Cat Scratch Fever

This is how I spent my forty-fifth birthday.

The "incident" actually started the day before my birthday; I was petting the neighbor's cat, something I've done a dozen times or so. He would purr like a garbage disposal, basking in the attention for awhile. Then he'd either leap up and run away, or he'd nip at me, without actually touching me.

You can see this coming, can't you?

This time, he bit me. A good solid, penetrating, chomp. I yelled and flung him off me, and he turned and looked at me like

"What?"

I went in; not too bad: one little puncture that was bleeding pretty well, and some bruising. I washed it off real good, and irrigated it with hydrogen peroxide. And then I more or less didn't pay any more attention to it. Last time I would pet that ingrateful cat, I muttered, and went on with my day.

The next morning - it's my birthday! I made coffee, and then my mother called to wish me a happy, we chatted. Plans? Breakfast, then Christmas shopping! Maybe I'd hook up with some friends for dinner, later.

After breakfast, I stepped into the shower, and then I saw my wrist: an angry red welt under the bite, and red streaks running up my arm.

SHIT!

I'd taken advanced First Aid; I knew that red streaks up the arm are very, very, bad!

I checked my insurance; the urgent care center around the corner is on the plan. They are also closed. I look at the red streaks. Emergency room. I got dressed, grabbed a book, and headed to the ER. (Why the book? Have you never been to the ER?)

Broward General isn't far, maybe a half-mile. I was getting just the beginning of a chill. Or was that psychomatic? I found a parking spot, walked in, filled out a form, and sat down. My name was called. I hadn't been there ten minutes.

The triage nurse clucked when she saw my arm. She called over a doctor.

"What do you think," she asked, "can I fast-track him?"

"I would. Is there a lot of pain yet? Any chills? No? Flex the fingers....good. Fast track him!"

The nurse smiled at me. "You're in. He's the chief. Have a seat, and we'll call you shortly!"

They take me in about fifteen minutes later, and I'm shivering in the early stages of septicemia.

A young doctor came into to look at the wound. He asked for my history, I gave it. He looked at me and said "You do realize that we will have to admit you to treat this, right?" I confessed that by this time, I was not surprised. "OK, then."

They gave me a robe, they drew some blood. I gave a history again. Dr. Lam came in to look. I gave the history again, she looked very stern. She felt the swollen area. "Can you feel that?" I nodded. "But I can feel the swelling when I move my hand," I replied.

"Hmmm," she pondered me. "We might need a surgical consult."

It was at this point I began to think either I was in much worse shape than I thought, or Dr. Lam liked to scare people. Well, tough. I was too sick to become scared. Chatter chatter chatter went my teeth, as I stared back at her, "OK."

"If the bacteria has colonized the tendons, surgical reconstruction is called for," she informed me.

"Yeah, that would suck," I replied through my chattering teeth. She shot me a disapproving look, and left the room. I guess I wasn't following the script.

Awhile later, an x-ray technician came in, and took me away to xray my infected arm.

As he put me back in the exam room bed, shivering, he said "Let me go get you a blanket!"

Ahhh.

About an hour later (might have been less, but it was all shivers and chattering teeth by then), she came back.

"WHEN were you bitten? This morning?"

"No," I explained patiently, "YESTERDAY morning. I didn't notice how bad it was until THIS morning."

"Sit up, I need to listen to your lungs!"

I sat up, took a shivering breath. Then another. And one more. And again.

"OK, lie back down. We're preparing a room for you now. Someone will come for you in a bit."

I nodded my thanks.

About 20 minutes later, two technicians rolled an xray machine. "We need to shoot a film of your chest."

"You do?" I asked. They confirmed my name. They did. And then they did.

I was wheeled upstairs by 5pm, and hooked up to the first of many, many IV drips.

Dr L's assistant, Dr. Ruiz came up for an assessment. She told me the course of treatment, and said she was sending up an

infectitious diseases specialist, and the aforementioned hand surgeon.

