Last weekend’s fun jam session with the musician friends of Hallie’s violin teacher, Vicky Montague, made me wish I played more just for fun. I’m starting a standing invitation to get together and jam. Any of my Raleigh friends who play instruments, contact me by email and I’ll get this organized.
Mark Turner
Cheap Thoughts: taxes by percentages
Wouldn’t be interesting if you could direct how your federal taxes were spent by percentages, like you do with your 401K investments? I can think of a few ways I’d change the way my money is spent.
When I’m With You
When I’m With You (YouTube)
Sheriff
When I’m With You
I never needed love
Like I need you
And I never lived for nobody
But I live for you
Ooo babe
Lost in love is what I feel
When I’m with you
Maybe it’s the way you touch me
With the warmth of the sun
Maybe it’s the way you smile
I come all undone
Ooh babe
Lost in love is what I feel
When I’m with you
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RTP power failure
Yesterday afternoon around 2:45 PM we experienced a power brownout at my $WORK in RTP. Word was that a contractor working behind the Social Security Commission building in RTP was digging and “hit a primary.” This caused many of our systems to go offline. We get our power from Duke Energy.
I can’t seem to find any external reference to this power failure but I’m sure other businesses must have experienced it.
Change in slide presentation strategy
Inspired by the fast-paced slide presentations by Larry Lessig, I’ve decided that the presentations I create will be built like a video, not like a lecture. Slides will illustrate my talks like pictures illustrate the words in a book. The idea will be to use the power of emotion that images produce to emphasize whatever point I’m making. Visual presentation will be used to reinforce the verbal presentation.
I have a few months until my next GPS presentation at Conn Elementary so now might be a good time to practice this new technique.
My picture in the Raleigh Recycling ad
Here’s a snippet of the Raleigh Recycling ad where my photograph appeared. Looking closely, you can see that the crane and the light poles have been airbrushed out. I looked without luck for an online version of this ad but haven’t found it yet.
Bonner Gaylord: genius app developer?
The City of Raleigh sent out this breathless press release this week touting a new mobile application called SeeClickFix. People can use the service to report things around the city that need attention, such as a traffic light that needs replacing, graffiti that needs to be removed, etc. It’s a very useful service: one that I plan to use on a regular basis.
The only issue is the press release itself. It reads as if Bonner developed the whole thing himself:
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My photo of Raleigh seen again in the wild
My public domain picture of Raleigh I uploaded to Wikipedia continues to make the rounds. Flipping through the newspaper this morning, I spotted a small ad on page 2B of the Triangle section. The ad, placed by the City of Raleigh Recycling, featured the picture in the header, with a “swoosh” ribbon thing coming out of it. There’s no doubt that it’s my picture as the cars line up perfectly.
Some photographers get upset when their work gets used without their permission. I suppose there might be a time in the future when I work professionally as a photog. Even then, though, there will be shots I take that I’ll be happy to pass around, either because it’s the right thing to do or because it’s a great way to advertise my skills.
Hallie’s complaint to the library
Hallie checked out a book from the library which was bound incorrectly, getting the chapters out of order. Not one to let a problem go unreported (she takes after her dad), Hallie write the library a note to bring this to their attention.
The note reads:
To: Library
The Book Young Cam Jansen And the substitute Mystery is totally MIXED UP! The chapters should go like this 1,2,3,4,5. In the book, they go 1,2,4,5,3. No wonder it doesn’t make sense! It was bound out-of-order! Somebody already wrote the correct Page numbers in the book. I know it isn’t good to write in books, but What Are You Supposed To DO When You Find A mystery in a mystery?
-Hallie Turner,
age 8
Graffiti delete-y?
Since my blog posting about the Beltline graffiti attracted so much attention, I thought it only right that I publicly thank the N.C. DOT for being on the case. I sent this email to them this past Thursday:
From: Mark Turner
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 2:56 PM
To: Jones, Brandon H
Cc: Jernigan, Hannah; Halsey, Steven M; Holmes, Jason M; Elmore, Thomas R; Bowman, John W; Hopkins, Joey
Subject: Re: GraffitiMr. Jones,
I see that graffiti around the I-440 Beltline is being painted over. Thanks to you and the NCDOT for your prompt service in addressing this. Already it has made a huge difference in Raleigh’s appearance. I do appreciate it!
Regards,
Mark Turner
This drew this prompt response from Mr. Brandon Jones:
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