Jeans and Genetics

I was at the local Laundromat washing clothes a few weeks ago. I was minding my own business. I sorted the colors and the whites, put in the soap and paid the quarters, then sat down for a quiet thirty minutes of reading. I forgot to bring my book but it wasn't a problem. The Laundromat provided a nice selection of magazines to read. I picked up a recent issue of Time Magazine. The cover looked interesting enough. It was about genetics and environmental factors.

I stood there flipping through the magazine trying to find the article from the cover. I finally found the article and started to read until IT shows up.

There IT is. Again. It's staring at me, stalking me. Like the googly-eyed money pack from the Geico commercials.



Little little Sweden has once again found its way into my even smaller life.

I'm in the local Laundromat for crying out loud. I should be safe from the blue and yellow. Just washing some jeans. Minding my own business. Harmless and boring work. But no, Sweden comes knocking even here.

For those of you who don't know what part is shaded up there at the tippy-top of Sweden, that's Norbotten county. And according to Time Magazine, "Norrbotten is nearly free of human life." I think that's news to the 250,000 people who live there.

If I told you McDonalds couldn't survive in Norbotten county, you might think it was because there weren't enough people to keep them in business, but you would be wrong. It's because Norrbotten's own fast-food chain, Max Burger, whipped McDonalds right out of business - not once but twice. It's one of the only places in the world where McD's couldn't hack it because of local competition.

There's a burger war afoot! You can't have burger wars without people to declare an obvious winner. So while Norbotten county may be a frozen wasteland to Time Magazine, it's anything but for the people who live there and buy those tasty Max Burgers. MMM!!

Oh, and the magazine article was pretty darn interesting too.

Sweden is at the Laundromat.