Dr. S came up about a half hour later. He examined the wound, asked some pointed questions about the cat, and told me that

this was all pretty normal for a cat bite. They were giving me a broad spectrum anti-biotic until my blood results came back. If things went well, they might be able to release me the next day.


Things didn't go well. Feverish all night, and a splitting headache.

Dr. R checked in, I was still feverish. She asked about the hand specialist, and I replied that I hadn't seen them yet. Dr. S came in; the progress on the arm seemed to please him. "Good thing you came in when you did: it could have been very bad!"

He wanted to run some more tests, and by the way, they were keeping me until tomorrow at least.

"I have a 10:30 am flight!" I said. "Any chance I can be out in time?"

"10:30? That might be a little tight. You should get a later flight." He looked very doubtful.

I spent the rest of the day feverish, and struggling with a splitting headache. They gave me Tylenol. They gave me darvocet.

My fever broke. My headache stayed. After dinner, I had chills again, and my head was throbbing. Slight fever again. Argh. I managed to change the times on my flight. I can't sleep: I'm worried about getting out. I pulled the IV out, so it had to be replaced. More darcvocet. Head pounds, thud thud thud.

Now I'm beginning to doubt they'll let me out; I keep demanding pain killers, I'm feverish and sweaty. And I'm beginning to consider that even if they let me out, maybe I shouldn't get on a plane. I felt like hell.

And somewhere about then, it occurred to me that I've had this headache before. When I went most of a weekend without coffee.

But I'd HAD coffee. It wasn't very good coffee. On the other hand, what evidence did I have that it was regular coffee?

My cat-scratch fever-ridden throbbing brain finally forged a coherent theory:
People who are trying to avoid stimulants will suffer more harm from getting caffeine in their coffee than withholding caffeine from people who are on no such restriction, therefore, it's safer to simply serve decaf to everyone than to send out both kinds of coffee to patients.

So the headache had nothing to do with my raging infection.

When the morning shift nurse came in, I asked about getting REAL coffee, and explained my theory.

"Oh! Well, we just made a fresh pot of the real thing out at the nurses' station, I'll bring you a cup!" And she did.

And just like that, the headache was gone. I could think clearly again. Fever gone.

They released me at noon. By 2:00 pm, I was on my way to the airport.

Fucking cat.

Whole Foods Miami; Jorge Drops the Ball AGAIN

This isn't the first time I've written about the Whole Foods in Miami. Overall, it's a nice place to shop; the staff is friendly and courteous and for the most part, helpful.

But not always as helpful as the could or should be, at least at the management level. Sure, they're polite. They look you in the eye, and promise to "address the situation."

They just don't actually DO anything.

In my review of their opening, I did have one major complaint:

...they have a shelf labeled "WHEAT ALTERNATIVES." They had a shelf of breads from Sami's Bakery, but beware!! Two of the choices actually are wheat breads. They shouldn't be in that section at all, and I've mentioned it to someone stocking the shelf last week, but no change has been made. Hopefully, other people with food allergies know enough to read the labels, but if they don't realize that Sami's isn't exclusively a GF vendor, there could be serious consequences.

In fact, at the bottom of that review, there's an update:

I emailed the store manager, and the problems with the WHEAT ALTERNATIVE shelf have finally been addressed.

And why did I think that? Because I received this email in response to my complaint about that shelf:

Hi Christopher,
Thank you for your detailed email.  You are absolutely right with your observations.  I will address all your concerns.  Please continue to communicate any other concerns.
Jorge Sosa
ASTL WFM Coral Gables

Of course, those concerns were not addressed; wheat-bearing breads kept finding their way to the wheat-alternative shelf. I'd mention it to the person behind the bakery counter, who would vaguely nod and look away, or the stock person, who would promise to ask his supervisor. Finally, I asked to see the store manager.

What I got was Jorge.

