Mark Turner

Posting boasting

I have to give a shout out to my blogging friend Chris O’Donnell on his 5,000th post. That’s a lot of blogging, and quite an accomplishment.

Personally, this marks my 4,553rd published post. I expect to break 5,000 within a year, though I have to say my increasing use of Twitter or Facebook has slowed my pace a bit. A quick update to those microblogs is like a quick scratch of an itch, whereas a blog post is like a full-blown bath in calamine lotion!

My LTE ran today

The N&O ran my letter to the editor today.

I don’t understand why some people (including certain reporters) don’t like Meeker. While there are lots of things I wish he would do differently, I think Meeker is an honest, hardworking mayor who cares about the city. Unlike many politicians, he doesn’t appear to be in it for ego or to treat it as a stepping stone to higher office. I think some people forget what a thankless job being mayor is; that it’s essentially an unpaid job. We’re lucky that people still choose to do it.

That being said, I see nothing wrong with disagreeing with a politician’s choices or decisions. In fast, that’s healthy. But I do not agree with hating someone personally for the decisions they make.

There are a lot of misguided political leaders out there and many have raised my hackles. Even so, I like knowing I could sit down with them and calmly discuss our differences without it becoming personal.

Biking in Durham via Amtrak, part I

Meeting the train in Raleigh

Kelly and I were pondering how we would spend our rare, unscheduled Saturday this past weekend when a note came in from our neighbor, Reid.

“Hey, Jacob and I are heading to Durham on the Piedmont at noon today w/ our bikes. Will we catch the next train heading to Raleigh around 3pm. Only 10 bucks round trip, not bad?” it said.

It was already after 10 AM at that point but with nothing else lined up to do we scrambled to gather our bikes, snacks, and sunscreen for a fun trip on the train and bikes.
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Hot weather slows us down

We took a family train ride to Durham today, then rode our bikes around the city for two hours. It was fun but, boy, were we all soaked with sweat by the time we had lunch. After our ride we drove over to Ridge Road Pool but didn’t even get out of the car before the thunder cleared the pool. Then we didn’t even get cooled off by the thunderstorm because it never got near us. Thanks for nothing, storm!

I was planning to get in another ride Sunday morning with my neighbor and brother but the heat index Sunday will be 102 degrees. No thanks! I think I’ll pace myself during outdoor time tomorrow.

During breakfast I found my mind wandering in an effort to escape the heat. I daydreamed of what it must be like in the San Juan Islands right now. Then I made the mistake of checking the forecast.

High of 67 degrees today. Arrghh! I so wish we could afford to jet up there again for another week of cool weather and gorgeous scenery. It was almost cruel to think about.

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.