I'm on a (record) mission from (name your favorite artist here)

I was driving up Euclid Avenue in downtown Ontario one evening when I thought that I spotted a record store.

Yes - a record store.

For my younger readers, imagine a CD that's - oh, wait, no one buys CDs any more either.

While vinyl records were once the dominant way in which people purchased music, they were already on the way out when Frank Zappa was testifying in front of Al Gore in 1985. The two were discussing the pros and cons of providing printed lyrics on the outside of shrink-wrapped record albums, but then-Senator Gore noted that any type of solution would also have to support cassettes, which are much smaller then long playing records.

But formats changed, and even cassettes and CDs began to fade away, as more people bought their albums online. (Was the shameless Ontario Emperor "Salad" plug subtle enough?)

Somewhere along the way vinyl was adopted by the hipsters, and there are enough hipsters and old people to support a few record stores here and there, something David Allen noted in an April 21 column that mentioned the opening of a record store in downtown Ontario.

That store - the one I saw - was The Record Mission.

I was in there this afternoon (Saturday afternoon), and the store definitely has an impressive collection of records. I didn't have the heart to tell the guys that I don't have a working record player, so most of the items they are selling wouldn't be good for me.

I say most of the items, because there were a few CDs in the back of the store, apparently from an indie artist (perhaps on consignment).

But if you're looking for records, and know the difference between an LP and a 45 (they have both), pay a visit to The Record Mission.

Bonus - Logan's Candies is just around the corner.

(Completely tangential - Hannah Rowley would be about 21 years old today, if she had lived. Time flies.)

Make Canada great again...through snacking

I was preparing to submit an expense report and saw a $2.10 charge that I didn't recognize. So I called my credit card provider to ask about the charge, and was told that it was from USA Snacks of Ontario, Canada.

Then it came back to me.

I went on a one-day business trip to Las Vegas about a week ago...and it was a long day. My shuttle arrived at Ontario International Airport at around 3:15 in the morning - before anything in Terminal 4 had opened. TSA was closed, the Southwest ticket counter was closed, and even the new coffee stand was closed. The only thing that was open at that time was the vending machines. So I got a Pop Tart.

Technically, a package of two Pop Tarts. But just one package.

This was the purchase that the credit card support person thought was from "USA Snacks of Ontario, Canada." But once she said that, I remembered the purchase that I had made early in the morning in Ontario, California.

I can forgive the support person, who was probably based on the eastern side of the United States where "Ontario, CA" means "Ontario, Canada."

But I'm amused by the idea that a company called "USA Snacks" could be based in Canada.

After all, we all know that such companies are more often than not based in China.

P.S. In Canada "Pop Tarts" are referred to as Pop Slabs.