JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

For several years, I had an on-again, off-again relationship with internet dating. While the results were ultimately successful (as over a year-and-and-a-half with my partner-in-crime will testify), there were more than a few odd moments along the way. Sometimes the awkward moments were in public, others on a computer screen. The latter was the case around Victoria Day weekend 2006. While cleaning out one of my email accounts, I found a transcript of a conversation on Messenger. Why email? I sent it to a couple of friends out of disbelief. The tone of the conversation leads me to believe that I'd had an online chat with "Yeeha!" (the handle used in the transcript) at least once before. If so, I may not have noticed her odd way of "laughing" online, which was akin to the maniacal laughs found in any old J.M. DeMatteis/Keith Giffen issue of Justice League (though instead of "BWAHAHAHAHA!" she used "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeehahahah!"). I knew I...

Due to popular demand, and due to Valentine's Day being this week, let's carry on with some advice on how to snag a date, 1970 Motor City style. For part one, click here . In a small town, only a "loose" girl would meet a man in a bar, but in a city the older boy-meets-girl techniques often break down; and alternative methodsm must be created. To collectively designate special bars on special nights with special procedures as morally acceptable is one way this is accomplished. Go with a couple of friends and find a bar where the people appear to be similar to yourselves...once you've found a place you feel comfortable, exert yourself further by not hiding in a corner. Mingle and move as much as possible-to the john, the juke box, the cigarette machine. On a packed Friday night conversation will come spontaneously, without forcing your male counterpart into the unnerving ordeal of approaching you. For men: Your problem, admit it or not, is that you're b...

Lots of attention has been paid to Detroit over the past few weeks, as the Super Bowl hits Motown this Sunday. Stories about attempts at renewal, the "sin city" image of Windsor, etc. Having grown up across the river from Motown's southern burbs, I'm familiar with everything you're reading, chuckling at much of it. The Warehouse doesn't want to be left out of the festivities. Our spin will be several entries harking back to a time when Detroit's decline started rolling. Our source is Detroit: A Young Guide to the City , edited by Sheldon Annis in 1970. (Note: this image of the cover comes from the only other site that refers to this book, Detroitblog . Let's just say that on my copy, the "naked stoner chick" has aged naturally over the past 35 years). In 1970, the Motor City was still reeling from the riots three years earlier. "White flight" had started in earnest. Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain, who had won 31 games tw...