Name That Gun!

Here's a rifle that I've been thinking about adding to my collection. My next piece is going to be a historical rifle, and this rifle is one of the finalists.

Can anyone name it? Here's your hint: In the Civil War, it was referred to by the Rebels as "that damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week". Give up? The answer is below the jump.

How Not To Parallel Park [VIDEO]

I love sitting at the outside tables at the Gourmet Shop in Five Points watching people try and parallel park. Sometimes people just give up. We should make it an Olympic sport.

I'm torn when I watch this video. I can't decide if it's painful or funny.

Eh, I'll go with funny.

More Violence in Five Points

We've had one person almost beaten to death, and now we have more violence. In the latest incident, the alleged attackers were able to run away before the police showed up. Hey, crazy idea: Maybe if we had some police there, the bad guys can't run away. Whatever happened to good ol' police work?

Five Points is a great area, but the crime is out of hand. The City of Columbia has to actually assert some authority here. Simply cleaning up the bodies after the crimes is not a valid solution. Protect and serve the community, y'all.

The Waffle House In Five Points

I'm excited to see the new Waffle House construction in Five Points is moving along so well. It's located on Harden Street, right next door to El Burrito. Here is a picture that I took on my way to work this morning with my Droid:

As you can see, the iconic yellow lettering is already up, and it will soon be a beacon of hope for lost, drunken students in the wee hours of the morning. Honestly, I'm surprised that it has taken so long to get a 24-hour diner into Five Points. With all the bars and student foot traffic there during the school year, this place is going to be printing money.

This Waffle House will also be a good place for folks to sober up a little before driving home. Sometimes, simply having a place to go is enough of an alternative to deter a person from just getting in their car and trying to immediately drive home. So there's a public benefit here as well.

On a related note, hope they put a juke box in there. The Waffle House in Lexington, VA, where I went to college, had a juke box that must have made about as much money as the Waffle House itself. At 3:00AM, after a few drinks, that juke box looks like the best idea in the world.

The southern institution of Waffle House will be a welcome addition to the Five Points area, and I cannot wait to get some of those delicious hash browns.

The Fountain in Five Points is Blue; Any Idea Why?

I took this photograph around 2:00PM today while running some errands. Any idea why the fountain is blue? The only thing I could think of was that we were pulling for Kentucky to pull a miracle upset of Georgia this weekend. Anyone else have any ideas?