Jorge is a pleasant enough guy. He came right over, and agreed that the item clearly didn't belong on the shelf. He even asked the stock person why the stuff was there, and the stock guy replied that Sami's made wheat free products. They do; but they don't make EXCLUSIVELY wheat-free products, any more than Coca-Cola makes EXCLUSIVELY sugar free soda. Jorge concluded that Brooke, the bakery manager, just lumped all the Sami's products together, assuming they were all wheat-alternative. Honest mistake.

I pointed out that the problem wasn't so much that they were keeping all the products together; the problem was that they were all together in a section dedicated to products that didn't contain wheat, an allergen that affects a significant portion of the population. People should read labels, but most folks will trust Whole Foods to label its foods correctly. And if they do that here, that will lead to hives, nasal congestion, airway congestion, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps, and joint pain. It's not pleasant to have a wheat allergy.

He promised - AGAIN - that it would be addressed, and that he'd discuss it with Brooke, and that they'd remind staff not to make assumptions regarding brand and food allergies.

I saw no reason not to believe Jorge; he said he understood how serious food allergies were, and that he'd address the problem.

But he didn't. The problem wasn't addressed, it still hasn't been addressed.

I was in there today, and there were the offending loaves, lo-carb wheat bread mixed in with the "Wheat Alternative" products. So I went to the Costumer Service desk, and in short order I was talking to Jorge again.

"Oh, yes," he said. "I remember you. We talked about this before. I'll take care of this."

"Great," I said. "I'll wait."

That stopped him. "What?"

"I'll wait here while you fix it. You can pull the loaves off the shelf, or take down the sign; whatever."

This flummoxed him. "I'm going to address it. I'll meet with Brooke and take care of it."

I pointed out that that is what he told me LAST time, and here we are.

"I did address your problem; I met with Brooke and took care of it." he repeated

"Obviously not," I replied, "because here we are, and there it is."

"I'm sorry sir, but I will take care of it." Very polite, but firm.

"Great," I said. "I will watch you do it, and we can all sleep tonight."

"I'm not going to fix it NOW; we have a system."

Just so you know, we're talking about a dozen loaves of bread; he could have dumped them into a grocery cart and been done with it. That's all I was expecting. A show of faith on his part. But I didn't get it.

"Jorge," I said as patiently as I could, "you've had MONTHS to address it, and you haven't. MONTHS. Does somebody have to get sick before you'll take care of this?"

"No, I don't want anyone to get sick! I will take care of it"

"Great! So fix it. I'll wait, so I know that it's been done."

"Not right now - but I will address it. Is there anything else I can do for you?" his eyes are glazing over, and he's starting to sweat.

"After someone ends up in an emergency room? You are telling me you'd rather let people get sick than actually take care of this problem."

"No, I'm not saying that! I will address it, but not now! Is there something else?" his smile is forced. I'm pretty sure he was wondering if he could have security throw me out.

The thing is, there was absolutely NO reason for Jorge not to fix it right then. What if it had been rotten meat, or moldy produce? The effect is exactly the same; the person who consumes it gets sick. All I was asking was for him to move a few loaves of wheat bread off of the "wheat alternatives" shelf. And he would not do it.

Now I have to wonder, would he pull that rotten meat? I'm not so sure, now. And now I have to wonder what OTHER products are mis-labeled in the store; are all those products REALLY organic? What about the vegan items? Customers trust that their grocers are putting the right products on the right shelves.

With a store like Whole Foods, it's an entirely greater area of responsibility; we make an effort to go out of our way to Whole Foods, because we are trying to lead healthier lives. Sometimes, it's a matter of choice; we feel that "organic" products are healthier, or we're seeking a wider variety of choices to support a diet that meets a moral imperative. And many of us go there because we have special dietary needs that are not met at main-stream markets.

Jorge dropped the customer service ball. And he was stupid about it; having admitted that this was a repeat of a problem that he'd promised I wouldn't see again, he utterly failed to resolve it; not only to MY satisfaction, but to any reasonable standard of service.

