October 2008

There were 93 posts published in October 2008 (this is page 1 of 10).

Bob Harris goes to the North Korean border

Pusan, South Korea was one of my first port visits in the Navy. Though its as far away from the DMZ as it can be and still be on the Korean peninsula, I could still feel the tension between the North and South. Even there I had this sense that things weren’t quite normal.

I never did get up to the DMZ (which in hindsight was probably a good thing) and so I was fascinated to read Bob Harris’s account of a tourist trip he took up to the North Korean border. Harris’s writing captures the crazy atmosphere of that part of the world.

I think this is as close to the DMZ as I’d like to get, thank you very much.

Cheap Thoughts: Empties

I love recycling day. That’s when I get to snoop on my neighbors’ tastes in alcohol!

On the way to Hallie’s school this morning we passed a recycling bin full of empty Dogfish Head beer bottles. I don’t have to know anything else about this person – not political persuasion, religious views, where they work, or anything – to know that this person and I would get along just fine.

Posta Tuscan Grille

On my daily downtown walk, I popped into the Posta Tuscan Grille restaurant, located in the downtown Marriott at the south end of Fayetteville Street. I wanted to say hello to my neighbor, Gianni Betti, who is the chef there. Gianni greeted me with a smile as I walked in and then gave me a tour of his beautiful restaurant.

And an amazing restaurant it is: colorful, festive dining rooms; beautiful wood floors; and a large, well-stocked bar. The lunch menu at Posta’s is also affordable, making it a good spot for meetings. Not to mention the free wireless Internet available in the bar area.

Gianni laughed when he told me how he had to get used to the breakfast menus here as in Italy breakfast is a cappuccino and a pastry. Posta does serve a full Marriott-style breakfast buffet, however.

While one might think being at the end of Fayetteville Street might be lonely, Gianni says he gets a sizeable crowd from events at Memorial Auditorium: before and after plays, symphonies, ballets and the like. It seems like the perfect location for a classy Italian restaurant, with few nearby competitors (the Wilmington Street McDonald’s doesn’t count).

I love Italian food and Posta Tuscan Grille is certainly authentic. If you’re downtown and looking for a great Italian meal or simply looking to bide your time before a show, stop by the Posta Tuscan Grille. And tell ’em MT.Net sent ya!

Brainy Halloween

Kelly’s and my love for teaching kids things obviously shows. Tonight our kids will go trick-or-treating for Halloween. Don’t expect to see them dressed as fairy-tale or cartoon characters, though: Travis is going as an astronaut and Hallie as a geologist!

I’m so proud of them!

Professor Turner

We went to an after-school function at Hallie’s school last night. It was showcasing the various modules her first grade classmates were working on. That in itself was fun and interesting, but that’s not what stuck in my mind all night.

Right when we walked onto the school’s second floor we were greeted by four enthusiastic students waving GPS devices around and standing in front of homemade poster boards with GPS information on them. They seemed to be patiently waiting for someone to talk to them.

“Want to know how GPSs work?” one girl asked me eagerly.

“Sure!” I said, wanting to see what she knew.
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Virginia Autumn Excursion Train is this weekend

Attention photogs: the N.C. Transportation Museum’s Virginia Autumn Excursion Train is running Saturday and Sunday. It will leave Spencer Shops at 7 AM and then leave Greensboro’s Amtrak station at 8:15 AM before heading through the rolling Piedmont on the way to Charlottesville, VA.

While riding through rolling hills in a beautifully-restored passenger rail car is exciting, the $135 ticket price for coach seating is a bit more than I can justify. The real show will be taking place outside of the train as these vintage rail cars pass through the scenic countryside. As a railfan and a photographer, seeing this rolling steel pass over hills bursting with autumn colors may be too much to pass up. The ultimate trestle shot is calling me!

My plan is to meet the train in Greensboro after carefully studying the track route in Google Earth to find the best vantage points. I’ll spend a few hours chasing it north before returning to Raleigh for the night. If you’d like to join me, drop me a line. We can coordinate our stops, leap-frogging stops and sharing shots so that every crossing is covered.

North Raleigh bank robbery

Says here that a bank was robbed this morning at 9650 Falls of the Neuse. The getaway vehicle was parked in my old Windsor Forest neighborhood on a street called Grassington Way behind our former home.

Little did the suspect know but at least two Raleigh police officers live on Grassington Way, one on either end. That might be why the robber was arrested an hour after the holdup. It also takes at least 20 minutes to walk from the bank to the car, and that walk is in plain view along busy Durant Road.

Sleepwalker

As if I didn’t have enough reason to love this band. Did you know Jim’s Big Ego’s music is Creative Commons licensed?

Jim’s Big Ego is almost certainly the greatest band in the history of recorded music.

Sleepwalker
Jim’s Big Ego

I’m a SLEEPWALKER
and I don’t know what I’m doing
and I don’t know where I’m going
and I don’t know what I’m chewing
I’m a SLEEPWALKER
and I’m stumbling and shaking
and I don’t know how I got here
and I don’t know when I’m waking

well, I’m stumbling around
and I’m listening to my soundtrack
and I’m messaging all my buddies
and I’m wandering into traffic
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