Checking In

A catch-all, catch-up post

There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 74 of 114).

Neighborhood College update

I’ve been slack keeping y’all in the loop on the Raleigh Neighborhood College classes I’ve been taking. In a word, this program is terrific! I thought I knew my way around the city services, having been here for so long, but the resources available are truly impressive.

The class on communications and emergency services was memorable. We got a chance to tour the 911 center: a place I toured eight years prior as part of Garner’s police citizen’s academy. It didn’t seem to have changed too much, though I did notice the addition of multiple large, flat-panel TVs along the walls. Most of them were tuned to traffic cameras, though a few were tuned to the NCAA basketball tournament.

Hey, no sweat, as long as the phones aren’t ringing. And that’s one thing that wasn’t happening: there were few if any calls. I heard one dispatcher remark to another one “wouldn’t you know it. We get guests and there’s nothing going on.” Seems that people don’t hurt themselves or others when they’re glued to their televisions.
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Strange orb in the sky

I awoke to see a strange orb hanging in the eastern sky. It shone brightly and cast shadows all around our new neighborhood. It took me a while but I soon recognized it.

Hello, sun. Nice to see you after two weeks of clouds and rain. Now we get to see what our new home looks like in sunshine.

Yet another busy weekend

After a busy week at work, I spent another busy weekend Gettin’ ‘Er Done at home. More unpacking Friday evening, and some time spent on top of a ladder cleaning out the first of our many clogged gutters.

Saturday I spent another 2 hours at the Hobhouse house packing up belongings in the garage. I spent the rest of the day unpacking that load and distributing it around the new home before getting ready for dinner. Satuday evening I joined the rest of the family for a surprise retirement party for my mom. We enjoyed a fun dinner at 18 Seaboard before returning back to our home to take a quick peek at the Kansas-UNC NCAA Final Four game.
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Roof fixed

Kelly called the original roof contractor yesterday about the leak. He and two guys showed up this morning and made quick work of the roof. I think they spent 10 minutes here, total. Probably just adding some caulk under the shingles. He originally was going to charge us, saying the home was out of warranty, but then did the work for free.

Good to have that off the list. I’m still not sure why the previous owners didn’t get that done.

Biking from work

You know what’s cool? In the time it normally takes me to walk the five blocks to my free parking place, today I biked all the way home. It was mostly downhill from downtown, too, which made it a much more pleasant ride.

Tomorrow promises to be a sunny day so I think I’ll try it again.

Biking to work

I rode my bike into work today. It was a shock to my poor, out of shape system but welcome at the same time. Took me about 15 minutes to get from home to office (did I mention I’m out of shape?), but it sure was nice sailing right by all those metered parking spots.

The weather may be wet this afternoon so it remains to be seen if I get home the same way. I hope so. It sure was fun!

Wonderful home

Yesterday morning, Kelly and I woke up to the sound of the birds outside. It was beautiful! We never realized how much ambient noise we heard at our Hobhouse home from Capital Boulevard and I-540. We never thought life would get quieter moving closer to downtown!

While we had a patch of woods behind our Hobhouse home, the birds rarely nested there as the passing train usually drove them from the trees. We’ve got a few mockingbirds that next nearby, too. I’m not used to hearing birds sing at nightfall but its a wonderful sound.
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Our new home!

We’re here! It took all day but we got (most of) our stuff from Hobhouse to here with one truck. The moving guys (3 of them) had our Hobhouse home cleaned out in a little over two hours. They thought they’d be done by lunch. Instead, they were done by 4 PM! Unloading the truck was only a small part of moving in: the storage container took the lion’s share of the work. Those guys made a ton of trips up and down stairs to get things stored in our attic, but their labor was well worth it!
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