November 2012

There were 45 posts published in November 2012 (this is page 2 of 5).

One year of being Mr. Mom

It was a year ago today that I started at my current gig as a part-time system administrator. It was the start of an unusual schedule for me as I’ve taken care of the kids before and after school while getting in a few hours of work in-between.

While Kelly and I didn’t know how it would turn out when we began this adventure, the truth is that it’s worked really, really well. Kelly has a full-time job that she loves and I can work as much as I want part-time while helping out at home and in the community.

I told Kelly when she took her job that I would fully support her and would do whatever it takes to help her succeed. After one year we’re on the right track!

KB Home to build “Oakwood North”

Oakwood North site plan


I found out today that KB Home has filed its subdivision plan (S-28-2012) for “Oakwood North” on the Weatherford Property near my home. Plans call for 39 single-family homes in the subdivision, with Tonsler Dr., N. State St., Edmund St., and Plainview Ave. connecting together.

I’ll miss having the end of our street all to ourselves but I am intrigued about what KB Home intends to do with this subdivision. I am also hoping to use this information to attract a quality supermarket to the flea market property on Capital Boulevard. Wouldn’t that be nice?

What’s gotten into Lundsford Lane?

I occasionally stop by the Below The Beltline website because once in blue moon it has an update. Last week Lundsford Lane was in a grouchy mood when he took aim at the Planning Commission’s requesting a bike rack for a proposed gas station at the corner of Sunnybrook Drive and Rock Quarry Road.

Says Lundsford:

Mamta Patel, aka Earth Petroleum VI Inc., Earth Mama, who goes by Ricky, is building a gas station at the corner of Rock Quarry Road and Sunnybrook Drive. Six pump islands under one giant canopy, no waiting, no getting wet when the weather is nasty.

So Little Ricky turns in the site plan to the Planning Commission, which must give its blessing to build. Only one problem, say the Commissioners – no bike racks. So Ricky agrees to add one rack to accommodate two bikes. After all, it’s Earth Petroleum, you can’t get greener than that. Never mind that there is no bike path near there, no sidewalk connection, and it takes a death wish to ride a bike through that intersection.

We spent millions to rebuild Hillsborough Street to improve traffic flow and instead get dangerous accident-prone roundabouts and all-day gridlock. We’re building a $60 million train station with no near-term prospects for new trains. And now we’re requiring gas stations that are not safely accessible by bicycle or foot to have bike racks. Apparently in Raleigh, even bikes need gas.

“Only in America,” said Mother Love Patel.

Being a persnickety kind of guy I decided to see for myself, so I pulled up the site in question using Google Maps:
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Providence Day comes to Raleigh

Students from Providence Day learn about Raleigh’s CACs


As I had mentioned they would, a group of 150 9th graders from Charlotte’s Providence Day came to Raleigh today to learn about its Citizens Advisory Councils and to learn more about civic participation. As I expected, I loved every minute of it. I even called Kelly at lunch and gushed at how I was in my element.

I didn’t have a real agenda in front of me until this morning. That’s when I found out I would be leading the first hour of the discussion about what CACs are and what they do. I was wondering how I would fill up this hour but it turned out to be easier than I anticipated. We started quite a bit late and when asked to say a few words about how they became involved with CACs, some of the chairs on the panel talked at length about the whole CAC experience.
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What is flying over Denver?

What is flying over Denver?


A man approached KDVR in Denver recently with a claim that a strange aircraft was flying regularly over an area north of the city. The aircraft moves impossibly fast and appears to take off and land near a neighborhood:

DENVER – It’s a mile high mystery in the skies over Denver.

Strange objects caught on camera flying over the city and nobody can explain it.

We first learned about these sightings when a metro area man, who does not want to be identified brought us his home video. He captured the images on his digital camera from a hilltop in Federal Heights looking south toward downtown Denver.

He said, “The flying objects appear around noon or 1:00 p.m. at least a couple of times a week.” The strangest part is they are flying too fast to see with the naked eye, but when we slowed down the video, several UFOs appear.

I watched the video several times this week and get more and more curious with each viewing.
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NeighborWoods shifts focus to tree maintenance

I was quoted in today’s Midtown Raleigh News about NeighborWoods:

With fewer subdivisions being built amid the slow economy, NeighborWoods organizers said they are spending more time searching for new areas where they can offer trees.

The revised approach will put greater priority on pruning and maintaining trees that were planted since the program began in 2003, said Zach Manor, the city’s tree planting coordinator.

A greater emphasis on maintenance makes sense, said Mark Turner, chairman of the city’s parks board.

“I know of several NeighborWoods trees that did not thrive for whatever reason,” Turner said. “Having the opportunity to focus on keeping trees healthy should result in a better outcome.”

Incidentally, I haven’t heard whether the Midtown Raleigh News will also be going behind a paywall, since it gets distributed across the city for free. Thus, I expect to still be able to link to it.

via NeighborWoods shifts focus to tree maintenance – Raleigh – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

Raleigh Aquatics to do away with punch passes

At tonight’s Parks and Rec Fees and Charges committee meeting, I learned that the Raleigh Parks and Recreation Aquatics program plans to do away with the popular punch passes. The passes allow 15 swims apiece but will be phased out beginning in January.

Aquatics director Terry Stroupe said the goal is to get people moved to the monthly and annual passes, which offer greater savings. I believe there is also an issue with the new “class” system and swipe cards not being able to support the punch-pass type of transaction.
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Scary car warranty mailing from Autocare

Scary looking letter from Autocare


How is this legal? In the mail today we received an official-looking computer-printed card which screamed “important.” It had words like “2ND ATTEMPT,” and “REQUEST FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION – TIME SENSITIVE MATERIAL ENCLOSED,” and “TO BE OPENED BY ADDRESSEE ONLY. PLEASE RESPOND WITHIN FIVE DAYS.” It was addressed to the prior owner of this home – the guy who moved out almost five years ago. I was considering forwarding it to the prior owner until I saw that it was mailed “presorted std. mail,” meaning bulk rate. Thus it wasn’t as important as it first looked.
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