It's unacceptable for a manager to fail so miserably at customer service. The fact that he could have fixed the problem inside of two minutes with minimal effort only underscores his utter lack of commitment to meeting his customer's needs.

I accepted his promise that he would "address" the issue on two separate occasions. Since the problem wasn't solved, it was time for Jorge to step up his game. Instead, he made the exact same empty promises, KNOWING that he'd already broken them.

That makes Jorge worse than merely incompetent; that makes him a liar. Either he lied when he told me that he'd addressed it earlier, or he's lying to me now. Or he's lying about understanding the problem.

The bottom line is that Jorge had a chance to prevent people from getting sick, and he chose not to do it. He apparently thinks it's better to risk people's health and well-being than to actually do his job. Maybe he didn't want to offend Brooke; maybe he thought that the store's bureaucracy was more important than the health of his customers. By doing nothing, by putting it off until a staff meeting sometime in the future, he has put his customers at risk of illness, and that's unacceptable.

I find it hard to believe that Whole Foods is a health store that doesn't give a crap about your actual health.

Happy New Year; hope you don't spend it over the toilet. Which is more than I can say for Jorge Sosa.

Bottled vs. Tap: Deja Vu

Newsweek has an article up in today's online edition:

Is Bottled Water Better Than Tap?
It may be trendy to sip brand-name water, but experts say it's no healthier than drinking from the faucet.

Hmm. Something vaguely familiar....didn't I read something about...

[d'oh!]

Of course. It was ME.

"People who purchase water are basically paying money for a product
inferior to one that their tax dollars have already delivered to their
homes in huge quantities."

But Newsweek found some new information;

"While clean water in any form is good for you, tap water is better for the environment. Bottled water is usually packaged in single-use bottles made from fossil fuels, says Janet Larsen, director of research for the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. And bottled water often travels long distances, which can burn a lot more fuel. This week, the EPI released new data that shows that manufacturing the 29 billion plastic bottles used for water in the United States requires the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of crude oil."

And in a conclusion that warms this maniac's cockles:

The EPA's (Head of Water Programs) (Benjamin) Grumbles drinks bottled water only when he's on airplanes or traveling. "We're a mobile society, so there will always be a need for bottled water," he says. "[But] tap water is a tremendous bargain."

You bet it is. As I concluded back in August:

And you can smugly watch the stupid people fill their carts up with cases of bottled water while tucking their lottery tickets into their pockets.

Bottoms Up!

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Death on a Bun comes to Miracle Mile OR" We're All Getting Fat Anyway."

In case you hadn't heard, America is FAT. Not just a little overweight; we're officially OBESE. And we gain a little more weight every year.

We eat too much and exercise too little. Dieticians and endocrinologists keep calling for Americans to cut down on calories, to reduce the meal portions, and to avoid foods that have a high fat content.

Doctors cringe when national chains like McDonalds', Burger King, and Wendy's all claim that their patties of fat, salt and grease can be part of a well-balanced diet. And recent studies show that some people think that by going to "high end" restaurants for their burgers actually INCREASE their fat and calory intake. A Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McD's has 730 calories and 40 grams of fat. But a burger from Ruby Tuesday's, perceived to be "healthier," has 1,103 calories and a whopping 78 grams of fat! At a burger a week, that difference will bulk you up an additional 5 1/2 pounds!

And now, according the the Miami Herald, a burger joint is coming Miracle Mile that at least practices truth in advertising: that's right, FATBURGER is coming to Coral Gables. Heart attack on a bun, served up to order. MMMMM- mmmm. As you might guess from the title of this missive, I was going to dish on Fatburger. But as I researched the matter, I realized that while we don't really need another restaurant cramming calories down our greedy maws, at least they're being honest. They are serving up FAT, and you will get FAT. You know what you're getting into at the door.

