I walked out at dusk tonight to put out the recycling. Looking up I was pleased to see at least three bats merrily plucking mosquitoes out of the air.
Snack away, my furry flier friends. Just don’t make our gable vent your home anymore, KTHXBYE.
August 2008
Sixteen years
This month marks 16 years since I first came to Raleigh. And my jury summons asked how many years I’ve lived in North Carolina which made me realize I’ve been in North Carolina a total of 20 years. That’s over half my life. Wow. Not exactly a native, but still impressive.
Secret Separation
Secret Separation
The Fixx
We are passengers in time
Lost in motion, locked together
Day and night, by trick of light
But I must take another journey
We must meet with other names
You touched my heart so deeply
You rescued me now free me
Don’t watch me cry just see me go
I’ll take away the strongest feelings
You will ever know
There will be no more isolation
In our secret separation
You touched my heart so deeply, you rescued me
Now free me
Continue reading
House moves this Saturday
LNR Properties will be moving two historic Raleigh homes Saturday morning beginning at 7AM (weather-permitting). The Watson and Merrimon Wynne homes will be shifted to new lots as part of the Blount Street Commons project, with the Watson home moving first.
If you’ve ever wanted to see a home being trucked from one place to another you’ve got two chances Saturday!
Here’s what Doug Redford of LNR Properties sent to a neighborhood mailing list:
Continue reading
Please choose Lieberman
Oh please, please, please, make Joe Lieberman your running mate, John McCain. Imagine what a team they would make!
If there’s one small bright spot in George W. Bush’s presidency – with its skyrocketing spending, endless wars, rampant lawbreaking, trashing the economy, shredding of the Constitution, and torching of America’s political capital in the world – its that Joe Lieberman wasn’t elected vice president.
He so deserves another chance.
/snark
Rain
We got some surprise rain yesterday evening which was simply captivating to enjoy. Kelly and I stood on our screened porch and just grinned. I was happy to note my rain tank refilled as well, with 30 gallons added from this rain.
We didn’t always smile when it rained – our enthusiasm was always tempered by the streams of water running out of our clogged gutters. Since I put the gutter guards on the house this hasn’t been a problem. I can’t overstate how impressed I am how this $50 solution has worked. It is teh awesome.
I’ve been summoned
I opened the mailbox this afternoon to find a letter which says “United States District Court.” That’s right, I’ve been summoned for jury duty.
The District Court has been after me for a while, actually. The last summons I received had me reporting for duty the day Travis was born! I was excused that time, for obvious reasons, but I told them I’d welcome service at another time. They do a fine job of keeping track of folks, because one of the very first pieces of mail I received at our new address in April was a jury duty questionnaire.
The only other time I’ve been summoned was in 1996. That was for a local case and it happened the day my company got its new phone system. Nothing was working right and as the IT manager responsible for cleaning up the mess, I got excused. So I suppose I’m due. In fact, maybe long overdue.
My summons says I’m in for a three-week term starting September 8th. Apparently it won’t actually last that long, as most trials are done in 3 to 5 days. My guess is it will probably be some boring case dealing with corporate law, but who knows.
Of course, the odds that I will be able to blog during my service are slim to none, which will be a challenge for me but it beats being in contempt of court (heh). I hope to write about the experience afterward, however. Since I enjoy learning about the law this should be at least a little fun.
Russia and Georgia
Thank you, George W. Bush, for giving the United States no moral leg to stand on while our once and future enemy Russia systematically dismantles Georgia. You’ve plainly made the world a safer place by tying us down in a never-ending war while pumping billions of dollars of oil profits into the hands of Russian-dictator-for-life (and your soulmate) Vladimir Putin.
Yeah, we need four more years of this kind of leadership.
Back from Barack
I got back from the Barack Obama town hall meeting about an hour ago. What I thought would be a seat in the bleachers directly behind Obama turned out to be a seat about 30 yards away. Though I wasn’t in fist-bumping range with Barack I did enjoy the experience. It was fun seeing how whipped up the crowd was, too. I also got to hang out with my busy friend Grier Martin, and see familiar faces from the Kerry-Edwards rally from four years ago.
I sat with the vets on the upper bleachers, about four people to the left of the end of the “Change We Can Believe In” sign. I’m not in any of the photographs I’ve seen on the AP or Reuters wire. If anyone can find video of the event, let me know.
And by the way, the disabled veteran who had the last question tonight is Michael Bishop, a Marine Corps veteran. I shook hands with him earlier in the evening – a very friendly fellow – but until he asked his question to Obama I had no idea he was homeless.
It really burns me up that men and women like Bishop wind up on the street after all they have given to our country. In spite of being a veteran himself, McCain has an abysmal record when it comes to supporting veterans. I hope Bishop gets the assistance he needs.
Update: WRAL has the video, and if you squint you can see me on the top left side of the screen from 00:01:00 to 00:01:10.
Update Two: New Raleigh has pictures showing me in the audience. You’ll see me in this photo: above Obama’s left shoulder, back row, and behind the dude in the yellow shirt standing and holding a camera. I’m wearing a green shirt and my dorky Navy ballcap.
East CACalacky
At last night’s East Raleigh CAC meeting I was elected by the membership as chair. Also elected were Sue Sturgis as secretary and Andrew LeLiever as vice-chair. Together we hope to grow the East CAC and use it to better our neighborhoods. Wish us luck!