I was having a particularly good day a couple of days ago. My recent birthday was happy. Work is picking up. But the icing on the cake was an email from Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein asking if she could quote me in an upcoming article. Of course I immediately called her.
She was writing an article about the problems of painting the Peachoid in Gaffney, South Carolina and had found a blog post and TripAdvisor review I had written.
The TripAdvisor.com review said:
It’s great if you are a 12-year-old or just have a 12 year old’s sense of humor From the northbound side of I-85 it is definitely a giant peach with a 60 foot leaf. However, if you are heading southbound it looks like you are being mooned. It’s always good for a giggle.
Very pleased that it would be such a juvenile quote, I jumped in with a resounding “YES!” When she told me it would run Friday (2/20/15) and would be on the front page below the fold, I was excited but didn’t want to say anything until I saw it in print. Working in news, I know that stories can be bumped for breaking news.
This morning I was a believer. It’s one thing to find it on both the US and European online versions but I still had to dash out and buy a copy to see if it really was on the front page.
Yup it is! Sniff, I am so proud that my worldwide quote is about a water tower painted to look like peach, but from the right angle it looks like a giant butt with a hemorrhoid. FRONT PAGE of the Wall Street Journal!