Many college students would consider fast food to be a necessity rather than a luxury. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, and it tastes good. I really can’t think of any negative aspects to eating excessive amounts of greasy foods.

Until the late 80’s, the Southeastern part of the United States was plagued with restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. Don’t get me wrong, I love all three of these restaurants, but my life was forever changed when I was introduced to Morris Reaves’ invention: Cookout.

My first experience with Cookout was not the best one. I was not the least bit excited when I found out my mom was taking me to some newfangled fast food restaurant. I wanted a Happy Meal. She insisted that the food at Cookout was cheaper, and she had a feeling that I would like it. Walking in, I remember staring at the menu as my mom ordered food for me, astonished. I saw endless combinations of dinner trays. A ridiculous variety of side orders. Over 40 flavors of milkshakes.

I was so taken aback by the menu, I had to take a seat outside. With as many options as that, there’s no way that the food in this place could taste anything but delicious. Similar to having a child, or moving across the country, I was about to make a life-altering decision. Was I going to bail and just beg my mom to take me to Mickey D’s? Or was I going to try this food and distort my palette forever?

I chose the latter, and I have zero regrets. Fast forward some years later to college, and Cookout still remains my favorite fast food restaurant. And I’m sure a lot of college students would say the same. I didn’t know it when I was little, but I completely overlooked the biggest advantage to eating Cookout: the price. For about $5, I get a huge burger, two sides, and a monster drink.

Most Cookouts also stay open until about 4am – prime time for college students like me!

What are your favorite Cook Out memories?

The Charlotte region is about to experience one of the warmest Easter weekends in almost 2 decades.

Weather.com is now predicting a high of 83° with mostly sunny skies. According to Weather Underground, the last time it got that warm was during the last millennium – Easter 1999, which was on April 4th (Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox).

The average temperature for Easter in Charlotte is 72 for a high and 52 for a low.

Our region saw the coldest Easter on record 10 years ago when it was just 21° the morning low on April 8, 2007.

This year, it should turn out to be an incredible Easter weekend, with similar conditions both Saturday and Sunday – sunny skies and a high of 83°

What are your plans for this weekend?

HHGregg recently announced that it will be closing all 220 stores around the country by the end of this coming May.

They have now started liquidating all their inventory in their 6 Charlotte-area stores.

Today one of the employees told me that while deals may not be very good at this point (the signs say 10-30% off…electronics are 10% off, and furniture and appliances are 20% off, and I couldn’t find anything 30% off), I should wait until May 1st – he said that’s when the deals “will start getting good”.

He said that they will be required to liquidate everything before the end of May, so many items could be marked down to 60-70% off if they’re still in the store toward the end of next month.

The closures will result in over 5,000 layoffs across the country.

“While we had discussions with more than 50 private equity firms, strategic buyers and other investors, unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in our plan to secure a viable buyer of the business on a going-concern basis within the expedited timeline set by our creditors,” commented HHGregg’s CEO Bob Riesbeck.