A catch-all, catch-up post
There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 41 of 114).
The kids were reading about Helen Keller in school so I decided to put The Miracle Worker on our Netflix list. The kids finished it a week ago but I just found the time to finish it. Wow, what a powerful story.
I may bitch and moan about some things not going my way, but nothing I will ever do will be as absolutely miraculous as what Helen and her teacher Anne Sullivan accomplished. And Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft exhibit great acting in the film.
Wow, what a week I just had. I had a sales presentation I had to complete for work, to be done in-between conducting two days of product training for customers. After work I conducted the East CAC meeting Monday night, attended a public hearing Tuesday night, presented at the Raleigh Neighborhood Recognition Awards Wednesday night, went to my first Parks board meeting as the vice-chair Thursday night, took Travis to his piano lesson Friday night and then attended a neighborhood party afterwards.
Continue reading
I was wandering around downtown this afternoon, on a mission to update the Wikipedia photos for Raleigh and also Memorial Auditorium. As I snapped pictures of Memorial Auditorium a man walked up to me and asked for things to do around town. He was a bit shorter than me with curly shoulder-length hair and wore a tam-o-shanter cap and dark sunglasses. I imagined that he had just gotten off a plane from New York City.
“Isn’t there a museum nearby?” he asked.
“Yes, there are a few. Perhaps you’d like to go to the North Carolina Museum of Art?”
Continue reading
Columbus
I’ve got Columbus Day off today, for the first time I can recall. Most businesses keep chugging away on Columbus Day, and while I appreciate an extra day to get things done I have to say that I don’t think Christopher Columbus is the kind of guy we should be celebrating.
Columbus was a greedy, murderous, slave-trader who cared little for the indigenous people he met: the same people who repeatedly saved his bacon in spite of his cruel behavior. He was deluded to the day he died that he had discovered a path to India. Not exactly a role model, in my book, but I’m grateful for the day off anyway.
I co-conducted a four-hour training session this morning at work, so afterwards I was ready to move around some. I’d been looking for someone to go biking with me during lunchtimes so Kelly volunteered to join me. She’s training for her upcoming triathlon so she was motivated.
We got in 45 minutes of intense riding on the Crabtree Creek Greenway, riding ten miles total. It was a pace I’m not used to riding as we usually have the kids along. And, uh, truth be told we were going faster than the greenway “speed limit” so don’t tell anybody!
Now it’s close to 10 PM and I’m feeling a little achy. It sucks getting old!
So, remember how I once vowed to put up or shut up when it came to doing voiceover work? Well, I finally got my chance. Thumbing through the recent Raleigh Parks’ Leisure Ledger, I found an upcoming class that taught voiceovers. With a small price tag and professional trainers in town, I knew I couldn’t let another chance slip away. I signed up for the September 28th class and counted down the days until it arrived.
In the meantime, though, the peculiar, breathless phrasing of the class description caught my eye so I plugged it into The Google. It didn’t take me long to trace the class to its trainers: a group in Vermont called Such A Voice. On their website I watched free online videos which explained the whole process. Soon I felt as if I had taken the class already.
Continue reading
Around 11:11 this morning I was working at my desk when the power flickered. A moment later the power came back on, but at much lower voltage! When my VoIP phone began going nuts I remembered how bad it is for electronics to be fed low voltage, so I began racing frantically around the house, shutting down all the electronics and CFL bulbs I could find. Soon the power was lost completely, ending the apparent danger.
An hour later the power returned and things seemed to be fine. All the gear I turned off came back on again. I thought we were out of the woods … until late afternoon. Kelly asked me if I had done something to the refrigerator as the ice tray was filled with water instead of ice. That’s when I realized I should’ve turned off the refrigerator, too. I think the compressor has been damaged by the low power, too.
When the ice storm hit the Triangle in 2002 the heat pump in our Garner home fell victim to low voltage. Had we waited for the power to stabilize in the neighborhood that night we wouldn’t have had to buy a new heat pump. I don’t know if I could’ve switched the power off to the refrigerator fast enough for it to have protected it but I might have done something.
The freezer and fridge are both cooling down again now, but it’s taking much longer for it to happen than it once did. It’s as if the compressor has lost 50% of its power, too. We could be facing an expensive repair, or an outright replacement of our refrigerator.
Don’t let it be said that we’re not doing our part to stimulate the economy.
Update 1 Oct: Fridge appears fine, after all. Not sure how it warmed up like it did but so far so good.
I’ve been busting it for the past few weeks, working to get up to speed on work issues, shepherding a room renovation at home, and doing all of my public service stuff. Yesterday my day began with a meeting with Raleigh city manager Russell Allen, phone calls and labs at work, a reception for a city councilor at which I chatted with the police chief and others, visiting with the family, and painting that room until 11:30 PM. Is it any wonder that I fell asleep when reading at bedtime with Hallie?
I also took that voiceover class I’d been looking forward to for months. I’ll fill in the details later, as there’s a lot to blog about. Look for a string of updates soon!
We had a power outage this evening from 8:30 to 10:00 PM. Afterward our home fileserver did not boot, so personal email accounts and home phone are temporarily down. Hopefully I can get things straightened out Monday. The server issue is with the motherboard and/or (more likely) the power supply. The drives should be fine so I don’t expect any data loss.
The power failure took the opportunity to interrupt my breadmaking. I had kicked off a new flavor, Italian wheat, only to have the power pull the plug on it after 90 minutes. It was a short blip but enough to knock the breadmaker out of its cycle. Fortunately, I found another cycle that heads to the bake cycle relatively quickly and got it going again. Then the power failed again, this time for the 90 minute outage. I still would not give up on my bread, though, and resumed baking it after the power returned. Against all odds it turned out great!
Continue reading
I found out today that a HAM radio acquaintance of mine, Byron King K4NGJ, died when his motorcycle hit a deer this morning. He was 53 years old.
I’d only met Byron one time in person but you’d have thought we were best friends. That’s just the way he was: big, friendly, and outgoing. I don’t do much talking on the amateur radio repeaters around here but I do occasionally tune in. Whenever I heard Byron’s voice I couldn’t help but pause and hear what was going on with him. That’s mostly how I knew him: what he shared with others on the radio.
In addition to the ham radio public service stuff Byron did, he also volunteered for the Red Cross – assisting with their disaster recovery services.
It’s hard learning such a great person has passed on, especially since it comes on the birthday of my late friend Gerry.
Update 25 Sept: Byron’s funeral details can be foundhere.