Fat-laden burgers are not the whole story of obesity in America. Most of us consume a day's worth of calories from our snacks and beverages. That Grand Latte from Starbucks? 260 calories. A couple of sodas? That Big Gulp you grabbed for the rush hour commute? 550 calories. In fact, that Big Gulp has almost as many calories as a Big Mac (560, with 9 grams of fat and 1,010 grams of salt). Coincidentally, so does a Ceasar Salad from Panera Bread (560 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1,270 grams of salt)! The salad is worse for you than the hamburger!

I know what you're thinking; let's just slip around the corner to Publix and get a tuna salad sandwich. They only have....720 calories.....crap.

The real key is portion control. If we'd just eat reasonable portions, we wouldn't have the problems we do. But all these restaurants keep upping the size of the portions to make the meal "a better value." And we fall for it. "Hey, a SINGLE is a buck and a quarter, but a DOUBLE is only a buck seventy-five!" We USED to be fine on the smaller portions, but we feel compelled to take advantage of the fact that by buying larger portions, we're paying less per ounce.

Back when McDonald's opened, they served Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers. They're still on the menu. You'd get an "order" of fries (no size), and they still serve THAT portion as "small." And a Coke, which is also still on the menu as the small.

Here's how the meals* then and now stack up:

THEN
Item	Calories	Fat/grams	Salt/mg
Hamburger	250	9	520
Fries	250	13	140
Coke (16oz)	150		10
TOTAL	650	22	670
NOW
Dbl Quarter Pounder w/Cheese	740	42	1380
Fries (large)	570	30	330
Coke (large)	310		20
TOTAL	1620	72	1730

As you can see, our parents and grandparents were consuming less than half the calories, less than a third of the fat, and under a third of the salt than we do today.

The FDA recommends that the average adult consume 2,000 calories a day, and 65 grams of fat. As you can see, if you get the "best value" lunch at McDonald's, you've nearly reached your daily caloric intake, and exceeded your fat intake. And that's just LUNCH.

So, does anyone still wonder why we're getting fatter? Anyone?

What, Fatburger? Their nutritional information is here. A Fatburger has 520 calories, 29 grams of fat, and 880 mg of sodium. A little better for you than a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, but not by much.

Not that it matters to me; they don't have a gluten-free menu, so I won't be dining there.

*Nutritional data from the McDonald's Website.

Don't Bogart That Joint...

I didn't get good grades in High School. Every other week or so I'd get lectures about "living up to my potential," and dire warnings of a future pumping gas.

Other than my lackluster academic performance, I was a good student; I never missed class, I was on time, I was clean cut, and everything a parent or teach could want in a student.

And that's where I went wrong. According to a Swiss study, I'd have done better as a pot head.

The study did not confirm the hypothesis that those who abstained from
marijuana and tobacco functioned better overall, the authors said.
In fact, those who used only marijuana were "more socially
driven ... significantly more likely to practice sports and they have a
better relationship with their peers" than
abstainers, it said.

"Moreover, even though they are more likely to skip class, they
have the same level of good grades; and although they have a worse
relationship with their parents, they are not more likely to be
depressed" than abstainers, it added.

It seems that instead of making sure I was home by curfew, they should have been sending me out with rolling papers. "Don't come home without bloodshot eyes, young man!"

I guess Hunter S. Thompson was wiser than we thought when he said:

“I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.”

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Article on Celiac Disease

AlterNet has a great article about Celiac Disease. Newsweek also had a good write-up in honor of Celiac Awareness Month.

Articles like these make a huge difference: over the last five years, I've been seeing more and more gluten-free foods in my local Publix. I still make trips to health food stores, but I'm no longer having to get quite as much there as I used to, and my wallet feels the difference!

UPDATED! Whole Foods Coral Gables: Store Review and Gluten Free Assessment

You might have heard that the Whole Foods in Coral Gables finally opened. I've actually been there twice, but the first time I wasn't thinking about writing a review.

