in the market

Supermarkets are great places to meet (run into) people. Popping to Schnucks to purchase garbanzo beans for homemade hummus, there, in the bean aisle, was Jim Zimmerman, the guy behind the new community portal web site that has a paid advertisement pop up daily in my Gmail. Jim showed me a box of hummus mix (just add water) he bought in the gourmet aisle. . . . Which suggests the difference between our two community portal web sites: Shawnee Network (mine) and Discover Southern Illinois (his). His is slick and more professional. Mine is homemade from scratch (except for the beans) with garlic galore.

Sitting on the bench inside Schnucks is a great place to watch (and meet) people. The City should add it to its list of wireless hot spots.

Tomorrow night's City Council meeting will introduce the City of Carbondale's WiFi Network Proposal, Item 6.2 (.pdf file) on tomorrow night's Council agenda -- a plan for a repeater tower, with receiver spots at the public library, city hall, and other public buildings. A two-hour limit per day. The Council discussion will be available in .MP3 format on the City's website.

Speaking of markets, it now seems certain that a new one will be opening next door to the Neighborhood Co-op's former location on Jackson St. Right on the corner. It will be run by Dayemi Tariqat, which also owns the Longbranch Coffee House on the same block, and be called Town Square Market. Renee Cook, who used to own the original "Mr. Natural's" -- and a former Co-op employee -- will manage the TSM.

A few more words and photos about the changes on Jackson St. have been posted to On The Square Online.