Hypes and Gripes

Overworked weathermen, spiffy new clubs, fly-by-night day spas and more.

• Hypes to our local meteorologists. We poke fun sometimes, but 2008 has, so far, been the year from hell weather-wise, and we can’t help but feel for them. Here’s to the coming of spring, fellas (and lady).

• Gripes to the jerks who are already treating the downtown Car Park like a party pad, leaving beer bottles and worse on the concrete floors of our pristine garage.

• Hypes to Jewel Nightclub for putting together an absolutely amazing-looking bar and lounge; first-rate all the way and one of the best local clubbing experiences we’ve had. One suggestion, though: If you’re going to charge $30 for a shot of Patrón, have the waitress do the buyer a favor and tell customers how much they’re about to pay for a round of six. The Jewel experience may be very Vegas, but our paychecks still are not.

• Gripes to owners of the now-defunct Aundria Spa, which recently closed up shop, almost overnight, leaving a bunch of women with useless gift certificates received only a month ago for Christmas. ‘Fly-by-night’ is a term normally used for discount smoke shops and costume outfitters, but it sure applies here.

• Hypes to Springfield for once again landing a finishing stage of the Tour of Missouri. There was much hand-wringing over this year’s course after certain
communities felt left out of last year’s surprisingly successful race, but Springfield’s showing was strong. On September 9, we’ll again see the finish of the tour’s second stage. A day was added to the tour, incorporating the towns of Hermann and Rolla. Cape Girardeau, Hannibal, et al will have to wait another year.