Tere has published her review, and a few others have also published their reviews. The other reviews tend to be about the selection of organic goods, or 'green' products, and the amenities of the store. I'll mention the store's physical plant, too, but my primary reason for shopping there is to fulfill my special dietary needs. And that's how my review is skewed.

I suffer from celiac disease. It's an inherited condition; basically, I can't tolerate a protein called 'gluten', which is found in wheat, barley, and rye. There is only one treatment option: a diet excluding those grains, and derivatives of those grains. The good news is that there are lot of foods I can eat; the bad news is that wheat is often added to them. I read a lot of labels.

I still do most of my shopping at Publix; rice and potatoes are GF. Fresh vegetables, most frozen ones. Meat, chicken and seafood are fine, as are most dairy products. Lots of staples, and even Publix is adding more GF products to its shelves all the time.

But there are some GF foods that I have to travel to get; GF breads, pastas, snacks and prepared frozen dinners. I can get a few items at Healthland on Miracle Mile (and do!) and I can find a few more at Wild Oats. But the best selection until now was the Whole Foods in Aventura. I've been waiting for the San Remo store for a long time.

THE STORE ITSELF

The first thing I have to comment on is parking: or rather, FINDING it. All the signs for their parking garage are found on the side of the building the parking entrance is actually ON. There's nothing in front of the store (where there is a valet parking service) or the other side that tells you that there is a garage. Once you find it, it's Exceedingly Well Managed. There were at least a half dozen employees direct traffic up there. It won't last, of course. That's a lot of traffic management, and I consider this a design flaw of the store. You shouldn't need that much manpower to manage traffic flow for a supermarket.

I found a spot - not really that difficult despite the number of cars up there - and headed for the Garage entrance to the store. There are two decent sized elevators down, but no stairs or escalators going down. There is an escalator going UP, and it's along side an ingenious rail system to bring your grocery cart up. Unfortunately, they have to use one of the two elevators to bring the carts back DOWN. I consider this to be another notable design flaw in the store. Elevators can only hold so many people, and you inevitably end up with a bottle neck. The design should have included a staircase or escalator down into the store.

But things pick up once you're in the store: you have a choice in carts: of course you have the traditional carry basket and standard rolling cart, but you have a THIRD choice: comething like a large carry basked, but on wheels with a handle to pull it. And there's a fourth design that is two metal baskets stacked over each other on four wheels. Oh, and the motorized things for people who need them.

My last comments on the plant: the beer case isn't well located, and again this is just poor design, and the express lanes are in the middle of the other lanes, making them hard to find and hard to get through. There's a reason they are placed at then ends of the cashiers in virtually every other store in the country. I'm not impressed with the layout of the store overall. Traffic flow is hampered by the transitions between the traditional aisles in the center of the store and the produce section on one end and the....um, all the other stuff at the other. What stuff? The bakery, the wine department, the deli, the cheese shop, the coffee shop, the a la carte counters, and the Sushi Maki concession. That's right, they don't simply serve sushi, they have Sushi Maki doing it.

GLUTEN FREE:

As expected, the store has a wide variety of GF foods spread throughout the store. But lack of clear labeling makes them difficult to find unless you already know what you want. Wild Oats has a GF tag that is very obvious, and they simply tag the shelf next to the product's SKU label. Another chain goes a step further, using color code in addition to the big "GF".

They have all the pastas you'd expect, and the best selection of GF flours and baking mixes I have ever seen. Mixes for cookies, cakes of all flavors, breads and muffins - there are a lot of choices from a lot of manufacturers.

They have a good selection of GF pizzas, but they only carry one brand of frozen crust, and it's not the best one by a long shot. Guess I'm still trekking to Wild Oats in Pinecrest for that. Similarly, there wasn't a lot of selection of frozen bagels.

They do have a freezer case of their own GF product line, and the cakes, scones, cookies and pies are pretty good; the breads, on the other hand, are very dense and crumbly, and not like anything that I call bread. But if you like pie, you're in business.

