Bellacino's - Barboursville

Last week I walked into a restaurant. I could tell it was an Italian restaurant immediately as all the clues were there; it had a fancy Italian sounding name, there were stain glass lampshades...and the restaurant was playing country music. If I wasn't mistaken I could see the Tower of Pisa out of the window...or maybe it was just Office Depot.

The complete effect was capped by the fantastic service I received at the counter. It was bare (the counter, not the server) and so I perused the menu a while, it was my first time and didn't know what was on offer. The server approached the counter and looked at the computer. I looked at her, she looked at the computer, looked at me, looked at the computer. Apparently, that was the signal that I should order. I (stupidly) was awaiting a greeting or instruction that she was ready (Mamma Mia! Imma so silly!).

I ordered a meatball sub and choose a side (plain chips, or BBQ chips...decisions, decisions! If only they had ONE type of chips I wouldn't have to make such a heartbreaking choice) and was shooed away from the counter. Saying she had a face and attitude like a wet weekend is probably giving her too much credit.

Ambiance and terrible service aside, it was an awesome sandwich. Just incredible. I was only hungry enough to eat half...but then ate the other half anyway. That's how good it was! I am told the Reuben was equally as good (so says Mrs. Allclick) and the Pizza on the table over from ours looked yummy too.

I shall be making a return to Bellacino's if not for a slice of Italy, or a warm, friendly, smiling face, then for a delicious, filling, and meaty sub.

Another reason to avoid Putnam County

It's 2010. It's now almost July. I have come to accept that we aren't all in flying cars yet (link goes to a flying car), we don't have time travel or hover boards, we don't have cloaking devices or hyperspace travel. But what we did invent in 800BC was recycling so you think we'd have everything pretty much worked out in that area by now. Wrong.

In my local area there IS a recycling center. That's the good news. What sucks is that they only accept magazines, office paper, aluminum cans, and brush. This meant that it was a little better to travel further down the road, out of the county and get money for my huge aluminum sack. As we started to recycle our magazines at the house it then became more worthwhile just to dump the whole lot of locally. Now, that's all well and good but what about all the plastic bottles that I (and my local community) get through? Turns out we are SOL.

Up until recently we could drop them off just over the county lines in Nitro (at the recycling place..not just on the side of I-64) but now they have stopped accepting plastic. Wracked with the guilt of plastic bottles laying in landfill for all eternity I went online and spoke to a representative at Waste Management who pick up my rubbish.

"Yes, we do recycling sir. Just leave your container out next to your trash can"
"Great. Can I put plastic in there?"
"We currently do not have any plans for plastic collection at this point in your area"
"Hmm. Ok. Any other suggestions?"
"Have you tried Earth911.com?"

By this point I HAD tried it. Earth911.com steered me towards one office nearby (that is JUST an office and doesn't actually collect materials. It sent me to the recycling place in Nitro) and it tried to convince me that Roane County was just 5 miles away. Which it isn't.

There are recycling places in Cabell and Kanawha county but guess what? They are for those county residents only. So, the "Taint" of WV gets screwed again. I have a temporary solution right now which is driving down (or up) to Target who DO collect recyclables from the public. They have smallish bins inside near the customer service desk and don't seem to mind me walking in with a huge bag and filling up their bin for the day.

Maybe it's finally time for me to start drinking from *shudder* the tap.

A trip to Wal-mart in West Virginia...and more on why Wal-mart sucks

On a recent trip to Wal-mart I was struck by a couple of incidents and observations that even in the presence of a the gigantic, face-less, everywhere super mart itself could not persuade me I was anywhere but West Virginia.

The first was the fact that you barely know this Wal-mart actually exists. It's built right by the interstate but there is no large sign and you can't see the front. It's as if you have to just KNOW that it is there, you have to be an insider. Sometimes this seems to be the case in West Virginia for me. There is some information that isn't shared it's just stuff that is known by folks who have lived here all their lives. Like drugs in Huntington come from Michigan...or is it Florida? And if you are going to criticize Coal or Hunting you better shout it from the other side of the Ohio river.

The second was on the way out of Wal-mart when the greeter stopped us on the way out.

"Hey, I need to see your receipt for that trash can. Oh, and here have this chicken."

And she had handed us a cooked, Deli, rotisserie chicken. They must have just closed and we happened to be the next folks along. I'm not sure if that is official Wal-mart policy but it sure made me glad to be in West Virginia.

--------------

On another note, did I mention Wal-mart sucks? They don't have the brand of chips I like that EVERY OTHER STORE HAS, they didn't have the movie I wanted at their red box, they have stopped selling frozen sausage rolls that I love, they open enough registers to ensure that every customer must wait 25 minutes in line, their lights hurt my eyes, the carts only have two wheels, they replaced nearly everything with their own brand products (which I don't have coupons for) ,they stopped selling sirloin ground beef (tell me about it!) and they obviously spent about 2 cents on the credit card scanning devices...phew!

I'm off to Kroger.

Missing out

It looks like WV actually ended up in the black last Fiscal year. A surplus of 2.5 million-ish. My idea is to loan it to California at a ridiculous interest but who knows when would see that again. Regardless of the surplus, I think WV can do better. We could start with license plates. It seems to be some sort of payment dodge that a lot of people take advantage of. When I walk out into my parking lot I see North Carolina plates, Ohio plates, I see South Carolina plates, even Florida plates but precious few West Virginia plates. I'd kinda understand if I lived on the border of any of these states but I'd say even Ohio is an hours drive. It irks me when my plates are Wild and Wonderful and my money is going toward Joe Manchin's pockets Wv roads and the folks next door are funding some other state to save a few bucks.

