June 25, 2010

There were 4 posts published on June 25, 2010 (this is page 1 of 1).

Amtrak’s perplexing fares

I’m taking the train up to Virginia over the Fourth of July weekend to meet Kelly and the kids. Booking my travel on Amtrak provided an interesting choice in fares.

I’ve got two choices for travel: one leaves Raleigh at 10:56 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM. The other choice leaves Raleigh at 8:54 AM and arrives at Fredericksburg at 3:39 PM, but provides a convenient extra two hours to wander around the Richmond train station. So with an extra four hours of travel time you’d think they’d offer a cheaper fare, right? So what does Amtrak charge? An extra fifteen bucks!

I’m still not sure what makes doubling the travel time worth extra money. Bizarre. Maybe this is just a sign of how far rail travel in America has yet to go.

Bonus link: Check out RailServe for promotional codes and good tips about traveling by train.

Wade and Oberlin smells like cat urine

Ok, I know I’m not imagining it. For the past few days when I’ve driven past the intersection of Wade Avenue and Oberlin Road, I’ve been confronted by the smell of … cat urine!? As a long-time cat owner it’s a smell I’m all too familiar with. The first few times I drove by I chalked it up to imagination but this morning I decided it must really be what I smell.

The Care First Animal Hospital at that intersection is the vet where I took my cat for years. The sewer line from the vet must be full of pet urine. Could that be what I’m smelling?

Hoyle’s hijacking H1840 is worse than reported

Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston)

I have a correction regarding H1840. Sen. Hoyle did not gut H1840 of it’s extension of the e-NC sunset provision. However, Hoyle did tack on his moratorium language to the existing e-NC language. This is even worse than if Hoyle had gutted H1840, because the bill appears innocuous when it really isn’t.

My confusion resulted from Hoyle’s last-minute addition of the bill to the Senate agenda. It seems there is no such thing as sunshine in the state Senate.

Meeker’s East CAC appearance in the news

The appearance of Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker at our Monday evening East CAC meeting has generated news, with Meeker calling for the school board’s reassignment policy to be scrutinized by legal experts. I could tell when he took that question that he was fired up about the issue. He should be: over 40% of student families are Raleigh residents.

I dashed off this letter to the editor this morning:

Thank goodness Mayor Meeker is fighting this RECKLESS WASTE of TAXPAYER DOLLARS by our irresponsible school board majority on their pet project social experiment. There are serious and lasting repercussions to the board’s ill-conceived changes, not the least of which is to your wallet and mine!

As mayor of over 40% of the students in the Wake County School System, Meeker is rightfully concerned about the abject destruction taking place at the hands of the current school board.

I applaud Meeker’s efforts!!

Hopefully the board will consider the magnitude of their reckless changes. But I doubt it.

Update 29 June: The N&O ran my letter today.