Archive for October, 2006

The Rhode Island Furniture Wars 2006

There is a disturbance in the Rhode Island Force. I noticed it the other day when I heard a commercial on the radio for… Bob’s Discount Furniture. Bob and his discount furniture stores are from Connecticut, and I had to stand his silly local-furniture-store-quality commercials for four years while I was in Hartford. Now… Bob has come to Rhode Island. And of course, competition is not a bad thing for the residents, but I fear Bob has started something that he may or may not be able to finish. With Bob’s offers of free popcorn, coffee, and pastries in his stores, he has fired off a shot at Rhode Island Institutions: the Cardi Brothers and John “The Voice” from Alpert’s.

I dont know what’s going to happen, but this war is gonna hit the streets pretty soon, and I can gurantee it is not going to be pretty. The Cardi brothers are ruthless. They’ll send a message. The booming bass of John from Alpert’s will shake Bob right to his core. Next thing you know, Bob’s trucks arent going to make it over the Connecticut border. Being forced to turn around and head back, the Cardis own the border, it’s a fact. 25% of all furniture revenue goes directly to them, as a tribute of sorts.

Bob may have landed his first store here, on rt 2 in Warwick, the commercial Mecca of Rhode Island, but he better be prepared for the furniture fight of his life.

R.I.P. Mr. Loo

Those of you who were lucky enough to have Mr. Maurice Loontjens for 6th grade at Woodridge Elementary in Cranston… Mr. Loo has passed on to that great Principal’s Office in the Sky. ProJo tells it: Town manager dies in his sleep.
Whether he was dumping your desk out on the floor because it was dirty, or leading your class in a riveting game of kickball, Mr. Loo was one hell of a teacher. His fondness for Buddha was known from Friendly’s to Santilli’s.
I remember for punishment me and some of my cohorts went outside with Mr. Loo and he had us measure all the crack’s in the playground’s blacktop, saying the school needed to figure out exactly how much blacktop to buy to fill in the cracks. In demonstrating physical vs chemical changes he smashed a Woodridge Wizards mug and burned a piece of paper in class! 6th graders, smashing mugs, burning paper, the lesson stuck.
Here’s to you Mr. Loo! School’s out for summer, school’s out forever.