I bagged my first mosquito of 2008 tonight as it slipped in the back door behind me. Seems a bit early to be dealing with them, but with high temperatures in the 70s its more like spring out there than the first week of January.
January 2008
Yet another busy weekend
Its been a busy weekend here at MT.Net. We had “family movie night” Friday evening when we watched a DVD of Lady and the Tramp. Saturday was still cold, but I wouldn’t know. I spent most of the day inside the attic pounding away at some new flooring I’ve been building.
Saturday night, Kelly and I watched Sophie Scholl – The Final Days from our NetFlix list. The movie chronicled the last days of Scholl – a 21-year-old anti-Nazi resister. Wow, Scholl and her brother were brave souls!
Continue reading
Oh really?
I had to laugh when I saw this headline in today’s News and Observer:
Uh, yeah. He’s Wright’s attorney. Did anyone really expect him to declare Wright guilty?
Why do they publish this stuff?
Highlights of 2007: Rodger Koopman’s campaign
And now for my last and most important event of 2007: my work on the Raleigh City Council campaign of Rodger Koopman. I felt like I was finally in my element: helping with strategy, studying voters, hosting a meet-and-greet, minding campaign signs until late in the night, knocking on hundreds of doors, and finally managing poll greeters on election day. It was hard work – possibly the hardest volunteer work I’ve done – but I loved every minute of it.
Continue reading
Rainwater Solutions
Decided to get out of the house for a change on Thursday. My destination was Raleigh’s Rainwater Solutions, makers of rain barrels and cisterns. Having had a water tank for months now (a full one, I might add), I wanted to see what the next step up would be.
Continue reading
Cheviot Hills to become Chevrolet Hills
When I drive home on Capital Boulevard from a trip into town, my eyes always drift over to the old Cheviot Hills Golf Course, which has sat idle since June of 2006 after being sold to car salesmen. The property has always intrigued me for some reason. Especially the clubhouse, portions of which were built in the 1800s.
Continue reading
Highlights of 2007: Smitty’s death
The day I dreaded for the past couple of years finally arrived last month when my feline companion for 16 years, Smitty, had to be put to sleep. Her kidneys had failed and I think she knew it was time. I’m still amazed at how a furball that could be so damn aggravating could also be so loved.
Continue reading
Ibiblio spam
Yesterday I switched my .forward on my Ibiblio account to point to my Gmail address. Poof! About 99% of the spam I was getting moved with it.
If my Ibiblio account wasn’t so useful or Ibiblio’s mission so important, I’d have probably axed it a long time ago, simply for the amount spam it generates.
Highlights of 2007: Trip to China
One unforgettable event of 2007 was my trip to China in early March. I spent ten days between Beijing and Shanghai and had a wonderful time in this most unusual country. I was there for training but got a little sightseeing in, too, including the obligatory trip to the Great Wall, though few can probably boast of sliding down the Great Wall on their keister the way I did.
Continue reading
Another dead Western Digital drive
A dozen years ago I was a young IT manager at a Raleigh software company. I had just ordered new Gateway 2000 PCs for our developers but something was terribly wrong. After just six months of service, the Western Digital hard drives in the new PCs all failed, taking a lot of work with them and adding a lot of work for me to rebuild the systems. I swore I would never buy another Western Digital hard drive.
Time moves on and the anger subsides. WD did the right thing by replacing all the defective drives. Quality improved. I dared purchase more WD stuff.
Continue reading