Q & A with Burgandy

What is Harry's obsession with talking to himself?
Christina Hall

He’s trying to outsmart the monkey.

Why won't Sonic (the drive-in company, not the blue hedgehog) build a restaurant closer than 200 miles from Chicago?
Zel-kun

The cheeky answer is that there are actually at least 10 Sonics within 200 miles of Chicago. Although, some of them are in Indiana. (You wacky mid-westerners and your tiny states!) However, any map of the 10 closest locations of a fast food restaurant that requires a map of what is basically the entire Great Lakes area certainly makes me sympathetic to your plight. (Also, the second closest Sonic to me is 100 miles away and I live in the fast food capital of the world.)

The main problem seems to be that Sonic is a franchise that’s more than a little ambitious, trying to build a nationwide brand all at once rather than building up a following in one region and then slowly expanding outward, ala Chick-Fil-A, Krispy Kreme and other popular mid-western brands. For example, I didn’t even realize there was a Sonic over in Anaheim until I started researching your question. To be honest, I find this a questionable method of brand building, since the result seems to be isolated restaurants spread out on a massive geographic scale.

Besides the general head scratcher of why you wouldn’t have a restaurant in one of the biggest cities and tourist destinations in the country when trying to build a national brand, there is the curious situation of the 8 (!!) locations in Bakersfield, CA, some of them less than a half mile apart. This phenomenon apparently repeats itself about 100 miles south of Sacramento, not along the 5 freeway, but along the 140. (Which is the freeway equivalent of being in Bakersfield, but not Orange County.)

Apparently when Sonic says, “No matter where you’re heading, there’s a SONIC on the way”, then meant if you take the weirdest, most back country way possible to get there. Or that you will probably fly over one while on your way to somewhere people actually want to go. As best I can tell they’ve found a niche pretending to be a local burger place in places too small to have local burger places. Or maybe building restaurants where no one else bothers to build them? I can’t tell. It hurts my brain. However, it’s kind of fun to type in random cities and states into their restaurant locater and wonder at the truly bizarre results you get. Or maybe I’m just that tired. I can’t tell anymore.

Should I consider flash fiction is a viable expansion to Zelkun, or is it now officially too trendy to become a part of without seeming like a poser?
Zel-kun

I’m pretty sure you’re still safe. Given Twitter’s popularity, I think flash fiction is this generation’s version of an epic novel.

"WITCH" Will be over "FIRST"?The Anthony Pellicano CaseorThe OJ Simpson Armed Robbery Case?
HarryOriginalGangstaMartini181

Given the glacial speed of the Pellicano case, I’m thinking the other one would actually have to TRY to be slower.

Will Both Case's Be "COVERD-UP"????
HarryOriginalGangstaMartini181

Well, it’s important to cover your case. Otherwise you might get dust in it.

Will The ONly ONe TO "EXPOSE" The TRuth be MarioGeorgeNitrini111mariogeorgenitrini111????
HarryOriginalGangstaMartini181

No. I think there’s a new X-Files movie coming out as well.

"What is Harry's obsession with talking to himself?""WHY" Does Christina Hall "CARE" So "MUCH">>>>>>>>>>LOL
HarryOriginalGangstaMartini181

She’s about to be a new mom. It makes her more caring. Sometimes she even brings me lunch! (Actually, she did that before she was pregnant, too. Christina’s just that kind of person.)

Since apparently 8000 Light years only results in 25% Ozone Depletion. How close does a planet have to be to a Super Nova before the Gamma Radiation has the Deathstar effect?
Christina Hall

Thousands of light years, but less than 8,000. They seem to be having trouble pinning it down.


I've been in OC a year now. How come I've only seen you guys, like, twice?
LYT

Because you don’t play RPGs. ;)

But seriously, this has been a hard year on us. You had the misfortune to move to OC right at the beginning of the mortgage crisis, which resulted in the death of our little bohemian lifestyle. Getting used to the grind of a regular work week, looking for work, dealing with pre-school, then summer school, then kindergarten coordination – these things sucked up free time like a Roomba on crack. Tabletop gaming gave us the benefit of hanging out with a handful of friends and not really having to worry that much about babysitting or if we could afford to eat out, etc., so that basically became our weekly leisure time activity. Since the beginning of weekend shifts (last December), even that has fallen by the wayside. Also, there was the secondary issue that whenever we were free on the weekends you’ve been up in LA or on some sort of covert mission for that paper you write for.

All that being said – we WOULD like to hang with you sometime, and arrangements should be made to do so. In the meantime, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, the best way to catch us is with a spontaneous invitation, especially if its kid friendly. We sometimes put off making plans because we know we SHOULD be running errands or doing some sort of family activity with the Boo because we don’t get to see her much during the week, but if someone was to call us up and, say, ask us if we’d like to get lunch together or catch a movie at the dollar theater or whatnot we’re fairly likely to drop whatever it is we’re doing and come hang out. That probably SOUNDS lazy, but we really do have far more to do lately than we have hours in the week - however, an invitation to procrastinate is always welcome.