Press Talk: Follow me and save hard cash

Lou Brancaccio

Hello! Follow me around for a few days and not only will you get a glimpse at how I spend my exciting free time, I’ll show you how to more than pay for The Columbian you just bought!

* * *

Last Saturday, I was hanging at my Fred Meyer in Salmon Creek.

The store had just completed a large renovation — it looks quite sweet right now — and the managers were in a giving mood.

Now I hang out at my Freddy's a lot anyway because it’s close to home. But when I hear “free” I put on my walking shoes.

Good thing, because last week I had to walk off free pizza, root beer floats, doughnuts and hot chocolate.

Saving money: Rumor has it there may be a few free hot dogs in my future later today at Freddy's. So if you head over to the Salmon Creek Fred Meyer you can grab a free dog. That would more than pay for today’s Columbian.

* * *

After my free stuff at Freddy's last Saturday, I headed down to the Portland Gator Club. The Florida Gators were playing Kentucky, and it wasn’t on regular TV.

The club meets at Jax Bar & Restaurant, where all the Gator games are piped in.

In addition to seeing the Gator games, I also have an opportunity to hang with folks who appreciate real college football. (My Husky and Coug friends know what I’m talking about, right?) Plus, my buddy Dan down there always tells me how much he loves The Columbian!

Saving money: You could pay for college games that aren’t on TV locally, but if you look around, you can find places like Jax. And you’ve just saved enough money to buy a weeks’ worth of Columbians.

* * *

A few days ago, I was hanging out at the auto inspection station over my lunch break.

Just me. And my 1986 Honda. And, well, Dr. Dave was there, too.

Dr. Dave sticks things in your car — much like a doctor sticks things in your body — to see if your junker will make it a couple of more years.

As I pulled up, Dr. Dave (no, he’s not a real doctor!) recognized me as that editor guy down at The Columbian. This is marginally better than recognizing me as the guy at the track who put $4 to win on that nag in the fourth race.

But I digress.

Dr. Dave said his Columbian comes every morning at around 4:30, and he reads it cover to cover. He also reads this column every Saturday.

Yea!

Because I became fast friends with Dr. Dave, he shared even more good news with me. His wife just competed in a nine-ball western regional pool tournament and finished second. That meant more than a few bucks in their pocket.

Yea!

“And now I’ve met you, so it couldn’t be a much better week,” he tells me.

He also said he has been meaning to enter one of my “free lunch with the editor” contests but hasn’t done so yet.

Saving money: Lot’s of opportunities here, right?

— Don’t bet four bucks on the nag in the fourth race. Spend it on buying Columbians.

— Get really good at nine ball. You could pay for The Columbian for years if you were as good as Dr. Dave’s wife.

— Finally, make sure to enter my free lunch contests. Having to skip paying for lunch will buy you several Columbians. What? You say you don’t want hot dogs if you win the free lunch? Why not? You can put all the extra stuff on it!

Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or
lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.