It seems my traveling life may be about to get quite interesting! There has been talk of me traveling internationally soon: Canada, Europe, India. Maybe even Africa. I’ve got to become more of an expert on the company product before I go flying somewhere but it’s pretty cool to think about. The travel was one of the coolest parts of my prior sales engineering jobs and it looks like this one will be no exception. I’ve just gotta hit the books before I’m paraded before folks as some genius!
Checking In
A catch-all, catch-up post
There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 42 of 114).
Feeling better
Well, the sick I felt the other night is now mostly gone. I’ve cleared my throat several times today but had my energy back and felt far more normal than I had been. With any luck that will be the last cold I get this year.
Sick
I spent most of the weekend sick with a cold. I wound up staying up late Friday night working on my slides for Raleigh Neighborhood Exchange. Then after waking up early Saturday for the Exchange I felt sapped most of the rest of the day (even at Sparkcon). I paid on Sunday for Saturday’s burst of activity, though. Even though it was an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday (low humidity and moderate temperatures) I didn’t want to do anything but stay inside. Even took an afternoon nap. Finally we did get out of the house yesterday, spending the late afternoon at the Lions Park playground.
It was a restless night for me last night, with many coughing spells that woke us both up. Fortunately I think I’m turning a corner and feel more energetic today than yesterday. I’m certainly ready to feel better, I can tell you that!
International Talk Like A Pirate Day (ITLAPD)
I’ve been a-waitin’ for this day to ARRRRRRRRRRRive!
Sparkcon
We spent our afternoon at Sparkcon, Raleigh’s art and design showcase that “celebrates creativity.” Fayetteville Street was covered with hundreds of beautiful chalk drawings. circusSpark performers did acrobatic tricks. Bands played on the stage in City Plaza and the Turner family played drums in the drum circle provided by Raleigh Drum Circle members.
Playing drums is interesting. I struggled to keep a steady beat at first, but then something clicked and the drum seemed to play itself. I noticed subtle changes in the group dynamic, where someone would start a cool-sounding beat and others would then latch on. This would go on until someone else would take us in a different direction and then we all began to follow the new leader. Before I knew it I was playing non-stop for 20 minutes or more without feeling fatigued. Sure, it was a workout but rather than have tired hands after playing I had “happy hands.”
We spent the rest of our time drawing our own chalk drawings at the corner of Martin and Fayetteville streets. Then it was home for pizza and rest. It’s been a long day!
Neighborhood exchanged
I spent the morning attending the Raleigh Neighborhood Exchange, a half-day of talks and information booths designed to strengthen Raleigh’s neighborhoods. It was sponsored by the city’s Community Services department, which supports the city’s CACs, including mine. I was asked to be a presenter at this year’s Exchange, and so this morning I did two sessions with Eugene Weeks (a fellow member of the Parks board) and Jason Hibbets (chair of the Southwest CAC) on the topic of using high-tech and low-tech methods to strengthen neighborhoods.
I was originally planning to speak off the cuff at today’s meeting, but last night I became inspired to create what I hoped was a captivating slide presentation, Lawrence Lessig-style. I was up until 2:30 this morning assembling my slides, grabbing about 4 hours of sleep before I had to get up for the meeting. I arrived at the Convention Center with plenty of time to spare. The only problem is that the Exchange was being held at N.C. State’s McKimmon Center! I arrived at the correct venue about 10 minutes before our session was scheduled to begin. I had time enough to wolf down a muffin and grab my badge before the session started.
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Loving the new gig
I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been knee-deep in my new job and other projects.
My week in St. Charles went very well. I’m loving my new gig: the job, the coworkers. Everything. What a relief it is to wake up in the morning and look forward to a day of work! This job has everything I’ve been looking for and I know how lucky I am to have it.
In addition to the new job I started, Kelly and I have hired a contractor to finish off our unfinished attic bedroom. The idea is to use it as a home office and also have it double as a guest bedroom when needed. Today contractors came in to rewire it and put in the HVAC ductwork. Rather than the sound become annoying, the hammering I heard today put a smile on my face! It will be wonderful to have this done.
Yesterday I took some time out from installing CAT 5e network cable in the new room for a trip with the family to the Fiesta Del Pueblo at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. We particularly enjoyed the performance of the African American Dance Ensemble.
All this is on top of the usual duties I have, such as the East CAC and Parks Board, both of which are coming up this week. Then on Saturday I will attend the Raleigh Neighborhood Exchange, where I’ll be speaking on connecting communities. Throw in a few soccer games and birthday parties and there isn’t much time for reflection (and/or blogging).
Now I’m going to sneak in a few pages of a book before retiring to bed.
Fall-like fun
After yet another few high-90s days earlier this week we’ve had two days of absolutely gorgeous weather. Hurricane Earl was rebuffed by a dry cold front that moved through. The temperature Friday was 98 degrees at one point but the relative humidity was a scandalously-low 19%! The weekend temperatures were about 8-10 degrees cooler with the same low humidity, which is a tantalizing taste of fall (though falls are cooler yet).
We spent most of Saturday just getting some yardwork done. Mowing, weeding, trimming, and leaf blowing were all carried out under sunny skies. Then there was music practice and other fun tasks until dinner. After dinner, we joined our neighbors on the driveway for beer and roasted marshmallows. One of our neighbors across the street got married yesterday and they held their reception in their backyard. We enjoyed people-watching and listening to the 80s-era wedding dance tunes.
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Ticking away
I was cleaning off the hard drive of one of my old computers here and came across some photographs from our 2007 Orcas Island vacation. It amazed me to realize that was three years ago, and that we took much smaller kids with us. Boy, the time just flies.
Epic bike ride
At Umstead State Park
Yesterday was my last day at my last job so, being in-between jobs and with the kids in school, I took the opportunity to spend the day bike riding with Kelly. We rode from our house through downtown Raleigh, then on the Chavis Way greenway to Chavis Park. While at Chavis we got a chance to ride the beautifully-restored carousel before heading on. The Little Rock Creek greenway brought us past the Walnut Creek Wetlands Center, at which point we headed west along the Walnut Creek Greenway.
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