At least with dem tolls going up we can get some of that out of staters money heading our way.

Tis the season for snow

Well it looks like winter is finally upon us. I can tell this from two things. One, the parking lot this morning was covered in snow, and two I have my black "mugger" beanie on today. Both these things scream winter to me. There may have also been one or two adverts about Christmas or something as well I can't really remember. I seem to have an unnatural desire to buy Kay Jewellery and a Garmin though. Very strange. Just yesterday I emailed one of my brothers and said "Nope, no snow, maybe up in the mountains". I guess I should have paid more attention to the weather.

I like having snow at Christmas time. It just makes everything feel...well...more Christmassy. It was a rare occasion in England to have snow, so I have a childlike joy at seeing the white stuff and view it as a happy event. I'm sure there are many West Virginians who cursed and mumbled something about "driving on those icy bridges" this morning and they are right to do so, having seen a pickup trip do a 360 last year in the snow. So drive slow and safe out there today folks.

Well if you feel that way...

Over the weekend I heard a familiar phrase. I'd say that in the past year I must have heard it about 15 times. Perhaps even more than that, and sometimes it's another phrase but with exactly the same sentiment. "Why the heck are you in West Virginia?". It's difficult to describe the tone, but swap the words "West Virginia" and change them to "swearing in church" and you'll probably get the correct intonation of how it is usually asked. What I say usually is "I go to school here" or "my girlfriend is here" or something that doesn't reveal too much information to a complete stranger. What I often feel like saying is "If West Virginia is so bad, what the heck are you doing here??". I really don't know why people are so tough on the state. I think it may have something to do with people always thinking that the grass is greener on the other side or the "greener grass" effect (as I'd probably label it). The truth is, you're too busy getting swept up in life to appreciate West Virginia, and looking outside of your self for blame for any of your issues. So please, stop ragging on the state and do something about it if you want change.

Welcome to Huntington!

It's Monday morning again and time for some blog posts. With the WV bloggers board out of action I have more time to concentrate on blogging! This may be a blessing or a curse. What is always demoralizing for me (in terms of blogging) is getting online after the weekend and realizing that the last blog post is 4 days old (ish). I should really store up some posts and then just move them from draft to posted over the weekend...or just not let it bother me so much! :-)

Today's observation is one that i've had several times really. Every single working day in fact. It's the ride into Huntington. It has to be one of the least visually appealing sights for any new visitor to the city. It kinda makes me cringe a little thinking about. Either way into the city (from the Interstate) has it's problems. Route 60 has a thousand stop lights on it, and strip bars and you have to stay on it for about 15 minutes from the Interstate. The other exit is a nicer drive in. Less stop lights, a shorter road, but there are some aesthetically-horrible, brown housing and that short road has a few serious holes in it. What usually makes me smile though is the shiny Cabell Hospital building ,(which seems to be constantly worked on) and the Robert C Byrd sign out front which seems to be a haven for the sick smokers (there's there condition that makes them sick, not my judgement of them). If I were Mr/Senator Byrd I'd be pretty ticked about it. "Get off my sign!" I'd say, "and take your drip with you!". I understand that giving up smoking is extremely difficult, but the logic of going out there to smoke escapes me. OK you're in hospital, your feeling pretty bad, so what will make you feel better? Some bed rest, or a trip out to a busy, noisy, smelly, road to breathe in some carbon monoxide and cigarette smoke. Still, at least those hospital germs won't get you out there.

Here comes the rain

Well it looks like Fall has fallen today almost as if a big switch was flicked in a weather room somewhere. I, for one, am welcoming the change in weather. It's a little cooler today (still t-shirt weather though) which means walking more than 20 feet is actually bearable, you no longer have to squint all day long, and it will hopefully help some of the dusty patches of grass I've seen around campus and in t'valley spring back to life. I'll be really glad when there is enough rain to fill up the Hurricane Reservoir. If anyone has driven by it in the last couple of months you might think it was a mud flat. It's not the most relaxing sight to see every morning and acts as a pretty strong reminder of the effects of global warming. Perhaps they should keep it that way and put up a big sign "Look what global warming did" or "Global warming is in your reservoir stealing your water". At first it was kinda interesting, the water level was slowly decreasing and I was looking forward to seeing what was at the bottom of the reservoir. Bicycles, money, car parts, dead bodies. Turns out there was just a whole lot of mud. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the rain and the leaves changing and opening my arms to Falls weather. At least until I step into a two foot deep puddle. The first step is always a duzey (sp).

West Virginia fog

The weather in West Virginia has been an eye opener for me. I thought I had experienced it all. Rain, Sun, wind, snow..the usual. This morning driving along I-64 we suddenly saw a cloud that looked like thick smoke, it was kinda dark and just on one side of the road in a small patch. Ms. AllClick and I stared longer and harder at it...and then realised there was another patch of it on the right of the road. It was an incredibly localised patch of fog. It was kinda spooky, like that movie about the fog...can't remember the name right now. The further we drove the more patches we would see, in tight clumps, along the interstate. As we gazed back towards an opening area near Barboursville the fog had swamped over the trees in front of the sun creating a fantastic silhouette that has really brightened my day this morning. I wish I had of had a camera with me. You'll just have to get out there this morning and see it for yourselves.