NSA job rejection letter

My NSA job rejection letter

My NSA job rejection letter

I was reminded I had this scrap of paper today after reading week after week about the NSA. It’s a polite job rejection letter I got from the NSA in 2001, after I offered to dust off my security clearance and help catch some bad guys. I find it amusing now, now knowing just how far off the mission the NSA has wandered since then.

Hallie’s IMatterYouthNC video ad

Frank Eaton films Hallie

Frank Eaton films Hallie


Friday afternoon, we spent a few hours with Raleigh documentary filmmaker Frank Eaton at the N.C. State Arboretum. Frank volunteered to make an informational video for Hallie’s IMatter Youth NC climate-change march she’s organizing for Sept. 28th in Raleigh. Along with our friends the Maugers, we set up a shooting location among the greenery of the arboretum while Hallie recited her lines for the camera.

Frank is an expert videographer and a fun guy to be around. He really connected with the kids, too, making it a fun experience.

The video came out beautifully and Hallie’s climate change rally is quickly generating attention. We hope the momentum continues to build through 28th!

If you’d like to know more, check out the IMatter Youth NC website. And if you’d like to look good on camera, check out Frank’s Bully Documentary Company.

Dogs in parks

This month, the Raleigh Parks, Recreation, and Greenway Advisory Board (PRGAB) votes on a proposed ordinance prohibiting dogs from certain areas of parks. There are plenty of proponents and opponents for this new ordinance and it’s been difficult finding the right balance.

One of the PRGAB’s committees, the Greenways and Urban Trees Committee (GWUT), is recommending the ordinance be passed in its entirety. Dog owners have pleaded to continue being able to use athletic fields to exercise their dogs.

Everyone agrees that Raleigh has a shortage of dog parks. Until we can add more, I think it’s fair to make allowances for dog owners who have no other place to go. Therefore, rather than recommend restricting dogs from certain areas of all city parks, I will recommend the board allow for staff to allow dogs on fields where posted signs specifically allow it. As the city phases in more dog parks, we can move dogs to those parks and off athletic fields.

Incidentally, I had forgotten the extent of the role I played in bringing this about. A friend in the Oakwood neighborhood had a frightening encounter with an unleashed dog in Oakwood mini-park in April 2012 and it was I who brought it to the attention of Parks staff, who promptly added it to our work plan:
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