Taking Charge

Carl Karcher turned hot dog stand into Carl’s Jr. chain

Carl N. Karcher, who parlayed a $325 investment in a hot dog cart into one of the largest hamburger chains in the western U.S., died Friday. He was 90.

The founder of the Carl’s Jr. fast-food chain suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was being treated for pneumonia when he died in Fullerton, Calif., said Beth Mansfield, a spokeswoman for CKE Restaurants Inc.

Mr. Karcher, a deeply religious father of 12, was famous in the fast-food industry for his rags-to-riches story - a tale tainted in later years by an insider trading scandal and feuds with his board of directors.

Mr. Karcher was working as a bread-truck driver in Los Angeles when he decided to borrow $311 on the 1941 Plymouth Super Deluxe he owned with his bride, Margaret, added the rest in cash and bought a pushcart hot dog stand.

One cart soon became four, and by the end of World War II, Mr. Karcher had opened his first restaurant, Carl’s Drive-In barbecue, in Anaheim.

He opened the first Carl’s Jr. - named “Jr.” to distinguish it from his full-service eatery - in 1956.

Mr. Karcher’s initial success began to falter in the 1980s when he took the company public. Carl’s Jr. locations in Texas and Arizona failed, ending his dream of becoming a national chain.

Today, Carl’s Jr. has more than 1,000 locations across the West.

Mr. Karcher is survived by 11 children, 51 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren.

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Troubled Actor Brad Renfro Dies at 25Troubled Actor Brad Renfro Dies at 25
Jan 15, 8:13 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Brad Renfro, the troubled young actor whose film career began at age 12 with “The Client,” has died. He was 25.

His body was found in his Los Angeles home early Tuesday, his lawyer Richard Kaplan said.

Renfro served 10 days in jail in May 2006 after pleading no contest to driving while intoxicated and pleading guilty to attempted possession of heroin.

American Idol starts tonight. I don’t know if I’m excited for it or not. I’m all kinds of meh about television lately. I watch a lot of reality television, I always have. Amazing Race, Biggest Loser, American Idol.. People are all pissed off over the writers strike and saying boycott Reality TV. I say, the writers shot themselves in the foot by striking. Yes, they deserve more money, their demands aren’t outrageous. I understand why they went on strike. BUT by striking, they aren’t getting anything, they’ve also screwed a lot of people who can’t sit around and wait and wonder when they’ll work again.

All this is doing, really, is causing people to either watch more reality television or watch more movies. It’s not really hurting the studio’s all that much, especially since most of them have scripts ahead. No late night talk? Big deal. It’s not a gigantic loss. No new season of 24? Oh well, it’ll come back eventually. That’s the problem, all the shows will be back and the viewers will come back too. Either that or the studios will tell em to F-Off. There’s enough reality shows to sustain them until the strike ends.

It’s all a big pain in the ass. In the mean time, I will continue to enjoy my reality television, just like I did before.

I have finished 30/48 of the Lapghan centers. The rest will be finished today sometime if it kills me. This means that I need to figure out the other colors I want to use for it. I haven’t decided if I want to do multiple colors using yarn I have left over from other stuff or if I want to buy yarn specifically for it. I don’t really have enough shades to do it with what I have, since it’s lighter, then darker of the same color. I have 2 shades of green that I could use. A forest green and a paddy green. I was also considering lavender and purple as well, which means I have to yarn shop for those. I have 18 more centers before I really need to make the decision on that. *laugh*

I finally decided on the pattern for the princess blanket. It’ll be done with two shades of pink and white. The center and trim will be white with the shades of pink in between. I did a sample square with the pink in the center and white for the trim and really didn’t care for the way it worked out. It was too much of the light pink. But it’s also the wrong shade and weight, so it might look different when I get the right ones. That’ll teach me to send Rob to pick up yarn for me without a specific color name! *grumble*

I’ll likely go yarn shopping Friday after Rob gets paid. I haven’t decided yet. I really don’t have any major bills to pay this week, auto-debits are deducted too, so.. Hmm.. maybe.

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Everyone knows that you have to keep your education up to date these days. If you don’t, you won’t get anywhere in the world. But, what are you supposed to do while you’re pursuing your education? Unless you have an endless supply of money, you can only spend so long in school before getting a job. Even if you’re still in school, you may need to get a job.

But if you want to go on for more than an Associate’s degree and you can’t afford it, there are options for Online Masters Degree Programs at Capella University. Being fully accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, Capella University is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA).

Capella University has recently announced that Dr. Christopher Lucies, core member of their faculty, has been named president-elect of the Texas Mental Health Counselors Association. Dr. Lucies will serve a three-year term for them. One year he will serve as president-elect, the following year, he will serve as president, and he will serve his final year as a consultant to the TMHCA board.

This is quite a feat for a fully online university, even more reason to choose Capella University for your Masters Degree.