What I meant was what is the difference between ordinary grocery store and large supermarket?
I would shop at Trader Joe’s if we had one near us. I would not shop at Whole Foods.
Thank you for recognizing the real injustice in this story.
I’m not sure what @thorny_locust had in mind, but in my mind, it’s a difference in size (of the physical store and of its selection). Chains are regional so it’s hard to give examples that would be universally recognized, but I’d consider my local IGA to be an “ordinary grocery store.” So is Aldi, at least in size, though the fact that they carry mostly only their own house brands may or may not disqualify them from being “ordinary.” Krogers and Hy-Vees would be examples of large supermarkets.
I meant it to be size of the store; with a rather blurry line of distinction. Some of the groceries I’ve been in have been very much larger than others.
The distinction between “large supermarket” and “big box store” was meant to be that the supermarket’s mostly food or food-related products and the big box stores carry a whole lot of other stuff; not just an occasional aisle and some additional displays but whole departments and probably more than half of the store, even if they also include a large grocery section.
I took swimming lessons at a camp some distance from home, at which campers stayed, IIRC, for a month or two. IIRC I also took swimming one year in college, because I think they still had a gym requirement and you had to take something; but while I may have gotten some refinement of technique I didn’t take it to learn how to swim because I already knew how.
I think it may have been at college, however, where they taught us a “drownproofing” technique, designed to keep you breathing for quite a while (while waiting for rescuers to get to you, or to rest for a while inbetween bouts of swimming if you were getting too tired to keep actively swimming continuously.) You need to warn any lifeguards if practicing, though, because it looks rather like you are drowning.
We’ve had quite a few threads about Aldi over the years. I found it interesting to compare what was said about Aldi 20 years ago with some more recent threads.
Two or three decades ago, Aldi was a low-end, no-frills store that had the lowest prices around on basic groceries, mostly their own house brands. More recently they’ve become, not upscale, but closer to it than they used to be, with a selection of gourmet or specialty items available and prices overall higher than they used to be, though still not bad.
As a kid, I took swimming lessons three times: twice at public pools, and once from a friend of my parents. None of it worked; the moment that my head would go under the water, I’d panic, and would have zero interest in continuing. The last of those lessons was when I was 10 or 11, and my parents finally gave up at that point.
Thus, I’ve never learned to swim. It hasn’t been a serious impediment to my life, and any time I’m in a boat (which, honestly, is pretty rare), I always wear a life vest.
That’s exactly how my gf describes it. The fish she buys (and I grill) is fantastic.
I was taught the basics of swimming pretty young, just barely old enough that I remember it, so maybe age two or three. I believe they were classes at the Y. I remember my Mom taking me. I’m not the best swimmer but I can pass the treading water swim test no problem. My one major issue is I have to plug my nose to go underwater. I’m trying right now to unlearn that.
My son’s first swim lesson is this Saturday. He was nervous in the water at first but the last time I took him in, he didn’t want to leave the pool and he kept trying to hold his breath underwater, all on his own. I have a very good feeling that he is going to love swimming just like I did. He’s going swimming twice this weekend, first lessons and then to a relative’s pool. When we told him about it he was really excited.
I couldn’t swim until I was maybe 12 years old. Mom finally pushed me into taking classes at the swim school run by some family friends. By the time I was 16 I was through my Life Guard certification.
They were very good. 
I can’t remember not being able to swim. We just picked it up, with older siblings and some adults helping and guiding, but nothing like formal lessons. From my recollection and observations of younger kids as I grew up, it started with mothers taking babies out into the water and standing hip deep or so and dipping the baby (not all the way). This progressed to toddlers, under supervision and wearing flotation, venturing into the shallows and splashing around. Then, usually from a desire to join the older kids, they’d progress to swimming using the “dog paddle”. Once a kid was confident in being able to maneuver, keep their head above water, and generally get around, they would start to copy older swimmer’s strokes, diving, going underwater, etc. I don’t think I ever encountered anyone in the extended group of family and friends that would get together at the creek or lake during the summer that took formal lessons.
The Road Trip poll managed to straddle my trip frequency. I generally drive to Vegas 3 or 4 times a year.
Yes, it’s too big a gap for me to answer accurately.
Same here; “once every few months” is a missing option, and would reflect my travel.
I haven’t done a road trip like that for a few years. The trips we take (NYC, the shore) are 2 hours or less. A few years ago we drove to DC. I would prefer to not drive further than that.
“I say let them crash! They bought the tickets - they knew what they were getting into!”
My parents were both very good, even excellent. They loved my two older sisters and me and did their very best for us. My mom was the more hands-on parent. My dad was busy with his career, and when he was home he was often in front of the TV watching sports, but he wasn’t neglectful or anything. I love them both and have no complaints.
I live in a blue city and county in a state, Ohio, which is becoming more and more red, alas.
I’m pretty much the same person online as IRL. I don’t think I’ve ever taken advantage of Internet anonymity to be, say, meaner or more cutting than I would be face-to-face. I try to remember the Golden Rule no matter where I am.
Everywhere I’ve ever worked, any reasonable use of printers and copiers was permitted. Just don’t go whole hog and abuse the privilege.
I’ve just been in an Aldi’s once, years ago, in a poor area, and it definitely had a down-market feel to it. There’s a Trader Joe’s relatively near to me now, definitely more upscale, but it’s a bit out of the way and I sometimes go years without going there. It has a nice dessert, snack, cheese and wine (Two-Buck Chuck!) selection, though, and some tasty imported foods I don’t see elsewhere. When I go there, I’m definitely gonna buy some stuff.
I’m a swimmer from a family of swimmers. I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t swim. I’m pretty sure my parents taught me, although I vaguely remember taking an advanced swimming course in the pool of the country club my parents were once members of. I swam a lot there over the years, and also in a nearby creek, and at Boy Scout summer camp, but rarely in the city pool, and never at the town Y. In my later years of Scouting I served as an aquatics counselor for five summers, which included swimming, rowing and canoeing. Good, good times.
I like Aldi’s meat department.
This is how I feel about driving a manual transmission. I got about 2 hours of lessons and still can’t get into 3rd or turn without stalling. It doesn’t impact my life much not to be able to do it and I have no interest in trying to learn for a third time. Well, to be honest, I didn’t have much interest the first or second times, but my parents insisted that they could teach me.
I’ve had LOTS of swim lessons. I used to get swimmers ear every year, and not be able to take the test, so i never got the certificate. My mom finally hired a private instructor and directed her to diy whatever it took to get my red cross beginners certificate.
She ended up testing me for intermediate, i think, and i later did the red cross junior lifesavers class. My form is terrible, but I’m a strong enough swimmer that i rescued my son when he couldn’t manage to get to shore on his own power (including shoving him away from me and telling him i couldn’t keep his head out of the water, he had to lie on his back with just his nose above water. Once he understood that it went fine) and I’ve fallen out of a sailboat in the middle of lake Winnipesaukee. Well, it capsized, and i was wearing a life jacket. But i didn’t hit my head on the way out, and would have been fine without the life jacket.
They just kept throwing me in the deep end and almost letting me drown before rescuing me until I worked out how to swim.