but not jaw dropping spectacular. Just good home-style cooking. One exception would be the hushpuppies, which were much better than average. The fried chicken is pretty good too.

The pork is chopped similar to most South Carolina Bar-B-Que establishments, bite size but not chopped fine. The sauce is vinegar based and added to the meat before serving. They don’t offer any additional sauce at the table or on the buffet, although the servers might have some in the back. The good news is that the vinegar sauce is not overpowering and actually works really well with the meat. The pork does look red but much of the smoky flavor would be masked by the vinegar sauce. I cant say whether or not they use wood to cook with. The important thing is that I cant say that they don’t. My conclusion is that this light smokiness is done on purpose and I think it works. The pork is tender and juicy too.

The ribs were somewhat different. They did have a tomato based sauce cooked onto the ribs. The meat had a dark red tint to it, but the smokiness was once again masked by the sauce. The sauce had a sweetness that I have only tasted in Chinese restaurants on their ribs. But it wasn’t overpowering, and I didn’t get tired of it. The meat on the ribs was a little tougher than the pulled pork, but it appeared that most of the fat had been cooked off, so I can take that trade.

I don’t get to Florence too often but eat at Roger’s frequently when I do. It isn’t my normal taste for Bar-B-Que but what they do works really well and I am usually satisfied with my meal. My only complaint is how tightly they pack the tables in the dining area. I wouldn’t want to eat there when they were really busy.

Old Clinton Bar-B-Q

The Old Clinton Bar-B-Q is a stop I would frequently make when I was working in Macon, GA. It is an old building full of history. I would have liked to have taken the time to get to know the place better but we always had to get back to work after eating. There website is http://www.oldclintonbbq.com/index.html. I always got the BBQ plate with BBQ pork, Brunswick Stew, potato salad, pickle, and bread.

The BBQ is chopped fine, typical of what I have found in Georgia (now that I have stereotyped it everyone is going to say that it isnt typical of what is in Georgia). The meat has red tint from the smoke, has a pretty good smoky flavor, and is fairly dry. You are given sliced bread to eat the meat with.

The sauce is thin and brown. Its mostly vinegar with some tomato sauce in it and spices. I also consider this type of sauce as typical for Georgia. I wouldnt say that the sauce is particularly special, but it has always been consistent. This is not my favorite type of sauce but it is good for this type of BBQ since the meat is fairly dry.

The potato salad is pretty standard for potato salad. But what is really good is the Brunswick Stew. I dont normally care for it but it is really good here. I could probably eat a whole bowl of it as a meal.

Gray GA is not a very big town. If I find myself in the area I would definitely go back to eat at Old Clinton Bar-B-Q.

Civic duty

I dont like the word duty. It means obligation and responsibility. You are not obligated to do something you volunteer for. This is a common term though probably coined by our "founding fathers." It means to vote in elections, sit in jury duty, pay your taxes, etc. But it really means much more. In our society we really should be civic minded. We really should volunteer more. I find that the attitude of most people is what can society do for me.

I volunteer with some of my time, sweat, blood, and money. Since the mid 90's I have volunteered my time and sweat with Adopt-A-Highway. Litter really irks me, so this may be a driving force behind my volunteering. The best thing would be to educate the idiots who litter, but that would not completely solve the problem. So, 4 times a year I get together with some coworkers and we pick up trash along our stretch of highway. More frequently, I pick up trash along the road in front of my house. I cant say that is civic duty though, I am trying to keep my yard looking nice.

Today I am giving blood. I donate platelets and the process takes about 2 hours. They take blood from one arm, run it through a machine to separate the platelets, and then return the blood to the other arm. One can donate platelets every 4 days. Right now, I am on a schedule to donate every 3 weeks. The local blood center tries to keep the schedule for this machine full. I was "chosen" for this procedure because I have the most common blood type, and they apparently have enough of that type. Platelets are most commonly given to cancer patients and other patients with blood disorders.

I really think that I could do more. What do you do?

A great purchase

I made a great purchase on October 13, 1995. I was in college and my car had just been totalled. I needed a new car immediately since I commuted to school. I chose a 1989 Mazda 323 hatchback. It had 51,800 miles on it and was in great shape. I paid 2000 dollars cash for it. A few months later we had an emergency and had to have money fast. The bank gave us 7 grand with it as collateral. We were fortunate. A year later we had the title back. Shortly after that I was making a late night grocery store run when it happened. This woman wrecked into me. She was busy looking in her purse for her lighter and did not even know I was in the parking lot. The only obvious damage was the turn signal on the front right side. It was busted. The not so obvious damage was the bent frame. The repair estimate was 2400 dollars. I have a turn signal in the bumper as well as the one that was broken. I didnt think the bent frame was that big of a deal so I pocketed the money. So at this point the car has cost me nothing but normal maintenance. Not very long after this the heater core needed to be replaced. It cost $150. In 1999, the transmission went. That was actually a tough one. I debated not replacing it and getting something else. I figured a used transmission was worth the risk. That cost $700 including labor. So, the car actually costs something more than maintenance now ($450). In 2000, I moved into the regular work force. In 2002, the odometer cable broke. Cost $50 big ones. Oddly enough, the heater core went bad again. $250 bigger ones. Thats a total of $750. Then, the train accident in 2005. This car was old and there was a layer of oxidation on the metal surfaces. The engine has a small oil leak and most of the engine compartment was coated in oil. The car was spared significant damage from the Chlorine. They gave me $500 to fix it. The only damage was the brakes. New pads were $50 bucks. To date, the car has cost me $300. I have 181,000 miles on it now and drive it to work almost every day. It has been dependable. It has been a great purchase.