They had some GF meals from Glutino that I haven't seen before, and they are quite good. With the GF selections from Amy's, the Tandoor Chef, and the Ethnic Kitchen, I now have a tasty selection to pop in my microwave when I get home from a long day at work.

They also had some GF corn dogs; I LOVE corn dogs, and the ones at the regular markets add wheat flour to the batter. I can't wait to pop these in the oven.

Over in the Baker section, they have a shelf labeled "WHEAT ALTERNATIVES." They had a shelf of breads from Sami's Bakery, but beware!! Two of the choices actually are wheat breads. They shouldn't be in that section at all, and I've mentioned it to someone stocking the shelf last week, but no change has been made. Hopefully, other people with food allergies know enough to read the labels, but if they don't realize that Sami's isn't exclusively a GF vendor, there could be serious consequences.

So they had a shelf of "wheat alternative" breads that only actually had ONE type of wheat-free bread, a shelf of croutons from Sami's, and a shelf of millet snack chips from Sami's and a shelf of millet lavash from Sami's, they didn't have any hot dog or hamburger buns from Sami's. They also didn't have any of the similar products from the Deland Bakery. The Deland products are actually a little better than Sami's, but just barely. Deland makes a killer GF bagel, and this Whole Foods isn't carrying any Deland products. They really should.

Another bewildering lack: they aren't stocking Redbridge Beer. This is a gluten-free beer from Anheuser-Busch, making it the first mass-produced GF beer in general distribution. They were carrying New Grist, another GF beer, but they've priced it higher than I've seen it at other stores, and frankly, Redbridge is a better beer. The Publix on Monza carries Redbridge, so it's not a disaster for me, but it's an odd thing to skip.

The other odd thing is the location of the beer case: usually, it's adjacent to the wine section. Beer and Wine, what could be more natural? Instead, it's tucked several aisles away from Wines, as if the Wine department doesn't want to be sullied by the presence of beer. In fact, the beer section isn't near ANY of the other refrigerated cases. If you use logic to find stuff, you will be as stumped as I was. It took me fifteen minutes to find it. It's inexplicably in the coffee and tea aisle, which has its own refrigerator case for iced teas.

And do you know what's REALLY odd about that? Across the store, and adjacent to the Wine Department, they have an entire COFFEE SHOP. They not only MAKE coffee by the cup for you, they actually ROAST beans there. They have bins of fresh-roasted coffee, and bags of whole-bean and ground gourmet coffee ready to go, as well as some gourmet teas.

And it's half the store away from an aisle of coffee and tea products! It's about the most stupid thing I've ever seen, after hiding the beer in the same bizarre location.

To be fair, the fact that they roast beans fresh in the store balances the idiocy of putting coffee beans and teas in two completely different places. I like fresh coffee, I grind my own beans for every pot, and now I can get the beans fresh out of the roaster. But they'll need to stock Redbridge if they want me to quit grumbling about the beer section.

Overall, my experience at Whole Foods was a positive one. The store has been crowded both times I've been in, but the staff seems to be maintaining its cool, and they've been keeping shelves stocked and lines moving smoothly. There were lots of tasting stations, and they caused the same traffic jams they do in every store, but no worse. The store is clean, the staff is friendly and helpful, and once you know where the parking is, getting in and out is no worse than any other store. I am mildly disappointed in the GF selection, but only because it leaves me still having to visit other stores to complete my shopping. (I've only been to one store EVER that had it all: Ada's, over in Fort Meyers.)

One last note: I did want to put in a request for my "missing" products at the suggestion board by the cashiers: I've done this at the Aventure store with good results. This store has the board up, but no suggestion slips, pencils, or a box to slide them into.

Grade: B+

**************************************************************
I emailed the store manager, and the problems with the WHEAT ALTERNATIVE shelf have finally been addressed. He also added products from the Deland Bakery to those selections.

No luck yet on bagels, pizza crusts, or RedBridge beer. Sigh.

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