April 2011

There were 32 posts published in April 2011 (this is page 2 of 4).

Digging out East Raleigh

Volunteers assist with storm cleanup

I took some time off from work today to participate in volunteer efforts to clean the storm debris out of the neighborhood streets. The city’s Community Services department collected contact information for interested people to join in with dragging trees to the street.

At 10 AM, folks met at Lions Park for a safety briefing. Then after a waiver was signed, participants received a vest and pair of gloves. Then volunteers were sent to the field staging area at the Raleigh Boulevard Food Lion parking lot, where they boarded buses and vans to move into the neighborhoods. That way a bunch of cars weren’t parking along streets crowded with storm debris.

I took two other volunteers with me in my car and we drove up Millbank. Right beyond the first intersection (Brighton), we found a work crew clearing a yard of tree limbs. Feeling this was as good a place as any to pitch in, we hopped out and began to work. A construction crew was there volunteering as well, and with all the helping hands (and two chain saws), the yard was clear in no time.
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When the lights move on

At tonight’s CAC meeting, several neighbors brought up stories of people in their neighborhoods who have lost everything. These are folks who are on food stamps and have no renter’s insurance. The water bottles the Red Cross was handing out seem ludicrously wanting when one doesn’t have a roof over one’s head.

It was a sober reminder that once all the power crews and the debris crews and the news crews move on, there will still be folks here with nothing left but a pile of bricks.

Cheap thoughts: foul contest

Through each game, basketball players carry stats on their shots, assists, and fouls. There are contests held for free-throw shooting, there are dunking contests. Why aren’t there any foul contests? Players could take their best shot at each other and whomever has the most egregious foul wins. Maybe they could make it pay-per-view.

Raleigh Tornado, Part II

My night did not last long, though. It was too quiet and my urge to put my neighborhood back to right was too strong. I reluctantly left my bed and wandered through a dark home, wondering what I would do without any electricity or daylight.

I ate a breakfast of two cold mini-bagels and cream cheese, with an orange. The fridge temperature was about 50 degrees but I didn’t feel brave enough to get the other items from it. I picked up the paper from the driveway and mulled what to do next. A few neighbors stopped to chat after the sun had come up and we traded stories and tips. I got word that our power would be out for another three days. Turning down a “coffee run” offer, I gathered my gloves and new wheelbarrow and made a decision to go back to Longview to help clear trees.
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Raleigh Tornado, Part I

Boy, that doesn’t happen every day. A huge tornado roared through the Triangle yesterday, leaving a path of destruction across Wake County. Skywarn spotters reported that the Lowe’s hardware store in Apex was smashed. Other reports told of brick buildings on South Saunders Street being busted. Downtown, there are streetlights out everywhere and trees blocking many streets on the east part of town. Here at home, I’m fortunate nothing happened to our home but we’ve been without power since about 3:45 PM yesterday. I’ve been keeping the dog company while Kelly and the kids are in Virginia for a few days.
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Walter Breuing, world’s oldest man

I salute the late Mr. Breuing. What an amazing life he lived – all 114 years of it!

Walter Breuning, the world’s oldest man and second-oldest person, died Thursday. He was 114.

Breuning was born Sept. 21, 1896, in Melrose, Minn., and spent his early years in De Smet, S.D. That first decade of the 1900s was literally a dark age for his family. They had no electricity or running water. A bath for young Walter would require his mother to fetch water from the well outside and heat it on the coal-burning stove.

via Walter Breuing, world’s oldest man.

Family bonds

I got the chance to take the kids to school this morning. After I gave each of the kids a hug and walked them to the door, I was thrilled to watch them give each other a hug before they went to their own classrooms.

Now, if that’s not a great way to start the day, I don’t know what is!

Satellite fun, part two

Motor mount


After I had my satellite pole properly set, it was time to aim the dish. While I had little trouble finding a satellite earlier when I simply stuck the dish on the pole and fiddled a bit, I found it much more difficult to make things work when I added the mount motor. That’s because the motor adds its own angle to the mix, so you have two dials to set, not just one. When you couple that with an instruction manual often written with poor English it becomes an even greater challenge.

I mounted the motor to the pole, attached the dish to it, and began fiddling. And fiddling. And fiddling some more. I just couldn’t get the receiver to work. The motor needed to be pointed directly south and I worked a long time to get it correct. It didn’t help that I had my TV and receiver all the way inside while I worked. Though I had a “satellite beeper” device which makes a tone when it detects a satellite, I couldn’t get the receiver to do what I wanted.
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Scammer of the year?

This guy deserves a real medal of some sort. I’m stunned that he ever pulled this off.

A Chinese national who said he was the “supreme commander” of a made-up Army unit orchestrated an elaborate scheme that attracted recruits and their money with the promise that it was a path to U.S. citizenship, authorities allege.

Yupeng Deng, who is accused of raking in hundreds of dollars from his recruits, is set to be arraigned Wednesday on more than a dozen charges.

Los Angeles County prosecutors said Deng, also known as David Deng, recruited 100 other Chinese nationals, primarily in Asian enclaves in the San Gabriel Valley, to join the “U.S. Army/Military Special Forces Reserve unit,” then gave them phony U.S. Army uniforms and military ID cards.

Read more.

Update 10:09 AM: Read the press release from the LA County DA’s office.

Satellite fun

Satellite dish


Longtime MT.Net readers will know that I’m a satellite geek. I bought a DVB-S card for my computer five years ago and enjoyed tuning in the few channels I could pull in on a tiny 18″ dish. That didn’t hold my interest, though, because … well, there wasn’t much to see.

For my latest birthday, I decided to get a little more serious into this hobby. I found a Craigslist ad from a local guy who was selling his satellite gear. For about $75, I bought three DVB receivers, a dish, and an LNB. I took the parts home, scratched my head, and wondered if I had the knowledge to put it all together into something that worked. It turns out I did!
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