December 2008

There were 82 posts published in December 2008 (this is page 1 of 9).

On the road again

In a few I’ll be joining my parents and brother for a road trip to South Carolina to my uncle’s funeral. Look for a post tonight (if I’m not too beat).

Offer accepted

I accepted the job offer today for the six-month contract with the Large Network Storage Company. Provided the paperwork gets done I’ll be heading off to work January 5th.

While it isn’t my dream job, necessarily, it does offer interesting challenges and opportunities for growth. And in this bleak job market, I’m happy to have found something (and so soon).

Greenway ride

My friend Scott invited me out today for a ride on the Raleigh greenways. We rode from my house up to Optimist Park and back, covering over 19 miles in two and a half hours. Not all of that was riding, though, as we took a break at the Optimist end and stopped to talk to some people along the way.

It felt so good to be riding again! I’ve neglected my bike since I lost my downtown job and this was the first serious ride since. I’ve been wearing a stupid grin all day.

Imagine me getting into shape enough to ride in a charity ride like the MS 150 or Tour De Cure: two events I’ve only volunteered with but never ridden. I should be able to do one or the other in 2009, right?

Uncle Arthur’s obituary

Uncle Arthur’s obituary ran in today’s The State in Columbia:

Arthur Manning Flowers Jr.
ANDREWS – Arthur Manning Flowers, Jr. died Monday, December 29, 2008, at Still Hopes Episcopal Retirement Community in West Columbia.

Mr. Flowers was born June 26, 1930, in Andrews, son of the late Arthur Manning Flowers and Mattie Lee Long Flowers. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1951, and served in the United States Air Force during the Korean conflict. After completing his service to his country, Mr. Flowers returned to Columbia and graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1958. Mr. Flowers practiced law in Georgetown for 38 years as a partner in the Moore, Flowers and Doar law firm (which merged in later years with the McNair Law Firm).
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WordPress not resizing photos

Ever since I upgraded my site to WordPress 2.7, the image uploader isn’t automatically resizing my uploaded images. All the uploader offers me is “Full Size.”

Anyone seen this?

Update: Fixed it. Looks like I didn’t have all the necessary GD plumbing in place.

Highlights of 2008: Health

This year I was fortunate enough to be able to bike to my job downtown. Just those 15 minutes of riding each way helped me drop weight, spoiled me, and got me into probably the best shape in my life. Not bad now that I’m less than a month away from being 40!

I did get a rude awakening in September when my lab tests showed an elevated cholesterol level. Since then I’ve been munching almonds and cutting back on carbohydrates. Another lab test in October didn’t show much improvement, so I began taking anti-cholesterol medicine, which then tripled my personal health insurance premium.

I get tested again next month. Hopefully things will have settled down. Until then I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.

Uncle Arthur

One of the 2008 highlights I expected to write was relief that no one close to me died this year. Looks like I’ll have to revise that one as my Uncle Arthur passed away this morning at the age of 77.

We spent many summers at my aunt and uncle’s beach house in Garden City, SC. Arthur was always quick to tell a joke or to tousle our hair. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s for the past several years but could still tell a joke. He seemed in good spirits the last time I saw him.

We spent Christmas Day with my parents, during which I took a moment look at photographs. I found my eyes lingering on a picture of Uncle Arthur with my aunt.

He lived quite a full life. I’ll link to his obituary tomorrow.

Highlights of 2008: Mountains and Sea Vacation

We took a week off in August for vacation, initially with the hopes of getting back out to Orcas Island. When the frequent flyer tickets weren’t available for Seattle, we opted to travel closer to home. Thus it was a few days in the mountains and a few days at the beach.

The mountain in question was Gateway Mountain, outside of Old Fort, NC. After being welcomed with the traditional mountain greeting, we enjoyed getting our caricatures drawn, looking around Old Fort, or just enjoying the stunning view of a mountain sunset. We took a side trip to Chimney Rock, where my photo from the Rock is still featured on its Wikipedia page.

While the mountains were beautiful as always, the area was alarmingly dry. We swam in knee-deep water at Lake Lure. Honestly. Even four months later the area’s still in the grip of a terrible drought.
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